At the beginning of 2021, I made the bold decision to leave the massive state institution I felt unfulfilled by and move across the country completely alone with nothing but a singular suitcase. I was searching for an academic experience that better suited my needs as a student and trusting my gut led me to exactly where I need to be. Now that I am attending the polar opposite of my previous institution, I have an interesting perspective on both these vastly different campus cultures. Here are three major differences between going to a university with 50,000 students and a university with 2,300 students.
Safety: While taking an online exam, it was not necessarily unusual to hear chaos from the street. Shouting, gunfire, police sirens; it was all run of the mill for most of us students. Women were specifically told at orientation to not go out alone after dark, as Atlanta is the human trafficking capitol of the world, and being alone downtown made you an immediate target. We learned to keep our heads down, eyes low, and to keep a fierce grip on the pepper spray everywhere we went. It was a bit of a shock to come to Mount Holyoke and suddenly feel comfortable in my own community. I can walk throughout the campus, the streets, even the woods, at any time of the day. I don’t feel internal panic when I see someone approaching when the sun has set. I get peaceful sleep with the quiet of this campus!
Involvement: You might think that it is easier to get involved at a huge school, but in my experience, the opposite is true. For me, it was very intimidating to try to join a massive club with hundreds of members. It could often feel like my voice would not be heard regardless of my efforts and that feeling could be defeating. Here, it is so easy to walk up to a few members at a table at the involvement fair, make a connection, and get involved.
Classroom Dynamics: I never met any of my professors at my previous school. Because of the pandemic, all our classes were online, but it did not change the size of class enrollment. Zoom meetings were extremely difficult because hundreds of students were logging in at once. Most of my classes eventually switched to an asynchronous format to allow for more flexibility. When trying to ask for recommendations for transfer applications, I was at a loss because I was completely unable to form any sort of relationships with my professors. Here, it is impossible not to be involved in class and to interact with the professors. It is so much easier to get immersed in the classroom topics and ask for help or guidance because the classroom community is so small. More importantly, the relationships I have built with my fellow classmates have already proven to be invaluable.
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