Top Notch National Universities Vs Liberal Arts Colleges

[monydad]

<p>"That being said, two people don’t represent the views of the majority. "</p>

<p>Perhaps so, but they represent 100% of the people who have experienced both environments who have [or have been] posted about same on CC.</p>

[vonlost]

<p>^ That you’re aware of. I’ll see if I can find any posts from those transferring from a big U to an LAC…</p>

<p>I found over the max (200) number of posts with a variation of “transfer to an lac” or “transfer to a liberal arts” but I haven’t read them all (and won’t). Some/many/most could be from community colleges. But I suspect the number is more than zero.</p>

[monydad]

<p>if you have others that are on point (not Community College, have posted about personal experiences of themselves or their kids in both environments) please provide links. I haven’t seen them.</p>

[vonlost]

<p>Sorry, I won’t be able to back this up, no time for such investigation. I believe there are more than two students who have been unhappy with their LAC experience, and more than zero unhappy with their big U experience.</p>

[manarius]

<p>

I believe there are more than two students who have been unhappy with their LAC experience, and more than zero unhappy with their big U experience.

</p>

<p>Yeah, but only the ones who post on College Confidential matter. Duh.</p>

[onecircuit]

<p>

“For another thing, who says the best HYPers all want to pursue PhDs!”</p>

<p>Right, but for those who want a future PhD, they may prefer to be around like-minded (“life of the mind”) peers. That’s where the per-capita numbers can be useful.

</p>

<p>vossron, so do you really think that the Reed students are going to be surrounded by a significantly more amount of “like-minded” PhD desiring students than at HYP?</p>

<p>I’d say that there really isn’t much of a difference, don’t you?</p>

<p>and, of course, it depends on the department…</p>

<p>PhD’s per 100 students in undergraduate class
13.8 - Reed
10.3 - Princeton</p>

<p>Size of entering class
373 — Reed
1,312 - Princeton</p>

<p>Projected # of students in class that will eventually receive PhD’s
51 – Reed
135 - Princeton</p>

[onecircuit]

<p>Next step, lets take a look at a Department that would typically have more students eventually obtaining PhD’s than the other deparments at Reed and Princeton…</p>

<p>lets look at Reed and Princeton’s Mathematics Departments, particularly because this is an area that tends to have some of the more “brilliant” and “intellectual” students at each school.</p>

<p>details to follow</p>

[tk21769]

<p>By now we’ve talked a lot about PhDs, but it’s true, only a small minority of students get them. </p>

<p>Another interesting patterns is that faculty brats disproportionately attend LACs.
[Where</a> do the children of professors attend college?](<a href=“http://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v25y2006i2p201-210.html]Where”>http://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v25y2006i2p201-210.html)</p>

<p>

To judge whether better-informed consumers of higher education, the families of faculty, make different choices than other similarly endowed consumers, we compare the pattern of colleges chosen by 4742 children of college and university faculty with the pattern chosen by the children of non-faculty families of similar socio-economic status. The patterns are remarkably different. The children of faculty are more likely to choose research universities and even more likely to choose selective liberal arts colleges. Available evidence does not explain why the differences occur.

</p>

[vonlost]

<p>“do you really think that the Reed students are going to be surrounded by a significantly more amount of “like-minded” PhD desiring students than at HYP?”</p>

<p>No, HYP are also on the lists; the differences are not significant. Don’t be so terrified that HYP don’t measure up! They do!</p>

[monydad]

<p>"Yeah, but only the ones who post on College Confidential matter. Duh. "
Not at all. Please post links outside collegeconfidential to on-point descriptions by individuals who attended as undergrad both types institutions.</p>

[tk21769]

<p>

lets look at Reed and Princeton’s Mathematics Departments, particularly because this is an area that tends to have some of the more “brilliant” and “intellectual” students at each school.

</p>

<p>Princeton 9th per capita, Reed 3rd. If we accept the listing on the Reed site. I’m too lazy to double-check the source data. Maybe OC will do that for us. I trust the per capita spread is not that large, anyway.</p>

[monydad]

<p>“details to follow”</p>

<p>looking forward to reading them…</p>

[vonlost]

<p>“Please post links outside collegeconfidential to on-point descriptions by individuals who attended as undergrad both types institutions.”</p>

<p>Yes, somebody, please! It’s the only way we’ll establish that some student somewhere was unhappy at a big U and so transferred to an LAC, and why.</p>

[onecircuit]

<p>"Princeton 9th per capita, Reed 3rd. If we accept the listing on the Reed site. I’m too lazy to double-check the source data. Maybe OC will do that for us. I trust the per capita spread is not that large, anyway. "</p>

<p>tk, here you go</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/nsf08311.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/nsf08311.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[onecircuit]

<p>

“do you really think that the Reed students are going to be surrounded by a significantly more amount of “like-minded” PhD desiring students than at HYP?”</p>

<p>No, HYP are also on the lists; the differences are not significant. Don’t be so terrified that HYP don’t measure up! They do!

</p>

<p>vossron, ok, so now you are saying that there isn’t much of a difference in the per capita Phd’s of the Reed v. HYP undergraduates…</p>

<p>next day or two we will examine in detail the life of a Reed Math major and that of a Princeton Math major and their exposure to brilliant, like minded, intellectuals and how it would affect their undergraduate education and experience…</p>

[tk21769]

<p>^^ O.K., but that nsf report is not specific to mathematics. It’s for all science & engineering doctorates.</p>

[vonlost]

<p>“so now you are saying that there isn’t much of a difference in the per capita Phd’s of the Reed v. HYP undergraduates”</p>

<p>I never said there was; go back and read my posts. HYP do a great job of it, more than most schools.</p>

[reesezpiecez103]

<p>Monydad, on a personal note, I have a good friend here who is a sophomore transfer from UVA. He likes it a lot better here - says he didn’t like the culture there, had a terrible experience with his roommate, and “felt like he was the only one ever doing work.” He says his classes here give him a lot more work, and that he’s much happier in the community.</p>

<p>I don’t think his experience is representative of UVA (I actually almost went there and am seriously consideing going to grad school there). Obviously UVA is a great school and the undergrads there work hard, but for him, it wasn’t the right fit and he likes it here a lot better. Each environment has its strengths and weaknesses, and they work for some people, but not for others.</p>

[reesezpiecez103]

<p>Alright monydad, here you go. I knew there would be more examples.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/794295-leaving-nyu-small-lac.html?highlight=lac[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/794295-leaving-nyu-small-lac.html?highlight=lac&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The very last post is a student who transferred from NYU to Wesleyan.

I transferred out of NYU to Wesleyan as a sophomore and it is, without a doubt, the best decision I have ever made. The education that I’m getting here is FAR more personalized and better suited for me, not to mention the people are incredibly welcoming, passionate, and nothing like the highly competitive, unnecessarily cut-throat atmosphere I experienced at NYU. The study abroad is great here too and I would tell you to definitely consider Wesleyan! There are a ton of other NYU transfers who I have bonded with.

</p>

[reesezpiecez103]

<p>Also - Amherst transfer student, briefly discussing why she transferred to Amherst from Harvard, here.</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/admission/amherst/faculty/harmeling/node/29323[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/admission/amherst/faculty/harmeling/node/29323&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;