Big School vs. Small School

<p>How many of you take size of your future college into great consideration? Do you prefer large or small schools, and why? Just curious, because I myself cannot imagine going to a school with less than 20,000 undergraduates.</p>

<p>I like big schools in big cities. 30,000+ students</p>

<p>My school for example has 50,000 students and a population of 750,000.</p>

<p>You go to UT? How do you like it? I know that the population there is HUGE!</p>

<p>It’s the sheeeit!</p>

<p>I like big schools (maybe not Penn St size), because of the following…</p>

<p>Usually a wider choice of majors/programs
Usually more housing choices
Usually more dining venue choices
Usually more recreation offerings
Usually big sports to watch</p>

<p>And…Usually big colleges have more than one prof teaching particular classes. That can be important if you don’t like a particular prof. You can often avoid such profs at larger schools. At smaller schools where they only have one prof teaching a particular course, you’re stuck taking profs that you don’t like or that you’ve heard aren’t great lecturers or give ridiculous exams…</p>

<p>I like medium-to-large universities in big cities (50,000+ population).</p>

<p>I agree with what mom2collegekids said about the advantages. I would also add there’s usually a greater variety of events to attend if it’s an urban campus. Some also have more professional schools to browse interests (i.e., Michigan, Columbia, USC, etc.).</p>

<p>I went to a small college (2200 students). They have their pros - personal attention from professors, smaller classes (the largest class I ever had was 50 people), an insular, family-like environment, more opportunities for leadership since you’re not competing with 10,000 other people.</p>

<p>But they also definitely have their cons. Small schools have small campuses, with less dining choices - there was only one dining hall on my campus and it wasn’t that great. There weren’t that many majors, only the bare bones, and the majors that were there didn’t have a lot of classes, just the basics. The facilities were all small and the school didn’t have a lot of money to renovate them, and the housing options were also limited. And the school had Division III sports, so no sports (I like college football). There were also fewer clubs and fewer activities. Also, the insular environment wasn’t all good. Sometimes it felt like I knew everyone and I didn’t always like that feeling.</p>

<p>I liked my college experience, but if I had to do it all over I would pick a larger school - at least 5,000 students. I think I would’ve loved to have gone to a huge school with big football; during my sophomore year I wanted to transfer to the University of Georgia, but I decided against it because I had a full scholarship at my small LAC and I would’ve had to pay for housing at Georgia.</p>