Perks of Attending a Small University

Author: Megan Wilkie
Posted on February 28, 2022

I considered a variety of universities before choosing Mount Allison, all of them different, but most of them had one thing in common: they were small. At the time, I wanted to go to a small university because I knew it would allow me to get to know people better and have smaller class sizes. While both of these have been true for me at MtA, there are so many more perks to being at a small university that I was unaware of, that I am so grateful for now.

Possibly the largest perk that I’ve experienced is being able to get to know my professors. This is helped by having smaller classes. Being in third year, I’ve had classes of only 12 people, and by the end of the semester I could easily hold and enjoy a conversation with the professor in or outside the classroom (and believe me, you’ll run into your profs in Sackville!) Even in first year, when I had larger classes, I could connect with my professor so easily just by speaking in class or by going to their office hours. These connections have both improved my academic life as well as provided me with job opportunities! I am now a teaching assistant for a professor, simply because I engaged with them both in class and during their office hours. This professor has also given me great references for other jobs within the university, bringing me to my next point…

The second perk of attending a small university is the flexible work opportunities it brings! Since attending MtA, the university has provided me with jobs both throughout the school year and during the summer, most of which fall under the career path I want to follow - teaching! Because I am working for the institution that I am studying for, I work for and with professors and students, creating more connections within the academic community! All of my jobs are also very flexible so as to work around my class schedule, which has allowed me to still have plenty of time to socialize! This brings me to my third point…

Making friends! Mount Allison has a variety of residences of different sizes, giving you the opportunity to choose what kind of environment you feel comfortable in. I appreciated this because I prefer having a smaller circle of close friends, so I chose a smaller residence. This gave me the opportunity to really connect with my peers, both in class and in residence. This creates a friendly campus environment, which I have seen in how the six-minute walk across campus has taken me 20 minutes because I ran into half a dozen people I knew along the way!

There are so many more perks to choosing a small university, but I find that these three have really highlighted my experience at MtA so far. They all come back down to the main thing provided by a small university - the ability to make connections. This is something that I have found affects every aspect of life, which makes MtA such a great university!