I was at a private college with about 10k students for 2 years, then I lost my scholarship and transferred to a state school with 35k. The big one had way more stuff going on- there were probably 10 times the number of student organizations. It's easier to feel list on the crowd though, but if you try to meet people you can always find friends who share interests. As far as cultishness - it can be fun out irritating, but if you can make it through orientation and welcome week you could probably participate very little in the school spirit after that without anyone caring.
This one was all my own fault. I was supposed to keep a gift GPA, measured at the end of each year not semester thankfully. First year I was 0.1 points below the threshold and was allowed to keep the scholarship for my second year as a probation period to raise my grades, but after the second year my cumulative GPA had dropped instead of raising above the threshold, so it was gone.
Since you've done both, what can you say about what they were like? Do you regret losing the scholarship or do you feel the change was for the better?
For me, the rough part was finding new friends and getting involved in the school. But once the social adjustment was done I didn't notice much difference. The classes were bigger at the state school, but there were more electives and student organizations related to my major too.
Thanks, this helps a ton. Pretty confident I'm going to the state school now and this clears up some doubts.