big University or Small?
 

I have attended a small university for the last three yrs and even on exchange I am at a small university(9,000 students). I was watch MTV homecoming and they were at Penn State and other universitys. they looked like they were having more fun than I ever did in college. Even if I would have had good grades I still wouldn't have been able to afford the big universities.
Anyway if you had a choice would you rather attend a big school or a small school? Why?

I attended all large universities because that was the only way to get my major. We prefer that our children attend large universities (5000+) because they have a better choice of courses, professors, and activities there. If one of the kids insisted on a small school and could get a full ride, we'd let them go but they've all attended a large high school and really only considered big colleges.

I go to a medium sized school... 15,000. Probably falls in between the large universities and small ones. I really like the atmosphere. It's big enough that you don't know everyone but small enough that you can know a lot of people..

If that makes any sense.

My school isn't that big (around 30,000) but it is to me because the town I come from only has 400 people. I think a small university would be so nice because I wouldn't feel like such a number and classes wouldn't be as big--one of my classes had 600 people in it--but big schools do give you a better choice of majors and that's part of the reason why I stayed where I am.

I go to a small school (2,100) and I love it. We may not have the variety of courses and professors that larger universities have but if your major is available then it's not a problem. I may not have a large variety of professors but I know the professors in my two majors really well. I babysit their children and pets, i have lunch with them, I hang out at their houses and chat and now that I am a senior looking for a job they are the ones calling and emailing me when they hear about a job opening that they think I would be interested in. I also know all of the other students in my major and we have banded together to look for jobs together and help each other out. It is a sense of community that my friends at larger colleges and universities do not have.

As far as having fun, college is really what you make of it. At a school of any size you can sit in your room and not do anything or you can go out and participate.

The reason I said I don't feel as if I've had as much fun is bc the bigger schools have really cool homecomings and sports are really big. At the school I attend people are very lethargic about attending events. Also it would be nice to go to a bar and not see the same people.
I love then professors at the university where I am on exchange. they are so helpful etc.
I would have liked to be surrounded by people and always meeting new people.

I too attend a smaller University. I went to a pep rally for the University of Nebraska at Lincoln at the beginning of the year (it was actually a band exposition and my best friend's brother is in the drum line). I had so much fun!

Nebraska football means everything to those living in Nebraska~ even if you don't/didn't go to that University. But still, it sorta made me wish I had attended there. The comradery and the atmosphere was exciting and it was so neat! My school doesn't get that way when it comes to sports events (except maybe hockey).

Oh well...I've had a lot of benifits by attending a smaller University: such as being able to work to support myself, live in an apartment instead of a dorm, and actually getting involved in most activities I wanted to!

That makes sense. I'm not into sports so having a huge sports program and a cool homecoming aren't huge priorities to me. I prefer my Div III school where academics and other activities stand out more than our football team.

I also enjoy the opportunities I have at my small school. One of my friends turned down an acceptance at a large ivy league school to come to our school. She is involved in theater and at my school, undergrads and even underclassmen are cast in lead roles in theater productions and at the ivy league school, undergrads were only cast in minor roles in theater productions. She realized that she was giving up the chance to have an ivy league diploma and all the prestige related to that but it was worth it to her to be at a small school where she could be more involved.

It's an individual thing though. If large football games and homecoming parties are your thing then don't go to a small school. If a closer knit community is what is important then a small school is for you.

Now, being able to get involved in the clubs you want to is a distinct advantage of attending a smaller school! I imagine it's probably still the same at the SEC schools I went to but back in the day, you didn't just go to Auburn, say, and decide you wanted to be on the pom squad, in Angel Flight, or one of the campus guides. Nope, there was intense competition for those spots and scoring a member in one of those was a major deal for Greek groups. For several "big deal" organizations, each GLO would sponsor a certain number of members to try out and not many would make it...most who did were in the "big name" GLOs.

