My D is at a LAC now and absolutely loves the experience. I have only good things to say. Some of the highlights…
–She developed close friends quickly.
–It was easy for her to get involved in a number of different activities. My D does theater, orchestra, a sorority, community service and her friends do a host of other things. All of her friends seem involved in one thing or another.
–Small classes taught by full professors are great. I think her biggest class was 60 and she has had some upper level classes as small as 6 students (with a full professor teaching).
–Because of the small classes she has got to know some professors very well. I imagine that her grad school teacher recommendations are strong as they will be very personal.
–She has done a great deal of research working directly for professors.
So academically, socially, and any other way, my D’s LAC has been a huge win for her.
Two unrelated comments…
In our search for a LAC for our D we tried to not go too tiny (around 1,800 - 2,000 students minimum) because we felt at some level it might get “too small” in terms of professors, courses offered, peers etc. But the school you found seems great sized.
Our S who is a quiet kid saw one LAC and did not like it at all. He felt it was just too small. He found his home at a mid-sized university with small classes and that was absolutely the right environment for him. To each their own.
Under a thousand can still work fine, especially if the school is part of a consortium (eg, Harvey Mudd and Scripps are both under 1,000, and Pitzer is barely over).
^ a consortium does open up a lot of opportunities for a small school.
D is in one and has taken little advantage of it so far, but it’s there. At some point she may do a certificate in her current area of interest that includes courses from all 5 schools. It does bring a lot more people to her campus. I sat in on one of her classes parent’s weekend and in the 15 students in the class, 4 of the 5 schools in the consortium were represented.
She is a science major and the first semester intro course was large- ~150 students in lecture, many fewer in discussion and lab(12ish?). But the lab and discussion sections were taught by full professors also.
@intparent Totally agree, being in a consortium puts a whole different spin on the size of the school. And certainly students do thrive in those smaller LACs, we just felt they would not be right for our D.
Both my kids picked small schools but are both part of the Claremont Consortium (individual schools less than 1000, overall population about 5,000). The small classes, the professors who teach (no TAs) and know the kids personally, the sense of community (almost all students live on campus) are all things I see as benefits to a small school.
I think that the previous posters gave wonderful examples of what attending a small LAC is like. Does the school offer an accepted student day or weekend? If she attends such an event, that may help to give her a better “feel” for the campus community.
Dissenting voice here. Do these small schools offer more than just the mainstream courses? Only three main foreign languages? Can students explore more obscure topics in depth? Having Ta’s can be a great advantage. But- the other posters found the limits of small colleges in their comfort zones.
@wis75 My D has found that her LAC does offer more than just mainstream classes. In addition to classes offered students who wish to delve into a particular topic of interest have been plenty of opportunity to do so by working directly with a professor on a research project, writing a thesis on a topic of interest with a faculty advisor, etc,
I do agree that it is a worthwhile exercise for someone considering a LAC to look at the school’s online course catalog and check the courses and do some research to see if the school is strong in one’s area(s) of interest.
Yes, I was also going to say that my D1’s senior thesis at her LAC was an opportunity to dive deeply into a subject with excellent support from her faculty advisor (Poli Sci prof). Her thesis was nominated as one of the 60 top undergrad thesis in the country in her subject that year. She learned a huge amount, and got a very good taste of the thesis process.
D2 is doing research in Physics at her LAC, and mentioned that she had four meetings with her research advisor this week (Physics prof). She is currently supporting research in his lab, but they are also discussing the research she will be carrying out for her senior project.
I attended a large research university, and know it would be very difficult to get the kind of time & attention my kids have gotten from full professors at their LACs. Note that D1 speaks Finnish – and was accepted to what I believe is @wis75’s college of affiliation. But the opportunity to take a couple of semesters of Finnish there didn’t match up to the overall benefits of her LAC (and she got to spend a semester in Finland anyway). Also, taking obscure classes isn’t always all it is cracked up to be – I took a couple of upper levels social science classes at Michigan that were just snoozers – the profs were so focused on their fingernail slice of an area of interest, and clearly not hired for their teaching skills.
My kids never had TAs at their LACs, and very few adjuncts from what I can tell.
There are plenty of amazing, interesting classes offered at my daughter’s LAC. Plus every student writes a thesis, which also means research and even more time spent with professors in the major. Her LAC is also part of a consortium that includes a large university that offers many languages and obscure courses, but so far she hasn’t wanted or needed to take any classes there.
I don’t see this as a research university versus small liberal arts college contest. As long as you do your research and the LAC meets your needs, it can be a good and valid choice. D did drop a LAC because it didn’t have her language.
Before D’s search, I had absolutely no experience with LAC’s. I’ve only attended research universities, as did my siblings. But in compiling a list of schools, it was obvious D wasn’t drawn to research universities. I talked to friends who attended small schools, read a bit, talked to more people and came to the conclusion LAC was a very good option for her.
In theory, a major research university provides way more opportunities and options. But sometimes that can be the problem, especially if the child is easily overwhelmed or is loathe to reach out to faculty.
It really depends on the kid and the major. Some of the smaller schools seem to stretch and offer so many majors they don’t have the depth but others like Harvey Mudd offer a small number of majors but can offer great depth in those and have the consortium to cover other topics.
For what it’s worth, I can count the number of TAs I had on one hand at my extremely large research U.
On the other hand, all of the TAs that I did have were graduate students and not undergrads (as was the experience of some of my friends at small LACs and even some small research unis). I’d much rather have a graduate than an undergraduate student teaching/grading.
Everyone has to balance their own needs and comforts. I would advise, however, that whether you choose a research U or an LAC, you pay careful attention to the availability of other majors. Most students change their major at least once and, IMO, it would suck to go to a uni only to find out something you’re interested in isn’t offered or isn’t available without applying to that specific major (as can happen in some large unis whose majors are impacted).
Bottom line is you can get a great education at many different types of schools, at a certain point it becomes about finding the right match between an individual student and the college/university.
My daughter has many options - she has 6 schools to choose from. And two are close. I think it’s anxiety about going at all. I was just curious about the small schools because to me they seem great. How is the social life - is it a lot like high school being so small?
Ds1 loved his 2000-student LAC. He definitely didn’t know everyone but knew a lot of people. It had two dining halls, and it’s amazing how that really split the campus and made the place seem bigger. Two years he lived near one hall; the next he lived near the other. His last year he was in an on-campus townhouse and hardly ate at a dining hall.
Every year, a quarter of the student body leaves and new people come in. Lots of new people to meet.
Like I imagine happens everywhere, he had close friends, good friends, teammates, acquaintances and people he didn’t know at all.
OP, I hope her overnight will make her feel better about choosing her school.
As to it being like high school, I think that depends on the school. Many LACs have students form all over the country and world, that’s not like high school.
IMO you can only know, and want to hang out with, so many people at a time.
For my D going to a LAC was definitely not like HS. The independence, maturity of students, options available etc. made college a very different, and for her a much nicer social environment.
