<p>Ok so I feel like this is kind of a dumb question, but every time I try to figure out the difference between a liberal arts college and a university I just get myself confused. I've tried looking it up on wikipedia (hah) but I still don't really get it. The one thing I seemed to get from reading the wiki articles is that liberal arts colleges are usually smaller than universities. If someone could elaborate on what exactly a liberal arts college is that would be great. Also what makes a person a good candidate for a liberal arts college as opposed to a larger university?</p>
<p>Sorry if this topic has been posted before, but I'm new to CC and couldn't find a similar thread using the search option.</p>
<p>The easiest way to think of it is that a liberal arts college is the same thing as the undergraduate program at a university. A university is like a shopping mall. It has an undergrad store. And a PhD store. And a medical school store. And a law school store. And, a store that sells research to the government. A liberal arts college is like a boutique store that just sells undergrad education. </p>
<p>For the most part (with the exceptions of vocational degrees like nursing), a liberal arts college and the undergrad division of a top university teach the same stuff and have the same majors and so forth.</p>
<p>All of the schools started out as colleges. It wasn’t until the late 1800’s and early 1900s that some colleges jumped on the PhD bandwagon and grew to become larger universities. Others made the decision to stay small and specialized. There are pluses and minuses to both.</p>
<p>^ I like this answer … and would add one thing. Research Universities are more likely to have specialized undergrad programs than a LAC … programs such as business, enginnering, architecture, education, etc.</p>
<p>PS - My middle child prefers mid-sized schools which to him combine the best of both worlds</p>
<p>I have one child going to a LAC and one to a University. My LAC child loves all subjects. She loves calculus, biology, english, history, and Spanish. She wants good, attentive professors in all disiplines and she wants the small class sizes to help her find her passion. My university child wants to avoid as much math as possible and move on to a more specialized area of study, though admitedly, he’s not yet sure what that is.</p>