<p>I am very excited about going to Rutgers University. The only problem is, more than half my senior class is probably going to end up there. I want new experiences and a fresh new start, I don't want to run into a bunch of people from high school! I know the university is a huge place and it is not likely that I will have to see them every single place I go, but I still feel like I won't be able to get away from my high school acquaintances. Does anyone else have this problem with a big state college?</p>
<p>My d felt the same way so she decided to go out of state. Many of the kids she knows from her HS still hang out together at Rutgers and TCNJ.</p>
<p>Pretty much half of my senior class went to Rutgers too, I was going out of state until circumstances to avoid the same thing. What I have however is that you can pretty much avoid anyone you don't really want to talk to. Some of the time, I see someone at a bus stop and talk for a minute but have to catch a bus. What I'm saying is, you don't really have to deal with this problem at all.</p>
<p>In reality you might have 100 out of nearly 40,000. You might have a hard time finding them after first year.</p>
<p>I'm at the University of NH. So are at least 60, possibly 70 people from my senior class. I did two things right. First: I chose not to room with someone I know. Second: I chose not to live in the all freshman dorms. The kids who roomed with someone they know are always together. Trust me. I live in the same area as the frosh towers, so I see them (most of them are in those towers) all the time in the dining hall. They're hanging out with the same kids every time, and it's always a group of kids from high school. I still see my friends from high school, but I spend more of my time with new people. It's certainly possible to not spend every moment with kids from your high school. I see a few a day. But it's more in passing then constant. I'll actually have a class next semester with a friend from high school. But that's not a bad thing. Trust me, you will actually come to like bumping into a familiar face occasionally. It won't be "your high school 2".</p>
<p>I don't go to a big school (Univ. of Roch.), but two other kids from my class are going (which is a big oddity). Ironically, one of them is literally my next door neighbor. In high school we knew each other, but never really that much. Now we are pretty good friends.</p>
<p>Stargirl, I am from NJ as well and I agree with you, a lot of people go to Rutgers. I suggest you look at TCNJ. Its a much harder school to get in so not that many people from your school will go there. Also I believe you'll have a much much better academic experiance at TCNJ than at Rutgers.</p>
<p>U of I, 40/405 my graduating class came here. They are the type that likes to stick together too. I don't think any of them hang out with anybody other than hometown kids. I thought it would be a big deal. The first night I tried to hang out with them I new I needed to find new friends so the next few nights (and for the rest of my time here) I did exactly that. I only speak to a few from my high school anymore and those are the ones in engineering (and a random who ended up at Panera when I did on the same day and time every week).</p>
<p>Other than that I don't try to see them and don't have to spend time keeping away. I went to a party at a guy from my high school's apt last weekend. Except he was the guy I knew least who lived there. I was better friends with the other housemates. We said hi and that was about it.</p>
<p>If you don't want to see them, that's cool, you won't. But sometimes it's nice and gives you a sense of home away from home, even if it's just a minute-long bus ride or a hi on the quad. Other times you won't want to see them and won't at all. I lived right next to some kid in my class and I never saw him. I saw my best friend a lot even though he was on the other side of campus. If you want to see anyone you have to make the effort.</p>
<p>There are about 20 people from my graduating class of 300 that are going to Davis (30,000 students) with me - including my ex boyfriend haha. Anyway, it is RARE that I run into ANY of them really. Thinking back on the past 4 years, I've only bumped into about 6 of them on campus.. some more than once, but it's so rare that I don't even expect it to happen.</p>
<p>I don't think you have to worry. I, too, went to a large state university and others from my high school went there as well. I did choose to room with some one from my high school. However, I got involved in lots of activities and things and rarely saw most of those I went to high school with. Sometimes it's comforting to see a familiar face, but you definitely won't run into them every day or every week. There will be enough people on campus that you can definitely choose your own path and make tons of new friends.</p>
<p>I am from Texas and attend the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Three people from my graduating class decided to attend Michigan and we see each other a lot. Just a little something that I thought was weird and somewhat on topic.</p>