<p>If a person makes it to the interview stage --or just before the interview decision is made-- someone would probably do a quick search if they had not heard of the college on the resume. So IMO, the lesser known schools are not as hard to get info about if someone wants it.</p>
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I also disagree with this statement. Especially in this economy, with so many strong applicants vying for jobs, every bit helps, and having the extra added bonuss of a known ,hopefully well respected, school does help.</p>
<p>“I think there’s a fair amount of squeaky-wheelism at large universities. If you’re the kind of kid who can – or will – negotiate the bureaucracy, demand the classes, pursue the professors, compete for internships then you’ll thrive. If you’re less confident or assertive, or just less experienced in navigating obstacles, then LACs will offer a more accessible field.”</p>
<p>I really liked this comment by Momrath. I personally think an LAC would be best for DS, a bright, outgoing guy with great grades/leadership/sports, but also can be the spitting image of Jeremy from the comic strip Zits quite a bit of the time. He may have those skills mentioned above or he may need some assistance or just some time and maturity in developing them. But he doesn’t have much interest in spending four years with the same 2000 or so people in some rural area. He likes some smaller private universities in or near cities, such as Wash U, Emory, Tulane, Penn. I was wondering if private universities are more similar to LAC’s in nurturing their students, or closer to a public university in needing the skills mentioned by Momrath? Any input appreciated!</p>
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<p>I would submit that the names of all of these colleges are quite familiar to educated, sophisticated Americans with upper-middle-class backgrounds, i.e. the people who do the hiring in a lot of professions.</p>
<p>There are many more obscure LACs, however, that might be respected in their regions but are unknown outside of them, whereas everyone can kind of guess what University of Southwest Florida means, even if you don’t live in Southwest Florida.</p>
<p>I’m always excited when NJSue pipes in, because she’s always so sensible and, umm, right. (I assume “she” because of the “Sue” part. But anyone who’s as old as I am may remember Johnny Cash singing about “a boy named Sue.”)</p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words, absweetmarie. I’d like to let my D know that i’m “always right” but I’m afraid she’ll just roll her eyes:)</p>
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This was pretty much my son in high school. He had a B+/A- average, wide interests (orchestra and Science Olympiad in school and origami jewelry making outside school). But he spent plenty of time playing video games, hanging out with friends in the woods etc. The only thing he really excelled in was history. He was pretty adamant that he wanted to go somewhere bigger than his high school which eliminated most LACs. (He did keep Vassar on his list just in case he changed his mind.) Most of the schools he applied to have about 5000 undergrads. He ended up at Tufts. </p>
<p>So the Tufts experience has been a mixed bag. He’s had a mix of lectures and smaller courses. The smaller courses (except Arabic) are more in the 20-30 student range as opposed to the 10-15 around a table some LACs have. I imagine upper level classes are likely to be smaller though. There are TAs, but I haven’t heard complaints about any of them. I’ve been disappointed in what I’ve heard about one or two professors - writing confusing questions where the correct response is dependent not on what you know but how you interpret the question, having stupid extra credit questions, a surprising number of multiple choice tests. Luckily this has been the exception. Still… OTOH he signed up for one course (30 students) freshman year, that was IMO the essence of what Tufts sells itself as. Learning not just theory, but how the real world works, and then going out and interviewing practitioners all over the world and presenting the results in class. In part due to this class, but also general growing up, my kid has learned to be a grown up. Unlike my older son, he is thinking ahead, applying for internships, applying for junior year abroad programs, getting recommendations, all without any nagging from us.</p>
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<p>What’s wrong with extra credit questions? Is that something that’s morally objectionable? Failing to see the big deal.</p>
<p>My H got a BA from a flagship U in a large city in the Midwest. Then he went to a 2 year CC in a medium northeastern city for a radiographer program. He then went to another CC in a small Florida city for nuclear medicine. </p>
<p>I got a BA from a medium sized college in the same large city, a BS from a medium sized university in the same medium NE city, and an MS from a technical college in a different small Florida city.</p>
<p>My S went to a CC in a midwestern suburb and then finished his BA at a LAC in a large midwestern city. My D goes to a small (700 students) private art school in Minneapolis.</p>
