<p>So I'm interested in colleges where the professor will actually know my name lol. But at the same time, I want to go to a prestigious college, not some unknown liberal arts school in the middle of no where.
So far, I hear Northwestern has small classes?
Keep in mind that my grades are not stellar, so don't mention schools like harvard, princeton, yale etc</p>
<p>Northwestern is just as competitive as Harvard/Princeton so if you think you have no chance at the ivies you really have no chance at NW either</p>
<p>lol.</p>
<p>So what are your grades? What are your SAT/ ACT scores (if you have them yet)? What’s your home state? </p>
<p>Uh, my home state is NY but location doesn’t matter as long as its in the united states. Also ignore the HYP part, i just want some non ivy schools </p>
<p>Not all liberal arts colleges are in the middle of nowhere. And the problem is that small classes usually come with “small college” size. Which in turns means it doesn’t have Division I sports. And most people either seem to know Ivy names or Division I sports schools… outside of that they don’t recognize the name so much.</p>
<p>You need to decide why you want to attend college. Is it so you can brag about the name? Is it because you think a large alumni network will help you? Is it because you like big-time college sports? And just because “everyone” has not heard of a given school doesn’t mean it isn’t prestigious in the eyes of graduate schools and employers. An example might be Harvey Mudd – has less than 800 students, but is a top feeder to Silicon Valley companies and top graduate schools. Probably not for you given your grade situation, but just giving an example.</p>
<p>You probably need to think more about your college criteria than just “small class size”. If you want to be in a city, that goes on your list. If you have a specific major or two in mind, list that. If you have geographic or cost constraints, state those. You may not be able to get everything you want… but it helps if you develop a full list of what is important to you.</p>
<p>One thing to consider is colleges in consortiums. Pitzer is an example of a school where classes are small, but it is part of a larger campus, so you get a mix of both worlds – and if your grades are great, it is probably the easiest to get into of the Claremont consortium schools. Another school you might look at is Macalester – LAC, but in a city. </p>
<p>And Kel0486 is somewhat right – NU is difficult to get into. Not quite as hard as HYPS, but still tough. If you give your statistics (unweighted GPA, test scores) that could help us give more suggestions.</p>
<p>Northwestern’s class size is small; 86% of classes have less than 30 students. You will still hit big lecture classes for popular intro classes, though. And the average unweighted GPA for this year’s applicants was 3.8 and the midpoint SAT was 2107. </p>
<p>They don’t ‘close threads’ unless they violate the terms of service. If you want to rephrase your question, then you can do that.</p>
<p>okay, so can i get a list of some top schools that have small classrooms? For example, washu has small classrooms i hear</p>
<p>Here’s the thing, most top universities still have large lecture classes but also have discussion classes for the humanities. The big difference is, at many of these schools, the intense discussion sections are often 200+ level classes meaning that there are certain prerequisites students must take before being allowed to enroll. Many of these prerequisite classes will have 50+ students limiting the opportunity to take virtually all smaller seminar style courses freshman year. Also, if you’re interested in a hard science or math major, the non senior level courses may not be discussion oriented in the same way that a 300 level english class is. </p>
<p>You may want to look into the differences between starting at Oxford College of Emory and Emory College of Arts and Science since those are part of the same school and boast similar class sizes but one has virtually all small classes (Oxford) while the other has larger lecture classes for some of the more popular classes and then five person senior seminars on “Obscure Literary Figure from the 1790s”.</p>
<p>Also, don’t think for a minute that places like Wash U, Vanderbilt, Pomona College, and other schools aren’t just as difficult to get into as many of the Ivy League institutions. Again, what are your GPA and SAT scores?</p>
<p>I didn’t say these schools are easier than ivy league, i dont want any ivy leagues because i am already quite familiar with them. My GPA and SAT scores are not relevant right now, i just want some schools that fit my criteria regardless of whether or not i have a shot. Ignore my original post</p>
<p>It’s also important to note that it’s entirely possible to have a professor know your name in a large class. Speak up, participate in class, go to office hours, ask questions, do well on assignments and exams. Having a professor know your name because of those reasons will be much more helpful than having a professor know your name just because there are only thirty students in the class.</p>
<p>@baktrax thanks for the comment, i completely agree, but it’s also so much easier to participate in a class of 30 compared to a class of 100. Also, i’ve been to some lectures where there is no room for participation, the professor only lectures. i do not want this</p>
<p>My classes the first couple of years at NU were huge. Later they got smaller. This is probably true at most universities. </p>
<p>As others have said, if you don’t have top grades and scores “prestigious colleges” are going to be out of reach for you anyway.</p>
<p>You really should open your mind to LACs and not worry about whether your friends or relatives have heard of them. Isn’t getting a good education that fits you the most important thing?</p>
<p>@sally305 Never said i was closed to LACs, i said i didn’t want to attend a no name LAC that was in the middle of no where.
If you don’t mind me asking, what major were you?</p>
<p>Fortunately you have a lot of choices then. In fact, there are a number of good to outstanding LACs in the suburbs or urban areas. However, the fact is, some of them are out of reach for an average student and it wastes both of our time trying to list ones which you’d have no shot of getting into (sorry but an average student has no chance at Occidental or Pomona).</p>
<p>There are also regional universities although these typically award less financial aid and tend to be more preprofessionally oriented than most LACs or top Us. In the LA region, a good example is Loyola Marymount. </p>
<p>Occidental has a 42% acceptance rate lol. everyone who applies from my school gets in, even with low gpas. I realize this thread is useless, i will just do research on my own. </p>
<p>When I referred to average, I meant actually average. As in a 3.1 GPA and 1500 SAT. Sorry that kid isn’t getting into Oxy. But fine, do your own research. I suggest you start with the school’s common data set and look at the number of classes with 50-100+ students. Remember, those are the classes you’re likely to have freshman year, not the 2-9 student seminars. USNWR also lists what percent of classes have <20 students, 21-49, and 50+ students. However, remember that many of the professors may be adjuncted so they can’t devote nearly the same amount of time to the university as a full time professor. If you want to see how the part time to full time ratio compares, I suggest you use this site <a href=“College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics”>http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/</a></p>
<p>Oh i thought your average student was a 3.5 gpa. thanks for the link</p>
<p>Journalism, but I took as many humanities classes as I could as I liked those best. The big classes I referred to were generally distribution requirements–poli sci, math, science, anthropology, etc.</p>
<p>thanks, that makes sense. i would expect the requirement classes to be large</p>