Working on initial list for D25. She has seen a few SLACs and a few she loved. However, she is intrigued by research options at larger schools. Her interest is neuroscience (maybe psych too depending on school programs). She has expressed interest in VT and UMass Amherst. Obviously, these are both very large schools. Her HS did a college visit to UConn, which she did not like at all. She said she didn’t like the way the campus was spread out. It appears both VT and Amherst are a bit more consolidated. She is very proactive so I am guessing she will email the Dept Head to get more info on class sizes etc. However, I am wondering if there are LLCs or other programs to help a big school feel smaller? I see some info at VT re: LLCs but can’t quite figure them out. Not sure she would qualify for honors. We will likely visit both but would be good to be prepared with questions. I hear very positive things about both schools but am curious to learn more about any programs that may help with feeling connected early on. She is more introverted but comes out of her shell pretty quickly if comfortable. She also learns best in a discussion oriented environment which may not be possible with huge student bodies. FYI we are OOS for both so she will not know people.
Thank you.
The Honors College at the university of Vermont should offer small class sizes.
UMass is a large campus, though not as spread out as UConn.
By VT, do you mean Virginia Tech or University of Vermont (usually abbreviated as UVM)?
S23 looked at, toured and applied to both UMass and VT. We are also MA natives.
Both are big schools for sure and one parents (mine) opinion is that the vibe between the two is very similar. They’re both in reasonably rural area’s, the buildings are a little more spread out at VT. I believe both are undergoing a bit of a housing crunch. Very different weather! In terms of introvert/extrovert I will say that larger schools will have more opportunity for meeting “your people” than smaller schools. More clubs, more activities, etc.
We never got as far as looking at LLC’s but that information should be published on their websites. Some schools seem to organize them into “social” groups, others organize into “academic” groups.
I have a first year at UVM (Vermont which is what I assume you are asking about given the other New England schools). Both my husband and I as well as our older child are small college people so looking at large state universities was a first for me. UVM is smaller than many state universities – 11,000 undergrad. And, the individual colleges are more the size of a small LAC. My son is in the LASP program in the college of arts and sciences - it’s by application and is only for freshman year, but the 2 classes per semester he takes in the program are 25 students. He has one big intro class (100 students) and his other 2 classes are in the 35-50 student range. With the exception of the big intro class, everything is discussion-based. And, have to say that at my daughter’s LAC, her intro to psych class was also the large lecture format…it’s just that large there is defined differently! The LLCs are more about dorm placement than programs. They do a common read and some of them do a class/programming, but the advice we got was to rank them based on where he wanted to live rather than on his actual interest area. I have been impressed by the many opportunities to get engaged though just like any place, students have to be willing to take advantage of what’s offered. My more introverted son who knew no one when he arrived was able to get involved with things quickly and is very happy. He did do a pre-orientation trip (TREK in his case but there are several different options) where he met people before school. He also met people in his orientation week group that are among his friends now.
VT is Virginia Tech.
I’m going with Va Tech - and I assume your daughter likes to eat - because they are the two top rated schools for food in the country and food is highly underrated as an important thing.
And Va Tech is arguably the nicest campus in America (to me) and has a college of Neuro, not just a major.
Reading later we might be talking UVM - but since you said VT - add it to your list 
If it is UVM and UMass, why not split the difference and add UNH kidding.
You might ask each school if you can speak with a student advisor to talk about the major…the depth, size, etc. and look at the overall availability of course offerings, etc.
Good luck.
Well…does weather factor into your child’s college decisions…because weather was a top criteria for one of mine. VT and UMass have very different weather. Does she have a preference?
Thank you all for the thoughtful responses. I was referring to Virginia Tech. But UVM is on list too so that info. is equally valuable. Weather is not an issue for her as long as there are things to do like school events, restaurants, movies, hiking/skiing/snowshoeing, whatever. She is not a party kid but likes hanging out with friends and being involved. She actually won’t look at FL because she hates that weather. The food at both VT and UMass look like selling points. I really can’t imagine her in a class of 100 kids but maybe she is ok with it. I went to a SLAC so I lean that way. Not sure she would qualify for honors but I imagine that she would love it if she did. She likes academics although she is not very top of her class. I appreciate the feedback as there are so many schools and only so much time/money to visit. Hard to know where to put the effort so it is good hearing from others experience.
This may be the case at an in state school too. You might see former classmates at first but over time as everyone moves on, things change.
Does money matter? VT will be less merit, etc.
What I like about VT is they have a college of Neuro vs. just a major - so I think there may be more opportunities - but check it out.
VT is HUGE - but it’s very well laid out and likely a more compact experience than appears when you get there.
Best of luck to you.
I did not know about the neuroscience school. Will dig deeper into that. She has been doing research and told me to look at VT to get my opinion. So she probably saw a robust program. I will have her contact them. Maybe she can meet with someone when we tour.
Money matters but we have a healthy budget so when I run NPC we are ok at these schools. I assume we won’t get meaningful merit at a state school. Will be a happy surprise if we do.
It’s great to set up academic visits - sometimes admissions will do for you or sometimes you can reach out to the department. It helps.
You’ll get meaningful merit at schools that offer it - and meaningful depends on stats.
The bigger money schools will be in the south or out west. Schools like Alabama draw a ton from all over - tons from the NE, as an example because depending on stats, it can be $20K all in. Ms State is another. Out West an Arizona pays big. Other biggies are schools like South Carolina, Miami of Ohio, and many more. Both UMASS and UVM seem to give merit but maybe not as much etc. And of course, since all schools have different costs, the amount of merit isn’t the only thing to look at but the overall cost.
Here is a link to the VT neuro college.
The one knock we had against VT was that the school makes up most of the town and while it’s a cool “college town” feel to it, lots of college bars/restaurants in the streets just off the campus there isn’t a lot outside of that. When we toured we talked to 2 students and both said they wished they realized coming in how far it was to something outside the school (Mall 45 minutes away, etc). Hiking/skiing/snowshoeing? None of that - it’s a pretty flat part of the state. You need to visit it to make the call. UMass is very much a college town too but much closer other “stuff”.
Might not be the case in small schools but many school that are medium on up are going to have core classes that are 60+ kids. It’s just a more cost efficient way for the colleges to teach an “intro” course. When you visit ask the question of the student guides - generally once you get outside the core curriculum classes can get MUCH smaller.
This is one thing we did for every college we visited. Different programs but whenever we were going to a school we reached out directly to the programs he was interested in and either attended one of their formal information sessions or met directly with someone in the school - a few even set up current students we could meet with. Most programs were incredibly responsive and if you run into some that aren’t - that gives its own impression.
If you can visit VT when they are having an open house (we did one in the spring), I would highly recommend it. In addition to multiple information sessions and tours, there was a large room set up with tables for many different majors, most being represented by a faculty member and 1-2 students. The one on one conversations with current upper level students in majors of interest were very helpful to D24.
My daughter went to a school 2000 miles from her high school and a boy from her Kindergarten class (which was not 150 miles away from the school) lived in her dorm and a girl from her girl scout troop was a sorority sister. The following year a girl from her hs attended the school.
It’s likely there will be others from her life at any college she picks. And that can be a very comforting thing.
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