OK, you will have a larger alumni network at a larger university. But do grads of smaller colleges feel connected to other similar LACs? For example, I have heard of collegiality among alumni of the Seven Sisters. Do grads of Colby who meets grads of Williams or other NESCAC schools in social or work situations feel a kinship?
And conversely, what about UNC and NCSU? Or Michigan compared to MSU or OSU? How do grads of big universities interact with those of the sports rival, like in a professional sense? (I have seen a lot of UNC vs Duke dislike here in NC, but usually between people who went to neither of these, if to any college).
I don’t expect a consensus on this, unless someone can quote a study. Really, I am curious about real experiences from CC members.
Depends on the college, I think. I went to a small women’s HBCU, and I do feel connected to other grads of HBCUs and vice versa. I’ve definitely gone to events that are centered on “HBCU love” or had people brighten up when they heard where I graduated from because they went to an HBCU, too. We’ve definitely chatted about the similarities and culture of our experiences at HBCUs, and I do feel like it could work in my favor in work situations - like huh, let’s look closer, this person went to Spelman/Howard/Tuskegee.
I feel somewhat, but less, connected to other women’s college graduates. We’ve talked about the experience and bonded over how it feels and what it’s like. But while I think the HBCU alumni network would work in my favor (and my alma mater’s definitely would) in terms of opportunities, I don’t know that the women’s college network would, necessarily. And I don’t necessarily feel more connected to anyone because they went to a random other small college like Amherst or Lawrence or something.
I’ve observed the big university networking secondhand - I was at Penn State for a postdoc and I know lots of Penn State alumni, lots of Michigan alumni and lots of UW (Seattle) alumni. The Penn State alumni network is super strong - they tend to cluster. There are a lot of Michigan alums and I get the sense their network is strong, but not as over the top excitable as Penn State alumni.
I think it’s important to separate the types of larger universities from one another. A large school with great sports will likely have a fundamentally different type of alumni network compared to a large, mostly commuter school even if both have similar numbers of students. Most of the US based chapters of my school’s alumni networks only meet at bars to watch the football games and maybe once during the summer for a student send off. Since the overwhelming majority of schools where there are a non trivial number of chapters do not have big sports, I’d imagine that their events are likely to be fundamentally different than out of state Michigan or Oklahoma ones.
I’d imagine this is dependent on how far the graduates are from the university in question. For instance, I used to live next to the real MSU (Montana State University) and attended a couple of tailgates for the Bobcats while in Bozeman, MT. When I was inside the state, I felt little connection to University of Montana affiliates, but once I got out of the Rockies, immediately felt a bond with someone who had also spent time in Montana.
As a side note, the Denver chapter of the University of Oklahoma Alumni network helped me obtain an internship with a company that I may end up working for after graduation.