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<p>This is a very broad and sweeping generalization, and mostly wrong. LACs tend stick to core academic disciplines, so you won’t find the broad variety of departments and majors that you’ll see at a research university. But the best of them do what they do very, very well, and in many fields are actually a better place to go deep into a specialized subject because you’ll do so with more individual mentoring by faculty with whom you’ll be on a first-name basis and in daily interaction. They won’t have as many classes per se; but if you really want to hone in on a particular topic or subspecialty in the field, you have your entire senior year and your senior thesis to do that. Fewer pre-packaged classes, perhaps, but more individual tailoring and mentoring. </p>
<p>I’ve been around academic institutions pretty much all my life, as a student and as a faculty member, including some of the very best, public and private. I’m convinced my D1 is getting as deep and as rigorous an education in her chosen field of study at her LAC as she could get anywhere, bar none. To be honest, better than most, because she’s gotten individual attention and tailoring of her academic program from day 1 from some truly committed, caring, and extraordinarily talented teachers and scholars who put their undergraduate students first. If she elects to pursue a Ph.D. in her chosen field, I have no doubt that she’ll be competitive for the very best programs in her field, and as well prepared as anyone once she actually lands there. If she elects to do something else, I’ll be satisfied that she’s gotten out of her undergraduate experience a ton of skills in writing, critical thinking, oral argument, and “learning how to learn,” along with both in-depth substantive knowledge in her field and broad exposure to knowledge and thinking across the spectrum of intellectual endeavor. In the end, though, I think it’s the skills that are the most important part, and she’s being closely mentored by some of the very best.</p>
<p>I was never a particularly big fan of LACs and I certainly didn’t push my D1 in that direction. But having seen it up close, I actually think her undergraduate education is more coherent, more focused, more demanding, and more rigorous than that experienced by many people at research universities who tend to float through a bunch of big lecture classes as pretty passive learners for a couple of years before they settle on a major—and even then, many tend to pad their class schedule with the occasional bit of frivolous fluff or the low-demands course that has the reputation for the easy A. I’m not saying everyone at research universities does that; no doubt some are as focused and as hard-working as my D. But I think there is a difference when you’re someplace that you just can’t hide behind the anonymity of a large lecture hall, when you and your educational progress are in the spotlight every waking moment. We’re paying a lot to send her there, but from an educational standpoint, I think it’s been worth every penny.</p>