Liberal arts college vs big universities

[Archguy]

Originally Posted by Zara Ray

Thanks for the response! I need all of the information I can get. I am sure of my poli sci choice as a major, either that or International Relations. For grad school I will definitely look into MA in International Relations or International affairs probably in development. I never heard about the methodologies in regards to choosing a good fit school. I will keep this in mind when I start looking for schools.

Consider Swarthmore as a 'reach' ... it's always good to have at least one 'reach' lest you get into every school you apply to and then wonder if you should have 'reached' further!

I also like Georgetown for your interests, and it maintains the feel of a smaller university than it actually is.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by Zara Ray

I have been looking at liberal arts college in NY and MA area as certain possibilities. Although they're some bug universities I wouldn't mind to attend (Columbia, Boston U, Tufts, John Hopkins, Georgetown) I would like the intimate surrounding more. I know there's quite a lot of women's schools there too which seem nice.

There is nothing intimate about BU. It is, quite literally, right in Boston. Heck, you could walk to Fenway Park if you like. Tufts is in a more suburban neighborhood and some would say has some "shady" characters hanging about, and is an extremely cliquish school. If you are not from an at-least semi wealthy family and rejected Harvard "just because", you might not have many friends.

As for Hopkins...great school, but lame location. The immediate area is cool, but it is Baltimore: even the best neighborhoods get sh**ty real fast. Bark is generally louder than the bite and the place is not as bad as The Wire. but the place is a lot of fun for college students. At least DC is close by and Philly, NYC are not that far of a drive.

Originally Posted by Zara Ray

What type of schools did you attend and why?

Outside of a course here and there at a community college, I attended a small LAC in Boston, roughly 6,000 undergrads. Then I transferred to an even smaller LAC in Maryland, roughly 3,000 undergrads.

Despite having different reasons for attended each university, I chose them both for their small size. I would rather take a course with 18 or less students than one of those taught in a stadium with 300+ plus students. I wanted the more intimate setting where the prof and classmates knew me and conversation was more apt to take place rather than just being a number in a classroom with no discussion.

Originally Posted by Zara Ray

Did you like the social scene and student activities?

For the first university, yes and no. Being Boston, the social scene was almost entirely off-campus. That was nice since I did my own thing anyways and was never really into "college culture" but at the same time I didn't get to know my classmates much outside of the classroom. The campus was dry, too, by the way and had a zero tolerance policy. Many students chose to live off campus. I was really into the student paper, though.

At the second school, being kinda out in the sticks, there was more of an emphasis on having some sort of campus culture. There were many activities from football games to plays to art exhibits to various fests and weeks. A hellofalot more school pride and, surprisingly, "official" free booze.

Originally Posted by Zara Ray

Did you feel you got a good education where you attended?

At the first school it was just mediocre although top performing students excelled well. The Department didn't really seem to care and the Department Chair was a huge prick unless you laughed at all his lame jokes. The school was extremely departmentalized with each department deeming themselves as the most important. Everyone passed the buck, though. I had some credits from a previous school that I was trying to apply to this or that and my Department Chair told me to talk to the respective departments. So, I did just that and each of those departments wondered why I went to them when it was my Department Chair's responsibility. So I went back to him and he told me it was their responsibility. I then when to the Registrar's Office and she wondered why I went to her, saying that it was something for my Department Chair. I explained the run-around I was going through and a week later she gave me the credits I wanted. At the second school, I had a similar issue with the Department Chair, yet she made things happen right then and there, even going as far as placing a few phone calls to make things happen.

The second school definitely seemed to care about me as a student more so than the first. On top of it all, it was cheaper by about $9K a year.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by Zara Ray

Thanks for the post! It was helpful. I never knew that most undergrad students have a hard time contacting their professors. I think smaller classes and more personalized contact with the professor is important. I would like that kind of environment.

With that said, for my grad school choice I would probably prefer going to a big university (NE somewhere) since most of them have good programs for my intended field of study.

Not all universities are large. There are some excellent small to medium sized universities out there. In fact the top ranked universities in the US tend to have under 10K undergraduate students. If you want a smaller student body with the research focus of a university then look towards schools with smaller undergraduate populations. Many of the schools you mention are not huge. They are larger than many LAC but not that large.

If you want a more personalized approach liberal arts schools will give that to you. Professors at liberal arts schools are there to teach. Additionally, at liberal arts schools where research is done you do not have to compete with graduate students for research opportunities. At universities with extensive grad school programs it can be difficult for undergraduates to have any opportunities to do research. There are some research universities where undergraduates do get an opportunity to participate in research. You have to do your own research to find them.

Ultimately the choice of liberal arts school or university is one that is dependent on the individual who is doing the choosing. At a small/medium university with a low student/faculty ratio you may get the best of both worlds after you finish your gen ed requirements.

If you google the Common Data Set for the universities where you are interested in attending you can research all the statistics you need. For instance the student/faculty ratio is 7:1 and there are 6,700 UG and 8,700 grad students at Duke University. At University of FL the student/faculty ratio is 20.5:1 and there are 33,000 UG and 17,000 grad students. All this is available in the common data set for any college.

As for my education I have 2 UG degrees. I went to a LAC for my first one and a larger university for my second one. I feel I got a good education at both schools but my experience as a person was different. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. The person who is attending makes a big difference as to which experience is better.