Look around you. Assuming you are reading this from your laptop in class, at the library or ABP, there are quite a few people around. At first glance, especially on a campus this populated, they may all look like foreign faces. But look harder—you know that person. Sort of.
You’re trying not to feel creepy, but you recognize that face. That person was in nearly every one of your classes last semester. You played against that girl in soccer when you were in high school. That guy is the roommate of the guy you like.
Tech’s student body is extremely interconnected. It is designed to be that way. 75 percent of the student body is from in state. Students feed from major centralized areas like Northern Virginia and Richmond and many are students already familiar through schools and communities in those areas. Greek life and other organizations are ever expanding and they serve a major part in mixing upper with lower classmen. Many majors only offer a required class at one time during a semester and that helps familiarize that major’s students. Large electives (World Regions, anyone?) mix all disciplines and grades.
All of this accounts for the fact that Tech has a very small degree of separation between its students. If you don’t know the person next to you, chances are your roommate does. Or your friend does. Or the person you sit next to in class does.
Choose a random person and you can usually weave a trail back from them to you. It takes a little chit-chatting (or Facebook stalking if you’re not the talkative type) but finding those connections can really make the 23,000-plus student body seem nothing more than various groups of friends.
Curious to see this theory tested? Here are some of my favorite examples: A girl I sit next to in class knows a friend of mine from elementary school. My neighbor last year attended K-8 with me. The boyfriend of my random roommate this year is the neighbor of my roommate from last year. Two of my friends had friends from their respective high schools who met at Tech and are now living together. A long lost friend from grade school who sat next to me at freshman orientation is now my sorority sister (and writes for Her Campus!).
However, those are just my examples and only a few of them. The best way to see this “Degrees of Separation” theory in action is to test it out. So do a little detective work and you’ll be sure to uncover that this big school is a lot smaller of a Hokie family than you would think.