My friend is, I suppose, what one would call non traditional. She went to an ivy league school for about a year, dropped out for a bit, went to JuCo for another year, and now wants to go back to college. She’s 22, which isn’t that much older than normal students. In fact, my opinion is she’s really no different from anyone else.
Anyway, she wants to go to a very small, very liberal college. One of her other friends is telling her that, from experience at a college like that one, she should consider going to a much bigger university and finding her niche inside a department. Apparently, non traditional students and small colleges don’t mix.
Personally, I disagree with this advice, but I’m looking for opinions one way or the other. What worked best for you? What would you recommend?
It depends on the college and the college student, but she is so close in age to the traditional student that I wouldn’t worry about it. If she were 45, maybe a small college would feel cliquish, but at 22, that shouldn’t be an issue. Congrats to her on returning to school, btw.
I had a friend in college(a very small, very liberal arts college, by the way) who began attending classes when she was 27. I had several classes with her, and she brought a depth to them that I missed in the classes I didn’t have with her.
She lived off campus, which kept her from participating in as many of the “traditional” college activites-but she also joined clubs, was active in student government, and just about anything she wanted to do. And that was key-she had enough life experience that she wasn’t going to be pushed into something she didn’t want to do, but she was also willing to try new things.
I think your friend should go for it. Yeah, some students will be “cliquey” about it, but there will be a lot more who won’t be.
It depends on the school. My mom went back to complete undergrad at 42 to Brown, where there is a larger and very supportive non-traditional student program. She did great and had a number of friends her own age :). She lived in a dorm and was happy there.
I’m 37 and just graduated from Smith, which has a program for non-traditional aged students. I found that while some “trads” had problems with the older students, most appreciated the different outlook and greater experience we were able to bring to the classroom. 22 is just barely older than most of the students, so I don’t think your friend would really have any difficulty fitting in as far as age goes. It would be more important to make sure the overall atmosphere of the school is right for her.
I went to a University for a few years, and am now in the “real world” trying to plan my triumphant return to academia. My guess is that your friend probably has a much better idea of what she wants from a school than she did when she applied to schools out of high school; at least that is my situation. I feel much more informed and aware of what I want, which makes me all the more confident about the choices I am making about school. I’d say if she wants to go to a small liberal college, she probably knows what she’s talking about at this point.
FWIW, if I went to a different school (as it stands I probably will just return to the university I left… much less paperwork that way and I’ve only got three semesters to go) I would go to a small liberal arts college. Part of the problem I had with my school is that I felt lost in a sea of students. Fortunately I was involved in some small departments where there was a definite sense of community, but on the whole I think that “community” feeling is nonexistant in large universities, or at least where I was enrolled.
For several years I was on a scholarship committee and we had lots of applications from non-traditional students. Many of them went to smaller schools. In my experience, smaller schools tend to like a diversity of students, and are very flexible when it comes to working with students on scheduling, etc.
I tried the big university trip when I was traditional college age and failed miserably. After eight years I went back to a very, very small liberal arts college and found it to be the perfect fit for me.
I’d agree that it depends on the school, but it does, to a certain extent, depend upon the student. I was serious the second time around and didn’t much care how the traditional students saw me. I wanted a good education and I made the professors work. Some students didn’t like that, others did. I figured it was my dime and I wanted my money’s worth. I made many friends among the tradional crowd and was never without a good study group.
I loved going back to college. Tell your friend she has my respect and congratuations for sticking with her education.
That’s exactly why my first advisor said he loved the non-traditional students and why college was not the GPA nightmare for me that I thought it would be. Also it’s that attitude that makes it work no matter what size the school.
I’m 39 and attending college. I’ll have my Bachelors in another year, my Masters in another 2.5 (hopefully).
I’m almost 27 and returned to college last year after being away for 6 years. I am in a fairly small university, and am really enjoying it. First time around, I went to a large university (approx 20K students), this time there’s about 2K.
I do feel this time around, I’m getting my money’s worth. I’m also maintaining a 4.0 GPA I do make my professors work - I aks questions and participate much more. I was pleasantly surprised to NOT be the oldest in my classes - usually I am right about in the middle age-wise.
Oh, and there are often financial aid programs exclusively for non-traditional students. I think most require you to be over 25 though. Sometimes you can also get college credit for work experiences.
Anybody who’s considering a very small college should spend a decent amount of time visiting the place, and needs to think carefully about whether or not they would fit in. I attend a college with only seven hundred students (roughly one third the size of my high school), but I knew that most of the people there had similar talents and interests before I applied. However, I know severasl people who have chosen to drop out because they just don’t fit in with any of the limited number of social groups.
I do make my professors work - I aks questions and participate much more. I was pleasantly surprised to NOT be the oldest in my classes - usually I am right about in the middle age-wise.