<p>as i began looking into schools more extensively, i became interested in some liberal arts schools. my parents, who REALLY want me to go to the ivies, are horrified by the thought of me attending a liberal arts school. (The best school to attend is the school that's right for you.) It might not necessarily be the Ivy-League schools. Two of my friends are at Harvard Summer School right now. One said that her first-year chemistry class had 93 students in it, and there were several TF (teaching fellows) helping out the students in labs. I promptly told her that when I visited Swarthmore, its first-year chemistry class had 10 people and no TA's. She was quite jealous:) . Another friend at Harvard Summer School was absolutely gaga over Harvard--she just feels like she has to go. When I asked her why, she really didn't know. She said that she had her reasons, but the reasons she gave were very superficial (campus looks nice, people are funny, Harvard yard is nice) without giving any reasons concerning the education, the professors, the resources! She talked to me yesterday and told me that after she went to her classes, she decided that while Harvard may be great for graduate school, for undergrad she wants smaller classes that are more like seminars, rather than just lecture after lecture, which she was experiencing at Harvard. </p>
<p>Why am I saying this? I'm trying to show that you can't "judge a book by its cover," so to speak. In other words, try to visit Harvard first, and then judge it, not by its prestige, but by its quality. At Swarthmore, one of the psychology professors, Andrew Ward, said that he went to Harvard but didn't like that he was treated as a second-class citizen, and that the professors cared more about research. He encountered professors like this when he himself taught for a bit at Stanford and UCLA. Now he's happy at Swarthmore, because he sees that the professors at Swat (which is liberal arts) really care about the undergrad.</p>
<p>Think about what you want to get out of college. Is it wisdom, growth, knowledge? What is it? That's important. You should seek the colleges you think will help give you those things. At liberal arts schools there are fewer resources, but I still advocate these schools, because a small school is more conducive to personal growth.</p>
<p>honestly, i don't know much at all about them. my father constantly stresses their lack of resources, their lack of variety in classes, the horribly small population of students, and the less than average professors... but i'm pretty sure he's a biased source who's just trying to stray me from the idea.</p>
<p>It is true that there are fewer resources, there is less variety in classes. Look at a course catalog for small liberal arts schools. There definitely are fewer, in general. That's a fact. However, you'll generally be learning the same things at a liberal arts school as you will at a big university. You're not going to take more courses at a university than at a liberal arts school. But he has a point. I mean, when I looked at the courses available at Swarthmore, I thought that it was not very much. However, one person who went to Swarthmore found that it was like a candy store with so many selections. I'm aware that I'm talking about Swarthmore a lot, but that's because I'm headed there, and I know more about it than any other school. I would disagree with your father, and argue that the teachers at liberal arts schools in general are better than those at universities. They care more about teaching. However, I can see that at the Ivy-League schools, your teachers will be more well-known in academia, in general. For instance, the highly-regarded teacher of Chinese history, Jonathan Spence, teaches at Yale.</p>
<p>what are the main differences between liberal arts schools and other colleges? (in terms of mindset, teaching, quality of life, academics, etc) and haha i already know that they're very small in population so you don't have to mention that. </p>
<p>Okay, it's hard to generalize, because the quality of life at one liberal arts college can vary very much from that of another. But in general, liberal arts schools, because they're so small, tend to center social life on campus. Also, you might not like knowing the same people and hanging out with the same people for four years. And the small size could be claustrophobic. That's the main downside of the social life, I think. </p>
<p>basically i'm asking for a compare and contrast. thanks to anyone who can help me out! </p>
<p>It all depends on what you're looking for in a college, and what learning environment will help you learn more. I hope this helped.</p>