What about Liberal Arts Colleges?

<p>I prefer to spend my college years in a liberal arts college. Does anyone have any good advice?</p>

<p>Answer these questions:</p>

<p>Where do you live, and how far away from home is ok with you?
Would an all-female school be ok?
What is your grade point average?
What are your SAT scores?
What sorts of subjects do you think you'd like to study?
Is it important to you to be in or near a big city?
Is weather a major factor for you?
Do you have a strong preference about being around mostly artsy types, athletic types, or intellectual types?</p>

<p>The above questions are all very good ones.</p>

<p>Also, one thing to consider with smaller LACs is that there aren't going to be as many courses, internships, etc as a large university would have, in general. Therefore, it's a good idea to look at smaller colleges where you can take courses, go to parties, etc at a larger university (i.e. Amherst has UMass-Amherst, Swarthmore and Haverford and Bryn Mawr have each other and UPenn).</p>

<p>In agreement to the above post, I'd also suggest to look at one of the schools in the Claremont consortium (CA).</p>

<p>OTOH, IMO, if you're really into the LAC experience, not having a consortium is not a problem. In my experience (at, admittedly, one of the larger LACs), even though you might sometimes get shut out of your first choice class, especially as an underclassman, it’s not hard to get a schedule filled with classes you find interesting and good. Depending on the school, you probably won’t have as many totally huge parties as at a University, but if that’s not your thing, it doesn’t matter.</p>

<p>Anyway, my advice is visit some LACs, and do overnights to make sure you really do like the experiance. Also, think about HOW small or big you want the school--some larger LACs, like Wesleyan and Oberlin, have over twice as many students as the really small LACs, like Haverford. And consortiums ARE a good way to go if you want more students.</p>

<p>If you're looking for advice on specfic schools, I agree with TourGuide446: you need to answer those kinds of questions before we can give you any useful advice.</p>

<p>If you want a good variety of options, another good idea is to look at LACs in the city. That way, although the school population is small, there are still plenty of other people and lots to do nearby.</p>

<p>I have friends at Occidental who really like it, and have heard great things about Mills College, Agnes Scott, Goucher, Barnard, University of Richmond, etc. - all of which are LACs that allow their students ample access to the city. </p>

<p>Or, if you're looking for a truly unique academic experience, Colorado College may be worth looking into. Their academic set-up is one of a kind, and the school is located in a beautiful setting.</p>