Kind of, but in a different sense than the others have mentioned.

I went to high school in a *really* small, *really* naive town. When I went to college (still in a small town, but one whose student body alone was 25 times larger than my home town) my eyes were opened to a lot of other viewpoints and ways of life than what I was used to, and my perspective changed accordingly.

As far as my personality goes... in high school I was kind of B group... not super popular, but well liked. I was kind of quiet and I'll admit... kind of strange.. I think part of the reason I was so well accepted was that I was from one of the right families, which was everything where I grew up... if I'd been from a different family I probably would have gotten picked on instead of just being "unique"

In college, though.... I shed some of the awkwardness, some of the "strangeness" (though I'm sure some would like to argue I'm still plenty strange), and gained a TON of self-confidence. Because of that, the way I interacted with people was a lot different... I took better care of myself, was friendlier to others, etc.

I went to a college 3 hours away from my hometown, but it might as well have been 3000 miles. No one from my hometown went to my school (most didn't bother going to college). If some of them had, it probably would have hindered my change... so I'm glad they stayed away!