What are the advantages or disadvantages of each option?
My daughter only applied to schools that had both however, I would think one of the biggest advantages to being in a school with undergrads only is no graduate student teaching any classes or recitation, and no competition with grad students for research. That said, for my STEM kid, she felt the facilities and labs were better at the schools that also had grad programs, There are also opportunities to go beyond undergrad classes. When I was an undergrad I was able to take some law college classes which were terrific.
I’ve heard a lot about advantages of UG schools so wondering if there are any advantages to the other option?
I guess bigger dating pool? 
My daughter went to Santa Clara University. The school is considered a Masters University…because the highest degrees they give…are masters…but only a few of those. The school does have a law school.
My son went to Boston University which is a much larger research university with a LOT of professional as well as grad programs.
To be honest, I didn’t se much of a difference in the quality of education at these two colleges.
SCU had no teaching assistants assigned to teach classes, while BU did. But my BU kid never had a teaching assistant teach a class.
Dating pool…hahaha.
When it’s time for Grad school, you’ll know your way around campus?
If you are more advanced in your subject, doing undergraduate at a school with a graduate program in that subject can allow you options of graduate level courses and research opportunities that may not be available at an undergraduate-only school. This is not necessarily applicable to all students, of course.
But if the school is undergrad only…the undergrad students won’t be competing with grad students for research opportunities.
Should I take it as there is no advantage whatsoever?
There are advantages to both. Undergrad-only schools tend to place greater emphasis on undergraduate education compared to bigger research universities. This can mean easier access to professors and – in some cases – to research opportunities.
The disadvantage is that many undergrad-only schools offer fewer research opportunities to begin with. They’re also often also smaller (some kids prefer to be in a big pond.)
There is no right answer to your question. It’s not that one is better than the other. They are different in some ways. They are the same in some ways.
Why are you asking?
My DD attends an undergrad only LAC. I like that all her interactions are with professors rather than graduate students. Is that always better? No. But for her it is.
My daughter attended Barnard, which is undergrad only, but tightly affiliated with and essentially co-located with Columbia. Barnard students can enroll in almost all undergrad courses offered at Columbia and also many graduate level courses – so my DD was at an undergrad-focused college with full access to the benefits of a research university with strong graduate-level programs. A large number of graduate level courses were also open to undergrads.
She had TA’s in many of her classes; this was not a drawback. The professors were always available, but sometimes TA’s were more approachable.
One thing that is added in a university setting is that overall department offerings may be stronger when tied to a graduate program. In some subject areas there may simply not be enough critical mass at the undergrad level to sustain a full department or major. At smaller LAC’s there might be only one or two profs teaching in a specific area and if a prof goes on sabbatical the student may find the offerings quite sparse. Of course this onliy applies to less popular majors.
My D was an undergrad and now a PhD student at a large university. Somehow what you wrote above doesn’t happen. There are RA positions for grad and there are RA positions for undergrad students. They don’t compete.
My D when an undergrad worked as an RA for 2 years in a lab. The last year she worked as a team with a post doc and later with a professor at Beijing University (he was originally a post doc at MIT). When the paper was accepted at a conference, the post doc and the professor selected her to be the presenter at the conference.
She recently completed a research paper, which caught the interest of a large company. She is now working with her advisor on a grant proposal with that company. If it gets funded, she will have at least 2 undergrads working on implementing the algorithm in that paper.
I doubt these opportunities are available at an UG-only school.
@thumper1 I’m still stuck on Amherst vs Rice question?
What Amherst vs Rice question??
Oh…because Amherst is all undergrad, and Rice isn’t?
Both are excellent schools.
No personal experience but I would think that research is stronger at schools with grad population on campus.
^ it’s professors leading the research at LACs, using undergrads. So I wouldn’t say it’s “stronger” where there are grad students - for undergrads.
Graduate students teaching discussion sections isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They are typically younger than professors and remember what it’s like to be a college student and can tailor the learning experience accordingly. They also tend to be much more worried about teaching satisfaction, as continued employment as a TA and getting a job in academia after earning your PhD are both highly dependent on good teaching reviews.
Many people on CC underestimate how qualified advanced PhD students can be. It takes more to get your first faculty job these days than it did to get tenure a couple of decades ago. Supply is high, demand is low, and you had better graduate with a book deal and two or more articles in hand if you’re hoping to land a job in the humanities or social sciences even at a directional public. I’d take a grad student who’s on top of the latest research and spinning out articles each year over a professor who got tenure 20 years ago and has coasted ever since.
Agreed that TAs can be super. Here’s a cool article about a study that showed that freshman were more likely to remain in their intended major if taught by TAs and that there is a benefit to the grad student as well: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027277571630036X