I’ve visited a few different campuses already and a couple in big cities (namely Boston, NYC). I have an idea of what to expect from each, but maybe there are aspects I haven’t picked up on for either. I feel like small city / rural campuses tend to foster more community on campus. People have no where to go so they socialize among themselves. Big cities seem to offer more opportunity to do more beyond just college. I have heard that the latter is good for networking and jobs down the road. Then I’ve also heard that small city colleges also offer decent support and it doesn’t matter where you are, because you can network anywhere and apply to any job online.
I guess my thoughts are somewhat unorganized and they’re a bunch of little hunches. Hoping someone can share some thoughts, maybe from experience.
Smaller towns (so many LACs, and some medium sized colleges, ) where there is nothing to do, drinking, and hooking up, so casual sex, are the main activities around studying. So, for our kids we wanted an actual city to explore in addition to the normal drinking/hookup routine that is the norm at colleges and universities today. However large public schools have a lot of academic sports and social clubs, like say U of Illinois,even if they are in small locations like Urbana IL which have little of their own culture . Land grant colleges tend to be in smaller places, and that could still be OK because they bring culture, sports, activities to campus.
Cities provide a lot more than job connections. They provide something to see and do on the weekends.
Small towns are OK for students who play varsity sports, but for the rest of the campus, they get itchy and have to “study abroad” to get away from the stifling social atmosphere in tiny college towns.
Many other CC writers will disagree with my assessment. Many parents and students believe small college towns are good environments. I had one son in Cleveland which we thought was good and one in Atlanta, also good, and now one is in Ithaca, and its just pretty dull and cold, there, although the campus is pretty active. Cities provide volunteer options, social life, live professional theatre, big city professional sports, nice parks, good restaurants, and something to explore.
You cannot study 24/7. If you are not a college varsity athlete, how do you plan to fill your time? Its actually a problem to think about
I think this is a generalization: “Small towns are OK for students who play varsity sports, but for the rest of the campus, they get itchy and have to “study abroad” to get away from the stifling social atmosphere in tiny college towns.”
My daughters both went to college in communities where their social lives were focused on campus. Both had great college experiences. One now lives in New York City, which she also loves. The other is in graduate school in northern California, after having jobs in big cities for which her small-town-college amply prepared her.
Many kids at many schools (city and rural) join clubs to enjoy filling their time. Plenty who have gone to school in cities tell me they really don’t stray far from campus even though they thought they would when they decided to go there. School keeps them busy and they enjoy their clubs - from singing/dancing/juggling/chess/knitting/languages/outdoors/whatever. Most colleges have oodles of clubs to choose from. If/when they go into town it’s usually to eat somewhere other than on campus, but even most small college towns have some restaurants. They may just not have as many ethnic choices.
@SoapScholar - I don’t disagree with any of your thoughts. I came from a big-ish city and went to a small school in a suburb, it was friendly and intimate but (for me) stifling. My eldest went to a big school in the middle of nowhere and she has been happy for 4 years with the on-campus social life. My youngest visited and said “not for me!” - she’s at a big school in a big city where there is no campus and she loves that freedom. My nephew wanted woods and greenery. Location is really important for some of us. Some people don’t care. There is a huge difference in what is available “to do” between a rural, suburban and urban school - the question each applicant has to ask themselves is “does that matter to ME?”.
Your college years allow you to choose a spatial environment without having to adhere to the economic constraints that will influence your choices later in life. For this reason especially, a rural or small-town school can offer a great opportunity for an idyllic, quintessentially collegiate, four-year experience.
My daughter is at a big school in a small town. There is so much going on every single day that there is no need to party if one isn’t into that. They have a very active art and sports culture. She belongs to clubs, has season tickets to athletics, goes hiking, attends interesting lectures by guest speakers, etc…
As far as job opportunities, her school has one of the biggest college fairs in the country. She has already secured her co-op as a freshman.
Very helpful thread. This is an issue that we are also thinking about right now. I went to an upstate NY college in the middle of nowhere and disliked that environment for reasons like those Coloradomama describes, but that was me and I don’t necessarily want to project my own experience onto my son. I was a kid from the suburbs looking for adventure, whereas he’s grown up in the middle of a big city and college might be an important chance for him to experience life in a small town. With LACs, it’s difficult to find a truly urban environment, but he’s applied to a few of those (Trinity U in San Antonio and Oxy in LA) as well as some more in more typical LAC environments. We’ll see where he’s admitted and then go visit and see how the different environments feel to him.
A school like a Boston College is very insular but does have the nice option to go into the city. They refer to campus as the BC Bubble and want kids to explore. Some do. Some don’t. I am sure it is like this at schools all across the country.
I think you have to look at each individual school. I went to Wesleyan, so a LAC in a town with, at the time, very little to do, less than now. In various ways, the school made sure there was plenty to do on campus. The film society showed something like 5 different movies every week, either free or very cheap. There were concerts and plays and activities. The student government administered something called small party funds, to help underwrite the cost of throwing, well, small parties, alternatives to big drunken frat parties, although there were those, too. Lots of other things. There was never a shortage of things to do.
