<p>Hey everyone, I'm a to-be-junior looking at some colleges, and most of the ones which catch my eye are liberal arts colleges on the west coast. Whitman, Reed, Occidental, CMC, Pomona, and Pitzer. Then I have my uber-reach and my safety. </p>
<p>So, I know that a research university and a liberal arts college are very different types of schools. So, based on this, do Liberal Arts Colleges have more wholistic and open approach of admissions that state schools/research universities? Or, is there anything different about a liberal art's colleges' admissions than another schools?</p>
<p>And from that, is there anything you can tell me about admissions into any of these schools in particuler?</p>
<p>Liberal Arts colleges are generally more selective than the “average” 4 year research university because most kids that apply to liberal arts colleges don’t just tack the schools on as a “just cause” sort of thing. You don’t really have many reach students, so even though a school acceptance rate is 55%, it could be more like 35%-40% because more students would be considered “matches”. At least that’ss what some of the Dean of Admissions at various LAC told me.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say LACs are generally more selective. For one, people without great stats but has other good attributes would find it easier to get into a LAC than a research university of comparable tier.</p>