<p>Are Liberal Arts colleges, such as Amherst and Oberlin, any different (as in mandatory courses and graduation requirements) from Liberal Arts Colleges within universities (i.e. College of Letters and Sciences in UC Berkeley)? My desired major is Astrophysics (or Astronomy) and does it matter (in terms of educational quality and time consumption) whether or not I attend a Liberal Arts College or a National University? Do Liberal Arts Colleges allow Double Majors or is the issue completely dependent on each individual school?</p>
<p>Most LACs will allow double majors. There are LACs that are strong in the areas that interest you and there are universities that are strong in the areas that interest you. There will be many on these forums that will tell you that you have to go to a top research university if you are interested in anything related to science or math. I don’t agree with that. Swarthmore is one of the top ranked schools for percentage of graduates who receive PhDs in Science and Engineering (I think they are 3rd). Find a school that you love and you can afford that has a strong Astrophysics program. Look at the lists of faculty for the schools you are interested in and look at the courses they teach (at research Us there will be faculty listed who rarely teach, they are to busy doing research). Look at what they have to say about opportunities to get involved in undergraduate research. Bear in mind that while big universities are doing more research (and undoubtedly they are) there are many, many more students, including graduate students looking for involvement with that research. I’ll try to find the link to the study I cited above. Good luck!</p>
<p>I agree with nursekay. </p>
<p>Re specific schools, check out Grinnell, which has it’s own observatory (very little light pollution in rural Iowa), no distribution requirements, merit aid, a strong physics dept., the smallest class sizes (none larger than 25 even in intro classes), and faculty who love to mentor undergrads (which is why they are at a LAC instead of a large research university). It is one of those LACs that has a comparatively high percent of students going on for PhDs.</p>
<p>And as the prof. of astronomy pointed out to us, there is no one else competing for time at the observatory. You can do the kind of longitudinal studies that aren’t possible at large research institutes where you have to book your time slot far in advance and are competing with many others (faculty and grad students) who want time on the equipment.</p>