Students and faculty are still grappling with the problem of overcrowded introductory classes, even though the population of the College has not increased significantly in recent years.
Most non-introductory courses at the College do not have the same high enrollments. For the past five years, Bowdoin's median class size has been about 16. The mean class size this fall is 19.4, compared to 20.1 last year.
Some students say that larger classes typically are not conducive to discussion. "There is most of the times less opportunity for in-class discussions [in larger classes]," said Erma Drigo '08, whose Sociology 101 and Psychology 101 classes each number around 50 students.
Some classes, on the other hand, are structured to accommodate the larger student enrollment.
"Large classes have to be run as lecture courses, which is not so bad for some subjects, such as Greek philosophy. But a class no larger than 25 would be ideal,'' said Professor Denis Corish.
Some contend, however, that bigger classes allow for a mixture of students, thus enriching the learning environment.
"Larger classes provide the opportunity for interaction with more students; [they give] an opportunity to exchange various ideas," said Drigo.
Some students, on the other hand, prefer class sizes between the two extremes.
"I prefer 15 to 30 students in the class because it is large enough for me to hear many different viewpoints while small enough for me to get to know the students and have a closer relationship with the professor," said Dudney Sylla '08.
Officials said most classes are relatively small.
"This semester's class size data very much resemble those of fall 2002," said Director of Institutional Research Christine Cote.
"What is special about Bowdoin is that it has small classes," said President Barry Mills.
"These classes allow for a personal relation between students and faculty," he said.
For this reason, Mills said that next year, first-year students will be required to take a first-year seminar, which have class sizes of 16 students or less.
"Our goal is to have as many small classes as possible at sizes that make sense for each class," said Mills. For instance, some classes are more appropriately held at lower class enrollment, while others can afford to have more students.
Faculty members determine class size for each course they teach and enrollment in these classes is decided based on these figures.
The majority of the classes, 37.5 percent, enrolled 10 to 19 students, while 6.5 percent of classes have fewer than five students.
According to the Student Records web site, two classes have over 75 students: Introductory Biology and Introduction to Environmental Studies, both with 85.
However, the data does not include the significant number of students who are taking an independent study, Mills said.
"With independent study you have one-on-one relationship with a student and faculty member," said Mills. Some rankings, like U.S. News and World Report's annual survey, do not figure in this factor when calculating schools' class sizes.
Mills said that Bowdoin is planning to hire more faculty members to increase the number of small classes.
Bowdoin will continue to have small classes on average in addition to a student population similar to this year's number.
There were 1,665 matriculated students this fall compared to 1,636 last fall, according to Cote. The first-year student count for this semester is 470, up five from last year.
The total enrollment will not increase significantly in the next few years, Mills said.
"When I first came to the College, I wanted to increase the student body population, but now considering the size of our endowment and what we are doing with the endowment, being the size that we are is the right size for the College," Mills said.