<p>D graduated from a very large urban university last spring and will start her new job in a month. As a high school senior, she was shy, not very self-confident, but very focused. I worried about her living in the city and thought she should have chosen a more nurturing LAC. (Back then, she didn’t even like to order for herself in a restaurant. I thought the big city life might eat her alive.) </p>
<p>Today she is a very different person - poised, self-confident, and very assertive. She readily navigates city life - mass transportation, crazy neighbors, stubborn landlords - and juggles it all easily (or at least it seems so to me.) She’s still not the most outgoing person, but she has a circle of close friends she made in college and she is definitely nobody’s doormat.</p>
<p>Part of it was simple maturation, I think. She didn’t fail a class or have a huge blow-out with her parents. I think that her personal growth experiences were the end of a serious long-distance romantic relationship (very tough but definitely a learning experience) and her summer internship in her area of study (welcome to the working world, baby!!) And in her case, I think that large urban university was very important to her growth. It wasn’t necessarily nurturing, but it helped her develop great societal coping skills while giving her the chance to succeed and flouirish academically and career-wise.</p>