<p>DD is accepted at our state flagship, but has always thought she would be more comfortable at a school of about 5,000 undergrads, versus 25,000. (She has acceptances to those, too) Has anyone experienced the same? Would being in Honors have an effect on that, assuming she is accepted there? We have told her she can find a niche within a large school, should it otherwise be the best choice. Surely others have dealt with this issue...did your child's concerns resolve? Did they feel "lost" at their big school, or adjust? Conversely, did the choice of a smaller school turn out not as well, or what was hoped for?</p>
<p>Our DS graduated from Rutgers, our very large state university.
He did not feel lost or overwhelmed.
He identified with his school within the university, Mason Gross School of the Arts.
He lived on Douglass campus near the music building and pretty much did not wander or need much else…except the football games during that winning season a few years ago.</p>
<p>I believe it (can) be similiar at other large universities.</p>
<p>You say that your D has acceptances to some smaller schools. Unless this is an issue of only being able to afford the larger school, why not let her attend the school where she feels most comfortable? There are many excellent smaller schools and if one of them is a good fit for her, I don’t understand your hesitation. I attended a college with about 5000 students (many years ago) loved it and got a great education.I did not want to attend a larger school including my very good state flagship.</p>
<p>Merkur, our daughter just finished her first semester at one of the largest flagships in the country. This was not her first choice, but financially we felt it was the best value for the $$ based on rankings, variety of programs, etc. Unfortunately she did not apply to one of their honors programs, which she regrets now. If it’s not to late, I would encourage your D to apply to honors…that would give her an academic niche.</p>
<p>As far as finding a social niche, that is a bit harder. Our D has ended up hanging out with the other kids from her HS who attend same flagship. Nothing wrong with those kids, but that isn’t the picture we had for her college social experience. She is hesitant to join new groups, so this is a problem. I’m hoping the Spring semester will go better.</p>
<p>I would also suggest an honors college if she qualifies. Publics also sometimes have special interest housing like a living/learning community, residential colleges and other options that make a small community within the larger college. If the college offers any type of “extra” orientation experience even if there is a small cost involved it is a great opportunity to bond with a small group of kids prior to landing on the campus. Explore the website and look for things like “freshman experience” to locate those types of activities.</p>
<p>Many large schools also have living/learning communities that will help shrink a large campus. My youngest"s top 2 choices both had these communities and neither was limited to honors students.</p>
<p>Like your D, my D was also concerned about the size of our state schools. She just completed her first semester at the flagship school. She is part of the Honors program, and it has helped her find a smaller school feel. I do know Honors programs vary greatly from school to school, but I found some commonalities in some of the larger state school programs as we were doing the college search. Many seem to have some sort of Honors housing or honors floors within dorms. Living on a Honors floor made a HUGE difference for my D. She was comfortable around students as serious as she. Often Honors programs offer special “extracurricular” programming for students. This is helpful. They also tend to offer other educational programs for students. Larger U’s tend to offer Honors courses. At my D’s school these courses are taught by some of the best profs on campus, and the profs tend to be very accessible to the undergrads in these courses. Last semester D only had one class with more than 30 students. This was an elective history course that is quite popular. I think she’ll only have one this semester also. </p>
<p>The combination of a strong Honors program within a large U has worked well for my D. She likes the many educational options, but she doesn’t feel like just another number among 30,000 or so undergrads.</p>
<p>*DD is accepted at our state flagship, but has always thought she would be more comfortable at a school of about 5,000 undergrads, versus 25,000. (She has acceptances to those, too) Has anyone experienced the same? Would being in Honors have an effect on that, assuming she is accepted there? We have told her she can find a niche within a large school, should it otherwise be the best choice. Surely others have dealt with this issue…did your child’s concerns resolve? Did they feel “lost” at their big school, or adjust? Conversely, did the choice of a smaller school turn out not as well, or what was hoped for? *</p>
<p>I had similar concerns about my older son who is more quiet and shy. He has done very well at our state flagship. He loves it there. He’s in the honors program and gets that personal attention that the smaller honors classes afford. </p>
<p>He also loves the many things that big colleges can offer - more housing choices, more dining venues, more rec facilities, more course offerings, big sports to watch.</p>
<p>Small colleges often only have one prof teaching certain courses, so if you don’t like a prof, you’re still stuck taking him. :(</p>
<p>Financially, it’s been great. He got a great merit scholarship from the school. He’ll graduate debt free. He can go to law school, and we can help with that since undergrad was so inexpensive. 
