This week I need to make my decision between PSU and St. Bonaventure (small school but they’d beat State at basketball) and one of the factors will be the difference in class size.
What size classes can I expect as a freshman, especially in science courses (I will be pre dental) and business school (I would still like to major in business as I will open my own practice)
This decision will be made within a week, so any ounce of information would be greatly appreciated.
My son is in his second semester freshman year at PSU; in the business school. His average class size this semester is over 500. He had a Spanish class first semester with 25-30 students. Other than that it has been 400, 500, 600 or more.
@PennsyDad How does he handle the classes with 500, and what are his study habits?
He doesn’t seem to mind the large classes from what I can tell. I have no idea what his study habits are, as I let him concern himself with that. I think he will end up with around a 3.5 for the year. He did not study much in high school, I do know that.
He is seriously considering transferring. Has been accepted as a transfer to two other schools. He is still uncertain what he is going to do, but I don’t think class size has anything to do with his thoughts on transferring.
From what I have heard class sizes shrink as the years go by and kids go into their specific majors.
He registered for next semester last week. I don’t recall all of the details, but I believe most of his classes are of similar size next year. I am sure they get smaller at some point…but he hasn’t hit that point yet.
My largest class: ~300.
My smallest class: ~6.
Intro science courses are likely to be large, at least in lecture. They are also likely to hold recitations where you are in a smaller group of 20 to 30 students. I’m not sure why people care about large lecture halls, since all you’re doing is listening to the professor, and if you sit close enough to hear and see it shouldn’t make a difference whether you’re listening with 300 other people or 3. But that’s just me, I guess.
@Orioles13 When we had our accepted students day for Smeal last week, we were told the business classes have about 20-30 students per class… Accounting professor told us biggest class she teaches, not in accounting, has 50 students. We peeked in many classrooms that were in session and some seemed really small. So, I do think when you get into your major, class size shrinks.
My students’ classes were large for some of the most popular GenEds – 200-300 students in a lecture hall – but for the less-popular GenEds like Art or nutrition they were 30-ish. For classes in their major the classes averaged about 20 and for some of them it was 10-12. S2 is a Business minor and many of those classes were in the 10-12 student range.
If you are not self-directed and self-motivated, classes this size can be a trap door waiting to open. Be honest about your study habits and maturity as you decide.
p.s. – everyone can beat Penn State at basketball… ;0
Intro science classes at Harvard have 400 students in lecture classes, it is part of being at a large research university/
You can try and take the honors section of econ 102-104 if you’re a very strong student. It’ll be much smaller.
English 30 and any language beside Spanish will be small. I’d recommend French 111-112 or Italian equivalent as you’ll do the entire requirement in a year, although, for French, it’s recommended you had 2years if not 3 in high school (even if you didn’t do well.)
You can check class size on the schedule
Calc 140B-141B for pre dental, or the business equivalent, will be large. Note that the calc for sciences sequence ‘counts’ for business, but not the other way around.
You don’t have to major in business if you major in science, you can do the business certificate instead. More manageable.
So, there are ways to make the classes smaller if you choose judiciously but you WILL have large classes. In addition, choosing a living learning community makes it easier to make friends and decreases anonymity.
All in all, if your priority is small class size and personal attention, St Bonaventure may well be a better choice.
What’s their respective cost for you ?
@pennsydad: why does your son want to transfer ? Reasons may be useful to the OP.
@MYOS1634 Penn State (in state) will cost about 10,000 MORE than Bonaventure.
^ wow. Not surprising but still shocking (considering Penn State is supposed to be the flagship… but is unaffordable for many. And I know the president keeps saying that graduating people on time is more important because not having 5th year makes total cost of college cheaper, but that doesn’t really help students who couldn’t afford to enroll in the first place.
I have decided to enroll at Penn State, but will strongly consider transferring to St Bonaventure after my freshman year if I believe that I’d the best option for me.