My elementary school had around 100 kids total between kindergarten and 6th grade. I graduated high school (made up of several different towns and hamlets) as part of a class of 54. The college I next attended was made up of only a few buildings, and the small community college I spent the next two years at wasn’t much bigger. This fall I started at the University at Albany. Here I am only one out of the 12,905. To say the least it was a total shock. But after a year roaming around (and getting repeatedly lost) on the massive campus ive learned a few things from being part of such a big school like:
1. Getting lost is a daily occurrence
There is a reason there are maps posted every 200 feet. When all the buildings look identical, and you have only ten minutes to sprint the quarter mile between classes A and class B it’s obviously key to know where you are on campus. I’m not going to lie, not only did those you-are-here maps become my daily savior I had to enlist the power of a campus map app and I still ended up having to ask directions from peers more than a few times. Maybe I’m just directionally challenged (ok I can admit that’s probably highly likely) but being on a big campus means getting lost a lot.
2. It’s easy to become just another face in the crowd
I never before realized how lucky I was to be in classes that were small enough I got to know most of my classmate’s names. Even more impressive was how the vast majority of the college courses id taken until UAlbany my professors got to know my name. Being at a big school now meant that some of my lecture classes had hundreds of students, and when your just another face in the crowed there’s no way to ask questions or have a professor stop and clarify anything. Bigger classes mean having to sometime teach yourself and read and reread the text book to hopefully get some answers. but at the same time a lot of these bigger classes don’t have much of an attendance policy, so it makes it really easy to let yourself sleep-in and skip more than a few classes (which obviously bites you in the butt at the end of the semester). TA’s are also new to me this year. I never realized that bigger classes would mean a grad student is grading my papers. There isn’t a lot of homework and basically my entire grade for these types of classes is just based on a couple papers and a couple tests, this idea came as a total shock when I was previously so used to courses where I was given all kinds of homework and class assignments.
3. Parking is impossible
Somedays I’ll get lucky and only have a five minute walk to class. Other days I can’t find any good parking, and have walked a mile from the edges of a distant lot to get to class. Anytime my walk from the parking lot looks like it’s going to be any farther than that I seriously consider if I need to attend classes that day. The same thing goes for when it snows, bigger school means more people and more plowing that needs to get done. But when that doesn’t happen it’s even more challenging to be able to get to class. I would never consider wearing anything with a heel or that could cause blisters to class because I always dread the possibility that I’m going to be going on some distance trek through across the vast parking lots that surround UAlbany.
4. There are lines for everything
Need to use one of the dozens of bathrooms in a busy part of campus? You’re going to wait in line. Want to grab a quick bite from a vending machine between classes? You have got to wait in line. There are so few places to sit or use a table on campus that you might as well take a seat on the floor of the library during finals week. With a big university there is no concept of privacy, or personal space, there is always someone just feet (or sometimes inches away from you) and you are constantly waiting and waiting for everything.
5. The idea of a commuter student is a joke
At the two smaller colleges I attended a decent amount of the student body did not live on campus. Even though I drove to and from campus daily I still always felt connected to those colleges. At a big school commuters don’t really fit in. even when you join clubs or groups, I still feel very much almost unwelcome at UAlbany. Even when my big university holds commuter luncheons, or meet ups the university as a whole makes it very clear that if you don’t live on campus you aren’t really a part of it.
