<p>I’m a junior in high school and other than hearing about the prestigious colleges all the time (Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, UCB, John Hopkins, etc), I don’t know much about colleges.</p>
<p>I’m interested in medicine (most of my classes are science oriented–AP Chemistry, AP Physics, Anatomy and Physiology, AP Bio) and obviously, I would love to go to a school that’s strong in these areas.</p>
<p>I have several (sometimes unrelated) questions.</p>
<li>What is a “liberal arts” college? Does it focus on writing, reading, the arts? Does it have a focus on science also?</li>
<li>How is Harvard, John Hopkins, etc better than UCB, UCLA, etc? Is it the facilities, class sizes, professors? Or is it just prestige?</li>
<li>What are schools that have great educations and are prestigious to a point, but doesn’t have intense, cutthroat competition? (I actually want to enjoy my college experience).</li>
</ol>
<p>Just a very brief bio:
Weighted GPA: 4.3
Unweighted: 3.8
SAT: 2200
SATII, AP (upper 700’s and 4&5’s)
Extracurriculars: Top 10 nationally ranked table tennis player, speech and debate team for 4 years
Volunteered 100 hrs, in a few clubs, and going to COSMOS program this summer</p>
<ol>
<li>One thing I’m certain is that Wikipedia knows much more than I do.</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins is not better than Berkeley or UCLA. They are just different schools.</li>
<li>Well… maybe Brown?</li>
</ol>
The short answer: liberal arts colleges (LACs) generally do not have graduate schools (though some, such as Wesleyan University in CT, do offer a limited number of graduate programs). They generally do not offer pre-professional majors such as engineering, architecture, or business. This does not necessarily mean they do not have excellent pre-med or pre-law programs. Their mission is to provide a general (“liberal”) education in the arts and sciences, not specific career training. Many national universities have undergraduate colleges with a similar mission. The better LACs tend to have good track records for graduate and professional school placements.
The best flagship state universities (Berkeley, other UCs, Michigan, UVa, Wisconsin, UNC) tend to have superb academic programs. By that I mean distinguished professors, graduate departments that are highly regarded in peer assessments, large library systems, etc. UC Berkeley offers more than 3600 courses, which I assume is more than any Ivy League school can offer.</p>
<p>These schools offer much lower tuition for in-state students, tend to be less selective than the Ivies (for in-state students), and tend to have larger classes especially for intro courses (though that is not necessarily true for all departments). </p>
<p>One of the biggest advantages of the prestigious private schools (which may or may not be important to you) is that they draw from a national (and to some extent international) applicant pool. </p>
<p>
That is hard to answer well in a short space. Brown University comes to mind. It is an excellent, Ivy League school (very prestigious) that has the distinction of allowing all courses to be taken on a pass/fail basis. That’s not to say you’d actually want to do that for every course if you want to get into med school. But it apparently does help to make for a more relaxed atmosphere. Several frequent posters to CC can tell you lots about Brown.</p>
<p>Many top LACs offer excellent educations in a supportive atmosphere. They may not have instant name recognition among the general public, but among people who know academia, these schools can pack plenty of prestige. In fact, in certain circles, if you say you graduated from a school like Swarthmore or Carleton or Pomona, you may actually get more immediate respect than if you say you went to an Ivy. People will assume you are not just a (excuse me) “prestige whore”, that you picked the school for its education. If you say you went to an Ivy, well, they may want to poke you a little first to make sure you don’t have the snooty cooties.</p>
<p>You have a nice profile. Almost nobody is a shoo-in for the top schools anymore, but the table tennis greatness sets you apart. Admissions people like “top 10 nationally” in just about anything as long as it’s not an FBI Most Wanted.</p>
<p>Another thing to know is that in-state public schools tend to be more affordable than privates or out of state publics. Many private schools will offer merit aid to make their cost of attendance more competitive if you are a desirable student (hi grades and scores).</p>
<p>Smaller classes, far more research opportunities for students, not having the feeling that you are lost among a massive student body… JHU is the number one recipient of federal research grants and having the largest research & development research budget of any university. 80% of Hopkins students engage in some sort of cutting edge research at some point in their careers, the highest percentage in the nation. So flexibility in getting medical research experience is a huge plus. Harvard, you can do something in the Longwood medical campus in Boston. </p>
<p>I am not sure if research opportunities are as easily obtainable at more massive schools like UBC or UCLA with thousands of students are vying for the same limited pool of professor attention and lab space.</p>
<p>If the LAC concept does have any appeal, also look into Haverford. Very small (and supportive), but part of a consortium with Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore, which expands course options. Has a very strong pre-med advisory program.</p>