<p>
[quote]
Bahns et al. found that students at the huge state school tended to spend time with people who were much more similar to them than students at the small, rural colleges.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thought this was interesting vis-a-vis some of the other threads that have been drawing interest recently.</p>
<p>It is true. You would think that a larger school, with more diversity, would create more diversity in relationships. </p>
<p>At a large state school, known for its diversity, I hung out at the student union one day when I was there for a meeting. Each of the different ethnic groups sat together at tables. I would have expected to see more mixing, but it wasn’t happening.</p>
<p>My son recently visited with three friends from Tufts. One was from Iowa, one was from Pakistan and one was from Turkey. They did all have something in common though - an interest in International Relations. This is a kid who has always looked for diversity. His high school group was very diverse as well.</p>
<p>Small schools are not necessarily very diverse. Larger schools may actually have more opportunities to meet people from a variety of backgrounds.
It may take more conscious action on the part of the student to do so however.</p>
<p>Sure, if you are say one of the 7 Native Americans or one of the 63 African Americans currently enrolled among a sea of white faces at St. Olaf for example, then you are definitely going to find very limited opportunities to self-segregate with your own ethnic group. There is less likely to be an informal “Black Kids Table” in the dining hall. You are going have the “diversity” of the majority constantly thrust upon you whether you wanted it or not.</p>
<p>I can’t give you a citation, but years ago there was a somewhat similar study at Berkeley. It found that two groups of students were more likely to make friends with others of diverse backgrounds–athletes and musicians. </p>
<p>So, there ARE ways to overcome the like attracts like syndrome.</p>
<p>I don’t think highly of this study. One conservative state. I wonder what the results would have been in Wisconsin, for example. I can think of all sorts of flaws in using this study to come to conclusions nationwide. Friends may be similar to you- but how much exposure do the students at the small colleges get to people radically different from them since all chose the same small environment? I don’t think it’s bad to find friends you are comfortable with. There are also many different types of diversity, not just ethnic background.</p>
<p>This is one reason it was so important to me to choose a college with randomized housing. It makes a huge difference if students can, or cannot, choose to create neighborhoods of students like themselves.</p>
<p>I really do not see the harm in picking friends like yourself. Friendships are usually based on at least some shared interests. Otherwise on what basis would you become friends–because you like to argue about everything?</p>
<p>My daughter sometimes jokes that if she were a blonde, she and her friends could be on the cover of the admissions brochures. She has a very diverse circle of friends. When she transferred schools as a sophomore in high school, I told her to seek out the kids who looked different because they would not feel as though they were part of the crowd. it seemed to work. She now attends a mid-size state school.</p>
<p>Some of the kids at our state flagship don’t even make new friends in college at all, much less friends who are different from themselves. They just continue hanging out with their friends from high school who ended up there.</p>
Completely randomized housing can cause a lot of practical and impactful issues though in pairing partier with non-partier, late niter with early riser, etc. I think it makes more sense to ask some of these basic lifestyle questions and use that as criteria to group roomies. However, I don’t think things like race, ethnicity, country of origin, and some other attributes should be included.</p>
<p>Odessagirl goes to a small school - less than 3,000 students. They joke that photographers look for the few minorities on campus to make sure they are on the brochures.</p>
<p>While both my kids chose to attend schools which draw students from around the country and world, one downside is that your college friends are unlikely to live close to you. I agree with post #16–often the kids who attend the local state school or flagship maintain their friendships from high school. D knows a lot of kids who are even rooming with old high school friends. Even the new friends they make won’t live more than an hour or two away. This makes it easier to hang out together during breaks and the summers, and of course after graduation as well. By contrast, my D’s 4 best friends from college live in Alaska, CA, OR, and NY, and we live in none of those states. So it’s great and all, and maybe she can fly to visit them if she has enough money, but will these friendships endure after graduation?</p>