Hi All,
My son is so torn between a well respected liberal arts school closer to home and UR. He finds the LA school to be a perfect cultural fit, but the classes are only broad and do not have nearly the depth and breadth of those at UR. The other aspect is that he will be majoring in the humanities, which means he will be in the minority at UR with it being so science focused. I also get concerned that with so much focus on research, the actual teaching of the classes may not be as strong as you would see at a purely teaching focused LA college. On the other hand, he is thrilled about all of the wonderful majors and class opportunities at Rochester since he isn’t sure of what he wants to do. He believes that UR will offer him the best chance to figure that out in 4 years with the open curriculum. So, it seems like he needs to choose between a cultural fit and an academic fit! I’m sure he can be happy in both places, but he has some FOMO going on with this decision! Any insights would be appreciated!
My Son is a current UR student and started as liberal arts at UR. He explored engineering classes and is now double majoring in engineering and a liberal arts field. He would not have had that option if he had gone to an LAC.
How is the social scene? The LA school seems pretty close knit. Does UR seem more like a larger university? Also, he got the feeling that kids are studying so much that there is not a lot of downtime. Has this been your son’s experience? Is your son enjoying the school?
I was a humanities major at the U of R back in the dinosaur age. Didn’t feel left out because I wasn’t premed/science.
DD had all LACs on her college list except for URoch - was going in as an English major. URoch won out because of the open curriculum (she has a lot of interests), she felt the bigger size offered more opportunities but still felt small, and she felt like she would fit in with the student body. She could not be happier with her choice. She studies hard but also participates in the Outing Club and played IM softball. She has down time on weekends for social events. She has many friends in science and engineering majors and they have down time as well. Great school, great students, and I feel like humanities is strong.
ETA that due to taking classes that interested her, dd has changed her major to Public Health and Environmental Studies. Also, we attended a presentation for Humanities majors at Accepted Students Day, and they encourage humanities majors to do research too.
@Moondrive. Yes, my son enjoys it at UR. Many of his friends attend NESCAC and similar LACs and have about the same amount of downtime and study time as his friends. UR is a medium sized university and he feels at home there. As far as the social scene, his main concern is that he’d like to see more enthusiasm for athletics at UR. He finds that there is a lot to do in the city though.
^he has not “have” above
UR is a great school for students with multiple interests. My son had a strong interest in both evolutionary biology and political science and attending UR allowed him to major in both. He also completed a humanities cluster in Bioethics and took philosophy and ethics courses, which he loved. He had social circles among both the bio and polysci student bodies, so I believe it gave the feel of a small LAC. He also participated in bio research, which is readily available at UR. I believe a very high percentage of lectures are taught by full-time faculty, although recitations may be TA’d by other senior or grad students.
Culturally, I believe UR is filled with kids who are multi-faceted because that’s what they attract and so there is academic diversity. I cannot say enough good things about UR. My son was able to indulge deeply in all of his passions at UR and I doubt he would have been able to do that at most other schools.
I wish your son the best of luck with his decision. I hope he finds what he is looking for!
Thanks so much for these responses-they are very helpful! It sounds like an amazing school. He is still deciding! As a parent, I hope that he has the opportunity to get to know at least some of his professors well (and vice versa). I heard that some of the intro classes at UR can be pretty big, but then they get smaller as students get into their major(s). I would think that humanities classes may be smaller as well.
My lad got to know every single one of his professors probably better than some his LAC choosing brothers did. He simply made an effort to get to class early for a small “regular” chat (not necessarily subject related) and went to office hours when he wanted to know more about one of the topics - not because it was “on the test.” He certainly wasn’t the only one who arrived early. Quite a few students did. He related several fun bantering times with profs. He was invited to houses, events, etc - no real difference than my LAC lads except for him being the one who chose to get to know them.
My LAC lads told me the profs likely knew every student, but not every student interacted with the profs in the “postcard” LAC way. That’s pretty much up to the student as well.
Hope your son found his answer and feels good about it. My daughter was in the same boat - every school on her list was a LAC (NESCAC or comparable) and she’s planning on majoring in social sciences or humanities. After a lot of visits, she concluded that the LACs were too small (even the somewhat larger ones like Wes and Oberlin) and each felt ‘boring’ while Rochester was buzzing with activity. She was dead-set on a LAC until she visited UR and after her visit she was certain that UR was where she wanted to be. Good luck!
My daughter didn’t consider LACs even though I wanted her to. But she fell in love with Rochester at first sight. When she did study abroad as a junior, most of the other students in her LLC (public health) were at LACs. In talking to them, she came to the realization that Rochester seems to be something of a hybrid—feels as personal as an LAC, but, for her, more research and clinical opportunities because the med center is an integral part of the campus.
@moondrive, you’re exactly right about the size of the classes. The common pre-reqs that students take as freshmen and, sometimes, sophomores can be fairly large, but virtually all of my daughter’s classes as a senior have 20 students or less…and some are even smaller with an even number of undergrads and grad students. She traveling to India this summer as part of a research team of six or seven with one of her favorite public professors, for example.
Thanks so much! My son chose UR and is very excited about his decision! I really appreciate the feedback!
Congratulations! S21 finishing sophomore year, and we have been very happy with his experience so far!