LACs -- why would you go to one?

College Search & Selection
21

<p>
[quote]
I think personally that most colleges are too expensive...I wouldn't pay 40.000+ $ to study at Vassar for exemple when you have schools like UNC chapel hill, UVA , UCLA ,berkely..that would cost almost 1/2 of the price..the classe might the bigger but i doubt you would have a better education at a small college

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<p>Again, like I said, you can't really generalize. It all depends on the kind of financial aid you can get. Some people actually find out that the private schools are actually CHEAPER than public schools, once financial aid is factored in. I know 2 people who got into both Berkeley and Harvard, and actually found out that they would pay less to go to Harvard, because of Harvard's generous financial aid. I will always remember one of them mordantly saying that he had always dreamed of going to Berkeley, but he couldn't afford it, so he has 'no choice' but to go to Harvard. He was quite the comedian.</p>

<p>I think this is especially important to you, pateta00. I see you're from Brazil. Many public schools do not offer financial aid to internationals. I know that in the past, Berkeley never did (although that might have changed lately). But I know Harvard offers aid to internationals, and so do many other US private schools. In fact, I know some internationals who discovered that going to a US private school was actually going to be cheaper than staying home and going to a public school in their own country.</p>

22

<p>
[quote]
I think personally that most colleges are too expensive...I wouldn't pay 40.000+ $ to study at Vassar for exemple when you have schools like UNC chapel hill, UVA , UCLA ,berkely..that would cost almost 1/2 of the price..the classe might the bigger but i doubt you would have a better education at a small college

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If you are not an in-state resident, the cost to attend berkley is</p>

<p>Out-of-state tuition and fees: $25,338
Room and board: $13,074 </p>

<p>out of state at UNC- Chapel Hill</p>

<p>Out-of-state tuition and fees: $19,682
Room and board: $7,466 </p>

<p>out of state at UVA is
Out-of-state tuition and fees: $25,945
Room and board: $6,909
Student Financial Services does not award financial aid to international or foreign students. Students may apply for alternative loan programs that are available from private financial institutions</p>

<p><a href="http://www.virginia.edu/financialaid/eligible.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.virginia.edu/financialaid/eligible.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>As Sakky mentioned, depending on your financial situation, it may actually be less expensive to attend a school like Vassar which meets 100% of demonstrated need and a large amount of that is grant aid than it may cost to attend one of these schools as an in-state resident. </p>

<p>keep in mind unless you are throwing long, you have a great 3 point shot, or you are really academically attractive to the school, as out of state you may not be getting $$ from these schools.</p>

<p>I know in my house it is less expensive for my D to attend an ivy that it would have been for her to attend out state U system.</p>

23

<p>Many LACs have very few distribution requirements. Wesleyan has none. Amherst has none. Vassar requires one English class, one quantitative class and one year of foreign language. Students then can "study what they want."</p>

<p>Compare that to Columbia University's core.</p>

24

<p>Yeah I agree with Chedva. For example, at Grinnell, there is an open curriculum. The only requirement is to take a class in your major every semester (double up if you miss one)</p>

25

<p>"I think this is especially important to you, pateta00. I see you're from Brazil. Many public schools do not offer financial aid to internationals. I know that in the past, Berkeley never did (although that might have changed lately). But I know Harvard offers aid to internationals, and so do many other US private schools. In fact, I know some internationals who discovered that going to a US private school was actually going to be cheaper than staying home and going to a public school in their own country."
Most private institution offers few or no financial aid for int. students...I was very interested in Vandy , Emory,Northwestern and USC but they told me that they just have few schoolarship to give out and only for the very best students...A private school for me would cost from 40.000 to 46.000 a year while a public school varies from 24.000 to 30.000 a year(the ones i'm applying)...but again the private schools that i was considering were not LAC...I still would rather spend 40.000+ grand at vandy then the same for a LAC....
Again there is nothing wrong with LAC...It's more a question of fit.</p>

26

<p>People don't understand LACs. I got into Bard College, and people are looking at me like I'm an idiot. I've even got a "Why would you pay 45k to go to Liberal Arts school? That's like not even going to a real college."</p>

<p>LACs aren't like 4 more years of high school. At most schools, only freshman year involved any requirements, or you just need a credit in four or five different areas over your whole time there. Most are actually very flexible and are designed to optimize your education.</p>

<p>Take Hampshire College. In Division I, you take a class in each discipline. They are pretty interesting...Cognitive Science; Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Interdisciplinary Arts; Natural Science; and Social Science. In Division II you create your own major and takes the classes fitting to your future. In Division III, you create a massive project to show what you've learned. </p>

<p>As you can see, Liberal Arts Colleges are actually just schools based more on learning and creativity...not sub-par universities.</p>

27

<p>I'm just going back to the OP's origional question, and I didn't go through the thread. I come from a small private school of about 350 student. 70-80% of which most of us have grown up with and been together since Pre-K. So many people from my school choose LAC's simply for the atmospere of a small and intimate place. Plus, seriously half the class goes into college undecided anyway, so having a major in the beginning isn't really a huge issue.</p>

28

<p>just to tag along with what a few others have said. I go to a small LAC.. Knox. Our requirements are also virtually non-existant. We need 1 credit (1 class) in 4 fields... Arts, Math/Science, Humanities, Social Science. And, since your major will include at least one or two of those, you end up being required to take maybe 3 courses that you may not take otherwise.</p>

<p>That's it. Therefore, if you know what you want to do... you can take as much of that as you want. BUT, if you don't... well, again... take what you want. Sounds pretty good to me.</p>

29

<p>Great job clearing up the misunderstandings about LACs guys. Just to further stress what everyone else already said, going to a LAC in no way means that you will get a "high school style" education. You can specialize the same way as you could at a University. I go to HMC and while I am required to take 12 humanities courses, the rest will all be in science and math. I'm majoring in engineering and in my opinion my degree will be just as valuable as one from places like MIT, Berkeley, and Stanford. Granted, LACs are smaller so less majors are available. Like at HMC only general engineering is available, but I like this.</p>

<p>LACs are for people who prefer a small, intimate setting. They are places where you have small classes and plenty of professors (who actually know your name and actually teach).</p>