Small college vs medium size university?

I think generally, the larger the school the more resources and more variety (of people, of classes, of student groups, of club sports, everything) but the downside is that it is easier to feel lost. At a large school your required intro classes might have hundreds and hundreds students (though there are plenty of smaller upper level courses). If you are more focused on having a small community feel, I would suggest a small school. On the flip side, if you want to try a lot of new things and meet a lot of new people, a larger school may be for you.

I attended a great community college for my first two years and then transferred to UCLA to finish my undergrad. From a financial and personal attention point of view, it was a real win. As you know, it's expensive to go to four years of college, and if budget or loan debt size are concerns, then check out such an approach. But if you decide to go university immediately, I'd consider smaller over larger (just from the personal attention perspective) plus evaluate the following considerations, too:

1. Does the college have a decent reputation in the area(s) of study you're interested in?


2. What's their success rate in graduating students in four years and on schedule? This is really, really important to find out, because many students are finding they sometimes have to stay up to an extra year to get all the class coverage necessary to graduate (due to teacher and class availability).


3. How much will it cost per year? What scholarships can you secure to assist in covering the cost?


4. Look at the housing and living arrangements. Do they offer flexible food service options, too?

Hope this helps :-)