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I thought the whole idea of graduating from high school was not to attend two more years of HIGH SCHOOL. I will readily admit that diving right into "party central" isn't for everybody, and most large land grant universities are just that. I was born and raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, and I never had the opportunity to make this choice. It was WVU or bust. At the time, in state tuition was well under $500 a semester, and becoming a statistic at one of the local bars wasn't all that risky. The drinking age was 18 at the time, and for the last few months of my senior year of high school, I was already a statistic! With that said, I still think jumping into the big school is the right choice.

It took me 4 1/2 years to graduate. That doesn't sound all that great, but I changed majors several times, the last during my junior year. If a student enters "the game" as a junior, he had better make a choice quickly. The opportunity to make choices and experiment with classes is pretty much already lost.

Also, I think there is more to college than getting a job in four years. Many people will pledge to frats and sororities, etc. That wasn't my cup of tea, but I sure did attend my share of the football games. There is something for everybody at a university. For those who are more studious, most bigger schools have a million volume library, and "most" classes have 30-40 students. The lower division courses=auditorium myth is just that-a myth. My experience w/ a 25,000 student school was that it was surprisingly personal.

In the end, I think going to a major university was the right choice. Big money usually means more prestigious professors. Also, any state school is going to have a wide variety of majors. In time, all students will become part of a clique, thus eliminating the idea that "it's just too big." AND the notion that everybody who attends a large university will become an alcoholic is (hiccup) completely false. BTW...Let's Go Mountaineers!

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