Big School vs Small School

<p>Just as a final note, my S chose Williams over U of Chicago. My choice would have been Chicago, but it was his decision and the money was comparable.</p>

<p>Just as a counterexample, he never felt Williams was too small. It is right around 2,000 students. He certainly hasn’t met everyone in his class, let alone the rest of the classes. His department, Classics, is one of the small departments, but with six faculty members he felt he had enough options in professors.</p>

<p>I don’t know if he would have felt the same about a different small school, but he has had amazing opportunities there. The Classics Department created a position for him so he could do paid summer research. (It was on a book about Seneca – he read and summarized critical articles for the prof writing the book.)</p>

<p>He played in the orchestra, sang in the chorus, had parts in two Shakespeare plays and was active in the environmental club. Because he is quite shy, I’m not sure if he would have participated in this activities if the audition process was stiffer because of competition.</p>

<p>My daughter attended Barnard (and Columbia since one of her majors was only at Columbia with no courses at Barnard.) I can’t imagine a “larger” environment because NYC is really their classroom, and she thrived there.</p>

<p>So I agree with those who say it depends on the kid, and I would submit, it also depends on the school.</p>

<p>To the OP: Good luck to your son. Try not to worry about size. Most kids find a way to adapt and thrive wherever they are, and it sounds like the made a considered decision and is happy with is choice.</p>