And, he’s done well. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa last month. :)</p>
<p>What exactly are her concerns with the large U?</p>
<p>My son had no problems at our large state flagship. Being part of a special interest program for freshmen and sophomores may have helped, but so did the fact that it was his own state’s flagship, and therefore he knew a lot of people there. In fact, he knew more than he realized. He expected to see some of his high school classmates around campus, but he didn’t realize how many upperclassmen and people from activities, jobs, etc. he also knew.</p>
<p>Having attended a very small (about 2,000) liberal arts college, I can say that the education I got there was invaluable. I never had more than 20 people in my classes and I felt I was really able to engage in meaningful discussions with my peers and professors, both inside and outside of class. Because of the close-knit environment I got to be very close with all of the professors in my department. My advisor is like a second mother to me and I now see how lucky I am to have these good relationships with my professor as it has come time for them to write me recommendations for graduate school. I’ve heard of so many people going to big schools and not having that opportunity and it does hurt them when it comes to recommendations. That being said, on the social scene going to a small school can be a nightmare, but I’ll always be grateful for the education I’ve received. My parents insisted I go to a small school for this exact reason. Also, I never had to be taught by a TA, all my professors were absolutely brilliant people who graduated from schools like Harvard and Princeton and its been a delightful experience. Just a take on small schools :)</p>
<p>My son is not concerned but I find myself worrying. My son has been accepted at our state’s flagship and it is the second largest student body in the country with nearly 50K students. </p>
<p>The thing that I have found most soothing is talking to alum. I’ve spoken with engineers, artists, conservatives, liberals, and on and on. Their one common bond is that they look fondly at their college years and none of them felt alone. In fact, their opinion is that in a school that big, every student can find their niche. Perhaps attending an alum meeting or asking for some local contacts to speak with would be helpful for your daughter. </p>
<p>Honors programs make a big difference, if nothing else many colleges let honors students register for classes first. For my niece, she was offered many interesting activities that were only for honor college students. So I would recommend looking into that. Of course, my own son ignored my recommendation on that for our flagship!</p>
<p>As for recommendations, that is not a concern of mine at all. In the upper level classes, if a student wants to they can have closer ties with their professors.</p>
<p>S1 graduated fr. our largest state u. last May. S2 is a soph. at our third largest state u. (around 20,000 undergrads). Both wanted big schools w/ big sports. I was never worried about S1 but was concerned with how S2, who was not as strong of a student,less likely to advocate for himself and not as gregarious as S1, would do. </p>
<p>I am happy to say that after a bumpy academic first sem. last yr, he is doing well. It helps that there are friends from h.s. at the same Univ. but I am constantly amazed at how many new people he has befriended from all over the place. Rather than kids from the same high sch. hanging exclusively together, they just seem to draw more and more kids from other places into their circle. Same thing happened with S1. Both love cheering for their instate teams, seeing familiar faces around campus, being able to drive home for holidays or carpool with friends. Neither ever felt lost on the big campus. </p>
<p>Both chose majors that are in the smaller departments at their schools and have been able to get excellent help from their advisors along the way.</p>
<p>I’m one of those people who attended a large flagship state U (U of Michigan) back in the day (1970s). My folks were immigrants and no one from my working class neighborhood went on college visits or had parents who were concerned about finding a college that was a “good fit” for their kids. If one went to college, no one considered going anywhere other than a state college. I found my way academically and did find a social group (after a few false starts). Before my kids/stepkids went to college, I would have said I didn’t miss anything by attending the University of Michigan. However, after seeing the environment at the LACs my kids/stepkids attended (Bowdoin/Kalamazoo College/Tufts/Bryn Mawr), I’m pretty certain I would have loved being at a place like that. I don’t have any regrets, but I’m glad that my kids had some choices when it came to colleges. What I’m trying to articulate (not very clearly) is that if the OP is financially able to send her D to one of the LACs that accepted her D–I wouldn’t rule them out. If I were in the same situation, I’d try to provide my kid with more choices.</p>
<p>* Before my kids/stepkids went to college, I would have said I didn’t miss anything by attending the University of Michigan. *</p>
