<p>Why would you choose to go to a liberal arts college over just a normal 4 year university? </p>
<p>LACs are more likely to offer small faculty led courses at the frosh/soph level (versus huge lecture by faculty supplemented by discussions with TAs). But they are likely to have fewer junior/senior level offerings, offered less frequently. LACs also generally emphasize liberal arts over pre-professional majors, although some do offer pre-professional majors.</p>
<p>Although there are some who will claim that one type is always better, what is better depends on the student. For some students, the best fit schools may not all be in one category either.</p>
<p>What’s a ‘normal 4 year university’? Liberal arts colleges are ‘normal 4 year’ colleges. </p>
<p>^I agree with International95. What do you mean “normal”, do you mean public? Less selective? With D1 sports? “known in your high school”?</p>
<p>The key words are LAC vs. University. @ucbalumnus has a good answer.</p>
<p>For most pre-professional majors (engineering, architecture, nursing, etc.), most liberal arts colleges are out of the question (because they don’t offer those programs). If you plan to major in an arts & science discipline, it becomes largely a matter of personal preference. If you want big D1 sports programs, a big Greek scene, and the broadest possible course (or major) selection, a large university usually is the better choice. If you want consistently small classes and total focus on undergraduates, a LAC is the better choice. Affordability and location also can be important factors. State universities usually have much lower sticker prices than private schools; most LACs are private. However, if you’re a low income student with high stats, your most affordable options (after aid) might include one of the ~60 schools that claim to cover 100% of demonstrated need. More than half of those schools are LACs. Many of them are concentrated in the Northeast. So you might have to travel far from home to attend a selective LAC with good need-based aid. A greater variety of universities is available throughout much of the USA.</p>
<p>If you are a very strong student, you want to major in an arts & science field, you are shopping the nationwide college market, and undergraduate academic quality is your #1 priority, then in my opinion some of your best choices are likely to be LACs (provided you can afford the net cost and are o.k. with the more limited course/major selections).</p>
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<p>A university offers graduate degrees, too. LACs are 4-year but only offer undergraduate degrees (BS/BA). </p>
<p>Offering only undergrad degrees is not a problem, since most students who continue on to get their graduate degree (MS/MA, PhD, MBA, MD, JD) will attend a different school.</p>
<p>My D chose to attend a LAC because she was specifically looking for things like: a small close knit student body, professors teaching all of her classes, no TAs, ability to develop close relationships with professors, small classes, ease of doing research projects with professors (there are no grad students at LACs so many undergrads get an opportunity to do research projects – she is doing one this summer with a professor she had last semester), ease of getting involved in extracurricular activities etc… It has been a great fit for her but she has always thrived in smaller, more intimate atmospheres. On the other hand my S visited a LAC, thought it felt too small and attended a mid-sized university which was the right fit for him. It is really a matter of personal preference. </p>
<p>(And her LAC and a few others do have engineering programs but it is unusual).</p>
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<p>There are public LACs, some of which are very low (out-of-state) cost, but are typically ignored on these forums.
<a href=“http://www.coplac.org/members/”>http://www.coplac.org/members/</a></p>