Working with a wide variety of types of students, I've noticed that each student seems to have a college size that fits best. Some are comfortable and energized at large universities while others feel lonely and invisible in a large school. Other students are more comfortable and academically successful at moderate or small-size colleges where everyone knows everyone on campus and classes are small enough to get to know instructors. By size, I am not referring to acreage but rather the size of the student body.

The same phenomenon can be observed in school size. There are large, medium and small public and private high schools. Parents move their children from one type of school to another at times to get the best environment for learning. I've seen parents move their child from a small private high school to a large public high school assuming the child will get a superior education at a larger school.That same parent sometimes moves his child back to the smaller school because a large school did not fit well or provide a superior education.

The importance of school size for high schools and colleges has less to do with academic quality and more to do with student to teacher ratios and social environment. There are advantages to different school sizes as they relate to individual student needs and readiness. College is not a one-size fits all proposition. Students and their families have the luxury of choice for the type of environment in which the student will thrive and graduate on time.