<p>I’m with mythmom. I’m a professor and my D1 attends a leading LAC, but that’s her choice, not mine. But I’m fully supportive; I think she chose well. I’d guess that among my colleagues whose kids went to college (and where I know which college they chose), perhaps 30 to 35% chose LACs—a minority, to be sure, but a far higher proportion than the population at large. </p>
<p>D2 is now a rising HS senior, also looking mainly at LACs at the top of her list. DW and I, both alums of the University of Michigan as undergrads and of major private universities at the graduate level, always said we owed it to our kids to give them an opportunity for an undergraduate education as good as our own, which was a mighty fine one, in my opinion. It’s a little awkward that our state flagship is in many ways not as good as Michigan (though it’s quite strong in some areas, e.g., business and engineering), but it’s comforting that as Minnesota residents we can also send our kids to the University of Wisconsin at in-state rates. Close enough, perhaps, in a pinch, but our daughters have had different ideas. I’m satisfied that D1’s LAC, Haverford, easily passes the “as good as Michigan” bar, and for her it really is a better fit. </p>
<p>Now we just need to get D2 to a comparable level. Wisconsin should be a safety for her, but she’s also planning to apply to Michigan where she should have a pretty good shot, on the theory that if she’s going to end up at a big state school, she much prefers Michigan to either Wisconsin or Minnesota. To which
I say, Go Blue! Beyond that she’s looking exclusively at LACs, and in my judgment all the schools on her current list pass the quality bar. Of course, I wouldn’t be unhappy if she ended up at Michigan, and I wouldn’t even be too disappointed if she ended up at Wisconsin, but I think, like her sister, she’d be happier and more engaged at a LAC, and consequently she’d get more out of it. It’s a question of personal preferences. I think I’d have gone a little stir-crazy at a school as small as Haverford, but the academics really are top-notch and for some people the personal attention you get at a school like that makes all the difference.</p>
<p>Bottom line, I don’t see this as an “all Xs are better” kind of question. Some LACs are outstanding, some are not. Some private research universities are outstanding, some not. Some public research universities are outstanding, some not. And some people are just LAC people and will get more out of that environment, while others are big university people and will get more out of that, and still others think they find the sweet spot with a moderate-sized private university that has some LAC-like qualities and some research university-like qualities, while some think that compromise incorporates the worst of both. But hey, isn’t it a wonderful world in which there are so many choices, and such differences among us?</p>