I remember a couple years ago when I went to a leadership conference for a national academic honor society I belonged to. They had us break out into groups for discussion. Our groups were based on the size of the campus enrollment. The other delegates in my groups came from "big" schools that had 20,000 or 23,000 students. I'll never forget the expressions on their faces when I announced that California State University Long Beach has 31,000 students. They looked like they were going to pee their pants.
I find it amusing when I hear people say "Oh my college is just soooooo huge. We have, like, 18,000 students."
Actually, the exact number last year was 30,918 and we probably have about 33,000 this year. This is due to normal growth and CSULB's increasing academic and athletic reputation. The university is reporting that we are at/over capacity. To help ease the over-crowding, CSULB is going to institute higher standards for admission. I don't really think that diversity will be a problem for us - our campus is well-known for the ethnic diversity of the student population (not surprising for a Southern California school).
Our dorms are filled to capacity with waiting lists. My roommate who attends on a golf scholarship couldn't even get a spot - and athletes always get priority! The nearby Brookes College has dorms about a half mile down the street. They allow CSULB to put students into their dorms. Since Long Beach is a large city, off-campus housing is not too hard to come by. The only problem is that the college itself is located in a neighborhood which is 95% single-family homes. No biggie, there are loads of apartments within a 10 minute drive. Though, sometimes the rents can be a little on the pricey side.
And what about Greek Affairs? Funny enough, with 33,000 students, one would think that the fraternities and sororities would be huge. Nope, not so. Being an urban university, most of the students drive in from home and have no need for a sorority "home away from home." I'm actually considering requesting the recruitment numbers from the Panhellenic Office. Does anyone know if there is an NPC rule against giving out that information? I am a member of the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators and have been recently added to the Fraternity/Sorority Committee (called a Knowledge Community). Just curious.
......Kelly