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As a senior in high school, I thought I wanted one thing: a small school. It needed to have less than 3,000 students and a campus I could walk across in less than 20 minutes. I was wrong. 

There were other aspects I wanted then, too: a law program, a musical theater program and the option to have my car freshman year. I also hoped to be out of my hometown in Syracuse but still close enough where I could visit for the weekend. 

So, I enrolled at Nazareth College in Pittsford, New York.

My freshman year, I thrived. I was in a law program as a history major with a minor in musical theater. I got involved in everything I could, including honor societies, theater and student teaching. 

Back then, I was really happy with my school and who I was, but that changed sophomore year. There I was back at school, where mere months before I had been flourishing, and I felt stuck. 

Some of the people I thought were my friends didn’t talk to me anymore, there were few opportunities for involvement, and I stayed in my room doing homework most days. 

It felt like I had done everything I could at Nazareth. It seemed as if I’d met all of the 2,000 students. I became a senator for my class, and I’d gotten the lead in a play. I had climbed as high as I could there.

I started falling in love with journalism and broadcasting in October 2020 just as I was deciding if I wanted to transfer. I had even started my own multimedia news platform called Ginger Tea News, where I posted daily videos about the latest headlines.

It was then that I started thinking about transferring, and I applied to one school: Syracuse University.

I didn’t even tell my father that I had applied. 

Besides wanting a bigger school, the other reason I applied to SU was for the broadcast and digital journalism program at the Newhouse School of Public Communications.  

I became passionate about this new endeavor and wanted to know if it was something I could realistically pursue. I sent Newhouse a portfolio and was accepted as a dual major with history in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

So here I am as a spring transfer, and I’m happier than I ever was at my old school.

One of the biggest shocks coming to SU was the campus size. It takes about 15 minutes for me to walk from my dorm to class. The maximum amount of time it took me to walk to class at Nazareth was five minutes.

The professors and advisers at a small school are more accessible. I was close with all my advisers, and they would respond to an email within the hour. Here, it can be a few weeks before I receive an email back.

However, the opportunities and resources are much more abundant here at SU. We have a huge alumni network that I’ve already connected with, hundreds of clubs and organizations and a constant array of events and guest speakers. At a small school, I didn’t have all of that. At a small school, I was limited. 

There’s an endless amount of people to meet at a big school. In the year and a half I was at Nazareth, it felt as though I’d met every single person. With no one new to meet, I felt stuck. At SU, I meet someone new every single day and know that will continue in my final two years. 

These are just a few of the differences I experienced and noticed between a school with 2,000 students and one with 22,000 students. 

If I could go back in time and do it all over again, I would still choose Nazareth to start my college career. If I hadn’t, I’m not sure I would have ever found and pursued broadcast journalism, met some of the people whom I’m still close with and grown in the ways that I did. 

I saw my high school chorus teacher recently, and she told me, “I always knew Nazareth was too small for you, but it wasn’t my place to say.”

I think I always knew as well, however I am so grateful for everything I learned in my time there. I’m even more grateful that Syracuse and Newhouse gave me the chance to be here, as I’m doing what I love on a larger scale. 

It’ll never know how much it meant to get that acceptance letter, but thank you, SU, for giving me this opportunity to flourish. 

Teagan Brown is a sophomore dual major in broadcast and digital journalism and history. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @teagannbrownn.

Published on April 14, 2021 at 9:51 pm