| Quincy, Harvard and Columbia having small undergraduate populations isn't the issue. Whether you like it or not, they both have huge graduate programs that drain most of those universities' resources. Columbia has 15,000 graduate students and Harvard has 14,000 graduate students. I don't care how small your undergraduate population is, when you have that many graduate students, the faculty is not goiung to have time for undergrads.
My mom is a Columbia alum and frequently takes part in alumni functions, so I have a great deal of insight into that school. Freshman classes often have over 200 students and TAs are a regular fixture in most small discussion groups at the Freshman and sophomore levels. Sounds a lot like Michigan to me. Harvard is no different.
Besides, Harvard's and Columbia's undergraduate populations are not LAC-like at all. 6,000-7,000 undergrads is not small. LACs have between 1,000-2,500 students. LACs with over 3,000 students are unheard of. Columbia and Harvard indeed have smaller undergraduate populations than Michigan, but they do not have small undergraduate populations. But when you factor in their huge, research-centric, graduate programs, it is pretty clear where those two universties' priorities lie. |