The thing that put Thomas Jefferson University on the map was the graduation fiasco a couple of years ago where the nursing department butchered the pronunciation of the graduates’ names. While it’s funny to look back on, it’s also crazy that people from my hometown in Virginia were just then learning about the university I would be spending the next three years of my life at. Going to a small school, especially from out-of-state, makes you feel a bit isolated. Most students at Jefferson are local, many of them commute, and the ones that live on campus tend to go home every weekend. For people like me, where “home” is not an easy drive away, it can feel a bit lonely. But I’ve since learned that the small environment of Jefferson is incredibly valuable and I stopped comparing my college experience to big universities.
For one, small classes are a huge blessing. I talk to my sister, who goes to a state university in Texas, and her classes can be up in the 200s. She has more communication with her TA than she does with her professor, and that is insane to me. I love having small classes of generally no more than 25 people. I’ve been able to establish good rapport with my professors and, as a result, I’ve been a lot more interested in the content they’ve taught. The small classes have also made me more vocal and outgoing. In high school, I was very shy, found it hard to make friends, and hated giving presentations or being called on. Now, the small environments have made me much more open to raising my hand in class because there aren’t as many eyes on me.
Additionally, the small environment at Jefferson has allowed me to form some really strong relationships. Small class sizes force you to talk to the people sitting next to you, so it’s not as hard to make friends (or at least acquaintances) as it would be in a larger setting. I met my best friend and roommate freshman year in my biology class. Because the school is so small, our schedules continued to overlap and our friendship grew. While sometimes this small environment isn’t great if you’ve made enemies since it would be hard to avoid them, the relationships you build are more than enough to make up for it.
Finally, Jefferson has the fortunate quality of being just outside Center City. The heart of Philadelphia is only a short train or bus ride away so, when you feel like escaping the small environment, you can embrace the anonymity of the big city.
Jefferson has since expanded greatly. I am hearing horror stories from the freshman class about the cramped dorm experiences, the battles for housing, and the loss of small-class settings. I took my freshman year biology class of 10 people for granted, and now I’m hearing their biology lessons are up to 100 students in one of the few lecture halls we have on campus. It feels like the university has grown beyond its means and, while this may be a good thing for finally gaining publicity, it feels like a loss for the sense of community I’ve learned to love.
However, I think it is so critical to not compare your college experience to others because there are different benefits and flaws to each environment. Sure, Jefferson doesn’t have big sports teams, parties, and huge sororities or frats, but it does have professors who will remember your name and friendships that will outlast your graduation date. And, in the end, I think these are more important.