Are Harvard or Amherst better for small class sizes?

The biggest practical tradeoff is scale: Harvard gives you the resources of a major research university, while Amherst is built around a much smaller undergraduate community and that usually translates into a more intimate classroom experience. If your top priority is being in discussion-based classes where professors know you well, Amherst is more likely to deliver that consistently. Harvard certainly has small seminars too, but it also has more large introductory courses, especially early on.

Amherst is a small liberal arts college, so nearly all of its academic structure is centered on undergraduates rather than graduate students or large research programs. That tends to mean smaller class sizes across the curriculum, easier access to professors, and more courses where student participation is expected rather than optional. The campus culture also supports close faculty relationships because the whole institution is operating at a more personal scale.

Harvard offers many excellent small classes, especially as you move into upper-level courses, tutorials, and thesis work. But because it is much larger and includes graduate and professional schools, the day-to-day experience is less uniformly intimate. In some departments, your first-year or introductory classes may be much bigger, and the academic environment can feel less close-knit unless you actively seek out smaller settings.

For a true small-class experience, Amherst has the clearer edge. Harvard can absolutely provide close professor interaction, but Amherst is more reliably designed around that kind of learning from the start, not just in selected parts of the curriculum.