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Northern Arizona University is not a small school; 2024 enrollment was about 28,500 students.
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An issue with small schools, typically 2,000 or fewer students, is that many have just one main dining hall which raises the feeling of familiarity and smallness. And many small schools are in isolated locations which places the emphasis, or entirety, of one’s social life to on-campus activities with the same folks.
Also, can be tough to date or to break-up if attending a small school as it seems as though everyone knows each others’ business. Lack of privacy & lack of opportunity to be anonymous.
Additionally, some small schools become smaller socially due to a divide between athletes and non-athletes. This is true at large universities as well, but is far less noticeable and has almost no impact on one’s social life.
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This was the case re the “claustrophobic” comment mentioned above. Plus “entertainment” (at least among her crowd) seemed to end up being that more normally associated with large public party schools, because that was what was at hand. A pointer to me, again, against applying broad-brush strokes to any school.
I had two that did. Both wanted small schools (although one realized that 1200 was just TOO small). I felt claustrophobic when we were touring these small schools but onward we marched. One ended up at a 3500-4000ish on campus population (many more were on internships or away from campus), the other at a 10k flagship. By junior year, both wished they were at bigger schools just to have more classes to choose from (not necessarily in their major). It was fine, they both enjoyed their time at their schools, but a 16-17 year old picking a school and thinking they wanted something small is different from a 20 year old who has been there for 3 years. Both knew their professors, both participated in a lot of activities and made the schools work.
I would have been miserable at a small school but I tried to let my kids pick what they wanted (with guidance) but finances played a part in the selection too.
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Counterpoint to all the hate on small. My major had 12 students in it and I loved it for that. We knew each other fairly well like colleagues, brainstormed on each others research topics and interests, we all got to do a short speech at departmental graduation. It was interdisciplinary, so we did classes with others as well. But I thrived in the small of it and was far more engaged than I think I would have been in a huge major where nobody knew me. I felt the good pressure to not come to class not knowing what was going on because I didn’t read. Certainly not for everyone, but there lots of people who thrive in the small as well.
Also, while there are a lot of rural or isolated small schools, that is not a feature of small schools so it is odd that folks are conflating the stuck in a small rural town piece with small schools. Off the top of my head, Occidental, Reed, Lewis&Clark, Whittier, Macalaster, Sarah Lawrence, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, Barnard, Wellesley, Agnes Scott, Spelman, Morehouse, Cal Tech are all in cities or in close suburbs to major cities with plenty to do. Not to mention the other colleges many of them have around for students to interact with. Being in the middle of nowhere has its own issues. And a small college in the middle of nowhere brings its challenges for sure. But that is not a small college issue.
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No one who worked for a company with 2000-3000 employees would think that their work place was claustrophobically small.
Let’s also include in this calculation that any college turns over a quarter of its enrollment every year. It’s not static. So, a student attending a college with 2000 students enrolled has actually spent their college experience with 3500 other students over 4 years. If the enrollment is 3000, then the number of fellow students over 4 years is 5250.
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I don’t think anyone here is hating on small schools. Rather, some posters are just pointing out potential challenges to keep in mind. That doesn’t mean a small school is bad for everyone.
Right. So we’re all in agreement then.
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Simply not true
Agree that no one is hating on small schools. It’s individual. My D19 went to a large private (one named above as supposedly having all the disadvantages of a large public) but because of the program she was in, almost all her classes were max 20-25 students apart from a couple of gen eds (most of the gen ed requirements could be met with courses within her program). That meant she also got close to her professors, etc. A non-honors college example of making a big school small. Certain majors in a public could be similar, others won’t be.
Again, it’s all individual. Every school out there will work for some people and not for others. The important thing is the student knowing what works for them.
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My D22’s best friend goes to Williams and my D, who goes to a huge school, spent 3 days on campus with her. In those 3 days, my D went from knowing no one and having people eye her curiously (her friend said it was bc she was “new blood”) to having multiple people waving to her and greeting her on the sidewalk and in the cafeteria. (She thought it was super sweet.) She went to a formal as her friend’s guest, partied with a big group where one person overindulged and did some silly things, then noted the gossip about that person, which lasted the whole next day. In the cafeteria, she said it was super clear where the different groups sat—theater and acapella kids in one area, sporty kids in another, etc.
My D’s friend noted that dating, hooking up, breaking up, then bumping into people you wish you didn’t have to see are just features of life there. She loves Williams and it’s perfect for her as a very social person who has always been friends with everyone. But it’s not hard to imagine feeling awkward or uncomfortable when bumping into your ex in line for cereal every morning at the one cafeteria—and knowing that everyone around you also knows that’s awkward for you is… well, another level of awkward.
Don’t get me wrong, I think small schools are awesome for lots of reasons… and as it became clear to my D in 3 just days, everyone knowing and talking about everyone’s business is part of the program. Whether that’s a feature or a bug is in the eye of the beholder.
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Fair point. Hating was too strong a phrasing. I think I was reacting to what seemed like a string of posts fairly close together talking about potential downsides of small schools. In hindsight, I see that those were largely in response to a post that questioned why someone would want to make a small school larger or something to that effect. I apologize for being overly dramatic. We are in agreement. Small, medium and large schools all work for some and none work for all.
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This description strikes me as so similar to the age old debate about big city living vs small town life. Some folks swear the other option is the worst thing they can imagine, some see the charms and downsides of each. And some try to live in a quaint suburbs to attempt getting “the best of both worlds.”
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After bad break ups, people on big campuses never run into each other?
Almost all of the down sides of small colleges have focused on quality of life issue, the social side of things. I get it. My GS is at UMass because he doesn’t like to stand out in a crowd. In contrast, I have a GD who went to Rice entirely because she loved the idea of the residential colleges there. She WANTED to be involved in everyone’s business. She wanted to be involved with the group dynamics and the group decision making. It’s the involvement that comes with the idea of the old New England town meeting. My GD really waned to be part of a community and to be involved in building that community. Without something like residential colleges, it’s really hard to do that at a Big Ten or SEC school. As much as some people hate the idea of everyone knowing their business, other’s love it. Of course, at a small college, a student can choose to live off campus, eat meals at their apartment, choose when to go to the cafeteria, and thereby avoid embarrassing encounters which they’d prefer to avoid.
The advantages of a small college are almost entirely academic and have been enumerated a myriad of times and that’s what hasn’t been mentioned here. While it’s possible to find those educational benefits at a large university, it’s also common not to be able to find them there because there are a lot of things working against you. Hit or miss. If your major is a small department, if you find your people in a club or extracurricular, if you are in theme housing, the educational experience can foster your experience as part of a community.
Personally I’ll choose the small college, but I understand why my GS loves UMass.
The 2,000 employees do not live together 7 days a week. Also, the employees have family members and non-work friends with whom to interact and socialize.
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I think the question of one dining hall vs more than one is such a good point. My student at Bates loves the central dining room as it is such a hub of activity on campus. It’s that way at Vassar also and I only hear positive things. At Smith College, where I also have a student, they have decentralized dining and use that to accomodate different preferences like gluten free, vegetarian etc. but I think it is actually seen as kind of a pain and students would prefer one dining location. It’s complicated at Smith because food service workers are unionized (this is a good thing).
I am sorry to hear that they both regretted their college choices. Hopefully as time goes on, they will come to appreciate what they got out of the experience.
Maybe not in the modern world. But when the US was a manufacturing titan, people lived and worked together in company towns all over the country. I live in New England where it seems that every town was at one time an Industrial Revolution mill town, each with its own industry. Nearby Willimantic is a classic example where 2500 people worked in the American Thread Company mills at its peak. They all lived close enough to walk to work.