Are small classes more common at Florida State University or the University of Richmond?

Small, discussion-based classes are much more common at the University of Richmond. Richmond is a smaller private university with an undergraduate-focused model, so students are far more likely to be in seminar-style courses and to know their professors well. Florida State, by contrast, is a large public research university where many intro and general education courses are taught in bigger lecture formats.

At Richmond, small class size is part of the school’s basic structure, not just something you find occasionally in upper-level courses. Departments are built around close faculty interaction, and it is common for students to have classes where participation, discussion, and direct feedback matter a lot. That setup tends to make it easier to ask questions in real time and avoid getting lost in the crowd.

Florida State does offer smaller classes, especially once you move into advanced coursework in your major, but that usually comes after some larger introductory classes. Because FSU enrolls many more students and has the scale of a major public university, the overall experience includes more big lectures, more teaching assistants in some courses, and less consistent professor access early on.

For the kind of classroom experience you described, Richmond lines up more closely with what you want. FSU can still work if you are comfortable navigating a larger campus and waiting until later in college for more intimate classes, but Richmond is the school where that environment is more likely to be the norm from the start.