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I would appreciate your opinion...would a shy person do better at a smaller or larger college?

By been there, done that on Sunday, January 12, 2003 - 05:29 pm: Edit

Hi Ashley, I'm in your situation too. I am shy and introverted also, not to the point where I can't do anything in public, but to the point where I freak out if I have to speak publicly or go to a public social event.

A larger college would make your college experience less "personal," meaning your professors most likely will not know you by name, you might have 400 students with you in some of the lower division classes, but you would have smaller discussion sessions with teachers assistants.

At a smaller college, people know you by name, you can have smaller classes and thus more people contribute in class discussions and so on and so forth.

It really is up to you, what you would like. Personally, as a shy person, I wanted to sort of get beyond that barrier in my life and be exposed to a variety of different people and cultures, which is not necessarily possible the smaller the population of the college is, and so I applied to all large universities. I would urge you to not reject, for example, a large university because you're afraid of being with too many people, shyness is an obstacle that you need to get over, otherwise it will hinder you in many ways throughout your life, which would be unfortunate.

By anon on Monday, January 13, 2003 - 05:40 am: Edit

If someone is ostracized or isolated, there are always new possibilities if (s)he's in a large school. In a small school, you are more identifiable and could be tagged (in a bad way) more easily. Also there are more events going on in a big school to ease you into socializing.