Brown University vs. Colby College: Which has smaller, more discussion-based classes?

The main tradeoff is consistency versus breadth: Colby’s smaller liberal-arts setting makes intimate, professor-led classes the norm across much of the curriculum, while Brown offers many excellent seminars but also has more large introductory courses and a wider range of class formats.

At Colby, students are more likely to encounter small, discussion-centered courses from their first year onward. Because the college has a much smaller undergraduate population and no large graduate-school ecosystem, faculty members teach the great majority of classes directly, and it is common to get to know professors through repeated participation, office hours, and small departmental courses. Colby’s January term can also create especially focused, close-knit class experiences.

Brown has a strong seminar culture, particularly in humanities and social-science departments and in advanced courses. Its Open Curriculum can help you build a schedule with more writing- and discussion-based classes. However, popular gateway courses in areas such as economics, computer science, biology, and psychology can be lecture-based and may use teaching assistants for sections and grading. As students move beyond introductory requirements, Brown classes often become considerably smaller.

For the most reliably small, discussion-heavy experience throughout college, Colby is the clearer choice. Brown can provide that experience too, especially if you seek out seminars and smaller departments, but it requires more deliberate course selection and comes with greater variation in class size.