<p>@ws75 - for you they also have this:
<a href=“Smartest Colleges in America”>Smartest Colleges in America;
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<p>I once thought just as wis75 does (except for the STEM fields part), but I don’t anymore. Not that I think LACs are clearly superior to the undergraduate divisions of research universities, either. Nor do I think a kid who yearns for a campus that feels like an entire city should forget about that and learn to love one that feels like a New England town meeting.</p>
<p>But the more I have seen of the world, and the more I have seen of my kids’ friends and friends’ kids who went to different types of colleges, the more I understand that for all their apparent differences LACs and universities are merely two different routes to get to fundamentally the same place, and they DO get to fundamentally the same place. By different methods, to be sure, but at the end of the day, for most kids, either one can be fine, or better than fine. As I have repeated in a number of threads, the two kids I know who are most living out an audacious, unlikely dream, are kids who came out of LACs. One is completely in a STEM field, the other in more of a quant-y social science field (but super exciting; thousands of people would kill for this kid’s job). What their colleges lacked in broad course offerings and cutting-edge research labs they more than made up with personal support and close involvement by faculty, as well as super-effective alumni networks and outstanding institutional commitment to make certain they had the opportunities they needed to get where they wanted to go.</p>
<p>One difference: At a university, the deal is that the professor teaches you what he wants to teach. It’s up to the department and to the student to make certain that one way or another each student gets enough of the basics to understand his or her chosen field pretty well. At LACs, more often than not, the faculty feel it is their responsibility to make certain that each student in their department is learning what he or she needs to know to get to the next level. </p>
<p>That’s a good list, also.</p>
<p>I knew my son’s relatively unknown LAC had “smarter” kids than some of the more popular schools on this site, like Bard, Skidmore, Trinity, etc.–because I looked at metrics like average test scores to get a sense of the strength of the student body. I learned early on that selectivity does NOT correlate to higher test scores in many cases.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t see why this thread has to defend LACs over research U’s…it’s ABOUT LACs. And a lot of people here (including me) love them. :)</p>
<p>When I read these lists I cannot help but think that if Brown were an LAC, it would be number one. It’s incredibly focused on undergraduates - they get all the attention and the close, nurturing culture of an LAC, but with a larger, more vibrant campus…and a wonderful New England atmosphere. On the other hand, it’s always dinged in the national lists because its graduate school and research funding is relatively small. Sigh. Another reason why these lists are what they are…interesting to read, but not useful for HS students who are seriously looking at colleges. I told my kids to ignore the lists!!!</p>
<p>Gourmetmom, many people who favor LACs view the small student populations as a benefit. And LACs, even tiny ones, can have really vibrant campuses. </p>
<p>You are right to not pay much attention to lists. And obviously many of us don’t–we know about Brown and what a great school it is, even though it doesn’t fit neatly into any one category. :)</p>
<p>I totally agree with Gourmetmom—the lists are’t helpful to high school students. </p>
<p>"When I read these lists I cannot help but think that if Brown were an LAC, it would be number one. It’s incredibly focused on undergraduates - they get all the attention and the close, nurturing culture of an LAC, but with a larger, more vibrant campus…and a wonderful New England atmosphere. On the other hand, it’s always dinged in the national lists because its graduate school and research funding is relatively small. "</p>
<p>While I get your point, what is Brown on the USNWR university list? #12 or thereabouts? It’s kind of hard to suggest that something that high is “dinged” in any way. </p>
<p>Everyone has opinions and reasoning based on their particular situation. I, for one, found nothing to like about Trinity, yet it gets plenty of favorable reviews and somehow ends up higher on other lists. Every list is slightly different. I say to each his own, but anytime a list ‘boosts’ a lesser known, but high quality college that doesn’t get much attention, I like that. The kids, yes, they ultimately need to pick what will work for them as well as their families. </p>
<p>Brown to me is unique because it’s not a big research uni nor is it a small LAC. I know several people who attended for their undergrad, but Brown isn’t a school that needs much exposure.</p>
<p>@Awesomekidsmom, Brandeis isn’t on the list because it’s not a liberal-arts college. It certainly would appear on any list of top universities.</p>
<p>I just wanted to say thank you @momofthreeboys for posting the list. My older child was only interested in larger schools. My younger one is looking at completely different kinds of places. Having this list is really helpful, as I might have overlooked good choices for the younger one.</p>
<p>With all due respect, LBOwie, wouldn’t the USNWR LAC ranking list have given you essentially the same thing as this list? Isn’t it all just the same set of schools, shifting around a little bit? </p>
<p>In the PNW: Reed, Whitman, Lewis & Clark, U Puget Sound, Willamette. Every other one on the list is a plane ride. I’m rather jealous of all the choices for NE kids.</p>
<p>I believe that "an intellectually stimulating environment " could be found at absolutely any UG. It depends much more on a student than college. Kids that I know who graduated from one the colleges in the article have no advantage whatsoever over others, I do not see it at all. It just depends how kid spend these 4 hours, what she did, if she took advantages of opportunites that are absolutely everywhere, no exception. </p>
<p>Again, no one is comparing the category of LAC against research U’s, community colleges, etc. The thread is ABOUT LACs. Why isn’t that OK?</p>
<p>^^^ amen, Sally! My boys both attend LACs, as you know. Perfect for them both. </p>
<p>Honestly, when people come into a thread like this to say that LACs aren’t any better than X or Y, then it comes off sounding like defensiveness. Nobody is saying that other sorts of universities do not have their own advantages. But many people, myself included, find it a good fit for at least some of our kids. Would you comment on an article comparing sports cars that pickups are really more practical on the farm? Or on an article about which cats have the best personalities that dogs are really a better pet, or that gerbils are just as good? Well I guess some people do. But it’s silly anyway. </p>
<p>This list is basically a ranking of liberal arts colleges by a college’s admitted student SAT scores–what does that really mean? It’s not about liberal arts vs. research universities. Also it isn’t really helpful for a kid who’s looking for a school with a more academic environment–it might give him/her some new information about schools with which he/she wasn’t familiar, but that’s about it. </p>
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<p>Huh? Why not? No, scores aren’t everything but it’s good to know where the student body of a particular school stands against others along this one metric.</p>
<p>OK, agree, everybody has to say exactly the same thing, this is the purpose of any discussion.
LACs are greate and everybody should send their kids to LACs. There is no reason to consider any other place for UG.</p>