<p>I've always had a hard time comparing LACs to universities because, well, every reference out there divides them separately. The only LAC I applied to was Pomona, so just out of curiosity (or rather, because I applied to these schools), how does Pomona compare with the following:
Princeton
Columbia
Stanford
WashU
Berkeley
UCLA</p>
<p>A general comparison: </p>
<p>Think of an LAC as an urgent care clinic, and a university as a research hospital. You'll get more personal care at the clinic, and won't have to wait as long to see a doctor, but without the same variety of practice areas, or quite the emphasis on the "state of the art." </p>
<p>More specifically, you've named one of the best LAC's, and a number of the best universities.</p>
<p>I would say there is also a distinction between the large universities and the smaller ones. In fact (besides obvious differences such as location, etc) I would say Pomona has much more in common with Princeton than Princeton has with Berkeley or UCLA. WUSTL, Stanford, and Columbia are similar to Princeton as well (although Columbia is by far the least community oriented of the four).</p>
<p>I agree with slipper. Pomona and Princeton are more of a kind than the others. Corporate-multinational vs hands on shop.</p>
<p>And, Pomona offers some of the advantages of an excellent small university because of the Claremont Consortium Colleges. Academically, Pomona provides just as good an education - and in some cases even better - as the other schools you listed.</p>
<p>Greybeard, I'm not wild about your metaphor. I'll go along with LAC's having a smaller variety of practice areas but outside a few very technical fields will raise an eyebrow at the not as "state of the art."</p>
<p>it really just depends on what kind of environment and education you want and the type of school you think will give you the best experience.</p>
<p>Greybeard, I would second your metaphor but would consider Pomona (which is 15 min from here) an urgent care center in a research hospital. They can handle 99.9% of what an undergraduate might want to do. To continue the medical analogy they might not recognize Onyongnyong Fever, but they can handle any disease you might get in North America. They same goes for the seven sisters and the other top LACs. These are schools where teaching is still part of the mission.</p>