<p>warblersrule, how representative do you think your experience is in your field at your university? You’re at UCLA, the 2nd highest ranked state university in the country, right? Do you believe that (due to the efforts of graduate student TAs) UCLA undergraduates typically get in as much class discussion and writing as students do at schools like Bates, Smith, or Macalester? Do you think it is likely that UC-Irvine undergrads are getting as much discussion and writing as students typically get at Whitman, Kenyon, or Mt. Holyoke?</p>
<p>If you think you are grading as many papers as any LAC professor would, is that because a typical undergraduate in a typical class at your university probably is getting about as many writing assignments per term as s/he would at a LAC? Or is it only because you have more students per instructor than you’d have in an average class a LAC?</p>
<p>UCLA (USNWR #23 university) has an S:F ratio of 17:1; 50% of its classes have < 20 students.
Oberlin (USNWR #23 LAC) has an S:F ratio of 9:1; 77% of its classes have < 20 students.
Of course, S:F numbers don’t tell the whole story. Schools no doubt are not all counting classes or instructors the same way. </p>