<p>Do you mean 14,000 undergraduates + graduate students (combined)?
That would be typical of the Ivies and some other highly selective, private universities (where undergraduate enrollments tend to be in the 5K -10K range). Even in this size range, you may not get consistently small classes, and a consistently high level of interaction with professors, in a popular major such as biology. </p>
<p>For instance, Johns Hopkins University only has ~4700 full-time undergraduates on its Homewood campus. Here are the enrollment limits in some biology classes in Spring 2013:
General Biology II … 200 students
General Biology II Lab … 66 students
Cell Biology … 320 students
Stem Cells and the Biology of Aging and Disease …130 students
Developmental Biology … 300 students</p>
<p>If small classes and interaction with professors are high priorities, you may want to look at liberal arts colleges (LACs), where undergraduate enrollments (and total enrollments, because they have few or no graduate programs) generally are under 3K students. </p>
<p>Pre-med students can major in anything. Art History, if you like.
As for big v. small, it’s a matter of personal preference. Both have pros and cons. Personally, I think the value of small classes and greater student-faculty engagement tend to outweigh the advantages of greater course selection. However, you may not find robust zoology programs at very many small LACs.</p>