rorschachman

Hi -
I'm an international student applying to college in the US for class of 2015.

I love the idea of the LACs - facetime with professors and a strong sense of community are both very important to me, and the LACs seem to have these in spades. Recently, however, I visited Amherst college (alongside a number of other, more research-based universities), and found it too small and claustrophobic - a bit like a repeat of high school, to be honest. I'm OK with isolation: Dartmouth is clearly more isolated than Amherst, but it seems big enough to generate a livelier atmosphere, and so will be high on my list.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend any larger (or at least, larger-feeling) LACs?


My priorities are strong academics (particularly in the social sciences and humanities), a good financial aid program and, as I've said, a "lively" atmosphere. But I'm not picky ;-). I'm guy, by the way, so women's colleges are obviously out. Also, I'm not massively sporty, but I appreciate that there's a trade off between that and social life.

Thanks a lot for your help,
Jo

bluebayou

By definition, LAC's are small. Larger ones that come to mind are Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Richmond, Furman, Puget Sound, but nearly all are under 3,000 students. You might consider the Claremont colleges, which are 5 LACs that share the same lawn (and other resources.

IBclass06

Wake Forest and Rice come to mind. Both are small universities with a great mix of academics and social life.

Here_to_Help

W&M and Brandeis

gadad

Wake Forest is a very unusual hybrid of a larger LAC / small university. It has around 4,000 undergraduates with limited graduate programs. In that respect, it's demographically quite similar to Dartmouth.

bluebayou

ror: I just noticed that you are international. fwiw: there are less than 10 US colleges that are both need-blind to internationals and that meet full financial need. Many are need-aware for international admissions, but provide full aid if accepted (Stanfor). Others will admit you need-blind, but not offer full financial aid to internationals if admitted (such as Cornell).

Then there is another category, which borders on false advertising IMO. Wake Forest, for example, claims to meet 100% of financial need, but typically does not since it includes outside loans in its formula. Wake does offer merit scholarships, however.

kwu

Middlebury, Wesleyan

Anonymous91

The claremont colleges, which combined have over 5,000 students all in close proximity of one another.

NuclearPakistan1

I cannot believe no one mentioned Tufts! Tufts is by far the "largest" LAC. ( Oxymoron really.)

teenage_cliche

Are you sure that having more students is the only solution? I mean, would you be at all interested in smaller schools that have more students and/or a city nearby, i.e. consortiums or just smaller schools in larger cities.

smartalic34

Wesleyan (2,800), Middlebury (2,400), and Colgate (2,800) are all excellent larger LAC choices, as others have mentioned. remember that for "hybrid" schools such as Tufts, Wake Forest, and Dartmouth, they are national research universities, albeit with a smaller graduate (and undergrad) program than most. Wes, Midd, and Colgate are almost solely concerned with undergrads, and will do a better job in the LAC aspects you mention. the others are still great choices, just further up the LAC/University continuum

IBclass06

Bryn Mawr undergrads: 1287
Bryn Mawr grads: 155
% undergraduate: 89.3%

Wake undergrads: 4476
Wake grads: 456
% undergraduate: 90.8%

Wesleyan undergrads: 2700
Wesleyan grads: 200
% undergraduate: 93.0%

Not much of a difference, eh?


Personally, I think small universities offer the best of both worlds. You can take courses like Akkadian that certainly wouldn't be offered at a LAC while still having easy access to professors.

smartalic34

I know I'm splitting hairs here, but I'm not quite sure where you got those graduate numbers for Wake Forest... according to WFU | Visitors' Center | Quick Facts Wake has 2,386 graduate students. at the graduate school alone there are 1,200 students. which gives a 65% undergrad total. the OP also mentioned a strong sense of community...

no matter how many/few graduates there are, the larger the undergrad population gets, the less cohesive it's going to be. this is why I suggested the LACs I did, as even the small universities have at least ~4,500 students. LACs also usually require students to live on campus all 4 years, which adds to the sense of community.

I do think these small universities are wonderful, and are also in the "sweet spot" of size... it's just that there are going to be sizeable graduate programs and slightly less cohesion and community. on the other end of the sweet spot are the large LACs, which cant offer as many courses or opportunities. I'm suggesting the OP may prefer the LAC end of the spectrum, but also recognizing the small universities are also a good choice.


Oh, and add Vassar. ~2,500 students IIRC

IBclass06

I only used Arts & Sciences numbers. Obviously graduate students in the law, business, medical, and divinity schools will not be competing with undergraduates for professor interaction. As far as most undergraduates are concerned, those students might as well not exist.


With 2900 undergraduates, Oberlin is a glaring omission in this thread for "large LACs."

Coolbrezze

^

Usually LAC's smaller class environment allow the students to learn/ interact better. Though interacting with professors as you mention is not that demanded by potential law, medical, and buisness school students, I disagree. Many like to interact with professors for good ( or at least be able to get one) recommendations for graduate school alone.