What I've heard anecdotal bears out what you are saying, IE: once you get through various mega weed-out classes, in many universities you still get the luxury of smaller class sizes and more direct access to professors as you reach those upper level classes.
Where I was asking for clarification was on the idea that somehow people were getting better materials and a better overall experience in thee 500+ people lecture hall type experiences, rather than those 20-person intimate learning style classes.
My point was that a large 500 person lecture on "Intro to ElectroMagnetism" will be about the same as a small 20 person lecture in terms of material. The variability will come from
- Honors sessions
- Extra seminars
- Quality of Material
- Quality of student support groups
All of these things get better as the class size grows. In my last class at Georgia Tech, there were 900 students studying a niche topic from a particular professor. Due to class size, there were ~12 TAs and an extremely active slack discussion group where people could get support.
A smaller class just means the professor has limited resources to assist students.
One factor I don't see anyone mentioning here is the student. Some people can do great in a large lecture and that's great. But I teach in a SLAC and often students tell me they don't think they could do well without the smaller courses.
Where I was asking for clarification was on the idea that somehow people were getting better materials and a better overall experience in thee 500+ people lecture hall type experiences, rather than those 20-person intimate learning style classes.