Small private university vs. large public university

[truizm]

Positives/negatives of each...

[mot78]

1. My opinion

Small:

Positives are a more intimate enviroment, often better class (lecture class less anognizing/not common. Negatives are that with fewer students, there's less of a social life, often no Fraternities or Sororities.

Large:
Positives, include a more athletic school (how many small liberal arts schools go to March Madness?) and there's more of a social scene. Negatives are large lecture classes, an impersonal feel at times.

[kiahzero]

3. Counterexample to downside of large public schools

I attend University of Delaware... I've only had one large lecture class, and I definitely don't feel lost in the crowd, even though there are 15,000 people on campus.

It was really nice, because middle of freshman year, I decided to add a political science major - UD has good programs for most of its majors. The main exception to this is the Math department. Our math department sucks. A lot.

[shrlnaw]

2. $$$

Small Private: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Large Public: $$$$$

[pagerbear]

6. Not always

I went to a small liberal arts college in NC 1980-1984. (Yes, in May will be the 20th anniversary of my college graduation! <muffled sob>) There were lots of students from northeastern states who told us that our costs were lower than those of northeastern state universities. And we got a good education.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

13. Which one did you go to, pagerbear?

I go to a small private women's college.
Pros and cons?
Cons:
Some courses may not transfer to a state college. Some of my classmates have run into that problem (English for instance).
Pros:
Almost no fees ($40 for a year round parking pass is ALL I pay). I can arrive 15 minutes before my class starts and find a spot and be in my seat in about a minute!
Class ratios are very small at my college too. I'm enjoying being a student again.

[pagerbear]

20. Pfeiffer College

It's Pfeiffer University now.

[Momgonepostal]

4. I attended a large private university, what do I know? lol

I think a larger school is good if you have no clue what you want to major in yet. A bigger school would have a greater selection of departments and classes so you could try out many different subjects. Public is usually cheaper, unless you can get massive financial aid.

A smaller school would most likely give you smaller class sizes, though, which is probably a better learning environment for most people.

I think it really depends on what you want to do. There are lots of great state schools, lots of great private schools. I wouldn't advise anyone who wanted to be a social worker or high school teacher to go to an expensive school, unless they had the tuition all paid for in some way or another. That would suck to graduate owing $100K and have to pay it off on a teacher's salary, IMO.

(edited because despite my university education, I'm still a crappy speller.)

5. I've gone to both

Small elitist schools have the benefit of being across the boards consistently more demanding, but if you look you can find profs and classes at large public schools that are just as demanding.
The down side of small schools is that you are surrounded by elitists which can be problematic in terms of what it does to your psyche.
I could say a lot more about it, because I thought a lot about the dynamics of both, but I'll leave it at that.

[pagerbear]

7. Small does not always mean elitist

9. true

The one I went to was though. Not necessarily in a bad way either. (University of Chicago)

edit-- However I do think that the difference in cost between small private schools and large public schools inherently creates some elitism. This is tempered when the small schools give financial aid packages to poorer students, but even then if they are loans instead of grants it doesn't really take care of the underlying situation.

[Nikia]

8. I attended a small private college

Small class size and knowing your professors on a personal level are some big pluses. I wish that I would have taken advantage of this more. The professors will really help you out with class, research, or jobs leads after you graduate. If you are going to be a science major, I would definitely recommend small colleges because you learn to do real research and often can even do publishable research. Most non introductory courses have a large class participation component too. Multiple choice, true false, and fill in the blank testing is rare, especially in non intro courses. Essay tests are normal.
My college had 1000-1200 students, almost all of which lived on campus. We had Greek organizations, most sports, many clubs, and music groups. Most students were involved in something if not multiple things.
It is cool being able to get to know and at least recognize a lot of the people on campus too. I think that you can actually get to know more people on a small campus than a large campus because you always see the same people around.
If you are poor, small private colleges, at least those with good alumni support, usuaully will offer you a lot of financial aid. I got a better financail aid package at my private college than I would have at the large competitive universtiy in my state. I wouldn't let cost keep you from considering a small private college.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Do not assume that small colleges are unaffordable

My last job was at a college that cost $14,000 a year for tuition, room, and board at the time (so it would probably cost $28,000 today, ten years later.)

I knew students whose financial aid package allowed them to get by paying $2,000 a year (so let's say $4,000 a year now) for everything.

If you are very smart and/or talented in some area, don't automatically rule out small schools. While the state schools figure your financial aid strictly by a mathematical formula, the private schools will sweeten the deal, because they all want the smartest students they can find.

I graduated from a small college, did my graduate work at an Ivy League school, taught at both large and small schools, and here's what they look like from my point of view.

Small colleges:

The Good: Lots of individual attention, so if you're having problems, you can go in and talk to the professor, and if you haven't been a complete goof off or brat, you're likely to get some consideration. If you seem to be flaking out for some reason, your professor may ask around among the rest of the faculty to find out if you're being flaky in every class or if it's just that particular class. By the time you are a junior or senior and settled on a major, you will know your departmental professors very well. Since they know you, they will make recommendations and suggestions about opportunities. You will also know nearly everyone on campus by sight and see the same people over and over in your classes and activities. In your extra-curricular activities, it's relatively easy to gain a major role, whether on a sports team or in a theatrical production.

