I currently attend NCF and from my experience NCF is not what I would consider a party school despite it’s reputation for being that way. It’s a small community but there is no pressure to go to parties or participate in any illegal substances that the school is known for and most students are. In fact, I’d say that there is a large chunk of students who do not participate in these types of activities and there’s a huge focus on academics here. A lot of the classes are very demanding and challenging which doesn’t leave much time for partying for a lot of students. From my experience the amount of parties has drastically decreased recently as the campus police has tried to get more involved. This is good or bad depending on who you ask. In the last year maybe because of this I’ve found it to be much less of a party school then I expected it to be.
As far as small schools go New College not only does have a small feel but it’s actually extremely small you can walk from one side of campus to the other in less than 20 minutes. It’s also very beautiful and very close knit which gives students an opportunity to get some unique experiences that come from one on one relationships with professors. I’m not a marine bio student but I would not gloss over this school just because of it’s reputation.