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Ask a Wag Kolten Bell On campus

Small Campus: Good or Bad?

"Wagner only has 2000 undergraduates!" you tell your friend who is going to a state school. They give you an odd look and say, "that's it?! [insert college name here] has 43,000"!

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Wagner College - Main Hall

This has happened to me on multiple occasions when all my friends ask me how big Wagner is. Friends from across the country just assume since Wagner is so close to New York City, that the school is just overflowing with students. Honestly, I think it's safe to say that the general consensus within small schools would be that we would rather be known on a first name basis with our professors rather than being known by our student ID numbers.

There are many pros and cons to having a small school and a small campus but it really depends on who are you are and what your preferences are in school selection. Personally, the pros rule out the cons when it comes to the size of colleges for me.

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Wagner College - Foundation Hall

Who doesn't love walking around campus and having the lovely surprise of being able to run into your friends on your way to class? This is a huge pro in my book for having a small campus. On a normal day when I am walking to class, I see about four or five friends walking to a different class. That is always refreshing to see because it's a nice reminder how intimate of a campus this is.

Not a fan of getting up early? That's alright! Having a small campus helps because you can get from one side of campus to the other in about six minutes! When you press the snooze buttons four times and then wake up to find out you have ten minutes before your class starts, you won't have to worry because you can get ready AND get to class with a minute to spare. (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating but you get the point.)

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Wagner College - Union

Small classes! With going to a small school, like Wagner, your average class size is around 25. Unlike bigger schools with hundreds of people in a lecture hall, this smaller class size will allow you to ask more questions and be apart of a discussion. This also goes hand-in-hand with the fact that you will feel more connected with your professor because

Other honorable mention reasons would be that your advisors know you well and that you have more individually designed majors.

As you can see, going to a small school definitely has its perks and with a school and community like Wagner, you will not be disappointed.