<p>1) Finance- I've had 2 brothers go off to college, and they've gotten enough fin aid to get by.. I've tried the financial aid predictors, and I think I'll be ok.. Granted, I will be graduating with some student loans, but it won't be that bad.</p>
<p>2) Atmosphere- I do want a campus atmosphere that is enjoyable, but at the same time, I do like having the options a city has to offer. This means that the university I go to should ideally be in a city, or near to one. </p>
<p>3) Safeties are so difficult to find. I'll keep looking! </p>
<p>4) Academics- How exactly are the teaching styles different from a school like Columbia or Yale (large-ish) to a LAC? Is it just that you have more attention from the professors at a LAC?</p>
<p>5) Thanks!! </p>
<p>@ D.T. Is Pomona better than CMC at Econ? (Granted, I could always cross register). Don't worry, I'm not going to not apply just because some guy said it was tough ; )</p>
<p>One final question! If I don't think I want to go on to graduate study, would there be anything horrible about double majoring at wharton and CAS to get a major in English and Business? Then, I could have a very attractive undergrad business degree, as well as pursue English, which I love.</p>
<p>I think Pomona is a great choice. Econ dept rank is much less important than overall institutional quality and Pomona beats CMC. </p>
<p>One issue, however, is that Pomona does very well in CA but doesn't have the credibility in the NE of comparable schools, at least in a business sense. For that reason its not the best New York finance choice, esp compared to similarly selective NE schools.</p>
<p>
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How exactly are the teaching styles different from a school like Columbia or Yale (large-ish) to a LAC? Is it just that you have more attention from the professors at a LAC?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>We could debate this question till eternity. Let me just say that you can get an excellent education at a large, medium or small college. What is better depends on fit for YOU personally. LACs tend to have more small classes. Conversely you can get a large-ish lecture at an LAC and you can get a small seminar at a large to medium university. </p>
<p>LACs tend to have faculty whose sole purpose is to teach. They may be scientists or artists or authors but their objective is to teach undergraduates like you. Of course there are wonderful teachers at large to medium sized universities but the chance that every class will be taught by a full professor who knows your name is greater at an LAC.</p>
<p>At medium/large universities squeaky wheels get more attention than quiet, introverts. If you are an assertive, proactive person you will have no problem getting what you need at any sized college. If you are shy or reluctant to ask for help you may do better at an LAC.</p>
<p>Double majoring at Wharton and CAS sounds like something you should probe into further, maybe on the Penn board.</p>
<p>Hmm...sounds like you are looking for the best school with the smartest possible students...and econ and english double major...with lots of academic flexibiliy...in that case, I'll give you a solid list of schools:</p>
<p>All of the Ivies minus Columbia (not a good place to try and double major, lots of core requirements), Stanford, Duke, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Chicago, Northwestern</p>
<p>All of above schools also have tons of consulting/Ibanking recruitment</p>
<p>You have ONE safety. Add more second tier schools. You KNOW you'll get into ASU. But would you want to go?</p>
<p>*I think very little of ASU because my school can get ANYONE in through July. These are kids who've gotten kicked out of top LACs for bad grades/drug use.</p>
<p>Well, I think I'd be ok, because I'd be going to Barett Honor's which is a subsection of ASU... Plus, it'd be a free ride (+ cash, probably). I don't think I can justify a lot of student loans if it's not an excellent university. (And note this doesn't limit to the normal HYP). I'm more concerned with finding out good schools that are matches for me, right now. </p>
<p>Can anyone else recommend schools for me? And do UPenn and Columbia really lack the campus feel?</p>
<p>I think Columbia may lack the campus feel somewhat despite having the campus due to NYC. But I don't know Columbia, so this is pure speculation.</p>
<p>blondie, </p>
<p>In my mind, Pomona and CMC are somewhat on par in terms of Economics. The econ department in Pomona is great - check out their faculty and see where all the professors' terminal degrees come from (Basically Princeton, Harvard, Stanford are like the very top schools in graduate econs, and this will give an (imperfect) indicator of the quality of the department as a whole)</p>
<p>It provides a ranking of liberal arts colleges based on citations by economics faculty. But take all these rankings with a lot of salt, coz' citations may signal how distinguished the econ faculty is, but not how good at undergraduate teaching it is. Nonetheless, it is a useful ranking. CMC ranks higher than Pomona on this one.</p>