I loved my experience at my undergrad school with about 3K undergrads. It was big enough that I didn’t know most people on campus (outside of my dorm, classes, and extracurriculars). But small enough that if I met someone, I would probably see them again. I never felt that the school was confining.

Anonymous wrote:My kid picked small school, less than 2000 students, and it was a mistake. Fewer resources, and major not very deep so when key Prof left, there was a gap in course availability. Limited dining options and small town so only a few off campus places. Local hospital and Dr offices over a mile away and very few taxi/uber options so had to walk there when sick. Other child is in a city school of 6000. It’s been so much better.

Thanks for sharing this-- these kind of details are so helpful to someone like myself with only experience at large public schools.

This is an interesting thread. My son is deciding between an Ivy, state flagship, and top SLAC. I went to an Ivy (a different one) but I really want him to go to the SLAC. I don't regret my choice at all but I see the downsides more clearly of the Ivies and big state schools. I think the education you get at a good SLAC is unbeatable.

My child attended a very small high school and disliked the fishbowl feeling. Happy at a midsized school.

I attended an Ivy and while the transition from lower income community was not fun the connections I made changed my life trajectory. So 100% glad I went there.

Anonymous wrote:You would have made friends at Williams. What does being a public school kid have anything to do with making friends at Williams vs Princeton?

At the time I recall Williams had a higher percentage of private school kids.

I also visited Williams once for a tour and have this distinct recollection of prospective students rattling off the names of their private schools. As a bit of a joke I converted the name of my local public school into a private school name when checking in - think “The Whitman School,” “The Yorktown School,” “The Annandale School,” etc.

Anyway, I really liked Williams so of course would like to think I’d have made friends there, too.

You would have made friends at Williams. What does being a public school kid have anything to do with making friends at Williams vs Princeton?

I picked Princeton over Williams - my final two choices - and don’t regret the decision, although I sometimes wonder what Williams would have been like and how it might have been different. Princeton was large enough to have a lot of resources and opportunities and I was able to meet plenty of different people over the course of four years. I was enamored of the idea of Williams as a close-knit academic community, but was a public school kid and not an athlete, so in retrospect it’s possible that I might have struggled more to make friends there. I’ll never really know, so just explaining why I don’t have any big “regrets” about the choice I made.

Absolutely preferred the bigger school over smaller. Not even sure I applied to any smaller schools but never once wished I had. I was tired of being the student (in HS) that every teacher expected to pick up the pieces, save every task, run every club, and just wanted to forge my own path, blend in for once, and have a lot of options for what I studied and how I spent my time. Freedom to be me. Still made plenty of good connections with faculty and peers.

I found my university too large!

Anonymous wrote:My DD at T10 and quite happy. Specifically, she really likes the range of activities, classes, and social opportunities that comes with a school of some size. She said she likes that when she walks across campus, she’ll always be likely to see someone when she recognized, but she’s always meeting new people as well. What I hear over and over from parents of kids making these kinds of choices is that the transition to the small LAC can be easier than the larger school, the small nurturing environment can be comforting for an 18-year-old away from home, but by the time they hit junior year or so it can be sort of, claustrophobic. (Probably why so many kids go abroad for some or all of junior year) so it’s a situation where your kid has to know themselves.

Kids go abroad junior year because they at the point in their studies where they can specialize.One of my kids did science research abroad. One of my kids did foreign language immersion. The language was not a continuation from HS. Brand new, class 5x a week language. She wasn’t ready before spring of junior year. The other kid did geology field capstone project.. Which needed to wait until he had taken the necessary classes. Different schools of different sizes.

I’m sure some skid do find SLACs to be too small. But, study abroad junior year is common no matter what the size of college. It’s late enough that the kid can do some individual study, knows the foreign language, is more mature to better deal with some curveballs. But, nobody wants to miss senior year at their college. E