Liberal Arts person?

dadx3
Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:26:21 +0000

Valid reasons not to go to a liberal arts college:

1) You want to major in something not offered at a LAC, like engineering, accounting, etc. (I know, a few LACs offer engineering, but they generally don’t offer specialized chemical, mechanical, etc. engineering degrees)

2) You are sufficiently advanced in a subject, like math, where you will probably be taking graduate level courses by junior year

A not so crucial reasons IMHO:
3) You really want to experience 4 seasons of being in a football crowd with 50,000 of your closest friends

A reason sometimes cited, but I’m not sure of its validity
4) You want the opportunity to do research with the top professors in your field

At most universities, most of the research opportunities go to graduate students. There are probably more top research scientists at universities, in part because universities value and reward research more than teaching, while LACs value and reward teaching more than research. But it is probably easier to get research opportunities at LACs, because the professors have to use undergraduates for their RAs because they have no graduate students. I think in some cases some undergraduates do get fantastic research opportunities at universities. I am unsure, however, as to how often this happens and if for most undergraduates whether the research opportunities are truly better at universities or LACs. I think it depends a great deal on the specific universities and LACs in question.

It is certainly possible to get a well rounded, liberal arts education at a large university. Full disclosure: I went to a LAC for undergraduate work and then a big university for my graduate work. I am still a fan of LACs for most undergraduates.