Number of students

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 7905


Hi all,

JKR recently said in an interview that there are about 1000 students at 
Hogwarts.  This seems very high.  It would mean that, allowing for 
variations in class size, house size, and boy/girl split, there are on 
average 250 students per house, or 36 students per class year per house (18 
boys, 18 girls, again on average).  Potions with the Slytherins therefore 
means 72 students in one room!  (Assuming that, a la most English classes, 
Snape only teaches 7 or so separate classes per term.  If he has many more 
preps than that to do, no wonder he's such a grouch.  I speak as a former 
boarding and private school teacher . . . )

So where are the other Griffindor boys Harry's age?  Of course we only meet 
a handful of students due to the limitations of space and attention.  But it 
does seem that there are only 5 Griffindor boys in Harry's year--him and his 
4 roommates.  It's certainly possible that there are others in another dorm, 
but put the various mentions of these 5 together with the problem of 70+ 
students in a classroom and 1000 seems high.

Maybe they divide the entire school up into coexisting alternative 
universes, so that there are 3 Griffindor populations occupying the same 
space at any given time . . . ;-)

Seriously, this is the kind of detail that gnaws at me.  JKR usually seems 
pretty careful about this kind of thing.  But maybe she never gave it a 
thought and just responded to the interviewer off the top of her head.

Amy
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