Haha this is probably the dumbest thread I’ve ever made but it’s something I really wanted to ask so here goes… I am personally really attracted to the idea of a liberal arts college, due to the close relationships w and accessibility to professors, the tight-knit community within the student body, and ability to explore a wider range of subjects. However, Im pretty quiet and have bad experiences with socratic seminar type things in high school. Since LACs are very discussion + participation based, I guess I am just worried I will not do very well in classes. I do want to get out of my comfort zone more in college and develop more confidence in myself, but not to the point where every class is uncomfortable for me.
Are high school socratic seminars a bad representation/comparison to LAC classes? Or am I totally right to be concerned 
It’s hard to know just what you are comparing potential LAC courses to in terms of your high school experience. I can say that my LAC kid, who is friendly and open to others but also really needs “his down” time alone to regroup and recharge, has loved his LAC classroom experience. He knew going into his college search that he needed that connection in the classroom in order to thrive so he looked only at LACs. He knew himself well enough to say that, if he was in a large lecture class – which his older brother thrived in – he would not do his best/do well/take advantage of the opportunities. He hasn’t described feeling “on the spot” in classroom discussion, and most of the classes he has taken evaluate participation in terms of more tangible, concrete work than just “talking” in class. For instance, the graded participation in class is things like written reflections on the reading, leading discussions on assigned days etc. It’s not being graded on whether you talk or not.
Also, without knowing more about your own high school experience, as a lawyer I am most familiar with the Socratic method from law school where there can be a fair amount of embarrassment involved because the professor is demonstrating their own expertise and the student’s lack of expertise. My LAC student has never reported that kind of “on the spot” experience in any of his 4 years of classes. Instead, he has experienced dedicated, caring professors who work to bring out the best in students.
@Midwestmomofboys Wow! Thank you so much for sharing your perspective, this was quite reassuring for me to hear:)
Generally at LACs you should be prepared to discuss assigned reading material in your upper-level courses in classes of typically fewer than 20 students. This would be likely to differ substantially from Socratic discourse as you have experienced it. To imagine a class discussion in context, you may want to peruse course descriptions at potential LACs of interest (e.g., https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/departments/Courses-and-Requirements?dept=Government).