William & Mary or Sarah Lawrence: which school has smaller class sizes?

Sarah Lawrence is the more small-class, discussion-centered option. Its academic model is built around seminars and close faculty interaction, and many courses are intentionally kept very small. William & Mary also has plenty of smaller classes, especially after intro courses, but it is a larger university and will usually feel less intimate overall in the classroom.

If your main priority is having a personal academic setting from the start, Sarah Lawrence is more aligned with that. The school is known for seminar-style teaching and its don system, where students work closely with faculty in a tutorial-like structure. That creates a classroom experience that often feels more like sustained conversation than lecture.

William & Mary can still work well for a student who likes discussion, especially in the humanities and social sciences. It has a strong undergraduate focus for a public university, and many upper-level courses are relatively small. But because it is a larger institution, you are more likely to encounter bigger introductory classes and a wider mix of class formats.

So in a straightforward comparison on class size alone, Sarah Lawrence usually comes out smaller and more personal. William & Mary offers some of that too, but not as consistently across the whole undergraduate experience.