<p>Our son is about to start his senior year in HS and is primarily interested in applying to liberal arts colleges. He liked Colorado College, Carleton, and Macalester the best of the schools he has visited thus far. We're visiting Swarthmore and Haverford (and Brown) this fall. Who are some terrific teachers in any field at these and other LACs?</p>
<p>Did your son check out Grinnell? If your son liked the midwestern LACs, it could be a fit for him. We visited Carleton, Macalester, Haverford, Swarthmore and half a dozen other LACs and for him, Grinnell was love at first sight. The science faculty, which are the profs he knows best, have been exceptional. He could provide specific names, but I’m not sure how that would help your S since every school has their superstar profs. The more important question, I think, is the overall caliber of the faculty, particularly in the areas your S is interested in. Rate my Prof .com will tell you that information for any given school.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/grinnell-college/438138-why-grinnell.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/grinnell-college/438138-why-grinnell.html</a></p>
<p>A potentially apropos article:
[The</a> 10 Colleges With The Best Professors](<a href=“The 10 Colleges With The Best Professors | HuffPost College”>The 10 Colleges With The Best Professors | HuffPost College)</p>
<p>You will probably find the best teaching professors at liberal arts colleges because they engage in little or no research. You will find the best research professors at state U/private U because they are hired mainly for their potential for publishing. However, these research professors may not be very good at teaching.</p>
<p>M’s Mom,</p>
<p>Thanks. Yes, we did visit Grinnell. The way your son felt about Grinnell is pretty much how we felt about Carleton. Good luck to your son!</p>
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<p>In my experience, the opposite was true. I studied engineering at a big public research university and the best teachers that I had were the old research professors. A lot of these guys were born in other countries too.</p>
<p>I personally think that liberal arts colleges exaggerate how bad research professors are at teaching. In my experience, it wasn’t just exaggeration, it was just plain wrong.</p>
<p>Here’s another ranking of best undergraduate teaching: [Best</a> Undergraduate Teaching | Rankings | Top National Liberal Arts Colleges | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/undergraduate-teaching]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/undergraduate-teaching)</p>
<p>sunmachine,</p>
<p>It’s great to see Carleton at the top of the list! :-)</p>
<p>The wording in my question probably wasn’t clear. What I’m looking for is names of specific professors that teach terrific courses. I think I’ve read all I can about the schools in general. For instance, our son took calculus this summer at Colorado College from Stefan Erickson, and he was terrific.</p>
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<p>Not true. I mean, I’m not sure where you’ll find the best teaching, because I have no way to evaluate that; neither does anyone else. But the part about faculty at LACs doing “little or no research” is just dead wrong.</p>
<p>Here’s a brief bio of one engineering professor at Harvey Mudd:</p>
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<p>Here’s what K. David Harrison, a world-renowned linguistics professor at Swarthmore, says about his research:</p>
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My research focuses on endangered and little-documented languages, with primary emphasis on Turkic languages of Inner Asia (Central Siberia and Western Mongolia). To date, I’ve investigated Tuvan, Tsengel Tuvan, Tofa, </p>
<p>Agreeing with bclintonk. Thirty years ago there was less research going on at LAC’s, but today LAC’s use undergraduate research opportunities as a selling point. At some LAC’s, undergraduate research is required, not just in the sciences, but in any major.</p>