The truth is, I belong at a big university. I love college football. I love tailgating. I love the feel of a “college town” and all the school spirit that goes along with it. For some reason, I ended up at little ol’ Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey—a town and a school I didn’t even know existed a couple of years ago. I was attracted to the internship opportunities there as well as the tremendous academic staff, among others, but people still ask me "just...why?"

Well, to be honest with you, it was the best decision I’ve ever made. In my two years as a student at a small school, I’ve picked up on a few things along the way. Here they are:

1. You better get used to hearing “Oh, where’s that?” Chances are, if you go to a small school, very few people have heard of it unless they’re an alumnus or live nearby. Don’t be embarrassed by that. I only live about an hour from my school, in the same state, and hadn’t even heard of it until I started applying to colleges. Just because your school doesn’t have 30,000 students and a brand name doesn’t make it inferior.
2. Small schools tend to be suitcase schools. You might wake up on a Saturday morning, walk to the dining hall for breakfast, and not see a single soul. Unless there’s a plague going around that you aren’t aware of, this is actually because half of the students went home for the weekend.
3. School spirit is probably lacking. From my experience, the majority of your school will be completely apathetic towards the success of your athletic teams and the school in general. Let’s face it, this isn’t Penn State. This isn’t Michigan. But that shouldn’t stop you from feeling free to go hard at school events. Our student section at Rider basketball games consists of about 10 guys standing and yelling, while a thousand other students sit there and seem afraid to clap. Go Broncs!
4. Just like in high school, it’s easy to find cliques. Although college will open your mind to many different walks of life (which is actually a huge understatement), you are still naturally going to hang out with people who share similar interests as you. To clarify, there’s no “popular” table in the dining halls at small schools, but you get the idea. My school seems to be divided into three giant cliques: athletes, Greek life, and everyone else.
5. You’ll get to know professors on a personal level. You won’t be sitting in 100-seat lecture halls. Your classes will be a lot more intimate, which only benefits you. Not only will your professors know your first name, they’ll become great networking tools for the future. Don’t be that guy who sits in the back of the class and goes through the motions. Be that annoying student who always tries to B.S. with the teacher after class.
6. It’s much easier to get involved on campus. There will be just as many, if not more, clubs and organizations to join at a small school. And better yet, you probably won’t have hundreds of other kids fighting for the same position as you. I started writing sports articles for my school newspaper as a freshman. By May of my freshman year, I had been promoted to sports editor. You probably wouldn’t see that at a bigger school.
7. It’s a little harder to be on ImSchmacked. Which is probably a blessing in disguise. All joking aside, it’s a little harder to have that party animal lifestyle at a smaller school. You don’t have giant fraternities with three off-campus houses throwing down every weekend. But if you try, you’ll still have a blast. There’re still endless opportunities to be a crazy college student, believe me.
8. Your friends who go to big schools will try to/succeed at making you jealous. You’ll see them posting videos every Saturday in the fall when they’re watching football along with 90,000 other screaming fans. They’ll brag to you about how their school is in the Big Ten, therefore your argument is invalid. Tell them this: you didn’t pick your school for the name. You picked your school for the school. You picked the school that is the best fit for you.
9. You’ll always be overshadowed by a bigger school in the area. My school is a mere 10-minute drive from some Ivy-League institution, I forget the name of it. But not only can we boast a cheaper tuition, we can brag that some of our professors also share time at this other university. Having your school in or out of the spotlight means nothing, all that matters is the pride you feel towards it and the overall experience you get there.
10. The food at your dining halls will be much better. Don’t get too excited about this, it’s still college food. But I’ve heard many horror stories about the food served at large state universities. Hey, just another thing to take into consideration.

The bottom line is this: you chose the school that you felt was the best fit for you. You chose the school that you felt was going to give you the best opportunity to succeed in life. With that being said, it's on YOU to take those steps to succeed. Now shut your laptop, turn off your phone, and get on that.