<p>This may seem stupid, but what are the differences between liberal arts colleges and regular universities. How do they compare academically, sociall, etc.</p>
<p>Generally LACs are smaller than regular universities. Usually lower student/teacher ratios too and hte choices of majors are a little different.... there is more focus on writing skills many times.</p>
<p>A university consists of an undergraduate program (or college) plus one or more post-graduate schools: med school, biz school, Vet school, Law school, PhD programs, or whatever.</p>
<p>A liberal arts college just has the undergrad part, not the grad schools.</p>
<p>For the most part, the curriculum taught at the liberal arts colleges and the undergrad schools at the best universities are the same: they both teach what is called a "liberal arts" curriculum. </p>
<p>The real differences are the size (which has many implications) and the degree of focus on undergrad teaching. At an LAC, the focus is 100%. At a university, the undergrad teaching will be just one part of the schools focus, maybe more or maybe less important than the grad schools, the government research contracts, etc.</p>
<p>Both universities and LACs can provide excellent undergrad educations. At LACs, you will generally get more personal attention from the professors. At universities, you will be in a larger community -- less personal attention, but a wider range of interests and options. Kinda like living in a small town or a large city.</p>
<p>thanx, interesteddad, that was very helpful. I might really consider a LAC now. One more question though, do LACs provide the same opportunity as universities for entering grad school? It seems that maybe going to HPYS will provide a better chances of gettin into med, law, business, and other grad schools than say Williams, Swarthmore, or Amherst.</p>
<p>Furthermore, it seems that liberal arts colleges lack a core study. For example universities like MIT are known for engineering and sciences, UPenn for business, etc. Please correct me if I'm wrong, and if I am, could u list for me some top LACs for premed, business, prelaw, and engineering?</p>
<p>Overheard on a tour today:
Medical School Acceptance rate: 90+% (national average is something like 30 something percent, i think)
Law Acceptance Rate: 99+%
Business Acceptance rate: 99+%</p>
<p>You can see some of these statistics for yourself at the Admissions webpage/guidebook.</p>
<p>Rank in the Wall Street Journal for "feeding into top grad schools, ie: HLS, HBS, Yale Law, Harvard Medical...blah): 5 (First among LAC's)</p>
<p>The top four were Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford.</p>
<p>you can read that article and the subsequent table here:
<a href="http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/college/feederschools.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/college/feederschools.htm</a></p>
<p>The great thing about Williams is that the College really doesn't have a core study. Of course, the pre-meddies have to take the required courses for med schools, but there are few other restrictions i can think of. I know of seniors/juniors who double major in History/Physics and Chemistry/Econ for example. </p>
<p>I guess you could say we're a top LAC for med, business, and law placement.</p>
<p>NJ:</p>
<p>Lot of questions. Let me see if I can provide some answers.</p>
<p>You are correct. Some universities are focused in a particular direction or have undergrad schools in specfic fields. MIT and the other engineering schools fit this mold. UPenn's Wharton School is another example. There are others, including many of the state universities. But, by and large, the top "all-purpose" private universities (Harvard, Duke, Emory, Chicago, and so on and so forth just to pick a few examples) teach exactly the same curriculum as the liberal arts college. For example, Harvard University's undergrad school is called Harvard College and the professors are the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>The definition of a "liberal arts" curriculum is one in which the student studies a range of subjects (some science, some math, some humanities, some social science) to get a broad education and a strong background in critical thinking. It is the opposite of "vocational" training such as nursing school or veternarian school.</p>
<p>As for admissions into post-grad programs, the top LACs actually compete very well. For example, the top five producers of PhDs per 100 undergrads are CalTech, Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, Reed, and MIT. Obviously the engineering schools send a lot of people off to PhD programs, but the LACs dominate the top of the list. The top LACs also do extremely well in med, law, and biz school placements. Overall, I think it's pretty much a non-issue. Graduate well from any of the top universities or LACs and you'll find a spot in a top post-grad program.</p>
<p>The bigger issues to focus on are: </p>
<p>a) the style of learning -- do you prefer actively participating in small smeminar classes or being anonymous in a large lecture hall?</p>
<p>b) sense of community -- most small colleges have a tight community, lots of friendships, etc. You will be left to your own devices a bit more in a large university; you'll be something other than a number only to the extent you make it happen.</p>
<p>c) Social scene: There are obviously a lot more people of a lot more different types with a lot more happening in a university setting of 10,000 than in one of 2000. There are pluses and minuses to both.</p>
<p>There are no right or wrong answers. You should visit a large state univerity (10,000+) a mid-size university, (5,000), and a small college (2000) and see for yourself. </p>
<p>My own personal opinion is that the small college provides the best possible undergraduate academics, mentoring, and supportive sense of community; however, I acknowlege that a small college probably will get just a little claustrophic by the end of four years. </p>
<p>I felt that based on my college experience and ended up feeling the same way after watching my daughter go through the college hunt. She ended up ruling out the large state universities after visiting two really good ones. Her final top list had three small liberal arts colleges and three mid-sized universities -- and they kind of alternated back and forth down the list. She liked different things about each of them. All things being equal (which of course they never are), she prefered the size of the LACs.</p>
<p>There are probably two kinds of students who have to rule out LACs. The first would be someone interested in such a narrow field (17th century French politics) that they would never find enough courses that specific at an LAC. Or, a child genious that has already completed most college level work while still in high school. That student would have to go to a university and tailor a program involving grad school courses. Both of those situations are atypical. So, most students could find what they need at either type school.</p>
<p>Njchino, interesteddad has given you some solid advice, but I would like to add a bit to your comment "It seems that maybe going to HPYS will provide a better chances of getting into med, law, business, and other grad schools than say Williams, Swarthmore, or Amherst." Graduate school admissions committees of all types know Williams, Swarthmore, and Amherst very, very well. Graduates from these schools are well represented at all the top medical, business, law and PhD programs. </p>
<p>You should choose the type of college that fits your needs best as an undergraduate and don't worry about graduate school just yet (aside from getting good grades, of course). I went to the University of Michigan and my son goes to Williams and I can say wholeheartedly that you can get an excellent education and be happy, healthy and wise at both LACs and universities. I'm glad my son chose the LAC route and if I could do it all over again I would too.</p>
<p>The choice, however, is really what fits YOU, where YOU would be most comfortable. Try to visit a few different sized schools and see which one feels right. And don't forget those safeties and matches. It's easy to fall in love with the super selectives. This is fine and we certainly wish you well. But at the same time you need to find one or two solid safeties that you can get excited about. They are out there but researching and visiting takes a fair amount of energy. Don't overlook this part of your college search.</p>
<p>Thanx everyone, for the great advice and answers</p>