Largest school in the nation - pro or con? (bachelor's, Ivy, degree)

[Carmen007]

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate any advice on this. I'm an honors student at Miami-Dade Community College (MDC) in Miami, FL. I will be graduating next year with an Associate in Arts degree.

It's no longer technically a community college because they offer one Bachelor's degree - in Education - so they removed the "Community" from their name and now it just says College. My dream is to transfer to an elite school outside of Florida after I graduate with my A.A. degree - maybe even an ivy - but if not, then atleast a very prestigious school. I'm wondering if top schools preffer their transfer students to come from small community colleges over large ones? Will they think smaller equals superior and more personalized education?

MDC's main campus is huge and on top of that there are eight different outreach campuses throughout South Florida. The total number of students is over 164,000, making it the "largest institution of higher learning in the United States" according to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Dade_College.

I'm sure most people working in academia land are aware that MDC is bigger than big. Do you guys think that prestigious schools will look down on this and possibly snob me for a student from a much smaller community college? I can't help but wonder if being a grad of the largest school in the nation is going to help me or hurt me.

[GloryB]

My oldest son is a professor at a Florida community college, so I have heard of your school through conversation. I would think that your transcripts should qualify you for whatever college you choose regardless of the size of the high school you graduate from. However, being in a top percentage of a graduating class of 2000 may certainly have more merit than being in the top percentage in a graduating class of 200.

On a personal note.....wow....you guys sure have a large dating pool to chose from!

[JHG722]

It won't matter that you went to MDC.

[toobusytoday]

Does it matter if it matters? I mean, you are graduating next year right? Get the best grades you can, apply to a variety of schools and see where you get accepted. Prestigious schools mean squat in the real world.

[K-Luv]

Your GPA, the courses that you took and possibly your major will be the main determining factor in which schools you get into. The overwhelming majority of 'prestigious' colleges tend to also be academically rigorous and usually heavily favor students who took the hardest courses that their institution offered, within reason.

I would go into the Transfer Office at your school and/or talk to your advisor about which schools students from MDC have transferred into. I would also contact the admissions office at the schools that you are thinking about transferring into to see what you need to do in order to transfer [into that school].