Every Friday, we’ll hit the streets to ask students what they think. This year’s freshman class is the largest in UT history. We asked students walking along Whitis Avenue whether they think UT is overcrowded. Here are some responses:

I don’t think UT is overcrowded. I think they’ve actually done a really good job of fitting 50,000 kids on one campus.
— Meredith McCarty, neurobiology sophomore

I don’t teach anymore so I don’t have much firsthand experience with it, but I know of other grad students who used to be TAs or are TAs now, and the difference between having 30 kids in a class and 35 or 40 is significant to TAs and the amount of time we can devote to each student. It has an actual effect of, I think, lowering the amount of work that we ask students to do and thus diluting their education.
— Paul Monticone, Radio-Television and Film graduate student

I would say that I do think that UT is overcrowded. I’ve noticed in some of my classes there are no seats for people and they have to sit along the edge and it’s a fight even to get a seat. I think that when there’s not enough seats in a classroom for people to really be able to learn then I think there’s an overcrowding issue.
— Coco Adams, psychology freshman

Since I’m a freshman it’s hard for me to tell since I wasn’t here last year, but I kind of expected this coming into such a big school. It doesn’t seem that overcrowded honestly. I mean I can’t think of anything that I’ve had any long waits on.
— Brendan Smith, biomedical engineering freshman