<p>Do you guys think it would be better for someone with poor social skills to attend a small LAC or a big uni?</p>
<p>small school imo. but I wouldn’t know, I attend a large state school</p>
<p>Big University.
That will give you more room to explore interests and develop social skills.
If you go to a tiny LAC, and are truly poorly off socially, then you might garner an undesirable reputation that would be very difficult to fix, whereas in a large university you could start fresh more easily.
Just my opinion.</p>
<p>@HonorsCentaur, it may be true that at a larger university you’d have more chances to “redeem” yourself but don’t you think people are more inclined to be a d*ck to you if they don’t like you as opposed to a small LAC where you sort of have to work things out with people because it’s such a small community?</p>
<p>^Well, you can make a big school small, but you can’t really make a small school big.
At a large school, there are various communities i.e. sports teams, clubs, dorms, etc. Plus, most people won’t want to be dicks anyway.</p>
<p>I am a quiet person by nature, and honestly really enjoy my alone time. </p>
<p>But being at a big university really helps me to be social no matter what. There are lots of activities that I am involved in and that really helps facilitate social interaction. </p>
<p>I can speak about both sides because I transferred from a small LAC, where I was not pushed to be social and as a result I ended up pretty secluded. That’s beside the fact I thought most people were snobby and I couldn’t stand them. </p>
<p>But anyways, big university!!</p>
<p>I go to a small school (<1000 students). A few judgmental popular people can ruin your whole experience. If you do one bad thing, everyone will know who you are and remember you for it. Better to go to a big school where there are discrete social circles and if you screw up in one, you can move to another.</p>
<p>Large school. And put yourself out there. Really.</p>
<p>There does seem to be a larger range of “acceptable” social levels at larger universities, which means you will be more likely to find a group of friends like yourself. Smaller schools will have a more unified school social scene that will give you fewer options if you don’t like the overall vibe.</p>
<p>BIG University,
If you have poor social skills, big university is definetely a choice for you.
Small colleges will be high school all over again. Everyone knows everyone.
Try to attend one of the Big 10 if you can. 
or some other big state university.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, I went to a top five LAC, and the social atmosphere verged on incestuous, in every sense of the word. The place was basically a slander machine; everyone knew intimate details about everyone else and a weird sort of lord-of-the-flies hierarchical social structure emerged based largely on physical attractiveness, and coexisted in an awful psychotic way with the sort of orgiastic come-all-love-all pretension to inclusiveness that you find everywhere these days. If you have any sense of privacy, or any shred of dignity, or just want a social life that isn’t filled with bizarre contradictions, don’t do it. I wish I’d gone to Berkeley instead.</p>
<p>HonorsCentaur’s comment about being able to make a big school small but not vice-versa is the most precise thing anyone’s said in this thread so far. Go big or go home.</p>
<p>All these people keep saying a big university is the way to go but I’m at a big univeristy and I want to put a bullet through my head everyday because of the fact I can’t make friends. I wouldn’t base your college decision on where you think you’ll find more friends, because truth is you won’t know until you get there.</p>
<p>A large one, because of the better reputation.</p>
<p>Get involved in cool-sounding clubs, man. Pretty sure it’s already been said a lot, but who cares. It’s important to find people that’re interested in some of the same things.</p>
<p>Definitely a big university. I was really shy in HS and barely talked to anyone and especially not many girls. My school was weird though because it was small and I only had like 90 people in my graduating class so everyone knew each other. I was somewhat athletic so I played sports all year round and that was the only thing I had going for me because I didn’t care about grades or anything. I got into a top large highly ranked university because of family connections and decided to join a Fraternity freshmen year. It was an amazing experience and I made so many friends in there plus from people in my dorm, classes, parties, and other clubs. I was immersed in it all and was forced to be more outgoing and I loved it. I’m more outgoing now and came a long way from what I used to be. </p>
<p>Truthfully what lands you the job later on is by your social skills. You need to be outgoing and reaching out to people and make connections through networking. I swear from the seniors that I know who graduated that they are under the consensus that people choose the people that they believe they can party with or work with. Almost everyone who’s serious enough is going to have that 3.0+ you need to be enjoyable to be around.</p>
<p>I think it really depends (and for the record I go to Brown, which is like in between). Do you think you will ruin your reputation and need to start over? Then choose a large school.</p>
<p>If you’re just shy, going to a smaller school might have its benefits. Personally, regardless of how shy or reserved I am, I don’t think that making mistakes would be as large an issue for me as just meeting people. At a smaller school you’re bound to meet just about everyone, and you won’t get lost amongst the crowd as easily, I imagine.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on what type of person you are.</p>
<p>Small Schools
Pro: more frequent contact with the same people; easier to meet and get to know other students
Con: if your social life is screwed up for one reason or another, it’s probably going to be more difficult to fix</p>
<p>Big Schools
Pro: More people means more opportunities to find people with common interests; easy to avoid people you don’t get along with
Con: Easier to be passive and end up not getting to know anyone</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s possible to know which is going to turn out better in advance, but it helps to know what the risks are. If you do choose a big school, the key is to know how to find and ask for help (this goes for more than just your social life). There are always going to be tons of opportunities, but they’re not going to just land in your lap. Be proactive.</p>
<p>I go to a small LAC , so I can’t speak about a large university, but I can tell you a lot about my own school.</p>
<p>Here, it oftentimes feels like high school in the way that most people know each other and are in your business, but also it’s a lot easier to make and keep relationships here because there are so many reasons to run into the same people.</p>
<p>I can also say though, that there are many people in any school that you have to just “throw out” because you don’t like them or their values, actions, etc. So if you go to a small school, the percentage is about the same, meaning you’ll have a smaller pool of actual people you want to get to know. The small school makes it easier to find these people though, so I’ve found a good few who I’ve become pretty close with because like I said before, we run into each other all the time and there’s always an excuse to talk.</p>
<p>In any school, there will people who hate you because that’s life. But in a small LAC, it is a lot more apparent. I tend to “get guys” that some of the other girls in my hall have tried but failed to get, so sometimes they’ll talk behind my back or once they wrote **** on my door. In a bigger uni, I would assume that people like this wouldn’t hunt you down and try to make your life hell like these girls do to me (although they fail because I made friends with the right people would side with me any day), so that’s what makes it more like high school than college - sometimes it feels like high school with lots of sleepovers and illegal activities haha.</p>
<p>All in all, I haven’t decided if I like it here enough to stay. I’m definitely staying next year, but I’m still thinking about spending my last two years somewhere else because sometimes I feel like I’m missing out on the “real” college experience.</p>
<p>Big university–easy to be anonymous when you don’t want to talk to anybody :D, and you can still develop a lot of friends, especially if you go to a club or something on a regular basis. In fact I made a fair number of friends just by talking randomly in class.</p>