<p>What's the difference between LACs and other colleges/universities?</p>
<p>A University is a corporation with several operating businesses or divisions: an undergrad division, graduate school divisions, professional school divisions (MD, etc.), and usually a research for hire division.</p>
<p>A Liberal Arts College just has one operating division: undergrad education.</p>
<p>For the most part, top universities and liberal arts colleges teach the same "liberal arts curriculum" to undergrad students.</p>
<p>A university is larger with more options and more resources; however, only a percentage of those resources is dedicated to undergrad students.</p>
<p>A liberal arts college is typically smaller, with fewer overal options, but all of the available resources are dedicated to undergrad learning.</p>
<p>One analogy would be a comparison between a very upscale department store and a boutique clothing store.</p>
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A Liberal Arts College just has one operating division: undergrad education.
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<p>Not true. Lots of LACs, including Smith, Trinity, Wesleyan, Middlebury, and others, have graduate programs.</p>
<p>Yes. There are a few LACs that have very small, specialized grad school programs. For example, the Stirling and Francine Clark estate funds a small graduate program in art history in Williamstown that is affiliated with Wiliams College, but this program is miniscule in relation to Williams' overall revenues.</p>
<p>But, the schools we call LAC's receive the vast majority (like 90%+) of their revenues from selling an undergrad education product.</p>
<p>The Carnegie Foundation has a classification system with a specific definition of Baccalaureate College. This classification system is widely used in academic circles, including as the basis for USNEWS' categories. You could probably look up the precise definition if you felt like it.</p>
<p>No, I understand all of that, but there are a lot of people who believe no LACs offer grad programs, and I wanted to prevent anyone reading the thread from thinking that.</p>