College is a whole new world, and if you go to a private university, it’s usually a much smaller world as well. I attend Sacred Heart University, home of the Pioneer! More people squeeze into the small dive bar down the road than most of the sporting events at our school.
Like most things in life, there are clear pros and cons to going to a small school versus a big school. Depending on your personal experience at your college, you’ll decide what environment suits you best. Whether you decide you love it or hate it, there are definitely some clear signs you go to a small college like Sacred Heart University.
1. You can’t wait until you turn 21.
Obviously this is true for everyone anywhere, but when your few party options get busted within an hour and G-Star becomes increasingly well-known by the freshman throughout the year, it ends up being so packed and overpopulated by underclassmen that you're dreaming of Red’s, SONO and Stamford nights to come. If you’re underage in the winters, it’s basically time to hibernate with the lack of party options and everyone’s overwhelming desire to cuddle.
2. It’s impossible to avoid people.
You are guaranteed to bump into someone in the halls because there are only about five of them. If you do a well enough job avoiding eye contact in the halls, you’re bound to see them at the Pitt, in the library or wherever you decide to go out on the weekend.
Still have a meal plan? Look forward to standing in line at Linda’s behind that awkward mistake from last weekend. Add being a freshman into the mix, and you’re guaranteed an awkward elevator ride at least once a week. Going out drinking to avoid dealing with someone? It’s impossible because whomever you’re avoiding will be just a few feet away from you at the only bar that is being promoted that night.
3. If you’re not on a team or in a club, you’re at risk of becoming an outcast.
It doesn’t matter what team you're on, if you’re an athlete you know almost every other athlete. You bond over preseasons and dry seasons while the rest of us enjoy our so called “NARP life.”
When it comes to the very few parties that Sacred Heart does have, they’re usually one of the male sports teams throwing them. That means lots of young frisky girls and not too many of your male friends getting in, especially not without throwing some cash at the guy at the door.
If you don’t have the right connections, enjoy the house-party-free university.
4. Picking your schedule never goes according to plan.
Word of advice: Befriend the people at Registrar. With one academic building and an overpopulated campus, the classes you need for your major will fill up within the first few hours. If you have class during your registering time you have everything ready to go so you can hit submit at the very first second you’re allowed to.
5. By sophomore year, you know your fate.
You literally feel like you know everyone by the time sophomore year is over, and if you don’t, they’re probably just younger or someone who has zero similar interests. So, you know your fate in relationships and friendships by now.
If you’ve had a significant other since freshman year and then come out to try and meet someone, you’ll be shocked at the limited options because of girl/guy code, how many guidos/guidettes you’re trying to avoid and how irrelevant you’ve become being off-limits for so long.
You’ll know who your friends will be for the rest of your time there, and you’ll have a family-like relationship with most of them because it’s such a close-knit environment.
6. You most likely know the names of multiple workers around campus.
The smoothie lady is my personal favorite. A lot of us befriended (or ran from) the flirty Matthew from Mondo’s, and we all have our favorite (and least favorite) RAs. Whether you got written up too many times in the dorms, or they chased you for parking illegally in North, you’re bound to be well-known by campus security or multiple RAs by the time you graduate.
7. Parking is impossible.
You were probably all waiting for this one; there is clearly not enough parking on campus especially with all of the new construction that we’ve added. The number of parking tickets everyone will graduate with is probably equivalent to the amount of minutes you spend waiting for a treadmill at the gym. It’s not like we pay $50 grand to go here or anything, please charge us for parking in an open spot simply because it’s not an overnight area.
Within a day of moving into North you realize that a good couple of hours of your life are now devoted to waiting on line for a parking spot at night. Although our campus is small enough to walk from one side to another within minutes, we become lazy and naive thinking it’s a struggle having to drive from class up to the Pitt and not being able to find parking. Take one trip to UCONN, and you’ll quickly become thankful there’s any parking at all that close to a building.
8. Privacy is impossible.
Everyone knows your business. Correction: everyone thinks they know your business. A small campus plus social media lead to assumptions. Whether people see you out with a guy one night or know you’re dating your #wcw, people always try and figure out what the lowdown is on everyone else. EVERYONE talks, and no library gossip sessions are ever really private.
When it comes to hooking up or breaking up, it’s almost impossible not to catch someone doing something shady because everyone’s always drunk at the same place or knows someone who is. Meet a new love interest? People will probably know before you do, whether it’s from SHU crushes or witnessing you together in a Snapchat or dreaded photo from promoters' Facebook pages.
Going through a breakup? People will figure it out within days because you and your S.O will no longer show up with your collaborated posse to the bar you go to every weekend.
9. You go to all the same local spots.
Running into fellow SHU students at the mall, package store or Stop & Shop is basically inevitable. Everyone has had at least one of his or her friend’s birthday celebrations at Taco Loco or Molto. Shang-ri-la is the go to when you want a good meal, but don’t want to leave your bed, thank god for sushi delivery. Colony and Good Fellas are the only acceptable “pizzerias.” Main Street Creamery is outdoors yet still acceptable in the winter. Merritt is your cheat every weekend ... or weeknight after G-Star. Best Edibles will forever be the best deli in our lives. And if you’ve never been to Bagel King, do you even go here?
My friends and I get excited whenever we find a new place to go to that no one knows about, but let's face it, eventually we’ll post a food porn on Instagram and everyone will flock to it.
10. Your dining options are limited.
You basically eat the same things every single day, hence the easily found freshman 15 on most people living walking distance from Flick’s buffet lines. Unless you’re coming into SHU post-2015 construction, in which case we all hate you with jealousy. Enjoy your bagel shop and 24-hour diner.
11. You party with other nearby schools.
You’re bound to get sick of same faces every weekend since freshman year, so you’ll hopefully make connections with other students that go to nearby schools or find friends from home who are close enough to visit and party with on weekends. After partying at Fairfield University, you’ll never want to go back to our local Bridgeport rentals.
12. If you’re a freshman, you’re spoiled.
If you live in Seton or Merton, you can literally wake up five minutes before class because all you have to do is take the elevator down and walk into the building right next to you. You don’t know what it’s like yet to spend all of your money on food off-campus because you aren’t allowed to have your car on campus yet (not that that stops most of you). You get buses to and from every club you go to, don’t need to worry about DDs. You get invites to every party because all the guys clearly want the fresh meat at their jungle juice-flowing parties. You outnumber the upperclassmen because apparently SHU is trying to fast track their way to becoming a zoo. You’re getting there just in time for all the new construction — a state of the art business and communications building, new eateries, new dorm buildings and more that all of us upperclassmen are going to miss out on ... yes we’re bitter.
13. Joining Sororities or Fraternities is confusing.
Our “Greek Row” is a line of painted rocks, hazing is forbidden, having a sorority house is illegal, and I haven’t been to a good frat party since freshman year at the forever-missed OPK house. Of course there is much more to being in a fraternity or a sorority than all that, I even considered it because you would make more friends and gain opportunities through a sorority, but it’s still definitely a constant battle trying to decide whether it’s worth it or not at a smaller university.
14. You feel like you’re in high school all over again.
You know all of your teachers. You know everyone in your classes. You party with the same people every weekend, and you most likely will be expecting a yearbook at the end of the year. There are some cliques that are unbreakable, and some that you know are full of fakes.
Most of your memories will be at the least strict place with IDs (G-Star), your parents will bail you out when things get sent home (after being written up), and you’ll be awaiting senior “prom and after prom” your whole life here (senior week).
You’ll learn a lot more about yourself than anything else, and by the time you graduate, you’ll have good friends, few enemies and memories that will last a lifetime.
