UIUC vs. University of Richmond: Which Has Smaller Undergraduate Class Sizes?

The University of Richmond has substantially smaller undergraduate classes than UIUC. Richmond is a small, residential liberal arts university, and its academic model centers on seminar-style courses and close faculty interaction.

At UIUC, class size depends heavily on major and course level. Popular introductory courses in fields such as computer science, engineering, business, psychology, economics, and the natural sciences can enroll hundreds of students, often with lectures supplemented by smaller discussion or lab sections led by teaching assistants. Upper-level courses and specialized seminars can be much smaller, but students should expect at least some large-format classes, especially early in college.

UIUC offers exceptional breadth, research opportunities, and course options because of its size, but that scale produces a more variable classroom experience. For a student who places discussion-based learning and consistently small classes near the top of the list, Richmond aligns more closely with that preference.