<p>Ive spent the past year or so building my college list. Recently I realized my current list consists of many different types of schools. I have selective private universities, LACs and a few large public universities. The undergraduate population on my list ranges from 1500 (Reed) to a whopping 30,000 (U of I). Thats a HUGE range. A friend of mine looked at my choices and said You really dont know what you want, do you? Is it such a bad thing that I dont focus on one type of college? The fundamental difference is in the size
but Im not sure I care all <em>that</em> much about size. I could picture myself as a successful student at each type of college. But Im still unable to pick a specific one that fits better than the others.</p>
<p>Is it possible to try to find somewhere that incorporates aspects of each type of college? I feel like Cornell would fit that description. It has a student population thats larger than most private universities and Im thinking of applying to their College of Arts and Sciences. To quote their view book, CAS is a small liberal arts college at the center of an outstanding research university. This <em>seems</em> to fit the bill. Are there any other schools with a similar fusion of large and small communities? </p>
<p>Any input would be VERY helpful at this moment. Thanks!</p>
<p>My top choices choices ranged from CMC and pomona (small liberal arts colleges with 1000-1500 students) to Michigan State (45,000 students). I also applied for medium-sized privates like Georgetown and George Washington. So did I truly know what I want? Yes. Similar to you, I just didn’t particularly care what size the school was. </p>
<p>One of the main reasons (among others) why I chose Michigan state is because it does have “small communities” within the massive student body. Specifically for me, there was both the honors college and the residential college James Madison. Many other schools have the same types of programs as well. Look up “residential colleges” to find details. This seems to be a good starting list:
[Residential</a> Colleges and Collegiate Universities Worldwide](<a href=“Residential Colleges and Collegiate Universities Worldwide”>Residential Colleges and Collegiate Universities Worldwide)</p>
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<p>All that suggests to me is that you’re flexible/adaptable. Nothing wrong with that.</p>
<p>Its a list. You have until April 1, 2009 when you get “their” answers, and until May 1, 2009 for you to give them “your final answer.” That is a long time to think about all your options. Ignore the critics.</p>
<p>I agree with jessiehl, being flexible in the college application process is a GOOD thing, IMO. In the end, you’ll have lots of other criteria to base your college choice on, so don’t worry about the issue of size.</p>
<p>You might find that visits really help. My D had a similar list, but after a few visits found that the feel of a small LAC was more to her liking than the big universities on her list. (She felt they might suit her better for Grad school). Visits also helped with determining what really were the priorities for making a decision (library, dorms, labs and so on), city vs rural schools, big vs small classes and so on.</p>
<p>I think a great choice for you would be one of the Claremont Colleges. They are a consortium of five LACs (and two graduate centers) that are each literally adjacent to one another. This setup is very similar to the system used at Oxbridge, so you get a small LAC experience with each college having around 1-2 thousand students but together, all the colleges are almost like a university.</p>