I always wonder why everyone thinks the students will do better in small seminar style classes. How many high schools have 75 students in a class? For that matter, how many have 6? Obviously thousands of kids go to big universities every year and take their first class with 50+ kids in it and it’s fine.
I’ve read on CC several times of parents (or former students) who thought the student would be better in a very small school often because of learning issues, ADHD, Asperger’s, and it turned out just the opposite. The student felt the small environment was too confining, they were expected to always participate when they just wanted to sit in a class and learn the material, not dissect it like a frog every day; really, sometimes you can just accept the information and don’t have to debate it in a small group.
D1 who is the LAC type student ended up at a 10,000 student campus and loves it. Even loves her bigger 120-200 student lectures, which also have a smaller discussion group once a week. Her first day as a freshman, she walked into a class of 200 and already knew 4-5 students from her dorm and activities, and she had an instant study group. Other daughter looked at a few LACs, but they just didn’t have big enough departments in the STEM subjects. One very small LAC had 5 math professors and about that many in the physics department. A course might only be offered once a year, and even then only one section offered. She is not a student looking to discuss every equation, every physics theory. Just the facts, ma’am is more her MO. She’s at a smaller engineering school, knows her professors and TAs, but is just fine with 30-40 kids in math classes and likes having a choice of 2 or 3 sections of a course each semester for time of day and for a favored professor. It would be easy to get behind in a sequence if you miss the only time a course is offered for the year.