<p>Planning to major in Computer Science ...</p>
<p>My college list still isn't complete because of this one dilemma ...</p>
<p>LAC graduates typically go to big-name graduate schools. So, in that sense, they get the best of both worlds. </p>
<p>But if you're planning on only getting a bachelors, a tech-oriented university might be best (such as Purdue, etc.).</p>
<p>I will definitely go in for a masters degree ... :)</p>
<p>PS : Don't tell me that I can't be sure about it right now bla bla, 'cause I plan to come back to my home country after working in the US for a few years ... and only bachelors means NOTHING here...</p>
<p>If you're going for a masters, you'll be fine at an LAC for undergrad. :)</p>
<p>But will i be able to land a job after i'm through with my undergrad ? (And a good one at that; suppose i have a decent gpa bla bla)</p>
<p>You should be able to. Especially if you go to a reputable LAC.</p>
<p>I don't see why not. Many LACs have excellent graduate and professional school placement.</p>
<p>Grad and professional school placement does not equal a job. Many LAC's are not very geared up in the career services area. I'd ask some hard questions. Who comes to campus, how many are hired, etc. Most large schools publish this info.</p>
<p>For perspective, just finished at Carleton College, a great liberal arts school, and am now in grad school, and helping teach undergrad labs at a big research university (University of Texas - Austin). </p>
<p>Particularly if you're planning to go to grad school, I don't think liberal arts hurts you at all...if anything, I think it helped me a bunch, what with all the personal interaction you get with professors (who can help get you accepted to a great grad school with a very personal recommendation). There really is a difference between a 20-person class where all parts are taught by a professor and a big school where TA's lead everything but the big lecture. (Not to knock TA's...I'm one right now, and it's a lot of hard work. But there's a certain type of professional advice that a professor who knows you well is way better for than a fresh-from-undergrad TA.)</p>
<p>In my mind, a big school with the resources to do major research is the place to be for grad school, but as an undergrad it's easy to get ignored...whatever they tell you in the brochures, believe me, the grad students get the priority. It's also just much easier to make yourself stand out in liberal arts. That ability to stand out leads to lots of benefits for you down the line, including in grad school. And hey, you may discover something totally unexpected that you're really into. (I'd planned on being a biologist since I was about 6, and I'm not anymore, but I love the geology that I stumbled into in that whole liberal-arts-broad-curriculum thing and am now pursuing in grad school....so, you never know.)</p>
<p>Moral of the story: Liberal arts won't hurt your job prospects, and may actually help you out quite a bit.</p>
<p>Many top LACs have surprisingly extensive Career Development Offices for those interested in entering the workforce right out of college. For example, see Pomona College, <a href="http://www.pomona.edu/cdo/home.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.pomona.edu/cdo/home.shtml</a></p>
<p>Firms that most frequently hire Pomona graduates (from USNWR): </p>
<p>Accenture; Analysis Group; Bain & Company; Bank of America Securities; Bear Stearns; Bel Air Investment Advisors; Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve; Boston Consulting Group; CIBC; CRA International; CalPIRG; Cambridge Associates; Center For Blood Research; City Year New York; City of Hope Medical Center; Cornerstone Research; Countrywide Financial; Credit Suisse; Deloitte Consulting; Democratic National Convention; Department of Justice; Deutsche Bank; ESRI; EcoSecurities, Ltd.; Ernst & Young; FEI Women's Health; Franklin Templeton Investments; Fred Segal; Gallo Wine Company; Georgetown University; Google, Inc; Green Corps; Harvard University; Hillstone Restaurant Group; Hollywood Bowl; International Creative Management; JET Japan Exchange and Teaching Program; JP Morgan; Kaiser Permanente; LA Unified School District; Lazard Freres; Lehman Brothers; McKinsey & Company; Mercer Human Resource Consulting; Merrill Lynch; NERA; NYC Teaching Fellows; National Institute on Drug Abuse ; New England Center for Children; Nova Group of Japan; Partners in School Innovation; Peace Corps; Posse Foundation; Procter and Gamble; Public Financial Management; Quellos Group, LLC; Relational Investors; Roche Pharmaceuticals; Sandia National Laboratories; Sidley Austin LLP; Sony Pictures; State PIRGs; Teach For America; U.S. Department of State; UBS Investment Bank; UCLA Medical Center; UCSF Aids Health Project; University of Maryland; Urban Institute; Warner Brothers Records; Wells Fargo; Western Asset Management</p>
<p>A few TOP lacs like Pomona are good. There is a sharp dropoff after the top 20 or so. Grinnell kids have been complaining for years about it.</p>
<p>What about lower tier LACs, like Oberlin, as compared to Ohio State?</p>
<p>Oberlin is hardly lower tier. It has a long history as one of the top 3 in the midwest with Carleton and Grinnell and is probably the best known of the 3.</p>
<p>Oberlin is a top tier LAC.
You'll get more useful answers for the questions you're asking about job opps by contacting the career services departments of the LACs that interest you.</p>
<p>"A few TOP lacs like Pomona are good. There is a sharp dropoff after the top 20 or so. Grinnell kids have been complaining for years about it."</p>
<p>That's what worries me ...</p>
<p>it also depends on location of the school. if you're talking about working on wallstreet then going to a small school in nyc (not necessarily top 10) like barnard maybe preferred over larger schools (but still fairly decent) like case western or tulane. trust me that top companies, as with top grad schools, are aware of top lacs even if they don't recruit at most of them.</p>
<p>Remember that Grinnell is in Iowa, which may hurt its students when it come to getting jobs at top companies. It's not as likely that top companies are going to recruit in rural Iowa, an out of the way place in a state that's off the beaten track.</p>
<p>Things would be different, however, probably for LACs like Macalester and Barnard (in a big city) and LACs that are near big cities such as the LACs in the Northeast.</p>
<p>Just ask yourself which schools Google and Microsoft usually look at for recruiting purposes. The answer to your question should be obvious then.</p>
<p>Recruiting is a business decision.</p>
<p>You send someone out there if it seems probable that they are going to be able to interview a large number of highly qualified students who are interested in working for you.</p>
<p>If the expense involved is greater- ie greater transportation expense, more time away from the office(short drive to get there vs. plane trip), fewer other campuses you can hit on the same trip- The rewards ( in the form of # of outstanding prospects) have got to appear greater to justify the trip.</p>
<p>This does not mean that the recruiters don't think there are outstanding candidates at campuses that they don't visit. Just not in sufficient numbers to justify the expense of recruiting there, in comparison to other places where they've found their needs to be satisfactorily met.</p>
<p>Students from the schools where the company doesn't visit often can still get jobs there. As I said, the company may recognize there are good candidates there, it's just that the recruitment cost/ benefit numbers don't work. In this case the burden falls on the student to find and pursue these opportunities. Which is what must frequently happen.</p>
<p>All these people likely will eventually be employed, however with all the ongoing demands of school it is difficult, and expensive, to be leaving campus for extended periods to be marketing yourself to employers.</p>
<p>Seems to me it is far preferable, from this particular perspective, to have lots of potential employers actually coming to your campus.</p>
<p>contact career development centers at shools you are interested and ask for job placement data. like i mentioned in my previous post, while big companies generally do not recruit at small schools in the middle of nowhere, they are aware of their reputation and will value their degrees more highly than some better known but not as rigorous state schools e.g. carleton vs. u minnesota, grinnell vs. u iowa or oberlin vs. ohio state. most likely your chance of getting a decent job after college depends on your school and working experiences. internship is important.</p>