<p>I remember bringing up the topic of school size with my parents when discussing where to apply, but they say, "It doesn't matter."</p>
<p>However, I do think different sizes would be a better fit for different types of students, though I'm not sure exactly how. What do you think? Would you rather study at a small school (think St. Andrews, Groton) or a larger one (think Exeter, Andover)?</p>
<p>Quite a while back, @ThacherParent posted a very thoughtful response to the same question, specifically discussing the advantages of a small school like Thacher. Here’s a link to the post, which was part of the thread “Stress and Race to Nowhere.”</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/11730133-post83.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/11730133-post83.html</a></p>
<p>Thoughts . . .</p>
<p>Large school -> more course options</p>
<p>Large school -> There are always going to be jerks in high school . . . I’m guessing it’s probably easier to avoid them when the student population is larger. Also, it’s probably easier to find kindred spirits to hang out with. For example, you are more likely to find a group of lesbian/gay/transgender math/science geeks at a school with a population of 1000 than at a school with a population of 200.</p>
<p>Small school -> Everybody knows your name! (I think that’s a good thing. You might disagree. ;)) But think about it, people are going to know who you are (and be looking out for you) and you’re not going to get “lost in the shuffle.”</p>
<p>Small school -> more opportunities to do special programs (like Berkshire’s “Pro Vita” week) than what you’ll find at the really big schools. Smaller size = greater flexibility.</p>
<p>I prefer small schools because my children prefer small schools. If I had known then what I know now, I would not have added any schools over 500 or so to our lists. </p>
<p>If you know in 8th grade what you want to do as an adult, looking for large schools with many courses in your area of interest makes sense. If you have a variety of interests, and want to have the opportunity to work on various activities, a small school makes sense. If each school has a newspaper, a yearbook, a band, a winter musical, a model UN team, a community service student league, a French club and a math team, the large school will have more students competing for leadership positions in each activity. A small school will have more opportunities for a student to switch from math team to yearbook, or do both, because it’s a smaller student body.</p>
<p>I’ve heard it expressed as, large schools have more specialists, while small schools need generalists.</p>
<p>While I heartily support Periwinkle’'s insights, just to put dodgersmom’s point a slightly different way: there’s likely more social diversity at the larger schools. Smaller schools can be somewhat more homogenous, and if you feel like you’re outside the norm, that may make for a tougher time socially. I think size of the institution should be one of the top, top factors in deciding whether or not a school is right for you. As a personal example, we decided 800 was roughly our cutoff; felt like diversity would be there at schools just under that number, and also looked at small schools down to about 350. DC ultimately chose Loomis at just under 700, and the size/feel of the community was an important factor to him. Another way to slice this might be to look at the ratio between number of students and size of campus. A high number of students on a relatively smaller campus will have a very different feel than a smaller school spread out over large tracks of land. One or the other may appeal more to you/your family personally.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yep, well put, PelicanDad.</p>
<p>What I’m getting from this is, if you’re a non-conformist you will do well at a large school and vice versa. If you strive your leadership, small schools are better, amirite?</p>
<p>You have to look at the school; if the general face of the school immediately strikes you as a “group of like-minded peers,” then, hey, you’re all set. But if you have esoteric interests (which, in many cases anyway, are one of the things that nudge kids toward looking at boarding schools), you want to ask if there are other kids that share those interests, if so how many, is there institutional support, etc. And the advice about the competition in a bigger pond is simply true; whether the school has 350 students or 1100, there can only be one senior class president, one yearbook editor in chief, etc. Eventually, you tend to hit that level of competition in college anyway, but the question is, are you ready for it in high school, or do you want to have better odds to shine for a while longer?</p>