<p>i just wanted to know how the individual LACs compare to the LACs of national universities like brown, dartmouth etc..
as in say the top 5 (usnews rankings) LACs would compare to the top 10 LACs of national universities...... is that true? how do they compare?
help me out please!
thanks</p>
<p>Those are this years rankings of the nation's top LAC's.</p>
<p>Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore are usually in the top three- the rest of the rankings can be quite fickle. That said, there is a certain hierarchy of LAC's in terms of selectivity and prestige. Again, Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore are always at the top, but a college usually considered of equal caliber, selectivity and prestige is Pomona, a west coast (Claremont, California) LAC that is part of a 5 college consortium (the Claremont Colleges, which include Pitzer, Scripps, Claremont-McKenna, and Harvey Mudd College). Though Pomona is ranked #7 on the USNWR rankings, I'll be the first to tell you it is harder to get into than Bowdoin, Middlebury, or Carleton, and probably Wellesley, though I don't know much about single sex schools, though I'm going to be a Middlebury student myself. A common acronym on CC is SWAP, which refers to these four highly selective LACs.</p>
<p>How do LACs compare to the top national universities? While they certainly don't have the same name recognition, you might be surprised to know that many of these schools outperform many of the "big name" schools in gradschool placement, all while offering a more intimate learning experience as undergraduate-focused institutions. SWAP, while not as selective as Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, all share students that are of equal caliber of say, Brown or Dartmouth students (Dartmouth, unlike most of the Ivy League, is also very undergraduate focused, and could be considered an LAC). Though I don't have the numbers, it is very common to find students at SWAP that turned down Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, Cornell etc and vice versa. Many have also turned down HYP, though fewer than the aforementioned schools. According to the Wallstreet journal, Pomona sent a higher percentage of its students to Harvard Law than Duke last year, and Williams sends nearly the same percentage of its students to top professional programs as Stanford. You can find the study online, I won't link it as it is a very flawed study, but eye-opening nevertheless. (As a side note, my house counselor at boarding school last year turned down Harvard and Princeton for Amherst. He had a 1600 SAT and was a recruited soccer midfielder-- he captained the Amherst team his senior year.)</p>
<p>I for one really like to proselytize the LAC education, because I think so many people overlook these incredible schools simply because they don't have the name recognition as other schools, but they can offer an amazing, intimate education, and (this is a common phrase on CC), while the common layman might not know their names, the people who need to know- gradschools and employers (the type that you'll be interacting with if you're bright enough to get into a top LAC) will know, and respect the names.</p>
<p>Okay, so I've mentioned SWAP, but that's not to mean there is a steep drop off in quality and selectivity after these four, and there are plenty of others to choose from that are excellent, prestigious schools. The USNEWS offers a pretty good approximation of the quality of these schools. The selectivity in the top 5 is different than those ranked, say, 15-20. I'd say right under SWAP in selectivity is Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Carleton, and Claremont McKenna. I'm probably leaving some out, so please don't jump on me. I'd say the difference in the caliber of these students compared to SWAP might be comparable to the difference between students at, say, Dartmouth (these schools) and Princeton (SWAP)- pretty negligible, but a difference nonetheless.</p>
<p>I'd like to take a moment to mention I recognize that I am making very sweeping generalizations right here, but the OP asked a very broad question that I'm doing my best to answer. Being accepted at SWAP does in no way mean you will be accepted at Bowdoin/Middlebury/Wesleyan etc., and there are certainly kids at Bowdoin/Midd/Wesleyan that have turned down SWAP, and kids at Dartmouth who turned down Princeton, vice versa blah blah blah. There's no reason to be offended if you go to any of the schools I've mentioned... they're all incredible, so please, don't get defensive about them.</p>
<p>Couple last things. LAC's are not generally known for engineering, but there are a couple that do have very strong academic programs that emphasize engineering. For instance, Harvey Mudd has very, very strong engineering programs, and is more focused on engineering than any other LACs, while maintaining a commitment to an individualized education (and as a result fulfills a certain niche, and probably suffers as a result in the USNWR rankings). There are plenty of Mudder's who have turned down MIT or Caltech (though the latter do have higher cross admit rates)- it is a very impressive school. Ditto for Olin.</p>
<p>So an sum up an answer- the top LAC's certainly hold their own compared to the top national universities, though because of their small size and lack of graduate programs, enjoy much less recognition. Don't let the fact that none of your friends have heard of some of them deter you from applying. While a liberal arts education isn't for everyone, its intimacy and breadth offers some undeniable benefits compared to top universities, and they will absolutely set you up for unbelievable gradschool/job opportunities, comparable to those offered out of the Ivy League. Lastly, don't focus on just the tip top LAC's, once you're in the top LAC's, it's apples and oranges- "fit" really is important. I applied to Middlebury ED simply because it felt right compared to Williams/Amherst/Bowdoin etc. While they are all very impressive schools with commitments undergraduate education, they all have different atmospheres, and to think they are all the same would be a mistake. Frankly, I would never go to Swarthmore or Wesleyan. And I'm sure many kids at those school's would not really want to go to Middlebury.</p>
<p>Sorry for the length, as you can tell, I'm really believe in an LAC education.</p>
<p>Edit: One more thing. Check out Reed College. USNWR put ranked them at 53 this past year, which is really, really ridiculous. Reed refused to participate in the USNWR info-gathering, because it doesn't believe in rankings (USNWR does kind of suck, ranking colleges does have some major drawbacks), and as a result was...for lack of a better term, ***** slapped... by USNWR.</p>
<p>It started out as AWS, then, PAWS and WASP and any number of variations. Fact of the matter is, that if you took away the peer assessment portion of the USNWR rankings, the top ten LACs would all be tied for first place.</p>