My advice would be that whenever you visit a school, you ask lots of people what they did last Friday and Saturday night and maybe what other choices they might have had, on campus and off. You’ll start to get a sense of what’s available.
As I’ve been looking at schools with my son over the last couple of years, I’ve come to believe that some school administrations do what Wesleyan did and does: make sure there are all sorts of affordable things to do on campus.
But some schools seem less concerned with making sure there’s lots to do on campus and to be content to just assume that frats will provide the social life, which, of course, translates into lots of drinking and/or to assume that there’s plenty to do in the city they’re in. If you’re going to count on a city to provide social life, remember that city activities come with city prices, which may be an issue for you or your friends. Of course, students at a school in a city will likely take at least some advantage of that and it can be a lot of fun.
In short, there are plenty of suburban or rural schools where there are lots of things to do besides party. Look at each school individually.
It’s a personal preference but for practical advantages, it’s better to be in a big city.
There are so many things like better hospitals, big airports (with direct, cheaper and frequent flights), full year internships, events to attend, political scene, research opportunities, part time jobs, things to do, places to shop, restaurants to eat, learning to navigate urban areas etc which help during and after college.
It really depends on the student and the school. I went to an LAC in the middle of nowhere and it was awful for me. While the school did try to have activities available on campus, old movies and meh concerts and plays got really old fast for me as I grew up in a major city. I felt that it got really old for others quickly too as those who came to college and thought they wouldn’t drink/party quickly joined the drunken party crowd since there wasn’t much else to do.
My D goes to a flagship in a small city recognized as one of the top college towns in the country and is reasonably close to a major city. She thought she’d drive to the big city often, but she hasn’t. I think she’s gone 3 times. Between campus-provided activities (club events, SEC sporting events, intramural, weekly outdoor activities/trips, free movies, arts, concerts, speakers, parties/events, etc.) and things to do in town, there is never a shortage of things to do even on a tiny budget. If you have a decent discretionary budget, even better.
I think you need to know what type of experience you want. What do you typically do for fun? What do you want your weekends to be like? Do you need variety? Will money be an issue? Be honest with yourself and do your homework on each school. Look carefully at school websites and visit and talk to current students.
People have no where to go so they socialize among themselves
If by socialize you mean party them yes. (the first response you received)
I don’t think the above comment is really fair. Some students party and some socialize in other ways. Partying happens at all college/universities no matter where they are located.
First, I think a perspective student has to analyze if they are most comfortable in a city, suburban, or rural location. If one is fine with any and all, then IMHO, I would have to agree…I think schools that are set more “on their own” do create more of a community.
I’ve always found it interesting when students want restaurants and the amenities of urban areas nearby. I don’t remember having time or money to do much off campus when I was in college. But I know…it’s different now.
IMHO, the whole idea that you can get a great internship by walking up to the reception desk of a bunch of city-based headquarters is magical thinking. Yeah, you might be able to get a gig at Starbucks or Trader Joe’s that way, but, all that time pounding the pavement would be put to much better use working with your college’s career resources center putting together a decent cover letter and CV and using modern means of communication.
@circuitrider It depends on how you hustle but at least you have more places to apply to. Let’s say at Rice being neighbors with Houston’s Medical district, a large number of Rice’s pre-Med stutends walk there for internships, research and shadowing. Its not magical but very easy to arrange with minimal effort. Students with other interests and majors may have to pick up a bike, start a car or hop on the bus and try harder to snag an internship but there are a lot more opportunities to chase than a rural college can ever offer. In a rural setting you have to wait for summer.
^Well, you’re moving the goal posts just a little bit, @Riversider because, if we add the combustion engine to the mix, there are very few rural colleges that are not within driving distance of a hospital. But, I get your larger point which is that, if you want an internship that coincides with the school year, the closer you are to a city, the better. In my neck of the woods, however, when people talk about internships they are talking about summer internships.
It really just depends upon the environment the individual student prefers. Being from a more rural area, I see many who go to city college visits - esp very urban colleges vs those with a bubble - and come back crossing them off their lists even if on paper the schools seem perfect. Those students tend to succeed just fine going to more rural schools, small and large. They get jobs and/or get into grad/prof schools at seemingly the same rates as those who like the urban environments.
One would think if there were a big advantage from one type or the other it would be evident in the outcomes - yet it isn’t.
Find the fit that matches the student (including financial fit) for the most enjoyable time on the journey. What is a perfect college for Student A might be the first one crossed off the list for Student B - and they can end up working side by side when college is finished. I see no particular problem.
My kiddo took one look at BU and decided smaller was for her, whether or not it was in a hopping area. This really is about what OP wants and where he/she would thrive. Not all small or rural means constant partying or that you only make friends that way. You look at other things.