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Does class size impact students' success and performance? BestValueSchools.com evaluated the rankings and found that colleges with fewer than 20 students per class fared better than those with more than 50 in terms of class scores and performance.
Ranked No. 4 on the U.S. News & World Report list of top public colleges and universities, Snow College is a fantastic option for those who want to experience the benefits of smaller classes. Nearly two-thirds of the classes have fewer than 20 students in them. The smaller class sizes appear to be paying off because the Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Snow College No. 1 in the nation for student success.
Of course, everyone is different and educational needs vary — but here are some reasons you might want to consider attending a college with smaller class sizes.
Smaller classes provide individualized instruction
Starting with what's likely the most obvious benefit, small classes allow teachers to focus more on the individual needs of students.
"From a teacher's perspective, it's easier to teach people whose strengths and weaknesses you know," Joe Emerson writes in a University of South Florida blog post. "From a student's perspective, it's easier to be open with someone who has the time to engage you."
Hands-on assignments are available in small classes
Several studies, including one published in the Harvard Gazette, have found that students benefit most from active or hands-on learning. This is a lot easier in a smaller group setting than in a large lecture hall.
"I got more hands-on experience at Snow College than I would have had the opportunity to in undergraduate work at a bigger university," Janna Thompson, a former Snow student and current Utah Valley University student said.
Thompson now works as an athletic training student at UVU and was recently accepted into graduate school at the University of Utah. She'll continue to use the skills she's learned at Snow throughout her whole career, she says.
Smaller classes give more opportunities to be heard
In a smaller classroom, students don't just listen to lectures — they engage in the conversation.
"That engagement yields a give-and-take that bares ideas and facts, yours included, and makes knowledge more accessible than the one-sided speeches behind those notes you hastily scribbled during a crowded lecture," Emerson writes.
Stronger peer connections happen in small classes
As most people know, collegiate success isn't always about grades. The connections you form with others can have long-lasting impacts as well.
"There's a nonacademic upside to this interaction," Emerson notes. "Some new students have a tough time getting involved on a college campus. Small classes allow you to learn in a way that can add people to your social circle and activities to your calendar."
For Shyler Mecham, a former student at Snow College, that was one of the things that motivated her to enroll at a smaller campus.
"It seemed a lot easier to make friends and meet new people because it was smaller than other colleges I had toured," she said.
"I worked at a restaurant in Ephraim while I was going to Snow and I loved that if a professor came in to eat they not only recognized me but were able to have a conversation with me," Mecham continued. "I feel like if the classes were bigger I wouldn't have had the connections with the professors and they probably wouldn't have recognized me outside of class."
She added that getting to know every professor personally helped her feel more connected to what she was learning.
"I never felt dumb sending a professor an email because I felt like I knew them and we were friends."
Smaller classes are beneficial to teachers
Students aren't the only ones who benefit from smaller class sizes. Teachers reap a few rewards as well.
For one thing, it saves them a lot of time.
Joshua Eyler, director of faculty development at the University of Mississippi, told Inside Higher Ed, "Smaller class sizes can free up time faculty would spend on grading and prep that would allow them to focus more on engaging students and larger classes can sometimes discourage innovation because of the extra time for grading and prep."
Smaller class sizes not only improve teacher morale, but they improve teacher effectiveness as well.
"Teachers in small classes can devote more time to individualized attention, engage in more time-on-task instruction and identify precisely and early those student learning problems that can be remediated before a student falls too far behind," Charles Achilles writes for the School Superintendents Association.
Consider enrolling in a college with smaller class sizes
Snow College allows you to explore, learn and discover educational opportunities at half the cost of a four-year institution. To see if it's the right fit for you, visit snow.edu.
