<p>My son, who is a freshman now at a UC, came from a small school. He graduated with 21 students. I was concerned about how life in a big university would affect him and if he would fit in. He loves it!! I mean the university alone is larger than our whole town. You don’t know how many times we have heard that if you are from a small town you will never make it anywhere else. That was so frustrating!! My son is determined to make it just to prove to those in this town that it can be done. He has talked to some of the upcoming High School seniors here about college life, and has told them that it can be done. Well, they are afraid to leave their friends here. If they only knew that as time go by, those friends move on…!! My son comes home every once in awhile and it is sad to say, he has nothing in common with anyone here. Is anyone else in the same situation??</p>
<p>Brenda722, glad to read that your son likes UCSD. Can’t comment on the rest of your post.</p>
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Brenda722, I don’t think that this is too unusual considering your son is now being exposed to a much more diverse student body. Eventually he may well find that he still does have things to talk about with his old friends. After he gains a little more perspective, he may realize that just because an old buddy doesn’t share the all same more “diverse” interests (if that’s what your son thinks!) - they still have some things in common…sort of like being friends with someone who has completely opposite political views. 
Then again, they may not. Things will unfold and take their natural course - not to worry!</p>
<p>Brenda, sounds like your post should have been entitled “Parents of children from small schools and small towns”.</p>
<p>We live in a large city (Philly), but my kids go to a small school. My son is going to a fairly large university next year, which will be a change from his HS where his classes are often seminar style and have as few as 10 kids in them. He’s looking forward to something new and a shift in culture - just for the sake of it being different. The vast majority of the kids will go away - those who stay only do so to go to Penn. Likewise, all of his friends from the neighborhood and old K-8 school friends will go away, unless they go to Penn. That’s the norm here - even for kids from very small schools. </p>
<p>The small town thing is another issue. I’ve heard that mentioned frequently on CC (the small town/sheltered mentality that kids don’t/shouldn’t go away to school and those who do are realy taking a risk - woooooh). Your son is a trailblazer and you’ll be a great spokesperson for going away. You can share your son’s success and enthusiasm with other local parents, who may be able to pass the knowledge along to other parents who are apprehensive about sending their kids off. </p>
<p>I hope your son will come home often enough to share his adventures with his old friends and spark their interest in branching out.</p>
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<p>I was in this situation myself back in my high school years. I lived in a town too small to have it’s own high school (it had an elementary school plus one general store and one gas station - a village really) and rode the bus 20 miles each way to attend high school in another town with a population under 2000. After graduation I went off to a large university with over 25,000 students. It was an ajustment, but overall I thought it was fun.</p>
<p>I seldom went back to my old town because my parents moved shortly after I went to college. But I did go back for a few visits and to my 10 and 20 year HS reunions, and I did find that I didn’t have all that much in common any more with most of those who stayed.</p>