Graduate school expectations for undergraduate preparation depend on the specific program. For many PhD programs, an undergraduate major in the subject or a closely related one is the expectation. But there are some unusual cases. For example, economics PhD programs may look for substantial advanced math and statistics preparation more than they care about economics course work beyond the core ones like intermediate micro/macro and econometrics.
@WalknOnEggShells, CC posters have produced some studies suggesting that good small LACs and universities do well in terms of getting kids into PhD programs (I think Reed and Swarthmore are particularly strong here). Some small schools are also good feeders to high-end professional schools (I think Williams and Amherst are particularly strong here.) So, I don’t think size of school needs to be an issue.
I agree with @ucbalumnus’s comments about making sure you understand what specific preparation is needed for what graduate program.
@mamag2855, Richmond is one of my favorite LACs. If merit aid were easy to get there, I’d encourage my daughter to apply.
I just looked, and they have a couple of nice CS electives - Parallel Programming and Software Engineering. Those aren’t offered at many LACs that I’ve looked at.
It’s a great school. And the campus and surrounding area are the nicest we’ve seen. Congrats on getting two kids in there. That’s awesome.
@shawbridge, I agree, I’m definitely not anti-LAC. I’m trying like crazy to find one that will work for my daughter. I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, but I do think course selection is a pretty serious issue that you need to deal with.
In Computer Science, for example, taking one additional elective could give you an edge in a job hunt. It will obviously come down to more than just one course, but for example, if a company is looking for someone to work on multi-threaded code, you would be at a disadvantage if you hadn’t taken the course in Parallel Programming I mentioned above.
I wouldn’t want one of my kids graduating in CS without taking that course and a course in Internet Programming, Data Mining, and possibly some others.
I think there are ways to do it, even while attending a LAC, but you really need to have a plan.
Interesting. You really need to plan. I was completely winging it when I was in school 
Regarding economics and PhD programs, here is an example comparison between a typical economics major program and the recommendations for preparing for PhD study in economics.
Economics major requirements: https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/undergrad/current/major-requirements
Recommendations for preparing for PhD study in economics: https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/undergrad/current/preparing-for-grad-school
I talked to one our local kids yesterday who is going to LAC in Kansas that has 726 students. The school has sports programs so when you removed the athletes (he is on a football scholarship) there is around 500 students. The school has around 100 more students than his entire senior class. I wished him luck but chances are really good he will give up football and transfer to a in-state school within two years.
So I’m going to a really tiny college ~550 students and my high school had ~1,200. I always envisioned myself at a somewhat small school but not as small as the one I’m attending. Frankly I didn’t even know there were colleges that small! But every other detail felt right and the small size soon became another thing I loved about the school.
From what I’ve seen, a lot of LACs punch above their weight when it comes to PhD production. The top LACs match the top research U’s when it comes to professional school placement.
However, some research U’s do much better when it comes to number of alums who are leaders in “the real-world” (business, government, arts, science, etc.) compared to their per capita PhD production. Georgetown, ND, UVa, and UMich come to mind. Pretty much no LAC has that profile.
@PurpleTitan, maybe Amherst and Williams in terms of business?
Re: #48
Perhaps because LACs tend to attract more students who emphasize pure academics, rather than more pre-professional (for professions other than academic type research and teaching) students who may be more prone to favor the schools that have a greater selection of more obviously pre-professional offerings.
Cite?
@shawbridge - I know W better than A, and it does very well in the finance world; it’s a top recruitment source, in fact.
(for the record, the op was looking at Tiffin university - cf. Other thread.)
@shawbridge and @marvin100:
The top LACs and RUs do well in everything. It was something I noticed when coming up with my tiers: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1893105-ivy-equivalents-ranking-based-on-alumni-outcomes-take-2-1-p1.html
HYPSM and WAS (and a few others) are top 25 in both producing “American Leaders” (mostly leaders in business, government, and the arts but some in the sciences, journalism, etc.) and per capita PhD production. Both are Forbes subrankings. There are many LACs who are much higher in the PhD production ranking than the “American Leaders” ranking.
But while you found a few RU’s like Georgetown, UMich, UPenn, ND, and UVa who are in the top 25 in the “American Leaders” ranking but outside the top 50 in the PhD ranking, there was no LAC that had that profile. That was my point.
(trying to bring this back to potentially useful answers for op)
While the discussion is interesting, the op is thinking Bloomsburg PA vs. Tiffin vs. Delaware state, not Georgetown vs. Williams.
^ Thanks. Didn’t know.
Just back from moving in my DS at the small school that he fell in love with. At 5k total grad and undergrad enrollment it is not your typical engineering program but he is clearly so comfortable there. He got in to far more “prestigious” and larger schools but I am so glad he went with his gut and chose the school that felt right to him. I believe that students thrive where they are also at ease. Don’t get caught up in the hype of “larger is better” if it does not feel right.