<p>I don’t know how old you are, but you can’t compare college experiences that happened 20+ years ago, with what’s going on today. </p>
<p>Colleges AND profs have really changed a LOT.</p>
<p>I went to a big state school (UCI), and I can’t say that I got any personal attention…maybe a little in some upper division courses </p>
<p>However…My kids go to our state flagship, and not only do they get personal attention, they’ve been invited to lunch with their profs, they’ve been to dinners at their prof’s homes, etc. When my older son was sick his freshman year, the honors college director gave my son his cell phone number in case my son needed anything. Actually, a few have given out their cell phone numbers, and with Blackberries being so common, many will answer emails within minutes.</p>
<p>The whole school environment is much more nurturing than when I went to college.</p>
<p>I went to a fairly large private U complete with 300+ student introductory classes and graduated just last year. I also have many friends who went to very small schools. Basically how intimate the experience is depends on the student.</p>
<p>Going to a large university does not equate an experience in which none of your professors know you. All it means is that the students need to spend an hour here and there to meet with professors at office hours. Also I ended up in a small major at my large university (40 kids graduated with me) and because my university was large we did mini graduations within our major. It was a blast because I knew all 40 people who walked with me, all the professors present and we all had several inside jokes that kept arising. Had I gone to a small university I probably wouldn’t have had that experience.</p>
<p>My advice, if DD is outgoing and active in her education, the size of the school will probably not matter. If she is shy, that might be different (but it may not). Personally, wherever she goes, make sure she knows to befriend her professors in office hours, work study, volunteer jobs. This will make the learning so much better and be useful when she is moving past college and is in need of strong recommendations.</p>
<p>Edit: On the professor vs TA issue, very few colleges allow TAs to teach regular year classes because it tends to lower rankings. Even in the super duper large schools professors teach the classes, TAs tend to teach small study/discussion groups that meet once a week and do less teaching more communal discussion. Summer school is different, because professors are not required to teach and few want to, therefore many TAs teach in the summer (however, these TAs are usually 1 year or even one review board away from a PhD)</p>
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<p>I’m sure colleges have changed since I graduated–my point was that I do think LACs have a different feel/ambience/vibe (don’t exactly know the right word) than the large state U. My point is that it’s always better to have choices and, if it’s financially possible for a kid to be able to decide which type of school (LAC vs. stateU) works best for him/her, that’s always a plus. I believe the OP said that her D was accepted to both the large state flagship and several LACs.</p>
<p>my D has been accepted to schools of 12K 15K 30K and 45K students.</p>
<p>she prefers different things about each school. she prefers the smallest school for looks and convenience, not sure if the size of the student body is a great concern.</p>
<p>i think any kid can find a place at most any school. living on campus for a year or two will help matters a lot, i think.</p>
<p>living learning communities will help as well.</p>
<p>my DD is kind of shy. so she may struggle a bit socially at any school.</p>
<p>Well, we may be pondering a slight variation on this theme. My S is ELC (CA) status, so he’s a lock for UC Santa Barbara. This school is the last on his list due to his reticense regarding their strong “beach party” reputation. In fact, he will only consider going there if he gets (separate application) into the College of Creative Studies in physics. (He got one good sign … while he was out last evening, a physics prof from CCS called for him.)</p>
<p>S would prefer Berkeley to UCSB. However, CCS is a really solid program, especially in physics. (Also, a CCS grad this year shared a Nobel prize.) However, one wonders if he could find students outside of CCS (maybe about 300 students) in the social niches he’s more comfortable with. It’s something more we need to explore while he awaits the March reckoning from all the schools he applied to.</p>
<p>I never wanted to go to a large university. Just the thought of it made my skin crawl. I thought it was going to be very impersonal. But my drawback for going to a small college was that if I ever wanted to major in something different, I may not have the options. Plus at a large university, one generally has many more class options than at a small college. I found the best of both worlds by going to a residential college within a large university. I have the one-on-one time with professors and advisors and the dean, professors, faculty, etc know all of us by name, but I also have the freedom and the advantages of a huge university at my fingertips. </p>
<p>Perhaps it is the best of both worlds. In my opinion, it is.</p>