<p>what are the disadvantages and advantages of a liberal arts school compared to a national university. for example occidental, grinnell, and macalester versus emory, johns hopkins, tufts</p>
<p>The universities on your list are very good national universities. I’ve never attended a very good national university so other people will have to weigh in on that side, and a few people might have an opinion. The small schools you mentioned will give you small classes with full professors as teachers whose job is to teach, no research responsibilities.</p>
<p>I’m not saying emory, johns hopkins and tufts won’t also offer you small classes with full professor as teachers because they very well might.</p>
<p>These are all such great schools. My son wanted small LAC, but I know he could have done very well at a University too. Fewer course options at a small LAC and no graduate courses, but my son can’t begin to fit in everything he’d like to take in 4 years at Grinnell. Probably smaller class sizes and more personal attention at a small LAC, but you can get that at a larger school too, especially after the intro courses. The Us you list are fairly small and I was able to get into some small classes, even graduate level, when I was an undergrad at U of MN, a huge school.</p>
<p>Pea is wrong about the lack of research at LACs. Just go to the poster sessions at Grinnell (and other LACs) and you will find dozens of students who are engaged in research. There is a reason that LACs in general, and Grinnell in particular, produce such a large percentage of Phd students-they get hooked on the mentoring they receive from professors and the high that comes from doing research in that environment. </p>
<p>Back to the main issue: LACs vs Nationals</p>
<p>Not only do you get more faculty attention at LACs and consistently smaller class sizes, but the smaller size of the schools produces a social cohesiveness that can be very appealing to some and a turn off to others. Often LACs are in more isolated locations as well, so students are ‘inwardly focused’ on creating their community-as opposed to larger schools in more urban areas, where you can be a by-stander more easily, and merge into the larger community around you if you aren’t a fit with the school culture. Fit matters more at a LAC for this reason. I also think the administrations at LACs are more flexible and more responsive to students than at national universities, where crowd control means stricter adherance to policies and procedures. At a LAC, it’s easier to pick up the phone and speak to the person you need on the spot and get a ‘customized’ response to your needs.</p>
<p>The negative is fewer majors, fewer classes to choose from, no grad level courses, less variety in general (although, per BethieVT more than anyone can probably take advantage of), and, of course, if you don’t fit in culturally, it can be harder to find ‘your tribe.’ And if you like to hide out in the back of the class after an exciting weekend, it will be a lot harder to do.</p>
<p>Research means PhD. Check out the schools in the various fields on these lists to see which ones send the highest percentages of graduates on to do research:</p>
<p>[COLLEGE</a> PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]COLLEGE”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>