Size of college I should attend

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: FallenHero
12000 is plenty fine for me. I hear my friends that go to U of I and purdue...400+ class sizes. That is insane to me. I like to know that the professor knows when I am gone and knows my name. And, despite what a couple others might say, knowing the professor makes him more approchable to me. It can help if you are like that. BTW, i go to Western IL....what is your intended major?

Western eh? I've been there many times for foreign language competitions when I was in high school. Macomb is out in the middle of nowhere 🙂

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: FallenHero
12000 is plenty fine for me. I hear my friends that go to U of I and purdue...400+ class sizes. That is insane to me. I like to know that the professor knows when I am gone and knows my name. And, despite what a couple others might say, knowing the professor makes him more approchable to me. It can help if you are like that. BTW, i go to Western IL....what is your intended major?

There really aren't that many 400+ class sizes here. The only lecture halls I know of that could hold that many are Foellinger and Lincoln. Even with the big classes all have smaller discussion sections.

 

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: FallenHero
12000 is plenty fine for me. I hear my friends that go to U of I and purdue...400+ class sizes. That is insane to me. I like to know that the professor knows when I am gone and knows my name. And, despite what a couple others might say, knowing the professor makes him more approchable to me. It can help if you are like that. BTW, i go to Western IL....what is your intended major?

There really aren't that many 400+ class sizes here. The only lecture halls I know of that could hold that many are Foellinger and Lincoln. Even with the big classes all have smaller discussion sections.

must be a freshmen thing then. Shrug. 40000 people just doensnt appeal to me. To each his own.

oh, and vi_edit...yes, it is. Dont remind me. Maybe ill go cow tipping before school is out.

 

[KokomoGST]

Originally posted by: Sukhoi

Originally posted by: FallenHero
12000 is plenty fine for me. I hear my friends that go to U of I and purdue...400+ class sizes. That is insane to me. I like to know that the professor knows when I am gone and knows my name. And, despite what a couple others might say, knowing the professor makes him more approchable to me. It can help if you are like that. BTW, i go to Western IL....what is your intended major?

There really aren't that many 400+ class sizes here. The only lecture halls I know of that could hold that many are Foellinger and Lincoln. Even with the big classes all have smaller discussion sections.

I noticed strangely because you have the same schedule you end up bumping into the same people again and again on campus despite UofI's colossal ~40k students. So I got to know a small circle of friends quite well and had lots of fun/party buddies. And you'll never run out of people to meet. Sooooo many hot girls... man, those were the days... 😉

 

My philosophy: you can make a large school feel smaller (by joining clubs and making close friends and getting involved in the plethora of available activities), but you can never make a small school feel large (it'll always have a limited array of majors, classes and opportunities).

Bigger is better.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I think it depends more on what you're used to. I graduated high school with a class of 48 people. My whole high school only had 200 people in it. I was used to having a small class size and rather tight knit community, so that is what I chose for college. My college only had about 1200 students for total enrollment. I had small class sizes and it was very easy to catch a professor and talk about a test or just shoot the breeze with them like I was used to. I was happy with my choice.

I will say this though - it is much easier to go from a small high school to a big university than it is to go from a very big high school to a very small college. My college had a pretty low retention rate, mostly due to students that came from huge urban schools that couldn't hack the "everybody knows everybody" atmosphere of the campus.

He has a very good point. I went from medium to medium but some friends who went from large HS's to small colleges transferred quickly. If in doubt, go with a larger school with a good honors program. I can be tight-knit with my Honors College professors and the other kids in the UHC, but at the same time, it's not like I'm seeing the same faces over and over and over again everywhere I go.

ZV

 

[nirgis]

Well let me first put out this: you will find friends no matter where you go. That said, I would concentrate on a few factors, ignoring size at first

1) do you care about size of town? you may say you don't, but I doubt that b/c I once said that. I go to Grinnell College which is ~1300 students and a town of 10,000. Everything in the town closes at 5 which means if you are hungry, need some sort of accesory, or even want to do something in town at night you can't

2) Think about which programs you want to do, because small schools can have either really good, or horrendous programs. I would also focus on the classes offered and especially the #, since quality of program can *usually* be related to quality

hope this helps

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis

Originally posted by: LS20
i go to a school of 52000...largest single campus in the nation. no problems here. cuz of the staggering number, there are sooooooooooo many beautiful girls here, lots of things to do, and there is always a party

i went to a HS of 3000... im done with that atmosphere

Same here.. UT right? 3000 is big for a high school though.

My high school had 4200 students 😱

 

[skywalker66]

okay, quick update:

to answer some questions,

I went to a high school that had 2000 and it didnt seem too bad. Sure you knew everyone, but is that really that bad? like why cant some people stand that kind of atmosphere?

couldnt one get sick of the large atmosphere likewise?

 

[Bkas]

I was chosing between a school with 13000, 2500 and around 6000 (all top schools).

I chose the 2500 one, and I don't regret it at all. You see the same faces all the time (this could be good or bad, depending on who you are), there's a lot of campus unity and you really feel like you're part of a family (because oy know what's going on everywhere). Also, as far as work goes, I'm a freshman, and I get to do research in exerimental condensed matter physics this summer. I didn't have to try to hard to seek it out as well....I'm sure the fact that I'm allowed to help out is because of the size. Else I'd be competing with who knows how many people.

But it's all up to personal preference.