While there's many perks to going to a large school, like hundreds of clubs, huge game days, and all the friends you could ever want, there are some down sides for sure. Though there are positives, like hundreds of majors and classes to choose from, these perks can not come without downsides. There are also tens of thousands of students living in the same place as you, which comes with its struggles. If you go to a big university, you know these struggles all too well.
1. Taking the bus to class
There's nothing quite like waking up an hour before class to have just enough time to brush your teeth, throw on some clothes, and run to the bus stop. If it's raining or snowing? Forget about getting a seat, you'll probably be standing the entire ride.
2. Waking up before your class but knowing you won't make it on time
Turning over in bed and realizing that its 7:45 is a tragic case on any morning, but especially bad when you have to make it to an 8 am. At a big school, there's no chance that you''ll make it to class in 15 minutes, even if you roll out of bed that very minute and sprint to the bus.
3. Not knowing where a building is
If your school is large enough, google maps may come in handy. Otherwise, you're stuck in that lovely purgatory of having to figure out a million different bus schedules, when and where you need to go, and making sure you've got the room number down. On a big college campus, you find new buildings every single day.
4. Basically moving into your friends dorm because it's too far away to visit every day
I have to take a 15 minute bus to class - AND walk just as far to hang out with some of my friends? If this is anything like your big campus, you've definitely got a drawer of clothes at your friend's place.
5. Huge classes
All those kids you were on the bus with? Take that number and multiply it by ten. It's all too common to have a lecture with more than 400 students. Fingers crossed that you have a good TA.
6. The temptation to skip
With hundreds of students in your class, there is virtually no way for your professor to hold you accountable for coming to class. When that burden falls on yourself, it's a very different story.
7. Scheduling feels like the Hunger Games
Remember the tons of classes I mentioned? Well, it turns out that only two of the electives that you like have any seats left by the time it is your turn to schedule, and they're both during another class that you have to take. Refreshing and panicking and reconfiguring and panicking are the usual steps in the scheduling process.
8. Construction
With such a big campus, there's always something being built or being updated. Any student on a big campus is completely used to the sounds of jackhammers and big machines, constantly tearing down and building new things.
9. You've never talked to your professor
You can't even blame students for not being able to connect one-on-one with their professor. With lectures of up to 700 people it's impossible to get one-on-one time. At the end of class, the line to talk to your professor could be an hour long. Who has time for that?
10. Going into a class and not knowing anyone
Being at a big university means going to school with thousands and thousands of people. You've got to be really good at making friends, because every semester you will enroll in a new set of classes with students you've never even seen before. You'd be lucky to find a familiar face from your residence hall, club, or team, but for the most part it's going to be about making new friends.
11. The walk home from parties is at least a mile and a half long
It's a Friday night, you've got your cutest mini skirt on with that new top you bought downtown. The only shoes that will go with this ensemble are your highest heels, which you've thankfully mastered how to walk in. Everything is going well until it's time to head home from the party. It's so late that campus buses are no longer running, and you've got to haul yourself and all of your friends back to the dorms. After what feels like four days, you finally make it back to the room, but completely loose feeling in your feet.
12. Everything is a fight
Want a good seat for class? Better be fifteen minutes early. Want to enroll in all of your favorite classes? Hope you've got extra credits. Looking forward to tonight's dining hall dinner? Be ready to eat at 5 pm before they run out of all the good food. When you're sharing with thousands of students, nothing is guaranteed. Be prepared to be early, because if you're just "on time", you're late.
13. Having hundreds of names in your phone
You never expected that you'd know 37 Jacks, but here you are. You're either asking for last names the second you get their number, or it's game over. You'll just have to make a note on how you know them. Jack from chemistry class? Jack on the soccer team? With common, and sometimes even uncommon names, at a big school you're bound to know more than a few.
14. You will wait for everything
Want to grab a coffee before class? I hope you gave yourself fifteen minutes for that! With so many students, there's bound to be lines for almost everything on campus. From food to review sessions, and even getting out of class, you will spend a lot more of your time waiting for things at a big university.Even with all of the crazy complicated unwritten rules of going to a big school, there is no denying that it comes with amazing perks. You meet amazing people, have tons of new experiences, and who knew there was a class on underwater basket weaving?
