<p>Some Liberal Arts Colleges are very expensive and not easy to get in, but I heard some kids decide to go there instead of State Colleges or some finest universities.
What are the benefits of going to a liberal arts college as opposed to a state school?
What are some of the cheaper liberal arts schools in the Midwest area?
What are some of the bigger liberal arts schools? I want to attend a small school, but I don't want it to be too small (I realize that's kind of a broad statement though, but I'm thinking of schools with more than 2,000 students).</p>
<p>I know I have a lot of questions, but any help would be much appreciated! The college selection process is so stressful, so I'm hoping this will help! Thanks!</p>
<p>There are public liberal arts colleges:
UMN-Morris, Truman State, for example.
They wouldn’t be expensive.
The major benefit is that you get close attention to your intellectual development: it’s like being in the Honors College for everything (if you are in a top liberal arts school). Your classes are small, so they’re discussion-based instead of lecture-based (you read for class, then you discuss what you think about the reading v. you come to class and the instructor speaks while you take tons of notes). If you need recommendations for grad school, your professors have tons of things to say about you because you’re not just another student in a 200-seat lecture hall, you’re one of 15 in his/her class. If you want to do research, there are no graduate students who have priority. Since there are no grad students, they don’t teach your classes (at large research universities, your first year you’ll have perhaps one or two profs, and for the rest of your classes you’ll have TAs). They typically have more resources to help you (career center, tutoring, writing, etc.)
In a nutshell: They both have advantages but if you can get into a top LAC, go for it.</p>
<p>To be promotable into leadership positions in this century, college graduates will need breadth as well as depth. It’s becoming increasingly irrelevant to go to college to prepare for a given profession, because in ten years that profession is likely to be dramatically different, if in fact it still exists. Developing the skills of combining understandings from different fields and communicating those understandings in written and verbal form, as you do in a liberal arts curriculum, is the most practical form of higher education for the 21st century. Thinking that you’ll study the content of one field for four years, then spend your life in that field - that’s largely a relic of the last century. BTW, if you share these comments with your parents or with anyone their age or older, they’re may not understand how the paradigm has shifted in the past 20 years. Most people over 40 are still stuck in the old mindset when it comes to college curricula.</p>