Making A Large School Feel Smaller

If you’re attending a larger school, you’ll have the benefit of meeting plenty of new people from all types of backgrounds; it’s really a great chance to make some diverse friends. And if you’re going to a school with a notable sports team, it can be plenty of fun to go to a big stadium and be part of a huge crowd of fans! Yet sometimes you’ll want that big school to feel smaller, as it can even get overwhelming how many other students there are. Sometimes you can’t help but feel like  a number—and that’s the biggest drawback to attending a large school.

Fortunately, there are ways to make larger schools feel smaller. At times when the number of students and sheer volume of your school feels overwhelming, keep a few tips in mind in order to make that school feel smaller. When thinking of large schools, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind are those enormous lecture halls. Yes, some introductory classes will have you and an a few hundred other students all sitting in the same auditorium—it could be the equivalent of your whole high school, if you attended a smaller school! There’s a simple trick to remedy this situation and make that lecture hall feel smaller. Perhaps you’ve heard of it: sit up front and you’ll quickly forget that there are a couple hundred students behind you. By sitting toward the front, you’ll also be more focused and engaged. Paying attention in class can come in handy!

On the academic side of things, large schools can be more intimidating. You might feel as if you have to compete against so many other students, or that there are so many other students that teachers won’t have time to pay attention to your learning rate. Yet no matter how big your school, that professor at the front of the lecture hall will have open office hours and will likely have multiple teacher assistants who have office hours as well. It’s a guarantee that if you go to a teacher’s office hours, you can receive extra help or explanation, often one on one. Suddenly that teacher who lectures in front of a few hundred students has become your own private tutor! That sure is a reversed situation.

Large schools won’t feel so gargantuan if you get involved with some clubs or organizations! No matter your interests, there’s a club out there for you. While clubs themselves vary in size, you’ll find plenty where you can fit in just fine. By joining a club or organization, you’ll be part of a group—a group that doesn’t consist of several thousand students! If you join a club or organization and really get involved with it, you’ll also feel like part of a small team and not one of several hundred students in a large room. Clubs build camaraderie, which ultimately makes you feel more involved and like you’re part of a team.

Since larger schools by their nature have larger staffs, you might think it’s difficult to become involved and really learn from one teacher—this isn’t the case. As smaller schools have fewer teachers, it can be easier to sign up for classes with that teacher and take a class just because you like the teacher. In larger schools, while some might argue there’s the advantage of learning from more teachers, you can still take more than one class with a preferred teacher. After you discover you like a professor, simply ask her what other classes she’s teaching. Even if you won’t have her again next semester, there will probably be a different class you can take down the road, especially if it’s something within your major. By taking a couple classes from the same well-liked teacher, you’ll feel like you’re in a smaller, more personal academic environment. Large schools have literally hundreds of teachers, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a couple you like and let them be your favorite teachers throughout college.