A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the six factors to keep in mind when choosing a school. After doing more research, I'd like to add a seventh: Class size.
This can be applied two ways; both the size of the average class within the school and the amount of people per year can make a huge difference in your experience. There are pros and cons to each side, so you have to pick which aspects will work the best for you.
If you do better in small discussion groups where you have a lot of one-on-one time with the professor and other students, you're going to want to look at schools that tend to have very small classes. However, if you do well in lecture-style courses and know that you learn better when you are exposed to a diverse array of perspectives, larger class sizes might be what you're looking for, particularly if you check your school's diversity reports and see a highly-varied representation.
The number of people in your year at school can also seriously impact your experience. Schools with larger student bodies tend to have larger facilities, and offer a larger array of classes (this isn't always a given, but it's a good indicator). But larger doesn't always mean better, and if you're hoping to network while you're in school, it can be harder to make a splash in a bigger pool.
There's no single, correct answer for what everyone should pick. I know that I do well in individualized settings and want to have variety in my course options, so I tend to look at schools that have large student bodies and small class sizes. However, anyone considering law school should take a moment to reflect on their experience in undergrad or in other post-grad settings, and remember in which situations they've done the best.
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