<p>oldolddad, I like your post #38.</p>
<h1>18 LakeWashington, maybe around the time of the Civil War - (but Maryland also was a major Underground Railroad hotbed).</h1>
<p>"LAC's are not the way to go for science students"</p>
<p>Not necessarily so. Both are Bio/Chem majors and the small class size and alot of 1v1 time with professors has been very helpful. Lab time is never a problem. In fact the older was given keys to the labs by professors to use at his convience. He did alright on his MCats (upper 10%) and is waiting to hear about med school in the next few weeks. D is a freshman and is doing well in her sciences and has pretty much unlimited face to face time with her profs too. </p>
<p>I'm sure there are trade offs as far as research work goes, but I don't think either kid is being shortchanged in small classes with near 24/7 professor time and flexible lab time.</p>
<p>
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As has been posted before good kids are good and excel wherever they are and learn in spite of bad profs or large classes.
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<p>Yes. And you could also give them a reading list, put them in front of computer-based tests, never let them see a classroom or a professor, and they would be just fine.</p>
<p>But I woulnd't recommend it.</p>
<p>Notreadyforpurple, frankly, I was just being a bit cute....perhaps too much so.</p>
<p>Taxdad, I could also take issue with "more money than sense" if I were in the mood to fuss. It's a pretty spring day, I'll just summarize:</p>
<p>What is the meaning of 'sense' in this phrase? One has to consider both the student's educational priorities as well as the educational priorities of the parents. A high-quality educational experience, which can in some cases be more easily found at a private college/university, may genuinely be worth a financial premium. Whether it is or not depends upon what a student really needs/desires, if the student has the (whatever-it-may-take) to get the most out of the experience, and whether or not parents are willing to step up to the financial consequences.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>LAC's are not the way to go for science students<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>This could certainly be true for those interested in a specialized science major. I was a microbiology major in college--nothing at my Ds private school comes close to providing all the specialized classes at the undergrad level that I was able to take.</p>
<p>For a general science degree--I don't see why a smaller private school couldn't do as good a job as a university.</p>
<p>
MotherOfTwo makes a good point.</p>
<p>As much as I like the University of Maryland, there are certain courses that nonmajors cannot get into -- like virtually everything taught by the Psychology Department.</p>
<p>But does this happen at private schools, too?
My D goes to Sarah Lawrence; remind me please; what's a "major"? ;)</p>
<p>I guess that would be a "no" answer.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>LAC's are not the way to go for science students<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>I'd like to know more about this. I was an engineering major at Flagship U and can't imagine a LAC offering similar studies, but how would a life science or physical science or math student fare at a goood quality LAC?</p>
<p>I've been trying to understand the public/private difference for years...</p>
<p>Some LACs have terrific resources for math/science students. Had my S not wanted to take graduate math courses and be assured they were offered every year, Williams, Swarthmore, Wesleyan and maybe a few others would have been very high on his list.</p>
<p>Carleton is well known for its excellent science programs as is Oberlin. Probably Reed and Grinnell too, but I haven't checked since my son isn't very interested in science.</p>
<p>Oh, come on wis.
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>>LAC's are not the way to go for science students<<"
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</p>
<p>Generalities like that are not worthy of you. I know one freshman cancer researcher who would heartily disagree that she is being poorly treated at her LAC as a Bio/chem double major. Did I tell you that she will be at her co-hort's side as she presents their joint research at a symposium this spring? Or that this cohort won a Goldwater as a sophomore? Or that D had two top-notch non-grunt research positions available to her for the summer, one at St.Jude's and one at one of her UG labs in an NSF funded study? Both for pay?</p>
<p>There are frogs and princes everywhere. Your job is to differentiate between the two.</p>
<p>TreeTop, if you are interested , as in having a kid with a decision to make, p.m. me.</p>
<p>You are right , bethie . Both Grinnell and Reed have excellent science programs.</p>
<p>Serious science majors benefit from being able to do research in top grad labs as undergrads and presumably will be heading to grad school. Premed students using a science major to enter medical school are a totally different group (I was a chemistry major who went to medical school...). This may make one change one's mind about their future (I did). No matter how terrific the undergrad lab setups may be, they will not have the grad labs, nor will there be the numbers of professors or students in a field. One can major in a "liberal art" at MIT (using Harvard courses would be needed), but would it be the best place for it? The cost of lab equipment/specialized space is so expensive even major universities can't offer everything- notice how some majors are only available at a few schools in the country. It's a lot easier to gather faculty and students together for a LAC. </p>
<p>Above crossposting. I stand behind my opionion of LAC's and science. Big, or only fish in small pond. How many other undergrads do these students know in their major? Can these students hang out together doing their work? What heavy duty intro science courses, engineering or grad level courses can they take as an undergrad? I'm biased towards Universities as opposed to colleges, also. If SCIENTISTS would post heavily in favor of LAC's it would mean most. Where did the LAC science profs go and what do they think? What percentage of them were in the top percentiles of their field as grad students? Etc.</p>
<p>Scientists and like-minded folk are different than liberal arts minded folk.</p>
<p>I think that top LACs send a higher percentage of students to grad school (including science) than do universities.</p>
<p>CountingDown, you asked about my son's experience with math at Maryland.</p>
<p>He thought it was quite difficult, but he's not in the same league in terms of math ability as your son. I don't think his experience is relevant.</p>
<p>taxguy</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>Unlike yulsie, although we had nice weather yesterday, it's threatening rain mixed with snow tonight.... so I guess I wasn't feeling spring-like. </p>
<p>I appreciate your reviewing your choice of words.</p>
<p>
I think that's a real shame. Maybe this next generation can do better.</p>
<p>Wis:</p>
<p>I would agree that, if one is an undergrad with a bent for smashing atoms, it would be best to attend a school with access to an accelerator. But that's pretty rare. I don't know of a LAC that has an accelerator, though I may simply be showing my ignorance.</p>
<p>Having said that, most large universities use grads to do the important work on the most interesting research. In LACs, that work goes to undergrads. Undergrads in LACs also spend a lot of time rubbing elbows with their profs in a lab environment, and learning from that experience. In large universities, undergrads who are allowed to participate in research rub elbows, mostly, with grads.</p>
<p>Now, I will heartily agree that, if an undergrad can get a meaningful lab role in a hot research area in a large and world-leading university, that would trump the LAC experience in almost all cases.</p>
<p>wis75,</p>
<p>The more you write trying to point one's better than the other, the less you should. For you, for your reasons, your situation is superior, in your mind. Maybe it's a coping deal. The big fish, small fish thing, just like HS comes out in the wash during national tests (APs, SATs, ACT, Mcats, etc..) then you see how you actually fare with your peers. Results matter. </p>
<p>There are so many variables to the situation that a blanket statement just doesn't work. You've hit on some issues, but ignored some others. Did you ever think a professor might be tops in the field of study BUT not want to work at a 50,000 student university or fight the daily traffic to get there?
Hmmmm? Is that a possibility? Could somebody actually want to teach someplace were the local environment suits them? hmmmm.
:)</p>
<p>As a science major you should know blanket statements tend to be inaccurate due to variables. The best advice for sciences is look closely at the program big or small before you committ. See how it fits. I don't think either one of my kids are going to become stupid for doing their science degrees at a small LAC. At the end of all this, they'll still be called doctor as hopefully you will. Now enjoy some cheese.</p>