Sometimes, when I sit near the main entrance of Park Shops during the middle of a busy day, I get to listen in on one of those large “open house” tours that always stop by for their final stop on campus. The student tour guide will finish off the tour by speaking about class sizes and that oh-so-famous 13:1 student-faculty ratio. 

This part of the NC State sales pitch is mainly meant to convince potential students about how great it is to have such a small average class size. The main positives that are often listed are that the classes are much more “personal” and “open for class discussion.” As someone who has had quite a few of these small classes, I can confirm that these selling points are accurate, and that they do contribute to a better learning environment.

When I took one of these same exact tours two years ago, I blindly bought into how great these “personal-sized” classes were, and still believed that it was a truly great thing for most of my first year. However, a year later, I am starting to see some downsides to this.

Small class sizes are not these perfect systems of learning that all classes and all universities should strive for, as our university believes they are. In fact, the downsides of small class sizes might balance out with the positives, or even outweigh them.

The most obvious problem with small classes is enrollment difficulty. As we all know, the enrollment period has come and gone, and twice I was forced to make several changes to my original course schedule in the weeks leading up to the enrollment date, on account of small, 18-or-so-student-sized required courses being filled up almost instantaneously. It is a major pain that I’m sure a large portion of students are familiar with as well, and can completely throw off any plans for the near future.

At first, during your first year, this is almost never an issue, as most 100- and 200-level classes are pretty large. Intro classes, in particular, usually have upwards of around 200 or so students. However, once you get on up in the years, the specific, major-related classes that you absolutely need to take because they are prerequisites for other classes get grabbed up in the blink of an eye.

There’s nothing you can do but sit there on MyPack Portal and watch as your planned courses slip away, because your enrollment appointment is still two weeks out.

While the idea of developing a positive relationship with my classmates or my professor does sound appealing, the truth is that my main goal is to actually graduate on time, and to not have to wait an extra semester because all my required courses kept getting taken away from me.

Difficulty enrolling in important classes is not the only issue with small class sizes. The classroom environment, and any issues with the professor or certain students in the class, are magnified in close environments. Chatty classmates become more than just a nuisance, and professors are far more likely to increase your workload because there are far fewer assignments to grade. There are now fewer options when it comes to just moving somewhere else in the classroom.

Furthermore, class participation becomes much more necessary for developing a decent standing with the professor and scoring some participation points. While this can be positive, if you are a naturally quiet person who doesn’t normally weigh in on discussions, your grades will start to suffer for it.

Ultimately, small class sizes should be much less common than they actually are here at NC State, and not a massive selling point as they currently are. The problems with enrollment and the issues that come with such a small student-teacher ratio should make students consider whether or not they really want small classes. Large classes are not something that should be completely avoided; rather, more courses would be better off with a large class size than a small one.