Where to Attend: Class Size

[russellang]

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I have gotten into a few schools and they all vary in the amount of students in each class. Some have almost double or more than double the number of students as the others. I highly value hands on experience with patients and access to professors (both in classroom and during rotations).

I was wondering if I should base some of my decision on where to attend based on the size of the class. I guess I think this way: if there is a large class size, my time with patients and professors will be less due to the fact there are more students competing for their attention. However, obviously it also depends on the strength of the caseload and how proactive you are, so I am not sure if I should think this way.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

 

[breenie]

I appreciate my class size of 120 people, especially because the likelihood that I end up in a mandatory interaction with the 3-4 people I cannot stand is pretty low.

Professors tend to give me attention when I ask for it. I'm a pretty low maintenance student, to be honest. Getting "1-on-1 time" was not a priority to me. I know how to get my questions answered when they do arise, and I don't feel that my 119 peers are taking anything away from me.

I acknowledge that some people need more attention, though. That's fine.

 

[August West]

I acknowledge that some people need more attention, though. That's fine.

I assume you're referring to dsmoody.



Thanks for coming out. Please tip your waiters. And if you're drinkin', don't drive... I'll be here all week.

 

[Alhazred]

You have to look at more than just class size, though. If courses are team-taught at a school with a larger class size, you might have a better instructor:student ratio than at a school with a smaller class.

 

[breenie]

I assume you're referring to dsmoody.



Thanks for coming out. Please tip your waiters. And if you're drinkin', don't drive... I'll be here all week.

... this one is too easy.

 

[pooter]

Hmmm . . . well, you're talking about three different things and I'm not sure that all of them have to do with class size. As far as interaction with profs, yes it's easier to get their attention in a class of sixty than a class of 120, but your mileage will vary. Some profs love getting to know students and some will avoid you like the plague.

For hands on experience in the classroom setting, this would probably depend more on the structure of the curriculum than anything. It's probably easier for a school to pull off all that animal exposure when they have a smaller class to deal with, but I wouldn't expect more contact as a given just because the class size is smaller. Look at the specifics of the program--talk to current or former students if you can. If you're talking about extracurricular exposure, I'm sure there are plusses and minuses to any arrangement. In a small class there are fewer people competing for spots in wetlabs/shadowing/ect., but in a larger class there's a higher number of motivated club officers working to set up those activities in the first place.

As far as hands on experience in clinics, obviously I'm not in clinics yet, but I'm told it has more to do with caseload than anything else. At that point, I'm not sure that smaller class sizes would necessarily be a selling point.

Best of luck as you make your decision. I'm sure you'll agree that there are worse problems to have! 😉

 

[moosenanny]

Also see if the class is subdivided at all. Here at Davis we have a relatively large class size (~135). During core course lectures we all sit in the same classroom, and the size hardly makes a difference (I sit in the very front and can pretend there aren't tons of people in the rows behind me 🙂). For labs, we are broken down into smaller groups. Most often labs are with half the class; other times it's just a quarter of us; rarely we are divided into even smaller groupings.

From what I can tell, sufficient time with animals/cases/clinicians senior year isn't much of an issue because all the students are divided up and completing all the rotations at different times. Not sure if that makes sense -- but obviously not all 135 of us will be rotating through dermatology at the same time

For what it's worth, quite a few of my professors know my name and will greet me by name while passing in the hall. And I don't think I'm overly "pushy" in trying to get people to know who I am.

Oh, I just remembered a funny story from freshman year. I rose my hand to ask a question during lecture, having never previously spoken to the professor. The prof called on me by name and I had a flabbergasted look on my face. The professor asked, "Well, that is your name, isn't it?" All I could manage was nod. Then he prompted me to hurry up and ask my question already It is still a mystery how that prof knew my name!

 

[breenie]

Oh, I just remembered a funny story from freshman year. I rose my hand to ask a question during lecture, having never previously spoken to the professor. The prof called on me by name and I had a flabbergasted look on my face. The professor asked, "Well, that is your name, isn't it?" All I could manage was nod. Then he prompted me to hurry up and ask my question already It is still a mystery how that prof knew my name!

Dude. Don't underestimate the professor genius.

We have "alpha numbers". We are assigned a number based on our order in the alphabet, which gives us a short, anonymous ID number. I have boring, middle of the the range alpha number.

One day I was asking how we were divided up in lab, and I was talking to our professor who carried around our class picture and memorized our faces/names. I said something like, "Okay, so even alpha numbers go this afternoon, so..."

And he just quipped, "Yes. You're ## so you'll be going this afternoon."

I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I didn't even really know he knew my name at that point, much less the two random digits associated with me.

 

[moosenanny]

Dude. Don't underestimate the professor genius.

👍