Does Harvard or Yale have smaller class sizes for undergraduates?

Yale is usually the stronger pick if small undergraduate classes are a top priority. Yale is especially known for an undergraduate-centered academic culture, and its residential college system and seminar-heavy humanities and social science departments often translate into more intimate class settings. Harvard certainly offers many small courses too, but it also has a larger overall undergraduate population and more very large introductory classes.

A student who wants frequent discussion-based classes, close contact with professors, and a campus culture built heavily around the college experience will often find Yale more aligned with that goal. Yale has long emphasized teaching undergraduates in a direct way, and many students report that even early on, they can get into smaller classes outside the biggest intro sequences.

Harvard can still be a good fit for someone who is comfortable navigating some larger lectures, especially in popular intro courses, in exchange for a wider range of departments, research activity, and cross-registration opportunities. In practice, many Harvard classes become smaller through sections, tutorials, and upper-level seminars, so the experience is not just giant lectures. But if you are asking specifically which school more consistently feels small at the undergraduate level, Yale usually has the edge.

One important nuance is major. In both places, introductory STEM courses can be large, while upper-level seminars are much smaller. But across the two, Yale more often gets described as the place where undergraduates are at the center of the academic experience, and that usually shows up in class size and access.