<p>Many of the arguments on CC derive from where the poster thinks that the emphasis should be placed in evaluating different schools. Some claim that the student body and his/her prospective environment (student strength, class size, financial resources) should frame the college selection process while others will latch onto a schools reputation within the confined world of academia and use that as their basis for claiming that ABC College is a superior choice than XYZ University. </p>
<p>If you are interested in schools where faculty have teaching as a major priority and these schools have often been recognized for that, then that will lead you to one subset of schools. </p>
<p>OTOH, if you are interested in schools where faculty are famous and where ground-breaking research is how they and the institution get recognized and undergrad students are an afterthought, then that will lead you to another subset of schools. </p>
<p>And for many students, the ideal is the great teaching/great research combination (although my personal view, based on various surveys, rankings, readings, anecdotal evidence, CC testimony, etc. is that this is rarely accomplished) and that could lead you to a third (likely much smaller) subset of schools. </p>
<p>Depending on the student, either the undergrad teaching excellence priority or the research priority can be the best choice, but it is important for a prospective student to understand the differences as they make their college selection as these institutional priorities will heavily impact the academic experience that a student will receive once on campus.</p>