<p>Well first of all by relationship I mean not only gf/ bf but also really good friends. At first I thought that it would be a big school since that would mean more opportunities but if you go to a big school how do you get to know people?</p>
<p>It really depends. You can make great friends at any school, small or big. Smaller schools tend to be more “close knit”, but they can also gravitate towards the cliquey end of things. If thats the case and you don’t fit in with it, then its harder to make friends. </p>
<p>I’m sure theres cliques at bigger universities, but theres usually a lot greater diversity of people. You just need to be involved.</p>
<p>In my case, i go to a smaller school, where the people are very cliquey. This hasn’t worked well with me. I’m transferring to a bigger U next year (not just because of the cliques), but im not that worried about making friends since im going to be in marching band. We will be spending a lot of time together so im sure friends will come of it. </p>
<p>My cousin goes to the same school im transferring to, and from what i’ve heard she has made several friends since she is part of the equestrian team and they spend a lot of time together. </p>
<p>Im not saying its different from smaller schools, but i think at a bigger university you should definitely jump into a group that you enjoy straight away.</p>
<p>While big schools have a lot of people, you will still see the same people everyday in your classes, on your dorm floor, and in your extra-curricular activities. So while it’s big, there will still be that “small group” feeling. When you go to a big school you will constantly see new people around campus, and it is virtually impossible to know every single person on campus. It is a lot easier to feel “lost in the crowd” if things don’t go your way while you’re there.</p>
<p>At a smaller school you will still see the same people everyday on your dorm floor, in classes, etc. But generally when you walk around campus, it’s hardly ever anyone new. There will come a point later on into the semester when everybody knows everyone and social groups tend to form. It will feel more like a high school again in terms of the social aspect.</p>
<p>How small does a school have to be before you consider it small? I am trying to decide between a two schools one is about 8k and the other is 30k. I am worried about the first school being too small. I do not want to feel like I am in high school.</p>
<p>^ 8k undergrads is pretty big compared to some truly small LACs or private schools like Rice
where you’ll have like 500 people or so in your graduating class, now thats a small ****ing school…</p>
<p>Big schools = more people = win</p>
<p>@TcherryPie Lol yes I would say a class of 500 is quite *****ing small. I am just trying to figure out the right balance between being invisible and smothered. Maybe what is just as important as size is fit. Maybe if the school is a really good fit, it would not be such a bad thing. I tend to agree if I had to pick, without being given any other factors, I would go with the big school over the small one.</p>
<p>My high school had like 5k students and if one wanted to it would not have been at all difficult to be invisible there-- I was and I tried NOT to be. But I do fine at umich. I can be invisible if I feel like it, but it’s just as easy not to be.</p>
<p>I go to a huge school (~7000 in my class alone) and the advantage here is that you know that somewhere there’s going to be a group of people you click with and enjoying spending time with. And they’re not hard to find. You can also move in a lot of different circles and won’t really fall into a “social rut” so to speak.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that smaller schools feel more like high school, which was NOT what I wanted.</p>
<p>It really depends on the person. But there’s no reason why you can’t make friends at either a big or small (or medium sized) school.</p>
<p>yea thanks, I feel like I want to go to a group of school where there will be a clear group of people like me to hang out with. How big do you think would be big enough for that? What should the smallest be?</p>
<p>I don’t think theres any way to answer that. I mean, I went to a school with 5000+ students for HS and couldn’t find a niche, which is a bit ridiculous if you think about it. I go to a school with 30k+ now and I don’t really have a defined niche here either that I’ve yet been able to find, but I have a lot of friends and a lot of different groups that I fit into. I don’t think there’s really any such thing as particular circumstances which will particularly lead to finding a clear cut niche, unless you have particular qualities in mind that might be more common at some schools than others-- but even then, you may not click with those kids. It’s difficult to say. What kind of kids exactly are you looking for?</p>
<p>It really depends. I go to a small residential college within a huge university. I found my boyfriend in the residential college since we live together, take classes together, have the same friends, etc. I am not sure if I would have found such close relationships in the large university, but I was never really forced to. Before I started dating my bf, I had only one close friend outside of my residential college. </p>
<p>I went to a high school with 6k+ people (yes, same as the woman above :p), and I easily found a few groups of very close friends. At my really, really small private K-8 school I couldn’t find a friend lol.</p>
<p>^That reminds me of something we say at umich all the time, that you have to find ways to “make the university small.” You do that through things like residential colleges, clubs, getting involved in your department, IM sports, whatever. It’s not like you just float around through 40,000 students all the time, you have smaller communities within the big community to socialize in. It’s just that if one community isn’t working for you, at a big school that’s no great loss.</p>
<p>I would have to disagree with the remark about small schools having a high school social environment. I went to a high school with ~1400 students and now attend a college with the same amount, and I still feel invisible at times. I have a few groups of friends that I hang out with mainly, but I definitely don’t recognize everyone as I’m walking from place to place.</p>
<p>I go to a small college with around 600 per class, and it doesn’t feel like high school at all to me. However, my HS had only 100 kids per class so college feels a lot bigger to me. In high school though, I felt like we didn’t really have cliques because it was such a small school that we all knew each other so well by graduation, and everyone would talk with everyone. At college though, I feel like cliques formed so fast within the first few weeks of school.</p>