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<p>(national) Research Universities are larger (and older) than liberal arts colleges. Given their large class sizes, they produce more winners of prestigious awards (nobel prize, fields medal, etc.) RU’s are also focused on research, which adds to their prestige.</p>
<p>I think a good distinction between the two is that RUs are more academic (focusing on theory, resarch, etc.) whereas LACs are more pedagogical (focusing on teaching, learning, etc.)</p>
<p>Given that students go to a university to learn, and that’s what LACs focus on, they might seem to be the obviously better option. However, there are advantages to going to a research university. One is working with some of the world’s most highly regarded individuals in the field. This might include world renown philosophers, fields medal winners, or even famous actors. These individuals seldom teach in LACs, due to their de-emphasis on research and relative obscurity compared to RUs.</p>
<p>To answer your question, the school which will produce the better student will be the one that suits the student better. I think both promote growth for the student, but they just promote (and focus) on different types of growth. There’s a way you can only grow when you have the type of individual attention that you get in a liberal arts college; however, i also think that there’s a type of growth that you can only get when you work with top faculty within the field. </p>
<p>Personally, i feel i grew quite a bit by taking several classes with an extremely influential professor in my field. More than that, i was also able to get him to entertain certain questions and arguments that i had, and get feedback from him. If i wondered about his theory, i could get his direct answer, and not the guess of someone else who might be teaching it. That was an opportunity that many people would like to have, but generally don’t have access to (these professors tend to be terrible with emails unless it’s a formal academic matter, for example.)</p>
<p>Granted, i’m generalizing here. Most people who went to RUs probably didn’t have access to top faculty within their field; or didn’t take advantage of them if they did. But i also don’t think it’s the case that most RUs have completely disconnected professors that have no interest in pedagogy; or that all LACs have fantastic teachers.</p>