The Bad: A lot of these colleges are located in tiny little towns where there is nothing to do off campus, and by the end of your senior year, you may hate the sight of every corner of your campus. If the school has a distinct personality or seems to attract predominantly one type of student and it's not your type, you're going to have a lonely time. If you don't like the professors in your department, you will have an annoying time. Some small colleges are elite institutions that attract the brightest of the bright, but more of them are struggling and will take anyone with a pulse who can pay the tuition. If the school is attracting a lot of dumb rich kids, expect loud parties, vandalism and other forms of criminal behavior, and a low level of discourse in the classroom.

Large universities:

The Good: Lots of diversity, both in people and curriculum. If you want to major in Arabic or Statistics, you can. Usually surrounded by a large neighborhood of student-oriented businesses. If you don't like one group of students, you can easily find another. There is an extra-curricular group for every interest. The library is superb and has everything you are likely to need. The bookstore is superb. If you're into the arts, you can get to see world-class performers for free by volunteering to usher.

The Bad: The students expect to be anonymous and often act like it, so cheating is a greater problem. If you don't know what you want, the sheer variety of choices can overwhelm you. The large state schools deliberately try to flunk out a certain portion of their freshmen every year by making common courses such as Intro to Biology or Freshman English extra nasty. It's hard to make close friends. The dorms are more likely to resemble East German apartment blocks and the food is more likely to be abominable--but there probably isn't enough on-campus housing anyway, so you're forced to live where sleazy landlords charge you exorbitant sums to live in ramshackle housing. Your professors are retained and promoted on the basis of their research, as measured by publications, so they may see you, the student, as an annoyance who gets in the way of the project that is going to save their job.

To my mind, unless you KNOW that you want to major in something off-beat or if you MUST have those big-city lights, you're better off going to a smaller college as an undergraduate. For students who really need to watch the budgets, the ideal solution may be a small state school, such as Western Oregon State University in Monmouth or the University of Minnesota, Morris, both of which offer a small-college atmosphere at state college prices. (I'm just mentioning these schools because they're from the states I know best.)

[Lars39]

12. Also consider the size of the town/city if you need a job.

Jobs in small towns are sometimes very, very hard to find. The locals sometimes tend to look after their own first.

[SmileyBoy]

10. My school is middle of the pack in size. 12,000 students.

I get the best of both worlds.

[sweetheart]

14. why are you attending university?

To get a degree?
To be part of an elite social club?
I don't know, but its what i'm supposed to do?
To learn something i'm really interested in?
To get a job?
To party and get laid?
To learn about different cultures and languages?

SO much depends on why your going to university to start with as to
answer your question. I think that you should extend you thinking
to foriegn universities, as they are quite good, even better in
some senses (thought the american propaganda would never admit so).

Yale has the scull and bones club. Cal.Poly.Pomona does not, but
they both offer degrees, and likely your manufacturing engineering
qualification will be more solid from cal poly than from yale.

SO much depends on what you're looking for.

[Scottie72]

15. My thoughts

how about small public University.

I attended SUNY Geneseo. (SUNY = State university of New York)
This is a small state school with a student population of about 5,000 - 6,000. I loved it there, I believe it probably had the feel of a small private university with the cost of a public university.

I think that type of school is probably the best for undergraduate work. I then attended Florida State University for my graduate studies. I couldn't even imagine attending a university of that size for undergraduate studies.

If you can try to find a small public unviesity it is well worth it. Plus if you are planning on going on to Grad school.... that when you might consider the larger school. In grad school I only had to take my Physics classes. I barely saw the inside of any other buildings except for the physics buildings.

[kodi]

16. small college for undergrad. they have lower student/prof ratio

at the undegrad level try to have high interaction with the prof. normally a small school dedicated to teaching has a lower student/prof ratio and one gets more individualized education from teachers.

once graduated, a large research oriented university provides the critical mass where outstanding researchers reside that act as advisors and more specialized teachers for grad students.

i went to a small techical college with a max of 10-15 in my classes. the profs all knew us and could teacher to our experience and ability level; meaning they were actually teaching us the field and not merely professing the knowledge.

my grad degrees are from a large land grant university with 27,000 students. by that time you are already in a specialized field and the classes are not much larger than one finds at the undergard level of small schools.

later, i taught freshman and grad courses at a large state university and for my freshman classes there were 90-95 students in each class... how the hell can one actually teacher to individuals in that environment? one can't.

at the grad level, the classes i taugh had no more than 10 students and i know clearly that i was able to teach the people better.

[marigold20]

17. Small colleges will come up with lots of money if they really

want you. When my son applied, the small colleges didn't cost any more than the large state schools. He (a shy science guy) went to a small college in a small town and enjoyed it. He's now in grad school in a huge university and seems to like it there too.

[gyopsy]

18. I go to a large state school...

UCF. About 42,000 students and growing and I love it. It's just me though. I hate to compare the two since I've never been to a small college.

[tigereye]

19. went to both

the small school didn't work for me. I grew up in a small town and it was worse than living at home. It was strict, I had no car, all women, and at that time, none of those things made sense for me. It was pretty good academically, but at the time, I didn't really care about that.

The big city school was wonderful. Yes I was a number, but the diversity, men who weren't seminarians, access to urban situation, public transportation, music, art, etc. balanced that out. I learned just as much ( you had to work for it, but that was ok) and I was a lot happier. The professors were great.

Just my two cents