“Which school should I choose and why?” Those are two questions students often ask when they contemplate higher education. It often comes down to a choice between large schools and small ones. Sometimes the choice is not an easy one as both have advantages and disadvantages. There are many benefits of going to a big school, but without small college settings many universities and colleges would lose important enrollment numbers. Many institutions of higher education depend on those enrollment figures for their existence.
In this issue we asked a couple of students what they see as the main differences between the University of Cincinnati main campus and Raymond Walters.
The University of Cincinnati is one of the biggest Universities in the country. The more than 30,000 students who showed up at the start of this year found more than the usual congestion; they also faced the added inconvenience of construction projects. These changes and additions are intended to improve the campus life for future classes, but what about the current classes? What do they think about the situation? “I think this is ridiculous,” said John Osborne of Springfield Township. However, he concedes that the campus will one day look great and be able to compete with other bigger campuses in the region. Nevertheless, he also believes that plans for not disturbing the current students lives could have been planned better.
The Raymond Walters College campus is also thriving with increased enrollment partly due to the arrival of students from the main campus who are just fed up with the big campus living and the endless construction.
Lisa Beverly of Loveland is one of them. She sees herself finishing the majority of her degree work at Raymond Walters because it is closer to her home and to her job.
Many students are choosing Raymond Walter for that reason, and because the parking situation is more student friendly than at the main campus.
Class size is another factor. Many students claim that small classes are friendlier for somebody that needs one on one attention. Raymond Walters provides that and therefore, more interaction between students and professors is evident.
While there are many benefits of going to a branch campus, we also have to recognize the life that big campuses offer students. Jason Magg, a freshman from Toledo, claims that living on campus teaches you to be an adult and more responsible for your own actions because you are surrounded by your peers and not your parents.
We can argue the big campus versus small campus issue until we turn blue; however, the simple truth is that it comes down to a matter of personal preference. There is a place (and a need) for both. Moreover, as the future comes to the University of Cincinnati we can be sure that both campuses will continue to thrive inside the machine that we call higher education.