<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I have been visiting this site for several months now and finally decided to join... </p>
<p>I have a daughter who is a sophomore and is high honors and wants to become a doctor.</p>
<p>I have very little education beyond high school graduation and want her to go far in life... much farther than I..</p>
<p>I know this is a silly question and very embarassed to pose this question to you all... </p>
<p>But I feel it important enough to ask so I can help guide her to higher education..</p>
<p>What is a liberal arts college? I would like the actual definition! How does it differ from a state college? an ivy league college?? </p>
<p>What does flagship mean?</p>
<p>I appreciate your assistance.</p>
<p>Liberal Arts College:
Undergraduate focus:
Mostly private colleges: although there is a consortium of public liberal arts colleges
Baccalaureate degrees<br>
Small size
Liberal arts curriculum: humanities and sciences and preparation for advanced degres as opposed to career orientation
Faculty mostly focus on teaching first
Residential: most have requirements for several years to live on campus, full time students generally outnumber part-time students</p>
<p>Ivy League:
a sports division comprised of colleges in the Northeast that are well known and highly regarded academically</p>
<p>State colleges and universities:
Are public colleges, every state has different funding levels but generally the colleges have a taxpayer component and were established to educate the citizens of that particular state which is why they charge significantly more for kids that wish to attend from other states</p>
<p>Flagship:
Most states have one or two public universities that are academically superior and attract the best kids from that state. Most often it was the original college/university for the state and/or grew from land-grants in the late 1800s.</p>
<p>I also wondered what flagship was!! Thanks!</p>
<p>When the time comes for your D (daughter) to choose colleges do not let her focus on where most premeds go or how many from a school get into medical school. Premed is an intention, never a major. She will need to find a school that seems to fit her overall- academically and socially. She will need to plan a major that most interests her, not one she thinks will be good for medical school admissions. ANY major can work- science ones have the most overlap with medical school requirements and usually interest premedical students. She will do her best work in something that interests her. She will also have a field leading to a career if, like 2/3rds of medical school applicants, she does not get into medical school. Make sure she focuses on college for that experience and not only as a stepping stone to medical school. Most schools will work for premedical intentions. Most students have the best chance of getting into their home state medical school and these medical schools take many students from their state schools, including the nonflagship ones.</p>
<p>I could go on a lot more. The bottom line is to keep medical school as a potential goal but to focus on much more when choosing colleges to apply to.</p>
<p>PS- I did a couple of spelling edits. No reason/not required to fill in the “reason for editing” box whenever you make changes to your posts for any reason(allowed within the first 20 minutes of the original submission, btw).</p>
<p>Momof3 and Wis75…</p>
<p>THank you so much! I appreciate the time you took to answer my silly question… I feel so ignorant compared to the rest of you… but I know that the more I arm myself with information, the better off she will be in a few years!</p>
<p>We have visited 12 schools thus far(Ivy League, LAC’s etc…) I want to keep the idea of college AND the reality of college on her brain at all times for my fear is that the social ills that fill our streets will take up space in her life…</p>
<p>She now has a better sense of what she does and doesn’t want in a school… which from what I understand, is half the battle.</p>
<p>So many of the current seniors @ her HS have no idea where they are applying… and deadlines are looming… It is my hope that she has her college list set by the spring of her junior year…</p>
<p>There are so many places to visit, consider and to apply to… what a huge task for such young people! </p>
<p>Again,
Thanks so much…</p>