Hi i would just like to hear some people’s experiences with social life at a big school vs a small one. I’m worried that a small school may be a more subdued and less exciting college experience. i’m worried there won’t be much going on. However, a lot of people have told me that’s not true, so how do they compare. If it helps I’m deciding between Gonzaga and University of Iowa. Both of which I am very confined in academic wise.
Gonzaga and Iowa will not have extraordinarily different social lives. Gonzaga still has 7k+ enrollment. Although Iowa is substantially larger, after a certain point one cannot tell how large the school is. I think when people refer to different social lives at small schools that means less than 4k students.
Fair enough, Gonzaga would more aptly be considered a midsize school. Though excluding graduate students brings the total to just under 5k. Does anyone have any though about 2 years in the dorms, which most private schools require. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
I go to a school with barely over 2k. It’s awful. The only good thing is that every professor knows you. Socially, everyone says it’s like high school. After 3 months, you can recognize most people, and the parties all take place in like the same 12 houses. Really pathetic. Also, there is no culture or anything here at all. I would prefer the large school atmosphere, and am to Penn State when I can.
Thanks Orioles, Gonzaga is a bit bigger than that but that’s definitely something I will have to consider. Anyone else got anything?
My kid goes to a small school and there are plenty of social activities. Some kids do drink, but they do everywhere. She is not interested in big football games and the like, so it suits her fine.
Orioles above has his/her own agenda. I wouldn’t let that post be your deciding factor.
@Lindagaf is spot on: it’s not about size, it’s about what sort of social life you would enjoy. The reality is that regardless of the size of the uni, people tend to have the same size of friend group* and once you get over (say) 2K students, you typically don’t know everybody.
So, the question is what you and your friends will be doing to socialize. What makes an “exciting college experience” to you? If you want big stadium game day action, that says Iowa- but if you want strong school spirit and some good games, Gonzaga really supports their Bulldogs- it’s just in a smaller stadium. But in either place, that’s 15-20 home basketball games (+ another 7 football for Iowa): what sort of activities are going to make college exciting for you the rest of the time?
*this is true in population studies between rural/suburban/urban areas as well, and recent studies of facebook friend patterns show that core friend group sizes hold remarkably steady across ages and regions.
Thanks Lindagaf and collegemoms3717 for your help. I’m very interested in participating in intramural sports and possibly other clubs that are interesting to me. As far as sports go I don’t really care between the the two. I think they both seem pretty exciting for that. I wanna go somewhere where the students are active and like to do things on the weekends. It doesn’t have to be anything big but I want a good amount of things to keep me busy on the weekends or else I get pretty lethargic.
It looks like the school you are considering Gozanga would be better categorized as a medium sized school. I would consider anything below 4 thousand people to really be a smaller sized school. I will comment based off my own experience at William & Mary, which has an undergraduate population very similar to Gozanga, but keep in mind not all of this may apply given the different atmospheres of the schools.
Personally I feel like William & Mary, and the medium sized school atmosphere is one that is just right. It is small enough to feel like there is a community presence and the class sizes are small so you really get to know your professors if you want to, but it is big enough that I am constantly meeting new people. Dorming has been a positive experience for me because freshman year it was where I met most of my friends, and the dorm was small enough where I got to know most of the people.
I agree with others that it depends on what type of social life you are looking for. As a student leader I love that I know many of the other student leaders on campus because it makes it easy and fun to plan events together, like mixers or parties. It is also a neat feeling when you walk around campus and occasionally you pass by people that say hi to you because they know you. That may not be for everyone, and you have to decide if that’s something you want.
As for the social scene, many clubs, greek life organizations, and groups of friends throw parties but it might not be these huge raves you might see at a school like Penn State. There is also less of a huge sports atmosphere where the entire stadium will be packed. Honestly many of these things also depend on the individual school, and to ascribe these to simply a large school or a medium sized school would probably be misleading, so you may also want to ask around/visit/go to admitted school events of the two schools you mentioned
Thanks Shawnspencer for the information. It’s good to hear from someone who went to similar sized school as Gonzaga