If you go to a small, private school, then you know that there are distinct differences between your experiences and those of your large state school counterparts. What you think is normal sometimes is foreign to your friends who have more than 1,000 students in their class. Here's a list of 12 of these things that you probably know to be true about your small school and not the ginormous institution down the road.

1. You see the same people all the time.

Within any given day, you could pass the same person five times and it wouldn't be anything too noteworthy. If you have burned a bridge or two then this isn't the most fun characteristic of your school because you are pretty much bound to see everyone somewhere around campus. Usually though, this is nice because you get a lot of familiar faces to say “hey" to on your way to class.

2. You can make it to most of your classes in 5 minutes.

Got an 8:30 class? Waking up at 8:15 a.m. is no problem when your campus is this compact.

3. You don't know what it's like to have class in a large lecture hall.

Texting your friends during class can be a struggle. While they are seated in the back row of an auditorium with 400 of their peers listening to their teacher talk for hours, you are sitting in a circle discussing the article that you read for homework with your class of fifteen.

4. Your school's mascot is just as comical its size.

Go fighting rainbow fish! No joke I wouldn't be surprised if some small school somewhere has that as their mascot. They can get pretty hilarious.

5. Your professors know who you are.

Its not uncommon, especially if you live in a college town, to see your professors around outside of class. If you do see them you will probably say hi and they will answer with a hi followed by your name. It wasn't hard for them to recognize you because they memorized their classes' names and faces within the first few weeks of the semester.

6. Your college bookstore is pretty much the only place in the world that sells anything and everything with your school's logo.

No chance that your local sporting goods store at home is going to sell baseball hats and boxers with your school's name on them. PINK doesn't have bedazzled yoga pants with your logo on them either. But your bookstore does. And it has just about everything else you could ever want displaying your school's pride.

7. Your professor invites your entire class over for dinner.

Fireside chats with professors are not at all unheard of. At my small school even, the president opens his home for visitors, and unsurprisingly, it's a big hit.

8. Everyone at your college is involved in at least 17 activities.

Because classes are small and everyone wants their club/activity to take off, the student body joins together to make every organization have a presence. How? By over committing. It makes for a busy schedule for all but an active and awesome community.

9. You get overly excited when people have heard of your school.

You: “I go to *insert name of school*. You've probably never heard of it."

Person: "Oh actually I have blah blah blah"

You inwardly: YES SOMEONE KNOWS MY SCHOOL EXISTS.

10. You make friends very quickly.

Because so many people are involved with so many different things, your path overlaps at least once with almost everyone.

11. There is always something going on that you are invited to.

Emails fly daily. Your school's newsletter will probably invite you to three sporting evens, student concerts, frat formals, cultural events, movie viewings, and maybe even an impromptu yodeling session all in one night. You never know what is going to happen on campus with all of the clubs at your school, but you always will have options for the weekend if you get bored with your typical routine.

12. You love your little college community.

Even though the world doesn't always pay as much attention to your school as the state school next door, you know that it's just as cool and probably even cooler. You have formed many great relationships where you are and you are happy in your small, hidden treasure of a community.