I’m currently a freshman at a top ten LAC of just under 2,000 students. I’m looking to transfer for a number of reasons including strength of the program I’m interested in (enviro studies) and financial aid among other things. I was looking at a university with an undergrad size of about 30k. Obviously this is a huge jump, but the school does offer a substantial amount of transfer aid which isn’t common among colleges strong in enviro studies, so I’m thinking it may be worth applying to see what aid I’m given.
If anyone has any experiences or advice with this that would be great!
Have you visited the university? If not, you really should.
The overall undergrad experience at tiny schools (such as your current institution) and gigantic schools (such as the one you’re looking at) offer are so different, I think that you should seriously research and/or at least dip your toes in the type of campus community you’ll be jumping into.
I currently attend a huge (~20k-30k undergrad enrollment) school. Some people adore the size, some can’t stand it. People from all manner of dispositions have varying opinions on the massive headcount, so I couldn’t say whether you’d have a genuinely great time if you were an introvert/extrovert, etc.
However, as one professor of mine said, “Opportunity is a function of population.” The more students at a school, the more it’ll have going on. It’ll simply be up to you whether you take advantage of all the stuff going on around you.
If you have any questions about attending a big school, don’t hesitate to ask me! Best of luck.