<p>How valuable is it to go to liberal arts college if I am planning on going to a highly competitive graduate school for either an MD or JD (or possibly an MBA)?
Would I be better served to attend a national university where research opportunities are more prevalent or are top liberal arts schools (e.g. amherst, williams, swarthmore) looked upon equally with harvard, yale, etc. when it comes to med or law school?</p>
<p>Law school and MBA don’t care about research. Law school is mainlyabout grades and LSAT and Business school is mainly about work experience. There are benefits to going to a pretigious school if you’re going for an MBA because top schools open up more opportunities for fields like financial services and consulting. However, that does not mean going to a LAC will have any negative affect towards MBA or JD.</p>
<p>Top med schools like to see research. It is easiest to have a good research recommendation and publications if you work with the same lab during the school year and over the summers. Top research universities will have more research going on. It is very possible to perform med research at a LAC, but there are fewer labs. No med school will look down on you for going to a LAC, especially not Amherst or Swarthmore. There are programs where students perform research for a year or two after graduation to help their med school resumes. People from all sorts of schools do this (big research powerhouses and LACs). Keep in mind, you can also have good research jobs during the summer at places like NIH. Also, keep in mind you don’t really need hardcore research for most med schools.</p>
<p>So do LAC schools like amherst, williams, etc offer research opportunities on par with top national universities, not in terms of number but in quality? And for something like a JD, would extracurriculars like internships be just as available coming from a top liberal arts school? If I was applying for a competitive business or law internship, would I be looked upon less by whoever reviews my internship application if I was from Amherst or Swarthmore as opposed to Harvard or Columbia?</p>
<p>You would absolutely not be perceived negatively by any reasonable employer or for a spot in grad/med/law school if you went to a strong LAC.</p>
<p>No worries, you’ll be just as competitive if you go to a top LAC.</p>
<p>Save Harvard and Wharton, going to Swat, Williams, and Amherst give you very similar opportunities for recruitment at top business places like investment banks and management consulting as the Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>For quality of research at LACs I’m really not sure. Without a doubt some of the best research in the world is done at the Ivies, but that doesn’t mean that great research isn’t also done at a place like Swat. The difference in research quality probably isn’t enough to affect your chances at med school.</p>
<p>The best LAC’s (Amherst, pomona, williams, swat etc…) are actually known for their strong Grad school placement, and most LAC students go to grad school after their undergrad.</p>