Not necessarily. The OP would be taking upper level courses, and those can be quite small even at large universities. Rather than going off generalizations, it would be better for markowen to take a look at the course listings and see what’s available and interesting at each college. </p>
<p>Given the specialized nature of UK degrees, the comparatively limited course offerings of LACs may work against them, though I really think there would be enough to satisfy anyone for a year.</p>
<p>U Washington does differ from most of the others in its quarter system. That allows one to take more courses, but it’s also faster paced and more intense.</p>
<p>About 80% of courses are under 20 students at LAC’s. Lot’s of classes over 100 at public uni’s where at best you’ll get to meet with a grad student in smaller sections.</p>
<p>“Not necessarily. The OP would be taking upper level courses, and those can be quite small even at large universities.”</p>
Well, yeah. Lots of LACs have small courses. That’s pretty par for the course. Good for them. I think anyone at all familiar with my posts would hardly call me a vocal fan of large universities. I attended a relatively small private university for college (Duke), and both my sister and boyfriend attended LACs. I know quite well the advantages of private colleges. </p>
<p>My point was not that universities have smaller courses. My point was that university courses usually get smaller at the junior/senior level, and there are usually more than enough small courses to satisfy an upper level student. Taking a quick glimpse at Berkeley’s history offerings, for example, turns up several courses with fewer than 25 students, including the following:</p>
<p>– the History of Vietnam (15 students)
– Modern South Africa (19 students)
– China during the Tang and Song Dynasties (24 students)
– Chinese Body (15 students)
– 20th century Japan (24 students)
– American Immigrants (10 students)
– European Economic History (25 students)
– Christian Reformation (17 students)
– Renaissance Italy (21 students)
– History of Christianity (23 students)
– History of Information (16 students)</p>
<p>If one looks at other history-related departments, that number grows even larger. Sample courses:</p>
<p>– Medieval Celtic Culture (17 students)
– Culture and Thought in the Roman Republic (16 students)
– Babylonian Culture (10 students)
– Women in Ancient Egypt (7 students)
– Gandhi and Civil Rights (17 students)
– Religion in Early India (6 students)</p>
<p>
Considering Reed offers a total of 265 courses and Occidental a total of 449, I’d say 769 courses with <20 students is quite a lot.</p>
<p>At any rate, the OP is coming from the UK, where universities are most definitely not LAC-like. I’m sure (s)he is more than capable of handling American colleges of any size.</p>
<p>Based on your criteria, the University of Pennsylvania should definitely be your top choice.</p>
<p>However, recognizing that there are few spots available, after that, I would choose from the following:</p>
<p>University of Michigan - excellent school, great college town, limited public transportation options</p>
<p>Washington University in St. Louis - probably the second most prestigious on your list; beautiful campus and friendly students; on the outskirts of a not particularly amazing city</p>
<p>University of California at Los Angeles- located in a fun city, weather is warm but usually not sweltering during the school year; limited public transportation.</p>
<p>University of California at Berkeley- prestigious, but not in a large city and has limited public transportation access</p>
<p>Washington University in Seattle–Seattle is a nice city, although rainy, good school</p>
<p>Occidental College, Los Angeles - same as UCLA</p>
<p>I also happen to think that U Rochester is a wonderful school, although I agree that the city is not the most appealing. And if you want a warmer version of Michigan, you might also consider University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (great college town, good school)</p>
<p>And by the way, if you’re interested, here is a ranking of schools for undergraduate history programs called the Gourman ranking (somewhat controversial, but it’s one of the few available):</p>
<p>Yale
Berkeley
Princeton
Harvard
Stanford
Michigan
Columbia
Chicago
Johns Hopkins
Wisconsin
Cornell
Indiana U
U Penn
Brown
UNC Chapel Hill
UCLA
Northwestern
UVA
U Texas Austin
U Rochester
U Illinois UC
U Notre Dame
U Washington
U Minnesota
U Iowa
Duke
Rutgers
UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego
NYU
Vanderbilt
Washington U St Louis
U Maryland CP
Ohio St
Missouri Columbia
Emory
U Pitt
Rice
SUNY Stonybrook
Dartmouth
Brandeis
U Kansas
Boston U
UC Davis
SUNY Buffalo
Michigan St</p>
UC San Diego or Occidental
5."
I definitively think Occidental would give you the most “American” experience in that it’s a uniquely American type of school, close-knit, you could take a variety of classes, etc, fairly small yet it’s still in LA/SoCal.
However Penn and the UCs will provide you with more choices. The campus community is great at Penn (small town feel of University City) but not as tight-knit. The UCs are nowhere near tight-knit but you do have groups - I don’t know if there are “houses” for history majors (sort of like Living Learning Communities for Upperclass students) it may be worth checking out.
If you’re intellectual, Reed would be great too. But it’s intense, perhaps not what you’re looking for during your year abroad.
Washington U in St Louis is prestigious but it’s not well-located for a student who’s there for only a year (no rapid transit anywhere and no easy link to major cities).
UNC-Chapel Hill could be on your list - the heat really isn’t THAT bad in NC.
(Keep in mind also that there’s air conditioning everywhere).</p>
<p>Your long list has so many excellent options. From an academic (history in particular) and campus environment point of view, you seem to be neglecting many excellent options. Of your extended list, I would recommend you research the following universities;</p>
<p>University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
University of Texas-Austin</p>
<p>Some of those options may surprise you…pleasantly!</p>
<ol>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>Occidental</li>
<li>Washington University, St Louis</li>
</ol>
<p>I wanted to pick one from each region. So GU for the east coast, Oxy for the west and Wash for midwest.</p>
<p>I literally do not mind where I go from those 3 :)</p>
<p>Anything I should know about any of them?</p>
<p>My friend has picked Roosevelt, UCLA and Rutgers as her top 3. Can anyone give me some info about Roosevelt so I can tell her before she finalises? I have read mixed reviews about it :P</p>