<p>Between the 4 of us, we have experienced every type of school there is. We have lived in three states. 3 of us (H, S, and me) are gainfully employed. D plans on staying in Minnesota (she LOVES it) after graduation unless she goes for an MFA someplace. She has written and illustrated several children’s books as well as commission work.</p>
<p>Each school was (is) right for us at the time. This is a silly fight. In addition to chocolate and vanilla, there is also rocky road and sherbert. Everyone needs to chill and select the flavor of their choice.</p>
<p>pizzagirl- When I was a business major undergrad we had an extra credit question on a VERY hard test. The question was an obscure baseball question and had nothing to do with the course. I answered it with the name of my favorite team, the Phillies, and was the only one in the class to get it right! Whew.</p>
<p>I think the objection to the extra credit questions were that they were “stupid”, i.e. unrelated to the course material, like MOWC’s baseball question. </p>
<p>Fun? Maybe, but shouldn’t students stop being rewarded for things like that after they’ve moved up from middle school?</p>
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<p>Depends greatly on the university concerned. Runs the gamut from large impersonal public U-like BU/NYU to LAC-like UChicago, Tufts, Rice, etc. It’s also not just about size, but also about how they run classes and implement their administrative bureaucracies. </p>
<p>Also, speaking of developing more maturity/social skills or not…I think that’s much more dependent on the given campus culture…and NOT whether they are a university or LAC. </p>
<p>IME, I found students at Oberlin to be far more mature socially and in other ways than I’ve seen at other LACs or moreso…many mainstream universities whether they’re directional publics to elite private universities…including a few Ivies.</p>
<p>Extra credit on a timed test is pretty pointless, but really this was a stupid question, sports related in a course about the environment. I hated this stuff in junior high and I hate it even more in a college course.</p>
<p>BTW my son loathes the Tufts bureaucracy, something I had not expected.</p>
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<p>That is weird. Everyone I knew who attended Tufts had no problems/raved about how little red tape they had to deal with there.</p>
<p>Any perspectives on LAC vs larger university for an “undecided” major? Large uni would offer more courses and opportunities, but more competition and less ready access to support, advising & mentoring. I know that motivated students can make something of any opportunities, but do students tend to feel safer taking creative/intellectual risks and pursuing new paths at LACs?</p>
<p>Students at LACs tend to have an easier time getting into courses as non-majors, so it can make it easier for them to explore a number of different disciplines. This is not universally true, so it make sense to check the policies of the institutions in which you’re interested and to get as much anecdotal evidence from current students as possible. You may also want to check on when students need to declare their majors. Some institutions, particularly the larger more specialized, expect students to declare when applying or in their first year. Others don’t require students to declare until their junior years or allow a change of major very late in the game.</p>
<p>LAC’s just recently became of possible interest to DS. In one self guided tour recently we spoke with a couple of students who happened to be hanging around the theater (a hobby interest of DS’s). During the conversation they spoke excitedly of a new piece of top of the line equipment and DS replied he was currently working on this particular widget in HS. Students responded with - oh wish you could stay for a few days and show us how this widget works, the prof who is qualified is on sabbatical and won’t be back until next semester. So, it makes sense to not only look at who the profs are, but also whether they will be available during the time frame your student may need them. Yes, they maybe more accessible than at large institutions, but it seems that when one leaves there may not be a replacement.</p>
<p>[The</a> Colleges Where PhD’s Get Their Start | The College Solution](<a href=“http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-colleges-where-phds-get-their-start]The”>The Colleges Where PhD's Get Their Start)</p>
<p>The sad truth Dietz is that many LACs (particularly those that are not very highly ranked) are not even going to have the equipment your DS’s high school has.</p>
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I suspect that LAC professors regularly get to enjoy more interdepartmental face-time with colleagues from other departments. </p>
<p>Why this matters: it trickles down in the form of advising over-focused students within their own departments how to branch outside their comfort zone. </p>
<p>I’ve always appreciated, from sophomore year, how S-1’s professors in his intended major urged him to branch outside his comfort zone with them. At a junior-year annual review, conducted roundtable for each major by that department, S reported how a project done in another unrelated department was the “aha” breakthrough moment that they’d been pushing him on within his major courses. He told me that feedback loop was the highlight of their review discussion. His major professors did not need to <em>own</em> his discovery moment, they just wanted it for him. I could hug them for that.</p>