Are you getting ready to apply to colleges and universities? Read more below to find out why you should consider the student to faculty ratio when you are comparing your options. Talk to your Pegasus Academy Mentor to understand which other factors might impact your personal choices!

Choosing the right college is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. There’s so much to consider beyond the yearly ranking lists and knowing which factors will affect you will help guarantee your best, most meaningful and fruitful, college experience. The more research you do about your prospective colleges, the more you’ll feel connected to the college that’s right for you! And that will help you answer the essential “why this school” essay question on your college applications!

选择一所适合你的大学是你迄今为止面临的最重要的一个选择。比每年的大学排名更需要考虑的是大学的各项指标，以此判断你是否可以得到最有意义，最有收获的大学生活。当你越是深入地去收集学校资料，你越能够感受到你与心仪的大学之间的联系。只有这样，你在写大学申请的“why this school” 小作文时才会给出最完美的答案。

Student-faculty ratio 

师生比

You shouldn’t assume that a small college will equate to small class sizes, or that a large college won’t be able to offer small class sizes. Look for published information on a school’s class sizes so that you aren’t surprised on your first day to find yourself in a lecture hall with 700 other students!

你不该认为，小学院内就会有小班教学，而大型学府便无法提供此类教学方式。提前从学校发布的信息中知晓课程班级大小，这样一来你就不会在开学第一天与700人一同坐在一个大讲堂里时感到惊讶了！

You should also be aware that student to faculty ratio is easy to misinterpret. A published student to faculty ratio of 3 to 1 doesn’t mean that you should expect a class size of three students. At a well-regarded research university, faculty members will spend a lot of time on their own research and supervising graduate research, so that they will have considerably less time to devote to undergraduates than at a university with primarily undergraduate enrollment.
However, a low ratio suggests that it will still be more likely that professors will have time to give you personal attention. A high ratio, like 20 to 1, will most likely be a different experience, and you may find that classes are bigger and your opportunities for one-on-one interaction with professors are fewer.
与此同时，你也应该明确的一点是，师生比很容易被误解。如果学校官方发布的信息中提到，校内师生比为3：1，这并不代表你将会在一个仅有3个学生的课堂中进行学习。在那些备受推崇的致力于研究的大学中，教职员工会花费大量时间进行自己的研究，或是监督研究生的研究。因此，他们投入本科生教学的时间将远远少于那些专注于本科生教学的大学。

Consider the amount of attention and interaction you expect from your professors. To make a better judgement, ask admissions officers about class sizes. How large are first-year classes? How are big upper-year seminars? How many students are in a lab session? If you can’t speak to an admissions officer directly, you should also check the course listings for the maximum enrollments of different types of classes.
然而，一个较低的师生比仍然说明校内教授更有可能有时间给予你关注。一个较高的师生比（例如20：1）则可能暗示着一种完全不同的结果——你参加的课堂会更大，你与教授的一对一互动会更少。

考虑一下，你想从教授那里获得多少关注度，又想要与他进行多少互动呢？为了做出更好的判断，你可以向招生官询问相关问题：本科生第一年的课堂会有多少人？高年级的大型研讨会又会是什么样的？实验课上会有多少学生？如果你无法直接联系到招生官，你也应该查看课程列表，了解不同课程最大招生人数。