… but he can study all these subjects at almost any college (besides LACs).
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The OP will benefit from researching this on a school-by-school basis. For example, Northeastern, mentioned above, offers neither majors nor minors in geology/geosciences or astronomy.
Yeah, people who have never attended a small college, or even a small-ish high school never quite understand the appeal and thus the desire to try and find the ones that combine small size and superlative academics across the board (cue the arguments over the advantages/disadvantages of honors colleges.)
Maybe, we can take the OP’s stated desire seriously and not second-guess them?
I agree with that.
I do have experience with small colleges (and larger ones). If all else being equal, I’d agree smaller classes may be better. But all else aren’t equal. OP’s son wants to major in CS. Course offerings and availability are the biggest issues for a CS major. A small CS class is probably difficult to find anywhere. If it exists somewhere, it may mean either 1) the class isn’t very good (so there isn’t much demand for it); or 2) the class is capped at a very low level, which should raise concern about the ease of registration for such a class.
I didn’t say anything about class size. There are lots of large lecture classes at a typical small college, including organic chemistry; almost any intro to art history; and, just plain popular courses taught by teachers who, frankly, love the theatrics of having a large audience.
I was talking about the size of the college community; the familiar faces; the professors who remember your name; the continuity that exists decades after you’ve graduated. Small colleges don’t have high alumni giving rates for nothing.
Thanks for all of the advice and comments. Clearly we have a lot of research to do. I t
am trying to find the sweet spot between large school with seemingly bigger better course depth and breadth and smaller school community and professor relationships. Where does that intersect? School size of 6-8K? Would love to hear all thoughts on this/anything we should be looking at more closely.
In the 6-9 thousand category, you’re looking at Brown.
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As I’ve posted earlier, the most critical issues for a CS major are the course offerings and their availablities. If your son knows what area(s) of CS he potentially wants to study, it would help guide his college selection. CS consists of a number of very different fields. My first question would be why he wants to major in CS. The social aspects should be secondary, IMO. Colleges, large or small, have different arrangements to help facilitate social interactions between students. Some, for example, may divide the college into smaller residential units where those social interactions mainly take place.
I don’t agree with that.
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My D is at a large flagship and has personal relationships with many of her professors. I would not discount large schools with strong CS programs on size alone. Living learning communities, faculty in residence programs, dinners with profs, etc…all help with that sense of community.
I understand everyone prioritizes a little differently. According to OP,
So I don’t think OP’s son is going to have issues socializing at any college. Access to professors depends not only on the school but also on the department. It’s generally a function of class size rather than school size.
I think that’s a generalization. Perhaps, for the OP’s sake, we should PM each other.
In my opinion, once you get over 4k or so students, the difference in “relationships” between the that size and “large” (over 8/10k) is nill. Actually, I think many large universities do a great job in making each college within the university like a small college. The relationships are there if you want them. Even small class sizes are there. a family member was CS/Philosophy combined major at Northeastern and had 1-2 over 100 person classes. Rest were all small. Close relationships with profs are there if you want them. Socially, your kid will have their friend group that they’ll meet in different social situations like classes, sports, clubs, study abroad, or through other friends. Just like at small schools.
That said, LACs have a different vibe. Your in the college “club” - it’s very very “rah rah”, alot of parental involvement, a lot of alumni stuff. That is appealing to many people. The flip side is the breadth of courses and getting in to classes which becomes frustrating. One of my kids chose smaller and one large uni, depends on the kid, requires digging deep on personality and goals.
That they do. The one thing they all have in common (with the possible exception of Barnard) is how quiet they are at night. Between the serious students and the lack of foot traffic, you can hear a basketball being bounced a mile away.
Brown, Amherst, Rice, Univ of Rochester, Lehigh, Bucknell, Colorado School of Mines, UC Boulder. Based on research for engineering (not CS, but believe they all have CS) for student who really wants to take as few humanities classes as possible. Good luck with your search!
Lol. I’m sure there is plenty of noise every weekend at LACs… I know this because I know several kids at top LACs who partake every weekend in the abundant parties (like at every college). “Work hard, play hard”.
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You have a point. A party is a party. But, a lot of what goes on at LACs don’t require a lot of noise: movie nights, concerts, live theater. The one good thing you could say about the old fraternity houses that now serve as student residences: they all had thick walls.
@momoftheyear I sent you a DM