I go to Michigan State University, obviously a LARGE school (40,000+). At times it can be difficult to balance everything. My freshman semester I barely passed one class, since then I have had a 3.25 or higher, and have made the Deans list :) It takes time to adjust and all.

I would never go to a small school after my experiences her at STate, I LOVE it too much to go any place else :)

I went to a very big school (40, 000+ students). I enjoyed the atmosphere of being on a large campus with a large student body. Because of the huge numbers that go to UBC there are many interesting programs, lots of sports (both intermural and varsity), tonnes of activities, and a large club system: UBC is home to the highest number of students orgs in the country (well over 100) and I believe it also has Canada's largest Greek System (but I could be wrong on that last point).

What is kind of interesting to me is how to define big and small.

I grew up in Columbus. Ohio State is BIG. Even back in the 60's they had 40,000 plus on the main campus.

I didn't want to be "just a number," so I decided to go to a "small" state school, Ohio University -- which had nearly 20,000.

Guess it depends on where you live and what you're used to.

By the way, I thought (and think) that around 20,000 is a great size.

I went to what I had considered a large state university with 10,000 students. I guess everything is relative. I had 30 students in my high school graduating class so any school was comparably large. We didn't have a football team so that wasn't even an issue.

Iowa is big, though I believe it's the smallest of the Big 10 schools. I think it has roughly 20,000-30,000 people that go here. I can't imagine going anywhere smaller. You meet so many people, and I like lots of people, small towns are bad enough, so at least this small college town has a lot of students. I was also considering U of Illinois at Chicago, which is considerable smaller, but is in an urban area, I have to be in an urban area.

It may seem like you get lost in the shuffle, but professors and TA's all have office hours, and it's not that bad, since everyone is in the same boat at you are. Plus, we have lots of school spirit, football is a big deal, especially this year because we are doing awesome! :cool:

I love going to a big university!!! Obviously Ohio State is huge (40,000+) but being in the greek community has made it seem smaller. Going to a smaller school wouldn't have let me experience all of the things that I have already experienced at Ohio State!

Actually, I think Northwestern only has around 11,000.

I also find it interesting that people think of Oklahoma as a big university (our son goes there), but I think they have around 22,000 -- which I mentioned above would be considered a small to medium sized university where I grew up.

I think people have different reasons for going to a big school or a small school.

I went to a rather large high school and I was reluctant to go to a big university b/c i really like having that teacher-student relationship where i can go talk to them whenever i needed help and not just some big headed TA. I go to a small school (theres around 4,000-5,000) and i love it. While some people say bigger schools offer better majors and curricula, i have to beg to differ in my case. We have one of the top rated School of Sciences as well as School of Businesses. In addition to that, although we are a small school, our althetics department has done pheonominal. Last year our Softball team won Nationals and the year before that our Baseball team won Nationals for Div. II. and every year our basketball team makes it into playoffs. I love my school b/c my biggest class is like 20 people and my professors know me by name and major. Its nice to get to talk to them whenever i need help as well as being able to walk in my advisor's office in between classes to chat about anything ranging from internships to the latest on the World Series. Theres a lot of great networking going on when there is personal contact with the bigwigs at school who know other people to land you a REAL nice job before of after graduation. (I already have a job in line for me and i'm just a junior...go fig!) And of course there are like 4 other universities in San Antonio and we always party it up with all of em, so its always a blast. And of course its nice to see the different hotties at different schools ;)

It all depends on what people want out of college. People want and expect different things. I'm not gonna bash on the big schools I'm originally from Austin and i pretty much grew up on the UT campus since my mom works there. Its really interesting to see the differences between my St. Mary's and UT. STMU may be smaller with more of a personal touch to its curricula, but i still LOVE sitting in that UT football stadium with like 80,000 other people screaming our heads off when a TD is made!!

