<p>My daughter can't decide among smaller schools such as Amherst, Middlebury, Dickinson, Hamilton and Colgate and bigger ones such as UPenn and Georgetown. My son is a sophomore at UPenn. I know the advantages of small classes, but are the smaller schools too limiting? She is thinking about majoring in English. Thanks.</p>
<p>I think it depends a lot on your D. I understand this dilemma… my D2 was just accepted at U of Chicago, but still feels the pull of some of the smaller LACs where she has also applied. We are having a lot of discussion of the pros and cons. My ex-H and I both went to a large, highly regarded research university. But we both feel like maybe the smaller environment is better for our D. Some of the things we have discussed:</p>
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<li>Class sizes - you already mentioned</li>
<li>Research opportunities - D2 is going to major in a science. A research university has some great opportunities and equipment, BUT you are scrapping for opportunities with grad students. Research is more limited (but does exist) at smaller schools, and only undergrads are competing for opportunities.</li>
<li>Relationships with professors - Important both for educational development and eventually for grad school recommendations. Seems easier to develop strong relationships at the smaller schools for a couple reasons: fewer students to compete with AND possibly profs that are more focused on teaching than on research.</li>
<li>Quality of teaching - A much higher percentage of classes at the smaller colleges are taught by professors, vs. TAs or adjuncts at the larger schools. Not that a TA can’t be a good teacher (I had some of those). But my experience was that many were not native English speakers, and that was a big problem in my undergrad education.</li>
<li>Social Life - If your kid is an extrovert, big campus can be a lot of fun. If they are an introvert, a smaller campus might be more enjoyable for them. Although my D1 is a real extrovert, and did fine at a smaller LAC (Dickinson, in fact).</li>
<li>Opportunities - At a small LAC, D1 got fantastic opportunities to do things like have dinner with visiting speakers in her area of study, sit on committees for the college, get more personal attention in the career office, etc. These would have been a lot harder to come by at a large university.</li>
<li>Your Kid is Known - Fundamentally, I think your kid can’t “hide” at a small school. Faculty will know your kid, their strengths & weaknesses, and provide more mentoring and support. When D1 was at graduation, I got to the spot for parents to take photos a bit late (it was alphabetical). A prof in a fancy robe asked my kid’s name to put me in the right spot in line. When I told him her last name, he broke into a huge grin and exclaimed, “Oh, we LOVE <first name=”" of="" my="" kid="">". Turned out he was one of her favorite profs. This would not happen at graduation at a big school.</first></li>
</ul>
<p>So… I suspect our D2 will end up at a smaller school for undergrad, and at a larger school for graduate school based on a lot of the points above. But I am sure other posters will have other opinions.</p>
<p>She might add Kenyon to her list if she wants to major in English.</p>
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She doesn’t need to. She should apply to a range of colleges and then choose once she gets admitted to some of them.</p>
<p>When it comes to the final decision after admissions results, it should be based on finances and the individual characteristics of each college rather than simply focusing on size. A student may very well prefer Swarthmore to Penn but Penn to Amherst.</p>
<p>smaller schools are not to limiting! going to a big school can help you get lost in the crowd.
I think Dickinson is very good ( with the biggest flaw I know of is the road threw the middle of campus without a pedestrian bridge)</p>
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<p>She may want to check the course catalogs and schedules at the various schools to see what the offerings in her possible majors are, and how often they are offered. Limitations here are more common at smaller schools, but some small schools have a good breadth and depth of courses in at least some subjects; if those happen to be the subjects she is likely to major in, then those schools are academically suitable, despite the small size.</p>
<p>One thing to consider is that when choosing a safety, schools with a wide range of students in terms of academic ability and motivation are more likely to be big schools. Going to a narrow range school that is a safety may be uninteresting for a strong student who is unable to find a suitable peer group (academically) or finds that the courses are taught for students with lower ability and motivation with no honors or other more rigorous options.</p>
<p>At smaller schools with closer relationships with professors one would likely get excellent references for internships and grad school.</p>
<p>Also if the campus has someone who can advise for external scholarships or fellowships etc such as Goldwater, Rhodes… then you will probably have someone who is more hands on.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using CC</p>