in your experience what's the best size school for having an active social and dating life in college?

[Anonymous]

ok, bare with me for a minute, please. My daughter attends a small, single gender school. She has very good friends and is well liked but i don't think is super extroverted or outgoing around kids she doesn't know and she has very little experience with boys (as friends or dating).
She really wants to go to college and have a strong social life, dating life, etc. She has many apps in and more to come and has been mainly focused on academic fit but I'm wondering about school size and building a community--meeting friends, dating, etc. Is it easier to do so at smaller or larger school? Bowdoin 2K? Wake Forest 5K?, UVA 17K? Michigan 34K? I'm throwing out these as random size examples (she hasn't applied to all) but I'm just curious about what your own experience was or the experience of your kids.

[Anonymous]

I would consider the ratio of boys to girls in the schools rather than worry about the size of the student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider the ratio of boys to girls in the schools rather than worry about the size of the student body.

I agree. And also look at non-academic activities and clubs your kid is likely to become involved with, such as club sports, singing, etc. The foundation of an active social life is meeting people and doing things with them.

[Anonymous]

I thought the MRS degree was a thing of the past. Isn’t college for education

[Anonymous]

It will depend more on how successful she is at getting connected on campus and where she will be comfortable making the effort. Kids can thrive socially or be isolated at small, medium and large colleges. The trick is really making the effort at first building a friend group. Find the college where that will happen naturally and the dating will come from being in circles with friends of friends, etc.

[Anonymous]

I went to the University of Florida, which was about 35,000 at the time.

I went Greek, and dating life was fabulous because of it
I met -- and dated --- several standout men. It was terrific fun.

[Anonymous]

I attended wake when it was 3600 students. I had a busy social life. I did join a sorority, but it wasn’t the only reason I had a social life.

[Anonymous]

My child is at a school of just over 1k students. She seems to be busy with friends a lot.

I think your child will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would consider the ratio of boys to girls in the schools rather than worry about the size of the student body.

I agree. And also look at non-academic activities and clubs your kid is likely to become involved with, such as club sports, singing, etc. The foundation of an active social life is meeting people and doing things with them.

+1

[Anonymous]

Having an activity with like minded people helps. I was in marching band, so I got to meet those folks a week before school started. It is like having a built in friend group.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like she’s ready for a bit bigger environment since what you describe is something she’s outgrown. I think most colleges would work. I’d skip women’s colleges.

[Anonymous]

It just depends on the kid. I don't think the size of the school is what determines whether or not it is a good fit. It's more about the culture.

[Anonymous]

Wherever she goes, encourage her to follow her interests to join a department/team/club/group.

I loved attending a big school because it allowed for many academic and extracurricular explorations from sports, community academic and music! Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I think you can find strong community in schools of different sizes.

One of the biggest factors in our kids' experience is a school that offers on campus housing for 3+ years. For schools where students must move off campus after the first year, there's a LOT riding on building their community during their first year, especially first semester when future living groups are formed to find off-campus housing. If you don't find it during the first year, it becomes increasingly difficult (but still possible) to do so after that.

[Anonymous]

I liked being at a larger school and went to Michigan. It was nice to never have to see someone again if I wanted. I think you’d run into your ex boyfriends a lot on a small campus.