<p>I am interested in pursuing a major in Education. However, I am much more interested in the theory than the practice. (i.e. i would rather study the implications of the american public education system than student teach in an elementary school...) </p>
<p>I have been looking into LAC's and Small Universities such as Swarthmore, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Brown, Williams, etc.</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about the strength/focus of the Education department at any of these schools?</p>
<p>Also, any suggestions for schools with strong programs would be appriciated.
(stats: BWRK, sat:2240, wgpa 4.5)</p>
<p>Williams does not have an education department. The other schools you mention do.</p>
<p>Swarthmore's education department is excellent. In recent years, they have had particular strength in urban education. You can get certified to teach in Pennsylvania if you like (student teaching, etc.).</p>
<p>At Swarthmore, you major in Education and another field. So it could be Education and Math, Education and History, or Education and Political Science, Education and Sociology, Educationa and Public Policy, or whatever lights your fire.</p>
<p>This link takes you to the Education page at Swarthmore with a bunch of recent senior thesis topics at the bottom. These will give you an idea of the kinds of things Education majors have been exploring in recent years.</p>
<p>All of the schools you mention are excellent. I would guess that they all have solid education departments (except Williams, of course).</p>
<p>The Consortium for Excellence in Teacher Education (CETE):
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brandeis
Brown
Bryn Mawr
Connecticut College
Dartmouth
Harvard
Middlebury
Mt Holyoke
Princeton
Smith
Swarthmore
UPenn
Vassar
Wellesley
Wheaton
Yale</p>
<p>There are numerous ways to pursue that interest in theory- anthropology, psychology, and sociology to name a few. Don't limit yourself to education majors. ;)</p>
<p>There is also a well-developed campus school, which is used as a living laboratory by education majors, and some of the STRIDE paid research assistantships offered in the first two years are for child-study activities in the school.</p>
<p>Bassplayr, Although Williams doesnt have an education major they do have ample opportunities for students to gain experience and go on to careers as teachers. </p>
<p>Williams also offers several Winter Study (January term) courses that focus on teaching and education. The Office of Career Counseling is very active in placing students in internships and summer teaching positions as well as offering interviews for graduates who are interested in teaching as a career.</p>
<p>I think the most important point about ALL of the schools on your list is that they are full of wonderful teachers! They may be writers, artists, scientists and experts in their fields but they are teachers first and contribute a lot the fact that LACs turn out a lot of teachers from preprimary to college level.</p>
<p>"...who wish to gain teacher certification may engage in a unique partnership Williams maintains with nearby Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.</p>
<p>I think you can get an education degree and certification from North Adams State (...er, sorry, Mass College of Liberal Arts) for a heck of lot less than the $42,000 price tag of Williams! </p>
<p>Frankly, you'd have to have rocks in your head to pay Williams prices for classes at North Adams State.</p>
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Any suggestions for schools that might fall into the match/saftey category?
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<p>Based on your SATs and GPA, the women's colleges (Smith, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke) should all be fairly safe bets with decent ECs and a solid application package. </p>
<p>Brown, Swarthmore, and Williams are not sure bets for anybody. Your test scores and GPA would get you above the threshold for consideration, but we'd have to have more information to even hazard a guess.</p>
<p>Vassar is somewhere in between the women's colleges and those three as far as admissions. It's probably a pretty solid match for you.</p>
<p>I'd have to do a little research, but my gut tells me that an "education" oriented application would probably be attractive to most, if not all, of the schools with education departments -- especially if you can back it up with some hands-on teaching/tutoring community service work.</p>
<hr>
<p>BTW, here's an article from the Swarthmore Phoenix that may interest you. It's about educator Herbert Kohl, who was this year's Eugene Lang Visiting Professor for Issues of Social Change:</p>
<p>Eugene Lang '38, who funded this annual visiting professorship (along with just about everything else at Swarthmore), himself has an interesting history with inner city education.</p>
<p>I-Dad, your comment is unnecessarily nasty and ill-informed. It is quite common for liberal arts colleges to partner with other colleges that offer state certification.</p>
<p>Even Swarthmore has a similar arrangement:</p>
<p>Certification in Elementary Education is not offered by Swarthmore College. However, if students complete a sequence of courses at Swarthmore and twelve weeks of practice teaching in an elementary school, they can receive certification through Eastern College, with which Swarthmore has a collaborative arrangement.</p>
<p>In the case of Williams program, the student graduates with a full Williams liberal arts degree in whatever his/her area of academic then takes a semester at MCLA to complete the certification requirement for the State of Massachusetts. Some states have reciprocal agreements and accept this certificate; other states have additional requirements.</p>
<p>I don't think it was unfair. Williams has no education department. No education professors. And no education courses.</p>
<p>I have not looked at the Education programs at Bryn Mawr, Smith, and Brown, but Swarthmore has an Education department, Education professors, and Education courses. Students can get Pennsylvania Secondary School certification entirely through the Education department at Swarthmore. They take all of their Education courses at Swarthmore. They do their 12 weeks of practice teaching (at suburban or urban publics or Phila Friends schools) for course credit at Swarthmore in programs arranged by Swarthmore and overseen by the Swarthmore Education department.</p>
