<p>I like the liberal arts college feel. The small class sizes and more accessible professors. But do you think they hold you back? Not in terms of education but in terms of connections after college. And the things that big schools can give you that the small ones cant. LACs with consortiums or affiliations seem to have more connections. Either with other LACs or larger universities. What's your opinions on LACs vs Big Schools and consortiums/affiliations? And what consortiums and affiliations do you know of? </p>
<p>The Claremont Consortium is particularly strong. The colleges are all close together (sort of fit together like lego blocks to make up a bigger campus). They do a nice job of giving the liberal arts feel while providing some of the advantages of a bigger school, too. Each college has their own admissions process, degree requirements, dorms, etc. But students can eat at the other colleges, take classes across the consortium, and participate in clubs and sports across the consortium. The colleges are Scripps, Pomona, Pitzer, Claremont McKenna, and Harvey Mudd. Best of both worlds!</p>
<p>Other consortiums include Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore. Haverford and Bryn Mawr are quite close together, Swarthmore a bit further away (short van ride). There is more mixing for classes and socially between Bryn Mawr and Haverford, I think.</p>
<p>Then there is the five college consortium with Smith, Mount Holyoke, U Mass - Amherst, Amherst, and Hampshire. You need to ride a shuttle between campuses, so it is a little more effort to take classes or socialize at another campus, but students do quite a bit of it.</p>
<p>There are tons of threads out here about the pros and cons of universities vs. LACs. I actually think you have hit on the perfect balancing solution, which is the consortiums. </p>
<p>What are some advantages of being a part of a consortium? From what I can tell, it seems a bit inconvenient to travel to and fro different colleges that may be some driving distance away. </p>
<p>(Hope OP doesn’t mind that I’m asking this here.)</p>
<p>You get the small-college feel at most of the colleges (small classes, close relationships with your class, usually a very nice setting, professors who are focused on teaching and collaborating with undergraduates for research because there are no grad students, more focus from resources like the career office and writing center because there are fewer students). But you also have the chance to take classes at the other colleges (giving you a much larger course catalog to pick from), and you also can have a larger social pool if and when you want it. You can easily grab the shuttle (they run all the time) and to parties or activities on any other campus if you are one of the consortiums with shuttles.</p>
<p>The Claremont Consortium has no driving/shuttling – you can walk from one end to the other of all five campuses in about 15 minutes. The only way you know you passed from one to another is a change in architecture sometimes. Haverford and Bryn Mawn are also really close (I think no driving/shuttling, but someone correct me if I am wrong).</p>
<p>When I think of a big state school (say, Michigan State), you spend a lot more time in transit between housing and class there than you would at any of the consortiums.</p>
<p>I attended a large well respected public university, my oldest went to a ‘stand alone’ LAC, and my youngest is at a Claremont college. I really think the youngest has the overall situation academically and socially.</p>
<p>I inquired about the Ohio 5 earlier but it doesn’t seem like anyone has much experience with it. They’re not very close together but if a student was willing to commute and drive with their own car would it be possible? They’re very clear about their shared libraries and such but i’m trying to figure out about their cross registration and courses. And also schools like Barnard, which is an all womens school, but affiliated with Columbia I believe. And The Poyltechnic School at NYU. Different school but you can do all the NYU things. Its all confusing but I feel like those kinds of schools have more. I’m trying to find as many as possible. </p>
<p>Yes, Barnard and Columbia are definitely closely tied and you can take classes across the two. The Fiske Guide to Colleges has a section on consortiums in the very back, and they do not mention “The Ohio Five”. So I am guessing you can do stuff like get books delivered from the other libraries, but the tie for classes and activities probably isn’t a true consortium. And if you have to drive, almost no one else from your ‘home’ college is going to be doing it. If they don’t talk up shared registration and courses, it probably is not commonly done. That arrangement sounds inconvenient to me…</p>
<p>I don’t know about NYU and The Pollytechnic School. I can say that NYU has a reputation for giving terrible financial aid, so if finances are an issue you should look elsewhere…</p>
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<p>You have to be careful about generalizing: size is not necessarily a factor in excellence. There are some LACs that have superb connections and name recognition with employers and graduate school admissions, and there are some that don’t. Same is true for large and medium universities – opportunities are not necessarily proportionate to size.</p>
<p>My son didn’t particularly like the idea of a consortium. He felt it over-complicated the college experience. He wanted to focus on one college and made sure that that one had what he was looking for.</p>
<p>Nope. I went to a mid-ranked LAC and I’m currently at an Ivy League, top-5 PhD program. Many of the same recruiters who come here for the undergrads (consulting firms, banks, top law and med schools) also came to recruit at my undergrad, and I knew and know quite a few people from my undergrad who went to top grad, law, and med schools and who work in well-known corporations in their industries, including on Wall Street. My freshman year roommate actually works at JPMorganChase.</p>
<p>What LAC did you go to? </p>
<p>My daughter found the Claremont Consortium a little to reliant on the interchanging of the schools. For example, she was admitted to Pitzer and wanted to minor in Ceramic Arts but found out during admitted student day that Scripps was given a large grant for ceramic arts so Pitzer was mostly closing that program and she would have to take those classes a Scripps. Similar situation for creative writing. The professor at Pitzer (just one cw prof) was a poet so any cw classes not poetry would have to be taken at some of the other schools. Not only did she think this was too complicated but she liked Pitzer, not Pomona or Scripps or Harvey Mudd so why would she want to take most of her classes elsewhere? It’s a little overwhelming for a shy freshman, but for many it’s the perfect solution. </p>
<p>My older daughter went to a pretty big private school and my younger goes to a small LAC and from a parent perspective I prefer the smaller school. My older daughter would have suffocated in the small school from a social standpoint buy my younger daughter is fine, although by the end of the year she’s had enough and is happy to have a three month break.</p>
<p>It’s all about what works for you. I wouldn’t worry about contacts upon graduation. If it works and you thrive, you’ll make the contacts.</p>
<p>same situation hoping my college decision makes me happy</p>