Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-14138255-20140926004722/@comment-24219008-20140927205028

In regards to the amount of students in the amphitheater, I don't think we should be taking it that seriously, especially considering both Team SSSN and Cinder's gang were absent, as well as Team CRDL, which we already know each member is a first-year because they went through the same initiation as RWBY and JNPR.... Considering most of the students were exact clones of each other just thrown randomly in different spots, I'm assuming the amount we saw in the amphitheater was just the only amount the animators were able to come up with in their small time-frame. The reasoning for showing the students was to show the diversity between the four cultures and continents (as least, that's what makes most sense to me), and to show that despite that diversity, they were all able to come together for the common cause of protecting Remnant.... In no way does the amount of students shown in the amphitheater represent the actual amount of first-year students at Beacon, Haven, etc.

Another thing, not all of the missions available for first-years were out-of-town missions, so it's also possible that the ones gathered in the amphitheater were just the ones who would be taking missions outside of the school's walls.