<p>Apologies for the over generalization. I wish I could be more specific. But Nicole’s stated “facts” are simply very incorrect and I am in a position to know this. I get immensely frustrated when such misleading information is disseminated. The sad thing is she actually transferred to a school I used to teach at as well, that is actually worse, not better, on these dimensions. Though it does provide for a better job market. I just wish I could be more forthcoming.</p>
<p>Shawbridge, I’ve not just been a student or worked at a US school. I’ve been a professor at both for two decades. I teach at a canadian school currently but like you, visit both frequently. </p>
<p>And yes, I have had students I meet with an hour a week, in my big ol’ Canadian public. I just finished tonight a 3 hour seminar with my 8 person 3rd year students. EIGHT students! For this particular class, another colleague came and spent 45 minutes with them talking about his particular research because they were interested in learning more. He just took the time to stop by. My class finished at 5, and I spent 45 minutes with one of my students talking in the seminar room about career options. I was late for dinner. I could go on with ENDLESS stories like this and so many others that debunk the mythology. </p>
<p>It all depends. The debate about big vs. small, Canadian vs. US…there are no statements that can be globally applied. There are way way too many differences, depending upon the particular faculty and major.</p>
<p>@shawbridge: Thank you! And, would you empty your PM box?</p>
<p>Starbright, my main point is that, as a general rule the top 15 US universities/colleges do things for a student in terms of horizons, contacts, alumni network and possibly global reputation that other schools, Canadian and American, cannot easily do for most of its students. [There are niches, like RISD for studio art or Carnegie Mellon for computer science and maybe Waterloo as well]. </p>
<p>With regard to your examples that I think support your broader point, an institution is made up of individuals, and there will always be a fair bit of variability. Small departments will lead to both small courses and more individualized attention, even in big schools, and some professors just like to talk with students whereas others don’t, so I will agree with you that there is likely to be lots of within school variation. But, you seem to be trying to use examples to assert that there is no between school variation. That is, by citing examples to contradict the “mythology,” you seem to be asserting that there are no patterns (you haven’t made the statements explicit, but that appears to be the point of the assertion that all schools are different and you can’t make generalizations). I’m actually a little unclear what you are asserting.</p>
<p>My working hypotheses are that: </p>
<ol>
<li> At big schools (Canadian and US), class sizes are on average larger than at LACs. Are you asserting that this hypothesis is not true?</li>
<li> Despite the fact that at big schools (Canadian and US), some upper level classes are small, upper level sizes are on average larger than at LAC. Are you asserting that this hypothesis is not true?</li>
<li> In my example, my son who is a first year student who is not doing research for anybody was able to meet with his professor once a week. In the situation in which you were meeting with a student once a week, was there a research or advisee relationship or was it really no strings attached as was the case with my son? I suspect that on average, professors at LACs spend more time meeting with students than professors at larger schools (Canadian and US). Are you claiming that this hypothesis is not correct?</li>
</ol>
<p>Your statement
</p>
<p>I’d have to agree with you if you mean that no class at a big school is smaller than any class at an LAC, but if that’s what you are asserting, your statement seems fairly trivial. If on the other hand, you are asserting that the three hypothesis above about average class sizes or average time spent by professors with students are incorrect, I suspect that it would not be hard to show that those general statements are supported by data.</p>
<p>I’m not going to go into great detail, but I think it is easy find generalizations that are correct on average. Here’s some data from globecampus.ca, which makes it easy to compare schools using comparable data.</p>
<p>Class Size Mount Allison McGill U. of Toronto
Average # of Students in 1st year Class 97 243 172
Percentage of First Year Classes taken with < 30 Students 14% 14% 12%
Percentage of First Year Classes taken with 30-100 students 51% 27% 10%
Percentage of First Year Classes taken with 100+ Students 35% 59% 78%
Percentage of Fourth Year Classes taken with < 30 Students 69% 31% 30%
Percentage of Fourth Year Classes taken with 30-100 students 26% 43% 41%
Percentage of Fourth Year Classes taken with 100+ Students 5% 26% 30%</p>
<p>It looks to me like hypotheses 1 and 2 are consistent with the data.</p>
<p>I think the main point you could be making is that big schools are not uniformly worse than small schools and that Canadian schools, which are typically pretty big, are not worse than American schools. I would generally agree with that assertion.</p>