Question about liberal arts colleges

Sue22
Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:33:55 +0000

^Yes I think that’s the standard arrangement I’ve seen, although the TA’s are usually graduate students. The prof. give the lectures but a TA runs the discussion session and/or lab.

The basic debate becomes whether it’s better to have access to the brightest lights in the field, often (but not always) found at a large research university, or a lesser light but with more access, often (but not always) found at a LAC. My undergraduate professors were experts in their fields and strong teachers who wanted to be in the classroom, but they were not the people everyone was quoting. My grad professors were the big names in the field but even as a master’s candidate I found access more limited. Most of the professors were too busy with their own research and doctoral students to have a lot of time for undergraduates and master’s students.

Profs at LACs usually have TA’s but they don’t teach. My work as a TA was more along the lines of retrieving books from the library or searching a work for references to a certain author. The TA’s I knew at my LAC didn’t correct student work unless it was the rare multiple choice quiz.