<p>Please don't laugh at this question but is there a way to find this out other than just asking each school? Does anyone have a resource for this? Any chance it is part of the common data set?</p>
<p>One way to measure this (in the major area) is whether there is a Masters/PhD program in the same area. No grad program, no TAs to teach the class. Everybody uses part-time (adjunct) faculty. Also, you can look at the faculty (full-time plus part-time) and look at the number of sections taught by those names, then look if there are classes/sections taught by "staff."</p>
<p>The information on class sizes is found in Section I of the Common Data Set at the bottom of the section. It breaks the classes out by quantity and also by Sections and Sub-Sections. It is a good bet that many of the classes in the Sub-sections are taught/led by a TA. </p>
<p>I reviewed the CDS for a number of top colleges and found some interesting differences. These are significant when considering what will be the size of the classroom in which an undergraduate takes classes and what will be the nature of the instructions (USNWR has a factor on % of full-time faculty). </p>
<p>When USNWR reports its statistics for % of classes over 50 students and % of classes under 20 students, it takes the reported data for Class Sections in the Common Data Set. There is also a second level of reported data for Class Sub-sections. These Sub-section classes (where you are more likely to see classes taught/led by TAs) are seen on many (but not all) college campuses. As the numbers below detail, the division is more commonly found at the public universities. </p>
<p>Here is some of the statistical data that I collected and how some privates and publics compare:</p>
<p>1242 classes at YALE (100% in Class Sections, No Class Sub-sections)
523 classes at DARTMOUTH (100% Class Sections, No Class Sub-sections)
679 classes at RICE (100% Class Sections, No Class Sub-sections)
1549 classes at EMORY (99% Class Sections, 1% Class Sub-sections)
1520 classes at VANDERBILT (90% Class Sections, 10% Class Sub-sections)
1129 classes at MIT (79% Class Sections, 21% Class Sub-sections)
2150 classes at NORTHWESTERN (75% Class Sections, 25% Class Sub-sections)
3485 classes at CORNELL (65% Class Sections, 35% Class Sub-sections)</p>
<p>3366 classes at U NORTH CAROLINA (75% Class Sections, 25% Class Sub-sections)
3030 classes at U VIRGINIA (62% Class Sections, 38% Class Sub-sections)
5762 classes at U MICHIGAN (55% Class Sections, 45% Class Sub-sections)
4127 classes at UCLA (46% Class Sections, 54% Class Sub-sections)</p>
<p>Okay, I thought I was following you, hawkette, but then I looked at the CDS for U of GA and they have ZERO Sub-sections and I am just not buying that zero classes there are taught by TAs. Did I misconstrue your explaination?</p>
<p>I looked at U Georgia. I think they're trying to hide the info. </p>
<p>Compare them with U Michigan. Both colleges have nearly the same enrollment (just over 25,000 undergrads). In U Michigan's CDS, they have 3195 Class Sections and 2567 Class Sub-sections for a total of 5762 classes offered. In U Georgia's CDS, they have 3407 Class Sections... and no Sub-sections??? I doubt it and I don't think their difference in student/faculty ratio (15-1 at U Michigan and 18-1 at U Georgia) begins to explain the huge gap. This would be a good question to pose on the U Georgia forum or to call one of their admissions people directly and get a clearer answer.</p>
<p>At Cornell, there were no classes taught by TAs. The "sub-sections" (aka recitation sections, review sessions, preceptorials, tutorials/tutes) are in addition to the 3 hours of lecture by professors in large lecture sections. The recitation sections are usually led by graduate students, post-docs, research associates. They are similar, in a way, to a laboratory section in a science course, except you ask questions, work on problem sets, discuss. They are a very helpful supplement at the better schools.</p>
<p>Yes, subsections are not classes you can take alone. They are additions to the basic class. Treating them like freestanding classes is wrong. And I bet Yale has some TA'd discussion sections.</p>