Grading the Colleges by Average Class Size

College Search & Selection
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<p>Source of class size percentages: USNWR</p>

<p>Grading Formula<a href="(1-%20(pct%20of%20classes%20%3E=%2050))*3">/u</a> + ((pct of classes < 20) * 1)
So, a school gets a 3.0 (a "B") just for having zero classes larger than 49 students;
a school with 100% of classes under 20 would get the maximum grade (4.0).
(This formula assigns more weight to minimizing the percentage of large classes than to maximizing the percentage of small classes. For the rationale behind this, see the many posts by bclintonk on this subject.)</p>

<p>4.0 US Military Academy (94.9% < 20, 0% >= 50)
3.8 Claremont McKenna, Haverford, Hamilton, Scripps, Swarthmore, W&L
3.7 Amherst, Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Chicago, Colorado College, Davidson, Grinnell, Macalester, Oberlin, Pomona, Richmond, Vassar, Williams, Wellesley
3.6 Bates, Bowdoin, Bucknell, Columbia, Colgate, Duke, Harvard, Middlebury, NU, Smith, Tufts, US Naval Academy, Wesleyan, Yale
3.5 Georgetown, Holy Cross, Penn, Rice, Wake Forest, WUSTL
3.4 Brown, Caltech, CMU, Dartmouth, Emory, Harvey Mudd, JHU, Princeton, Stanford, Vanderbilt
3.3 MIT, ND, NYU, USC
3.2 Berkeley
3.1 UVa
3.0 Cornell, Michigan, UNC-CH
2.9 UCLA (51.6%, 21.6%)</p>

<p>The list above covers the USNWR "top 30" National Universities and "top 30" National LACs.
Here are some schools outside the top 30 that also get good grades for class size:
3.8 Agnes Scott (71.5%, 0%), USAF Academy (74%, .1%)
3.7 Centre, Earlham, Hendrix, Kenyon, Rhodes
3.6 Barnard, St. Mary's College of Md. (Public)
3.5 Whitman</p>

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<p>[10</a> National Universities With the Smallest Classes - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2012/03/06/10-national-universities-with-the-smallest-classes]10”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2012/03/06/10-national-universities-with-the-smallest-classes)</p>

<p>National School / Percentage of classes with fewer than 20 students
New School (NY) 92.1%<br>
Immaculata University ¶ 81.6%<br>
Edgewood College (WI) 81.3%<br>
Cardinal Stritch University (WI) 80.7%<br>
Columbia University (NY) 79.7%<br>
Harvard University (MA) 79.5%<br>
University of Chicago 5,238 77.8%<br>
Nova Southeastern University (FL) 76.1%<br>
Yale University (CT) 75.8%
Northwestern University (IL) 75.0%</p>

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<p>^ That list is sorted by % of classes with less than 20 students.
Here’s how I’d grade them after also factoring in the % of classes with 50 or more students:</p>

<p>4.0 New School
3.9 Immaculata
3.8 Edgewood College, Cardinal Stritch, Nova
3.7 University of Chicago
3.6 Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Northwestern</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1277650-class-sizes-relationships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1277650-class-sizes-relationships.html&lt;/a&gt;
“Here’s the part that’s often overlooked: It’s not so much the number of small classes, but the number of large classes that determines what fraction of their time students spend in large classes. Each small class is, by definition, small, serving only a few students, while each big class has, by definition, many students registered for it.”</p>