Bigger high schools vs. Smaller high schools

[Anonymous]

I keep reading here are there about how some schools are larger then others? What is positive/negative about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep reading here are there about how some schools are larger then others? What is positive/negative about that?

well this is the age old question "does size really matter"?
BTW, which schools around here are "small"?

[Anonymous]

I went to high school in Arlington back in the day - at the time, my high school had less than a thousand kids (now I think they're all closer to 2000!!!) It was one of the smaller schools in the area then and probably still is - I think one of the benefits is that with 250 kids per class you still knew (or knew of) most everyone, made it a better "community" which I thought was a plus. Larger schools will more likely be stronger in athletics, if that is something that is important to you. More kids = more possibility for talent on teams etc. Of course this is also a downside if you have to compete to make varsity for example, at a smaller school you might make the team and at a larger school you might have to settle for JV.

Sorry, rambling here, I'm sure others will have more thoughts/opinions.

[Anonymous]

I went to a high school with 2,400 people, though my class was small for the school, about 450. I graduated 9th in my class. I was a motivated student, so I didn't have any issues with falling through the cracks. I liked the variety of classes and activities. And I'm social, so I liked the large pool of potential friends. A shy kid or a less motivated student might have had more problems. The downside was that there was definitely more competition for the team sports, etc. (I got booted off of varsity cross country my senior year because some very talented freshmen knocked me out of my spot! oh well.)

[Anonymous]

I had a graduating class of just under 1,000 students. We had an amazing number of classes and activities. Being in such a large senior class, the transition to undergrad classes with 300 students in a BIO 101 section wasn't too traumatic.