College - big vs small?

[chitchatting]

I've been accepted into two colleges. They're both pretty good schools, but I'm having a hard time choosing between the two.

One is smaller and lesser-known (the amount of incoming freshmen to this school is around 500, as compared to 3,000 for the other).

I was set on the smaller college until I found out only a few weeks ago that the larger school had accepted me, so I still had my mind set on the smaller school. My parents and many people around me are pushing me to go to the larger school because of its prestige.

I was wondering, are big schools worth it? I'm concerned about falling through the cracks.

 

[Absurdity]

I go to a school with about 15k undergrads. Having come from a relatively small high school (2.2k kids total), I enjoy my anonymity immensely. There are also a lot more resources here than I would have found at a small school (in terms of financial aid, career opportunities, size of the library ).

What I think is more important to consider than sheer size is the general intellectual and social atmosphere. Fraternities are a huge deal here and I've never cared for them. The school is also very prestigious. Sadly, just about everyone I have met has been totally concerned with either their future career, "raging," or both. It's very rare to have a serious intellectual discussion that extends beyond socially accepted platitudes, and I find this frustrating. In short, I do not fit in here, but I am nearly done with my degree so I'm going to stick it out.

I will say that I am excited to be an alumn though. There is a huge network scattered across the world and they are always happy to help other alumni. My school's name also tends to raise eyebrows and open doors, which has been very helpful already for me and perhaps justifies putting up with an environment I'm not crazy about.

Basically, seek out an environment where you would enjoy yourself, but don't completely ignore the benefits that can come with a prestigious degree.

 

[Chad]

I've been accepted into two colleges. They're both pretty good schools, but I'm having a hard time choosing between the two.

One is smaller and lesser-known (the amount of incoming freshmen to this school is around 500, as compared to 3,000 for the other).

I was set on the smaller college until I found out only a few weeks ago that the larger school had accepted me, so I still had my mind set on the smaller school. My parents and many people around me are pushing me to go to the larger school because of its prestige.

I was wondering, are big schools worth it? I'm concerned about falling through the cracks.

I went to a relatively small school there were like 2,500 students. 3,000 is also a small school actually you shouldn't fall threw the cracks there.

However, I think going to a smaller school has some advantages as long as it is still a good school. Some times small schools don't have the staff or the facilities to be as effective as slightly larger schools.

However, the advantage is that as long as the staffing is adequate you will most likely have more to get one on one attention form the faculty. Which has built in advantages.

If I where you I would look at the Student to Faculty ratio when deciding this and not the raw numbers. Because the 3,000 student class could have a similar ratio if not a better one. The School I attended had a about 1:12 Ratio or about 900 full time faculty member for almost 11,000 students. This is a really great ratio.

 

[chitchatting]

I hadn't even considered the size of the library! Many people I've talked to have also suggested that the college's name on my resume will open doors, but I hadn't really thought about all of the other alumni.

I also suppose a larger student pool would help in allowing me to do my own thing.

Thank you very much for your input!

 

[chitchatting]

If I where you I would look at the Student to Faculty ratio when deciding this and not the raw numbers. Because the 3,000 student class could have a similar ratio if not a better one. The School I attended had a about 1:12 Ratio or about 900 full time faculty member for almost 11,000 students. This is a really great ratio.

Oh, by 3,000, I meant incoming freshmen. The total undergrads are at about 18,500. EDIT: Oh, duh. Totally misread. Whoops.

It's also hard to tell concerning the student-faculty ratio. Both schools are at 14:1, and the smaller school has about 3,800 undergrads. I'm not sure if this is an accurate number for the larger school, or if the numbers are being skewed by some incredibly small classes that won't be available to freshmen.

But then again, I'm not sure if I'd prefer a large or small class yet. I have a feeling smaller classes would feel like high school all over again.

 

[Chad]

Oh, by 3,000, I meant incoming freshmen. The total undergrads are at about 18,500. EDIT: Oh, duh. Totally misread. Whoops.

It's also hard to tell concerning the student-faculty ratio. Both schools are at 14:1, and the smaller school has about 3,800 undergrads. I'm not sure if this is an accurate number for the larger school, or if the numbers are being skewed by some incredibly small classes that won't be available to freshmen.

But then again, I'm not sure if I'd prefer a large or small class yet. I have a feeling smaller classes would feel like high school all over again.

14:1 means your class sizes should be similar no matter what school you go to. The larger school should have more/ better options for electives in things like this due to more students and more faculty. Also you should find your undergraduates to be way more flexible then high school. I actually didn't even take the recommended first semester classes and form what I've heard Freshmen seminar is a pointless class (I never took it as it was not required at my school).

My wife is currently is in a pharmacy program and it is just about as rigid as high school which seems really weird to me. However, Undergraduate programs are generally very very flexible. If you like large class just chose those when you have the option if you like the one on one type of classes chose them. Either school is likely to have a variety of both.

 

[Nezaros]

The school I go to is a community college of roughly 300. It's awful.

 

[chitchatting]

The school I go to is a community college of roughly 300. It's awful.

Oh, man. I thought my high school was small at about 800.

 

[Jennywocky]

Some decent points made in the thread.... Typically you are balancing what a school offers with what exactly you are paying to get from it, based on what line of work you would like to go into professionally. It's got to be tailor-fitted, there's not a "one size fits all" thing here.

So you might be considering factors like:
- overall professional resources (including lab access and lab equipment)
- classroom size
- faculty advisor/student ratio
- opportunities for employment / later education associated with that school's "name brand" (sorry, but that's how it works)
- how much money you have to pay for your education
- how much financial aid and grants you're getting
- how far from home you'll be
- how encapsulated or spread out the campus is
- the local city/community around the school
- how diverse the student body is
- extracurriculars
- social life

...and so forth...

My high-end liberal arts college was only about 500 people per class = 2000 total in the school. I got a decent job. I probably should have gone elsewhere though, for less cost and more opportunity and feeling like I fit in better. I kind of wasted my college years.

State schools can be cheaper, with more population, but might have some rigorous departments they're known for and more access to lab and study resources and classroom opportunities.

My son's top pick right now is a liberal arts school where the faculty/student ratio is very good and the faculty advisors have a reputation for helping guide a student through the process of choosing a career and putting together their own major program. Since my son is really BAD at that kind of thing on his own and unsure/indecisive, that's a big draw for him.

 

[travelnjones]

What is your major? I want to say if sciences go big for the lab resources. if Liberal Arts small is fine.

I only went to a Junior College and have been in the work world since so take this with a grain of salt. I went to a community college near my house and sucked, dicking around and goofing off all the time. I went to a community college on the other side of town and did well. There were a few years in between and some maturing but I think that I was isolated at the school helped in that i had nothing to do but school.

 

[ArcadeWurm]

I go to a huge school of about 25k and at first I hated it. Its honestly really hard to meet cool people at first being introverted, especially if the people on your floor suck. All the time you will meet people once or twice and then not see them for like a month. and then you are in that really awkward phase where you know them but not really. I absolutely hated it until this semester when I joined a fraternity. That was a way to meet people I actually liked and at the same time it made a huge school a whole lot smaller. Its really easy to get the wrong idea of greek life (I used to think they were all douchbags) but its actually pretty awesome, every fraternity is different. So pretty much big schools kind of suck unless you are part of a group or club within it that can make it smaller.