<p>For Pennsylvania elementary school certification, they do all of the above (including practice teaching) and then take two courses in Language Arts Education and Teaching Reading in Eastern College summer school for a total cost of $2600. </p>
<p>This is pretty cut 'n dried. If you know, heading into college, that you want to study Education, why would you choose a college or university that doesn't have any Education professors or offer any Education courses?</p>
<p>Not if what she's interested in is the policy. For that, she will likely want to go on to grad school, so the Williams name helps. If the OP doesn't want to be a certified teacher, than maybe some theory classes in the consortium would help, but the better classes at the LAC will be of equal or greater value.</p>
<p>The OP asked about Williams and I told her what Williams offers. Many Williams graduates go into education even though their degrees are not in education per se.</p>
<p>To avoid misunderstanding, I was replying to i-dad's comments about not paying William's tuition for teacher cert that can be gotten much cheaper.</p>
<p>It's true that for straight teacher ed, it matters very little where you went to undergrad (GPA can matter, though). But if the OP is interested in policy, then Williams (or another highly-regarded LAC) would be an excellent choice.</p>
<p>
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But if the OP is interested in policy, then Williams (or another highly-regarded LAC) would be an excellent choice.
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<p>No question. But, the original poster asked about five excellent undergrad schools: Brown, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Swarthmore, and Williams.</p>
<p>Four of those five have Education Departments, Education professors, Education courses, Education programs, Education seminars, etc. One doesn't. Since all are excellent schools, it seems logical for someone stating an interest in Education to consider the schools that offer it. But, that's just me. I'm guess I'm kinda simple-minded like that!</p>
<p>If the poster had asked about, say, Geology...then the answer might be something different since Williams has a Geology department and at least one of these other schools doesn't.</p>
<p>You should actually read about Williams Program in Teaching before drawing the conclusion that Williams doesn't offer Education program, seminars etc.</p>
<p>"Williams is also committed to the idea that many of our students will choose careers for which a deep and textured understanding of educational issues is essential. Public policy, academia, government, and arts administration are a few examples. In other words, we offer opportunities for Williams students to focus on education as a major component of their studies or alternately as a small part of it. The Program in Teaching offers a rich, provocative and wide-ranging array of speakers, workshops, fieldwork opportunities and seminars in order to help students fulfill their individual goals. . .</p>
<p>The Program in Teaching does not offer a major or concentration. Instead, educational guidance is offered to students seeking to explore the field of education. The Program is designed to enable students to study the ideas, questions, and practices involved in good teaching at all levels. The Program seeks to promote and facilitate an exchange of ideas about teachers, learners, and schools, within and beyond the Williams campus. The Program offers a range of opportunities including courses on education, intensive supervised student teaching, workshops, advising, lecture series, and ongoing peer groups for those who teach. Students may participate in a variety of ways, ranging from taking one course to a sustained in-depth study of teaching and learning geared to those who want to become teachers or educational psychologists. We seek to connect students with one another, to bring in expert teachers to provide mentoring, and to create links across the curriculum so that students can see the vital connections between what they study (French, Algebra or Biology, for example) and the process of teaching those topics to elementary and high school students. The program is open to any student interested in education and offers opportunities for all levels of interest, including those who want to find out about certification and graduate study. "</p>
<p>Yes. I would recommend any prospective student to browse around the websites for the Education programs at all of these colleges. Click the faculty links and see which courses in education they teach. See their professional interests. Read the course catalogs. Go visit. Talk to the professors and students in the Education departments or programs.</p>
<p>In looking at the Williams "teaching program" faculty, I only see one professor who is directly involved in education professionally. Makes sense...without an Education department, they aren't likely to attract a lot of Education professors.</p>
<p>"I am interested in pursuing a major in Education."</p>
<p>If you want to pursue a major in Education, you can cross Williams off the list. They don't have one. Period. You can get lots of good stuff there, but a major in Education doesn't exist. Almost all the posts to the contrary are based on the flimsy hypothesis that your stated interest (quoted above) is of no account.</p>
<p>"However, I am much more interested in the theory than the practice."</p>
<p>There are exactly one tutorial, and one seminar in educational policy at Williams. They may be very good (I will presume they are). But you'd get tons more than this at a third-rate teachers' college.</p>
<p>You know, there are so many fine colleges and universities out there. They actually even have education professors - fancy that! I can't imagine why you would go out of your way to even consider one that doesn't even come close to meeting your expressed needs.</p>