In another thread, the student was interested in small class sizes, and a suggested college that appeared to have small class sizes based on its Common Data Set numbers actually had very large class sizes for the student’s academic interests (pre-med, biology).
Remember that since large classes have more students in them, a small percentage of large classes may hold a much greater percentage of students. For example, if a college has two classes, one with 910 students and nine classes with 10 students, and each student is in one class, then only 10% of the classes are large, but 91% of the students are in the large class.
How to more reliably check class sizes:
If the college has its class schedule visible to outsiders, and it shows enrollment and limits, use it to check specific courses in the student’s areas of academic interest. This may require going to the catalog to see what courses are needed for the student’s intended or possible major and general education requirements. But then you will see the actual enrollment numbers that the student is likely to see.
If the above is not available, look up the college in College Navigator and expand the Programs/Majors section. Check the number of students in the intended or possible majors that the student is interested in (pre-med students should check biology majors as well as their actual majors, due to overlap with biology major courses, and biology and chemistry majors should consider that pre-med students in other majors will be sharing some of their courses). That will give the approximate enrollment in “core” courses for the major. However, it may still be necessary to determine through other means (e.g. asking the department directly) whether one or two large classes are offered each semester, versus many smaller classes each semester, for the students who need that course.
Solid advice- but keep in mind that “star” professors (those who love to teach, are exceptional at it, etc.) often have very big classes in order to accommodate every student who wants to take the class. I took several of these in college- sometimes in subjects I had no interest in- and truly, they were life-altering.
So some huge classes are huge because upperclassmen tell freshman “whatever you do, don’t graduate without taking XYZ with ABC”.
I believe you and I went to the same university, and I can tell you that some of those enormous lecture classes were phenomenal and indeed life changing. I took one on a lark that changed my academic and career trajectory permanently. The best ones felt intimate even if 400 people were in the lecture hall.
I wouldn’t have wanted all of my classes to be huge lectures – but some are legendary for a good reason.
Another way to get additional information about class sizes is (if possible) to visit the school. Talk to students, look in classroom buildings ( are there lots of huge lecture halls or more smaller classrooms), etc.
I agree that some larger lecture classes with great professors can be wonderful but much will depend on the individual professor, student, subject, etc. so like most things YMMV.
Also don’t forget that it depends where in the school you are. D19 was in a large college with a large average class size, but the particular school within that that she was enrolled in had a maximum class size of 25. She sometimes was in bigger classes for gen eds but most of her classes were small, and she got to know her professors well.
I don’t think this is unusual at “101” classes, but another thing to look at is what the schedule actually looks like. For example, a couple of my kids lectures are quite large, but that is once a week. The class meets in small sections the other 2-3 times a week.
Also important… regardless of size, how hard is it to enroll in these classes? This can vary a lot from school to school, and a 500 student lecture at 15,000 student school can be quite competitive to get in to.
But make sure that you talk to students with similar academic interests. Talking to a student in a small major may get an answer that is very different from the actual class sizes that a student in a large major may encounter.
If the school’s schedule of classes is available on-line to prospective students, that can be another thing to check. For courses of likely interest (e.g. in one’s possible majors), check to see if they (including any lab or discussion subsections) tend to be completely full or overfull, or if there tends to be some unused space in them.
Beyond the purely statistical aspect of class size, prospective applicants may benefit from considering the more subjective characteristic of classroom experience. The Princeton Review offers survey-based information on this attribute: