<p>Ultimately, my goal is to end up at a fabulous grad school with a vague aspiration to study business or law. I heard that the Liberal Arts Education better prepares their students to excel in those fields in the long run, so I decided that liberal arts college is the way to go. ( By the way, is that really so? Or does it just mean that LAC students end up receiving more PH.D's, bcs they like to study? ) </p>
<p>Of course I would like a superb quality of education for the sake of learning, but preparing myself for the real world is more important to me. So "the life after" college is a huuuuuge factor in my college decision. Is there any particular liberal arts college that's well known for sending its kids to those professional graduate schools? ... having a great rep among the graduate schools admission? </p>
<p>To be 100% honest, I feel very nervous about choosing LAC. They are usually small, located in rural settings, and no one's heard of them. I know it won't, but i keep wondering if going to such school for four years, degree at such schools will actually end up hurting me. </p>
<p>Whoa whoa whoa, don't just go to a LAC just to get into Grad school. You have to know what a Liberal arts education is which is correct: superb quality of education for the sake of learning. But also if you like small class sizes and a smaller campus and expensive tuition (but FA will cover it right?).</p>
<p>I think some of the famous LACs that sends most of its graduates to top grads schools are Reed, Amherst, Haverford, Carleton, Mount Hyde, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, Grinnel, Oberlin, and many others. Just go where you can strive! Good luck !!!</p>
<p>After your edit, to most employers, they do recognize some of the LACs and the strength of their academics and school. Yes, LACs are not the famous topics on CC and about 90% of the people you ask around would have no clue what a LAC is. In reality, they make you a critical thinker and well rounded person. Go read "College Rankings Exposed" or "Beyond the Ivy League" by Loren Pope.</p>
<p>No matter which school you go to, will not hurt you at all as long as you have motivation and a desire to succeed.</p>
<p>LAC definitely won't hurt you. There are tons and tons of LAC grads at the top business schools and law schools.</p>
<p>I lived with a total of ten other people in my sophomore, junior and senior years at my LAC. Take this collective group as a sample, and we have a total of 12 grad degrees between us: 5 degrees from Harvard, 3 from Yale, 2 from UPenn, 1 from Columbia, and 1 from UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>That list includes business, law, public policy, medical, education, and PhD programs.</p>
<p>If you like LACs and are drawn to the education they offer, you should definitely pursue them without fear that your options will be limited. In fact, some may argue that the personalized education may expand your options.</p>
<p>40 percent of Harvard graduates go into business fields, and Yale has the highest 90th percentile mid-career median salary. Why don't you go to those schools instead?</p>
<p>People who matter will have heard of the top LACs.
Would it really wound your ego if someone who didn't matter didn't know where you went to school? If that's the case, then go to Harvard.</p>
<p>The tens of thousands of young men and women who graduate from LACs don't find themselves homeless on the street, unemployed and without aspirations. College is not "the real world," wherever you choose to go.</p>
<p>To answer your question: Williams, Amherst, Pomona, Wellesley, Swarthmore</p>
<p>I'd personally would not attend a LAC if your ultimate aim is for graduate school... It also depends on the LAC and specific strength but in general, LACs are not the best platforms for starting your first graduation years off in graduate school.</p>
<p>Like, its all great to say XYZ is good or great for sending into graduate schools, but as of right now, all i'm seeing is talk and quite frankly no factual numbers to support this notion of LAC and graduate school entrance.... The numbers for privates are everywhere, check out their websites.... (what someone come and tell me to do the same when the burden of proof to find the facts and stats is on them, not me.)</p>
<p>^ The basic idea is that LACs aim for a broad education whereas universities are more like professional schools in that they mainly require focus only in the major area of study. Since classes need to be retaken anyways for the first year of graduate school, the broad education in some ways makes the student better off since after the first year it might be easier for him to step outside the defined boundaries of his specific field.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Like, its all great to say XYZ is good or great for sending into graduate schools, but as of right now, all i'm seeing is talk and quite frankly no factual numbers to support this notion of LAC and graduate school entrance....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Percentage of graduates getting a PhD<br>
PhDs and Doctoral Degrees:
ten years (1994 to 2003) from NSF database</p>
<p>Number of Undergraduates:
ten years (1989 to 1998) from IPEDS database</p>
<p>Note: Does not include colleges with less than 1000 graduates over the ten year period. Includes all NSF doctoral degrees inc. PhD, Divinity, etc., but not M.D. or Law. </p>
<p>
1 35.8% California Institute of Technology<br>
2 ** 24.7% Harvey Mudd College **
3 ** 21.1% Swarthmore College **
4 ** 19.9% Reed College **
5 18.3% Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
6 ** 16.8% Carleton College **
7 ** 15.8% Bryn Mawr College **
8 ** 15.7% Oberlin College **
9 15.3% University of Chicago<br>
10 14.5% Yale University
11 14.3% Princeton University<br>
12 14.3% Harvard University<br>
13 ** 14.1% Grinnell College **
14 ** 13.8% Haverford College **
15 ** 13.8% Pomona College **
16 13.1% Rice University
