<p>Just read a profound quote on another thread:</p>
<p>I'm a believer in larger schools (students tend to grow into the big ones, grow out of the little ones).</p>
<p>Would you say this is true?</p>
<p>I fail to see what’s profound about that. I think many students just fit better with larger or smaller schools.</p>
<p>Chardo, that’s a quote from one of my posts. It’s based on the experience and observations of my husband, a former academic & university administrator, and many of our friends still in academia. “Fit” is important and it’s true what Erin’s Dad says - it’s an individual thing. But most students are very different creatures at 17, when they’re looking at schools, than when they’re graduating at 22 or so. That huge campus that looked so overwhelming to a high school junior/senior becomes completely familiar and home-like to the university junior/senior. Conversely, a school that seems cozy and intimate at first may seem suffocating and incestuous four years later. Those are the exact words used by quite a few graduating seniors at a selective (and somewhat isolated) east coast LAC where one of our friends teaches. By the end of their sophomore year, his student are often, well, a bit bored. Many chose to do a semester/year abroad just for a needed change of scenery. And when they come back, that same campus seems even smaller, less exciting and more sheltered than before. Of course, this doesn’t happen to every student, many love the small school environment and either don’t see any limitations, or simply learn to live with them. But one administrator told me that the desire for a bigger, more diverse campus is the #1 reason for student transfer at his selective New England LAC.</p>
<p>It comes down to a personal preference for one or the other. But even 2000 students is not such a small number when the majority are people you’d like to know.</p>