Class Size??

For undergrad I think it depends on the class and what kind of study person you are. I find that I tend to learn a bit more and a bit better in smaller classes because the teacher has the time to field our questions better in class, my classmates pull together more to work through things, and our exams are usually not multiple choice. However, that does mean that I have to work a bit harder on the smaller classes than the large classes. If you just want to coast through and get the straight A's large classes may be the way to go as you are more likely to have multiple choice tests (although that varies depending on the school - most of my 150 people classes still have non-multiple choice tests, but my 200+ class did have MC tests and none of my less than 50 people classes have had MC tests).

But the quality of your overall education really is just what you put into the class. You get as much out of a class as you put into it. It's just sometimes a bit easier to access profs and other classmates in smaller classes because you get more "friendly" with everyone than in a large class.

 

Because of the nature of medical school, the size of the class does not matter in terms of education quality, at least not in how classes are run. You take the same classes at the same times so you're going to have 40 (the size of the smallest class I believe) or more at any time. Not exactly what one might considr small. And many schools have small group sessions to break up the class anyway (PBL, etc).

 

I agree with jedirampage. For undergrad, I was very concerned about going someplace where I would have small classes, but for med school I don't think class size matters as much. Everyone sits in on the same huge lectures whether there are 100 people or 200 people. If you want more personal interactions with profs and fellow students, then maybe finding a school that does a good amount of PBL in small groups would be important.