<p>I am currently looking at going to Ouachita Baptist University for my undergrad(felt like the place God had placed on my life for it). How will this hurt or help my chances of going to top grad schools?</p>
<p>just do well and you'll be fine.</p>
<p>there are good things and no-so-good things about going to a small schools that are not very well known -- i'm quite sure you're aware of those yourself</p>
<p>if you go to small school, you get more personal attention, smaller classes, more chances to find friends and build meaningful relationships than at big campuses, less confusion overall -- you're more likely to join in working with one professor or another who will then write you a good (or at least detailed) recommendation letter -- whereas at big campuses there is a bit of competition going on for working with professors and your first choice might turn you down</p>
<p>the downside is that the level of the educators is not usually very high at small schools that lack fame -- most competitive professors try to aggregate at bigger schools with more resources and larger pay -- at smaller schools they are likely to be more laid back and less up to speed of things -- consequently, you won't hear perhaps the best advice and won't get recommendation letters from someone who is well known and established in their field -- who wrote the rec letters weights heavily for grad school</p>
<p>make sure that the college you plan to attend has a good department that corresponds to the type of graduate school you want to attend -- grad school committees try to pick out people from good departments around the country because they know the these particular departments give solid eduation as compared to others</p>
<p>"the downside is that the level of the educators is not usually very high at small schools that lack fame -- most competitive professors try to aggregate at bigger schools with more resources and larger pay -- at smaller schools they are likely to be more laid back and less up to speed of things -- consequently, you won't hear perhaps the best advice and won't get recommendation letters from someone who is well known and established in their field -- who wrote the rec letters weights heavily for grad school"</p>
<p>youre kidding, right? there are MANY professors who prefer the environment of a small LAC. I went to one and there were nationally known professors in every department. when i interviewed for grad schools (in a VERY competitive field that accepts less than 5% of the applicants), every professor inquired about professors that i had as undergrad.</p>
<p>Perhaps the problem here is what is meant by 'smaller' How are we defining a 'smaller' school. </p>
<p>If by 'smaller' we mean less academically strong, then it is true that the profs there are probably not going to be as good. Hence, I would agree with kihyle.</p>
<p>However, if we mean 'smaller' as in smaller population, then I would agree with huskem55. The elite LAC's like Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore are very small schools from a population standpoint, but nevertheless are extremely successful in getting their students to top graduate schools and top employers.</p>
<p>it doesnt carry the elite name with it, but ouachita baptist u has very qualified staff. even mike huckabee, current governor of arkansas( likely GOP candidate for prez in 08), will join their ranks. if you're not familiar with huckabee or how much arkansas has improved since he came there lets put it this way:
1.The state parks were filled with litter and sewage before he started, now they are some of the most beautiful getaway spots in the us
2.The roads were atrocious. Itd be common for there to be 1/4 mile of potholes on a mile stretch of highway, now they have the best roadways in the south
3.The outrageous illiteracy is gone almost completely.
4.Arkansas is less obese, including him(he lost 110 pounds in order to boost his state's interest in health)
5.Too many things to list, just read up on him if interested.</p>
<p>I attended a small undergrad school, and it hasn't stopped me from getting into good grad programs. Here's my advice;
1. You need excellent GREs to compensate for being a dark horse, so take Latin if you can. It will boost your Verbal.
2. Find good profs who will help you write well. Don't be afraid to use sources that are not required. (I'm in history, so that could be something like Cabinet Documents). Don't worry if you have never used them before; just make sure you take classes with profs who will teach you how. This is one of the great strengths of a small school: you can get personal attention from the prof himself. By the time you apply to grad school you will have a terrific writing sample.
3. Ignore the level your fellow-students work at. Remember you want to go to grad school, and when you apply, you will be competing with excellent students from top schools.</p>
<p>Best wishes!</p>
<p>It is best to attend a school that best suits you. If you love the school and the small classroom setting then go there. If you love the school you are more likely do well, get noticed by professors, etc. etc. Essentially everything will fall in place.</p>
<p>Most people do not graduate from "elite" schools as described on this board. There are over 3,000 post-secondary schools and these people go to grad school/enter the work force.</p>
<p>Follow your gut. It is YOUR decision.</p>
<p>huskem, i'm just trying to generalize here ... i'm not saying this is always true, because there are some LACs that are just super in terms of studying there, and they only differ in environment from large public or private schools -- that is why US news ranks them in a separate category -- but if you got into a larger school of same quality, there are certain advantages of going there just in terms of opportunities available to you -- for professors, work in larger school usually means more research resources, bigger student pool to choose from, larger department with more people to collaborate with, working with graduate students (and may be post-docs - not just undergrads), more talks/presentations happen at the school, and in some cases larger pay -- but it also means they either "publish or perish" and so professors devote less efforts to teaching (which is what you'd be interested in them doing)</p>
<p>as far as asking who you worked with as an undergrad, they always do it no matter where you go to interview, just as they always ask you about the work you did or what you want to do after grad school</p>
<p>my replies may also be biased with experiences in my field of specialization -- when i visited grad schools, of the people who were in the same group as me over 90% were from larger schools, rather than LACs, with what are known as strong departments in my field -- when i read something up for research, the people who publish in best journals in my field are mainly from either famous private schools or large public schools with strong departments ... now this may mean that there is just more of them, but the proportion is overwhelming ... </p>
<p>so to compare LAC vs. big public or private school you have to know what you're planning to go for in terms of grad school, which specialization, because this does make a big difference if your potential school has a department that is strong in that subject -- i think in terms of life and physical sciences, departments at large private and public schools win out, while in terms of social sciences, languages, literature, law, history, etc. LACs can be better</p>
<p>i definitely agree with jack and latoya in terms of school search and being successful in school you choose</p>
<p>just to clarify: the interviewers asking about my professors were asking specifically about someone, i.e., "did you ever take a class with dr. x?" </p>
<p>also, what field are you referring to kihyle? obviously some areas of study will have better track records at large research universities, but for others, not so much.</p>
<p>im either doing church music or english, which i dont think big schools around here are too good at, aside from UNT ten minutes up the road for music.</p>
<p>I go to a small University (Brandeis-- 3000 people) and I feel like it's actually better for undergraduates. Usually getting into a lab is simply a matter of perusing the webpage and e-mailing professors who are working on research that interests you. Classes are small and the school focuses more attention on the undergraduates (my inorganic class has 8 people). Many of my professors have a walk-in policy...you don't have to visit them at a specific time. Their doors are always open. It's a great environment to learn in.</p>
<p>I went to a small, unknown outside the area university (1800 students). I loved it. I got very personal attention and thoroughly enjoyed the very frequent opportunities to have awesome, random discussions with them (running into them in the hallway, leaving class, etc.).They really looked out for me and I got great letters from them because they knew me so well (actually an advantage when applying to grad school). Plus, I hate lecture halls with a gazillion students.</p>
<p>To make up for it, you need to get great grades (for English/music, I'd say no less than a 3.7, higher is better - I had a 3.83) and, as was already said, get high GRE scores. Latin DOES help, as Jack Jr. has said - I got a 680V when I took it, but now that I'm studying Latin I can see where all those freakin' words came from. I'll probably do better when I take it again. The disadvantage is that extra experiences aren't necessarily built into the curriculum or readily available, as it may be at a larger university, but if you develop a relationship with your professors (very easy to do at a smaller uni), you can ask them to help you find experiences that will help you get into grad school. They'll be thrilled you want to go to grad school and will bend over backwards to help you.</p>
<p>In short, small schools are great for undergrads, and if that's where you feel best, go and enjoy yourself :)</p>