17 ** 12.7% Williams College **
18 ** 12.4% Amherst College **
19 11.4% Stanford University
20 ** 11.3% Kalamazoo College **
21 ** 11.0% Wesleyan University **
22 ** 10.6% St John's College (both campus) **
23 10.6% Brown University<br>
24 ** 10.4% Wellesley College **
25 ** 10.0% Earlham College **
26 ** 9.6% Beloit College **
27 ** 9.5% Lawrence University **
28 ** 9.3% Macalester College **
29 9.0% Cornell University, All Campuses<br>
30 ** 9.0% Bowdoin College **
31 ** 8.9% Mount Holyoke College **
32 ** 8.9% Smith College **
33 ** 8.8% Vassar College **
34 8.7% Case Western Reserve University
35 8.7% Johns Hopkins University<br>
36 ** 8.7% St Olaf College **
37 ** 8.7% Hendrix College **
38 ** 8.6% Hampshire College **
39 8.5% Trinity University<br>
40 ** 8.5% Knox College **
41 8.5% Duke University
42 ** 8.4% Occidental College **
43 8.3% University of Rochester
44 ** 8.3% College of Wooster **
45 ** 8.3% Barnard College **
46 ** 8.2% Bennington College **
47 8.1% Columbia University in the City of New York
48 ** 8.0% Whitman College **
49 7.9% University of California-Berkeley<br>
50 7.9% College of William and Mary
51 7.8% Carnegie Mellon University<br>
52 7.8% New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology<br>
53 7.7% Brandeis University
54 7.6% Dartmouth College<br>
55 ** 7.5% Wabash College **
56 ** 7.5% Bates College **
57 ** 7.5% Davidson College **
58 7.2% Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<br>
59 ** 7.2% Franklin and Marshall College **
60 7.1% Fisk University
61 ** 7.1% Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) **
62 6.8% University of California-San Francisco<br>
63 ** 6.8% Allegheny College **
64 ** 6.6% Furman University **
65 6.5% University of Pennsylvania<br>
66 6.5% Washington University<br>
67 ** 6.5% Bard College **
68 6.4% Northwestern Univ<br>
69 6.4% Rhodes College<br>
70 ** 6.3% Agnes Scott College **
71 ** 6.3% Spelman College **
72 6.2% Antioch University, All Campuses<br>
73 ** 6.2% Kenyon College **
74 6.2% University of Dallas<br>
75 6.1% Ripon College<br>
76 ** 6.1% Colorado College **
77 ** 6.1% Bethel College (North Newton, KS) **
78 ** 6.0% Hamilton College **
79 ** 6.0% Goshen College **
80 ** 6.0% Middlebury College **
81 ** 6.0% Erskine College **
82 ** 5.9% University of the South **
83 5.8% University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
84 5.8% Drew University
85 5.8% Wake Forest University<br>
86 ** 5.8% Tougaloo College **
87 ** 5.8% Goucher College **
88 ** 5.7% Chatham College **
89 5.7% Cooper Union<br>
90 5.7% Alfred University, Main Campus<br>
91 5.7% Tufts University<br>
92 5.6% University of California-Santa Cruz
93 5.6% Colgate University<br>
94 ** 5.5% Colby College **
95 5.4% Bucknell University
96 5.4% Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
97 5.4% Concordia Teachers College<br>
98 5.4% University of Virginia, Main Campus
99 ** 5.3% Sarah Lawrence College **
100 5.3% Southwestern University
<p>OP, business school and law schools are professional schools rather than graduate schools; graduate schools award master's and PhD degrees.</p>
<p>The list interesteddad posted is for graduates of different colleges earning PhDs (that is, in graduate school), but if you are interested in business or law school, you should perhaps be more interested in the percentage of successful pre-professional students from a school.</p>
<p>OP, no college will get you into a top law/med/biz/grad school. Most of it is going to be up to you. Some schools will help spring board you a little like if they have lots of research opportunities or a good career services to help you get a better first job. Aside from that, it's you, not the school, that gets you where you need to go. No LAC or other university is going to hold your hand all the way.</p>
<p>Also, interesteddad, why is UCSF on your list? They don't have any undergrads that I'm aware of. Does your list count MD students who later get a PhD? If so how does that affect other schools with med schools?</p>
<p>thanks everyone above for helpful comments.
so if i want an entrance towards PROFESSIONAL schools, i should NOT attend a liberal arts college??????????</p>
<p>I don't think a generalization can be made. Whether you attend a big U or an LAC should have most to do with where you would feel most comfortable and what schools best meet your needs and interests. Beyond that you could research the stats of various undergrad schools to see the success rates for admittance to your preferred kind of professional school. E.g., you might be attracted to NYU Stern and see that it has above-average acceptance rates to your favorite MBA school, or that Pomona grads do well getting into med school (I made these up as examples).</p>
<p>starbucks08: No. Not at all. ESPECIALLY not a grad school like Law, where undergrad major doesn't matter. (I'm not as sure about business school...I mean, you can certainly get into them from LACs, but I'm not sure how not having a business major during undergrad effects admissions). Law schools respect LACS, especially top ones like you are looking at. </p>
<p>And remember, most majors at a Uni will be within a College of Arts and Science, just like at a LAC. An English or History degree from a Uni and one from an LAC are the same thing--LACs just tend to ONLY have colleges of arts and sciences, and none of the more pre-professional majors (Engineering, Business, Nursing, etc). Many LACs also tend to attract less pre-professional types than some Unis, which means they might send a lower percentage of gradates to Business or Law schools, but that doesn’t mean those who want to go don’t get in.</p>
<p>I think interresteddad's list is just meant to be illustrative. I assure you that the same trends apply to professional schools. Every single one of the top business schools and law schools have tons and tons of LAC grads.</p>
<p>See my post above. That list includes Harvard Law, Columbia Law, Harvard Business School (2x), among others.</p>