<p>^^ So it would be interesting to investigate whether, given a highly ranked graduate department, the undergraduate program is in fact likelier to include more advanced courses. </p>
<p>According to P’ton Review, the most popular liberal arts major is Psychology. According to the USNWR graduate department rankings, UC Berkeley has a very highly-ranked graduate Psychology program (tied w/Stanford for #1). In the Fall of 2012, Berkeley offered 20 upper-level (100 or above) Psychology courses. That was for approximately 300 Psychology majors (~4% of ~7500 undergraduate degrees conferred), or 1 upper level course for every 14.9 Psych majors.
[Undergraduate</a> Courses | Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley](<a href=“http://psychology.berkeley.edu/undergraduate-program/courses]Undergraduate”>http://psychology.berkeley.edu/undergraduate-program/courses)</p>
<p>Compare these with the numbers for some highly ranked LACs. In the Fall of 2012, Amherst offered 14 upper-level (200 or above) Psychology courses. That was for approximately 34 Psychology majors (~7% of ~480 undergraduate degrees conferred), or 1 upper level course for every 2.4 Psych majors.
<a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/psychology/courses[/url]”>Courses | Psychology | Amherst College;
<p>In the Fall of 2012, Carleton offered 12 upper-level (200 or above) Psychology courses. That was for approximately 30 Psychology majors (~6% of ~500 undergraduate degrees conferred), or 1 upper level course for every 2.5 Psych majors.
<a href=“https://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/psyc/courses/?order_courses_by_term=1[/url]”>Courses – Psychology – Carleton College;
<p>So in fact Berkeley does not offer many more upper level Psych courses relative to the department size, compared to these two LACs. In fact, the opposite is the case. Still, in absolute numbers, Berkeley does offer a greater number of advanced courses. One might expect this to provide greater opportunities for exposure to advanced research in the field. If so, one might expect a higher percentage of Berkeley’s Psychology majors to go on to complete advanced degrees in this field. </p>
<p>In fact, this does not appear to be the case. For every 100 Psychology majors in 2006-10, Berkeley alumni earned about 9 PhDs in Psychology. In contrast, Carleton and Amherst alumni earned about 14 PhDs in Psychology per 100 Psych majors.
(Source: <a href=“https://webcaspar.nsf.gov%5B/url%5D”>https://webcaspar.nsf.gov</a>)</p>
<p>I don’t doubt that a talented, motivated undergraduate can get more exposure to bleeding-edge research at Berkeley than at Carleton or Amherst. I would not assume, however, that the average Psych major at Berkeley therefore necessarily will get a richer, more challenging education. In my opinion, the greater student-faculty engagement fostered in a LAC environment may be a bigger advantage for many students than the presence of advanced research activity. Of course, a lot depends on how you take advantage of the opportunities available at any school.</p>