<p>I'm considering ED at Oberlin but one thing that concerns me is their average class size. It doesn't really matter to me whether the school itself is big or small, because I don't suppose I'll get to know everyone in the campus at any school and it won't really change the number of people I get close to. But if the larger population result in larger class size that could be a problem.</p>
<p>Oberlin's average class size is 20, compared to the average 15-18 of other liberal arts colleges. Does this mean that there are just three or four more kids in the classroom? I mean, does the this make a substantial difference? Do you sit around tables or sit in a big semicircular lecture hall? Do discussions go back and forth within the students or are they just sporadic one-end questions? Can you go talk to the professors whenever you feel like it or do you have to sign up for a formal meeting and everything?</p>
<p>I know that generally all liberal arts colleges have small classes and available faculty. What I'm asking is the comparison between Oberlin and others and whether that gap makes a distinguishing difference.</p>
<p>It depends on your major -- that is true at any school; even at a large university, Classics or German majors have small classes, but psychology and biology majors have large ones. There are lecture courses at Oberlin that have up to 90 students, but most classes are small. It would not be any different at other LACs. The more important point is that students at Oberlin are enthusiastic about the professors -- take a look at Ratemyprofessor to get an idea of how students are reacting to professors at the colleges that interest you -- take the comments with a grain of salt (often it is disgruntled students who are motivated to write reviews), but you can get some notion of the teaching styles.
Religion is a major that is offered at Oberlin but not at all other colleges, so check into the offerings at the colleges that interest you.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don't see that to be the case. I looked at Williams, Amherst, Grinnell, Carleton, which are comparable (all have religion programs of varying sizes). Anecdotally, students at Oberlin generally are very positive about their professors. Having observed several classes and lectures, I was impressed with the relaxed enthusiasm of the students and the skill of the professors at guiding discussion.
But if you are not certain about your choice at this point, ED is not a good idea -- if you can't visit colleges before you apply, you might do better to apply widely and visit the ones you are admitted to.</p>
<p>It totally depends on the nature of the classes that you take. In my first semester, I had two history seminars, one with 14 and one with 12 students. And then a political theory class with 30. It totally varies.</p>
<p>Rate my professor is a very, very bad source. It's really outdated and infrequently used.</p>
<p>For religion, the intro class I took had about 25. The upper level classes have around 12. It's an amazing department- the scope and depth of the department is incredible. It's a cross-cultural view, with some very intense, focused classes.</p>