News from large colleges and universities is often more focused on athletic championships and unfortunate scandals.

Big schools are frequently labeled negatively as institutions that are obsessed with sports and partying, not places that are equipped to offer students a personalized education.

But there are benefits to going big. Here are some of them:

- More choices. Large schools can offer students depth and breadth in their majors that would be unavailable at smaller colleges.

- Larger and better-known faculty. Large schools often have faculty members who are better-known or leaders in their fields. This is not to say that small schools don’t have well-regarded and well-known faculty, but their size can impact the nature of the research being conducted. It may even help students in their interviewing process if they’re able to say that they took a class with a newsworthy or academic superstar.

- Access to both professors and teaching assistants. TAs get a bad rap — and large schools are often criticized for having courses taught or seminars led by TAs. While there is no question that the quality of TAs varies dramatically, getting to know a TA has often been the gateway for students to get involved in academic research, and to find meaningful internships and mentors.

- Resources. Everything is big at big schools, including the availability of resources. Harvard University has more than 60 libraries!

- Critical mass. While you may not have the intimacy and nurturing offered at a small college, students at larger colleges and universities have more people. That means more professors, more students in their majors, more diversity of opinions, more administrative support, etc.

- Large alumni network. If you are thinking about your college education in terms of a return on investment, one possible perk for a large school is the sheer size of its alumni network. Some employers are very loyal to their undergraduate colleges and universities and recruit heavily, in part, based on that loyalty.

One last piece of advice: It’s much easier to make a big school smaller than to make a small school bigger. That means if you choose to attend a larger school, find your group, find your niche, find your people and make it your small school.

All this, and I didn’t even mention football or tailgating!