<p>My parents are quite opposed to the idea of me applying to liberal arts schools because they feel it won't give me a good education and I will be jobless after graduation. If I comeback to my home country, no one knows about Liberal arts colleges and only know the big name schools. I don't know if I should even apply? Do any of you guys have the same problem?</p>
<p>I'm not telling my parents where I'm applying :D</p>
<p>Sorry if I'm side-tracking here, but what are the differences between liberal arts colleges and universities? I thought they were equally respected, and not that different but ever since I've come to this forum, I see that isn't the case.</p>
<p>usually abroad, like in India and where I live, LAC's are not well known, so it can be a problem if you plan to come back after your education</p>
<p>oh, after graduation, if you apply to a US company, it won't be a problem. If I am rejected by a company which can't look beyond the name of the college to see my ability, I won't care.</p>
<p>The difference between LAC and "universities" is that "universities" have graduate programs, whereas colleges do not. Liberal Arts is a special kind of education, which is the most frequent in the US. Universities can also be Liberal Arts (and in most casese they ARE). Take Yale for example. Yale College is a Liberal arts school. The comparison you are probably trying to make here is: a big and well-known school vs. a small and not quite as well-known. Or: a school that has a graduate school vs. a school that does not.</p>
<p>thanks manyzhka, that was very helpful of you... but then in that case I don't see why a degree from an LAC should be less respected than one from a university just coz the latter is bigger and has a graduate programme! :confused: That wouldn't affect the quality of the undergraduate courses.</p>
<p>but in asian countries people recognize UC Berkeley and University of Michigan but don't even know Colgate, Middlebury or Bucknell exist. Also the employers or companies won't know where you graduated from unless it's an american company.</p>
<p>Yeah, most Koreans know American universities because they saw the names in the news (Professors or Ph. D.s' opinions or striking scientific revolution) or Korean universities professors were graduated from an American university, mostly graduate programs. Everybody knows Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, UCB, UCLA, U of Mich, Johns Hopkins(because of its medical school). But rarely do Koreans recognize Amherst as something near a school. And universities with small graduate program like Dartmouth is obscure here I guess. And.. with 'some' reason, they will laugh at Brown or Rice...(is the college totally brown? or, is the college a farming school?)</p>
<p>boomer01, no offense but if people in your country are that small minded...STAY THERE!!!</p>
<p>To Kerron, what is that supposed to mean, huh? Is your country so high and lofty that it's free from people who are close-minded? Besides, just because a person doesn't know a university doesn't automatically make that person small minded. I really don't think many people outside of U.S know Amherst, Williams, or Wellesley. However, it's NOT their fault. It doesn't make them narrow-minded. Your attitude really puts me off. Maybe u're the one who's been too prejudiced.</p>
<p>To quetzal: well, a hard question, indeed:). "The less-respected degree" is quite a vague term. Everything depends on how you (or your parents) define it. Do you mena prestige?
There are different opinions on the matter of "better quality" between colleges and universities:</p>
<p>1) small vs big - more personal attention at a small one
2) small vs big - more resources, more opportunities at a big one
3) with vs. without graduate school - professors pay all their attention to undergrads at a small one; on the other hand at a big research university professors could be more well-known researches.
Some people say that at huge research schools (like Harvard) there is less attention to undergrades; btw, Yale and Princeton are well-known for their emphasis on UG education, even though they are big universities.</p>
<p>Overall my guess would be that your parents are talking about how well-known (in a stereotypical way) a school is. That is why they probably want to see you at HYP. The quality of education is hardly a concern here, because it is obviously hard to objectively compare "the quality" of education at, say, Yale and Williams or Amhrest or Carleton or whatever else. </p>
<p>To Kerron : In my contry (excluding capital cities) people hardly ever heard about Harvard, let along all others. They haven't got a slightest idea about schools in the US. My question: WHY SHOULD THEY?? Why do you consider people "small minded" if they do not know about schools in the US? That sounds quite odd.</p>
<p>Many people in the U.S. outside the realm of higher education or not kinowledgeable of the college rakings know about Amherst, Williams, or Wellesley. I remember when my Daughter got accepted to Amherst, Dartmouth and Williams and she got looks like "you poor thing" mind you at the time Williams and Amherst were ranked the # 1 and 2 liberal arts colleges in the country at that time.</p>
<p>Universities usaually consist of multiple colleges or schools offering both undergraduate and graduate/professional schools. For example Dartmouth College consists of the undergraduate school, the Thayer School of Engineering , the Tuck School of Business and Dartmouth Medical School.</p>
<p>Note: Every college in the in each IVY League University is a Liberal Arts School.</p>
<p>My point was that people shouldn't place emphasis on the name of a university instead they should like at the person the school produced. It is quite true that some people who go to the ivies come out with nothing and some people who go to university of nowhere come out with great credentials. You guys read too much into my little comment.</p>
<p>kerron,
yeah, people shouldn't.. But they do.</p>
<p>In this small country, everybody knows Harvard- known as the place where the genius of the geniuses only go. Emphasized from movies like Legally Blond. Also, they seem to know UCLA - emphasized by movies too.
Princeton and Yale are not quite heard of.
NO ONE has ever heard of amherst, colgate, williams. - maybe some immigrants, but i assure that 98% of New Zealanders has not heard of them.</p>
<p>Even my parents from korea have not heard of 'Liberal Arts'. They didn't know Swarthmore, Williams, blahblah..
I didn't know either until I started to do some research on universities (so I could choose).
I don't think my parents have heard of Dartmouth also. Or Rice.</p>
<p>Boomer, going to LACs won't make you jobless - but many people will not recognise the 'name'.</p>
<p>I'm going to go to Korea after graduating and therefore, I'm going to apply for the big names since they are more recognised.
Also, I'm not applying to them becos they're small - I'd rather go somewhere big - a change of atmosphere from here.</p>
<p>its saad that we get so caught up in prestige...o well such is life.</p>
<p>before i started looking, the only schools i ever heard of were the ivy league, mit, stanford, ucs. for most people outside us it's prob the same.</p>
<p>ok, I don't criticize ppl if they don't know williams or swarthmore, but I do criticize them when they (the company recruiters) consider ppl from those colleges untalented.</p>
<p>i agree completely ngohuongly88</p>