Scholarships Dot Com had a nice piece a while back on the pros and cons of attending a large state university.

Most of my college employment life has been spent at relatively small schools. But I've been a student at a couple of pretty good sized institutions. So I see both sides of the issue.

Small schools can be expensive while large universities tend to be more affordable. A small college might focus on providing personalized attention to students, but large universities have the resources to attract the leading expects in academic fields.


© artonice

Large universities usually have better library resources, a huge variety of majors available, flexible academic programing, more social opportunities, and a larger variety of extracurricular activities. You might even be lucky enough to get into a school with a good football team and spend the rest of your life as a Volunteer or a Hokie, a Longhorn or a Trojan.

On the other hand, while your large university might have the world's leading expert in your academic minor, you may never get to meet him at a university with 28,000 students. If you do, it will be only an introduction and a handshake. Classes may be large, and they may fill up quickly. You may sometimes feel more like a number than a student. And your professors may see their research as being more important than actually teaching.

So which is better: a small school or a large university? There's not an answer. It just depends on you...