High school frustrated me a lot. Along with the obvious unspoken hierarchy among the student body, there were unbreakable cliques that almost seemed cemented into the school’s architecture like the buildings themselves. Although my classes were outstanding, the student body didn’t seem comfortable outside of their social bubbles, me included. But, then again, that is the way high school is supposed to be according to all of the movies made in the 80’s. It’s designed to be awkward and standoffish. On the other hand, college, to me at the time, seemed like a social atmosphere where everybody intermingled and dipped themselves in various social circles.
When applying to colleges, I knew I wanted to attend a small one. Small classes with 15 to 20 people seemed a lot more appealing than a gigantic lecture hall which can barely hold the 300 students that it is required to. Access to professors would be so much easier as well as the opportunity to be a part of a tight and cozy campus community. Touring large campuses intimated me and with my poor sense of direction, I was positive it was going to get lost and end up being late for class. I felt small and insignificant in a student body that was ten times the population of my high school. Although the other aspects about a small school seemed quaint, the ability to easily make friends was the part I was most looking forward to. So when it was time to make a decision where to invest my next four years of my education, I naturally chose a liberal arts school with an enrollment of under 4,000 students.
Upon entering the realm of a university, I’m not quite sure what I expected. Among all new students, making friends is an instant necessity and everybody scrambles to do so. But sometime after the initial excitement of making new friends, we stop getting the urge to widen our social group. I cannot say for sure exactly why this happens, but to me, it was high school reincarnated. Although the cliques weren’t the classic and stereotypical high school groups that we all know, the general concept of sticking with one friend group and not socially exploring.
This aspect about college disappoints me as I am guilty of this, too. I imagined that a small school would have the ability to unite the students. In some cases it does, and in other cases the exact opposite occurs. It is imperative, especially in college, to have a close group of friends, but isn’t beneficial as well to meet new people one isn’t familiar with? It is obvious that one student will not interact or be friends with the rest of the entire student body or even half of it. All I’m trying to say is that we as students should venture out of our comfortable social circles and try to make new friends and meet new people. We were all encouraged to do that as children and at some point throughout adolescence we decided to stop making friends that weren’t familiar with ours. So go out and meet new people. Be friendly and be kind because you never know where those connections may take you.