After a pretty miserable year at a large state university, I was looking to transfer to a smaller college because I felt like I would be more comfortable there. I looked at Beloit College, a tiny liberal arts college, less than 1500 students, and UW-Stevens Point, a smaller state school with 8500 students. I loved both of them but ultimately ended up attending the University of Wisconsin, which is obviously a huge huge school. I was apprehensive at first but I've ended up loving it. I think that bigger universities offer you the best of both worlds if they're run correctly, because they have fantastic academics and a wide range of choices academically (especially a good choice if you're undecided on a major as a freshman, because basically no matter what you end up majoring in you'll have a great education), but via things like the Greek system, clubs, the "house" system in my dorm, etc. -- it offers a lot of smaller communities so it's never too overwhelming. I think Wisconsin is perfect socially, because when I want to hang out with the same people (people within the Greek system, people in my dorm, people in my best friend's dorm) as usual I can, and this is great for developing meaningful friendships -- but if I ever get bored with hanging out with the same few groups of people, there are thousands and thousands of new people to meet. That's definitely a luxury that a smaller school can't offer you.

I do have to admit, though, that smaller schools often offer you more opportunities to get involved -- if I had gone to Beloit, for example, I could have been involved in theater productions there even though I'm not a theater major. I can't really do that at Wisconsin.

And yes, the atmosphere at football/basketball/hockey games is AWESOME at a big school -- I'm not a big sports fan, but I go just to hang out because it's so much fun.

I am all up for the big school.

My univ. is Division I, at 22,000+. They are projecting enrollment to contiune to climb to about 36,000. Of course I'll be long gone by then. I just liek the opportunities a large school afforded me. I did attend a small school my freshman year, and it was nice, but I am a bright lights/big city kid and liek the bigger is better thing for me. Anyday.

I got my Bachelor's at a very small school: Lawrence University, in Appleton, Wisconsin, whose population usually averages around 1,200 students. For me, it was a good decision. As a musician at a small school, I got many opportunities to play in large and small ensembles that I might not have had if I'd attended my second-choice school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I didn't have to fight (often) for practice rooms, and all the music majors knew all the other music majors, if by nothing more than name, face, and instrument. The small classes were good for me, as was the small campus (because I never learned how to ride a bike :eek: ). Some classes at Lawrence have a 2:1 student-teacher ratio. I never once took a class from a TA. Students regularly go to professors' houses for dinner and/or class discussions. True, there is apathy, and there is also sensory overload and a lot to handle at that school. But it only made me stronger and prepared me better for grad school.

The high school I attended has 2,300 students, and people asked me "Won't it be weird going to such a small school? Won't you know everyone?" The answer to both questions was no. Lawrence was as big or small as you wanted to make it. I certainly didn't know 1,200 people in high school!

Based only on what I've heard from friends who attended large schools, I think everything is different at a small liberal arts college. By the second trimester, all the faces are familiar. It's a very fast pace academically, and demands on time are made more extreme by the students having to live on campus all four years. You CAN surround yourself with new people, but it takes a little extra effort. Seeing the same people at the bars was no big deal. If you were friends, the more the merrier, and if not, you just went to a separate table. The belief that small schools are no fun and don't have anything to do is a fallacy. Although it was Division III, a lot of people still had interest in LU's sports teams, and there was a wide range of teams available to those who were interested. To me, seeing the same people at bars and not having a cool Homecoming is a very superficial reason to not attend a small school. Those seemingly overpriced private liberal arts colleges are worth it, and then some. Lawrence shaped me and made me who I am today, though I am endlessly cooler now than I was in college :)

When I was in high school, I wanted to attend a small, private, preferably Catholic, university. I found St. Mary's University in San Antonio and loved the school. There are about 2,500 undergrad students. Everybody knows everybody on campus, especially if you are Greek. Lately though, I've been craving change and thought about transferring to a much larger school. I want to go to football games and root for my alma mater. I don’t know. I probably won't go to a larger university until Grad school though.