<p>What is a "Liberal Arts College" and what is a National University? I don't know which type is better for me because I don't know what a liberal arts college is... According to US News Rankings, all the famous schools are considered National Universities. Please help, thanks.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, a University has an undergraduate college plus additional graduate divisions (medical school, business school, law school, graduate schools) and usually a significant percentage of their total revenues are derived from government and private-sector research contracts done by the graduate schools.</p>
<p>A liberal arts college is a school that just has the 4-year undergraduate college and, therefore, focuses 100% of its business resources on undergraduate students.</p>
<p>For the most part, the curriculum is the same. In other words, a liberal arts college like Swarthmore teaches the same classes as the undergrad college at Yale.</p>
<p>The term "liberal arts" dates back to medieval European universities. Today, it means a broad-based curriculum including courses in the humanities (English, Philosophy, Art, etc.), social sciences (Poli Sci, Econ, Sociology, etc), and the physical sciences (math, Bio, Chem, etc.).</p>
<p>As a practical matter, the differences between similar national universities and liberal arts colleges center around the size of the student body and the ways that impacts the style of teaching: class sizes, the use of TAs, interaction with professors, etc.</p>
<p>I recommend that most students visit three types of schools in the early stages of the college search: a small liberal arts college (1000-3000 undergrads), a mid-size private university (4000-8000 undergrads), and a large state university (10,000+ undergrads). Those visits will often eliminate at least one category from consideration.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info.</p>