What I am about to say will do nothing to placate the OP, but I have personally found a HUGE difference in the math and computer science curricula and pedagogy between Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Penn. (Bryn Mawr’s classes move at half the pace of Penn’s and the homework assignments are noticeably easier as well. Haverford is somewhere in between.) Judging from my interactions with friends at other schools it seems that these same differences apply to a wider spectrum of liberal arts colleges vs research universities, but I don’t have first-hand experience to substantiate that conjecture. </p>
<p>I have also had a few interesting conversations with math professors in the last few years. There seems to be quite a bias against liberal arts colleges in the mathematical community, especially among REU advisers and graduate admission folks. A professor at MIT went so far as to tell me that they would have not accepted me if I hadn’t taken several graduate classes at Penn, because they found liberal arts graduates to be under-prepared for the demands of their program.</p>
<p>Anyway, that’s for math. The difference might be much less significant in the humanities, which is what the OP is interested in.</p>
<p>My daughter ended up going to Cornell. She wanted a large university, Trinity just seem like a bigger version of her prep school. She also wanted to go into finance, and where she went to UG would matter (it’s better to be a target school). We were impressed with the professors we met. One thing it struck with our daughter was they said the dean would check up on a student if he/she should miss few classes (she thought it was strange). I think that’s the big difference between small LAC and an university. LAC is very nice for the first 2 years for transition from high school to college, but for some students it may become too small or too limiting 3rd or 4th year.</p>
<p>D1 offered to pay 10K/year in order to go to Cornell. She has paid us some money each year from her summer earnings. There is still a balance outstanding and she will be graduating this year. We will most likely to forgive the loan as part of her graduation present.</p>
<p>For the right student, U Chicago can be a glorious place. For the wrong student, it can be h***. OP sounds like the right student for Chicago.</p>
<p>To the OP: Finances ARE important and you need to work them out with your parents, but don’t underestimate the importance of being at the right school. For a student looking for intellectual stimulation, being at a school where the overriding culture doesn’t include that, can be frustrating and demoralizing. That is my issue with some of the Presidential Scholars programs - they bring in a few students to up their stats but not enough to create a critical mass that provides the atmosphere those students desire and need. I’ve been at 2 universities with such programs (very good universities but not temples of intellectualism) and I’ve seen the Presidential Scholars flounder. They are BIG fish in a fairly shallow pond and as a result they have high GPAs without having to do much. They are not challenged or pushed and all too often they get “fat and lazy” - not what I’d want for my child’s college education.</p>
<p>Look very carefully at ALL the offers you have and choose what’s best for you and your family.</p>
<p>Just an update, I was wait-listed at Penn and Columbia and rejected by Yale, so no new options from March 30th. I did, however, receive a $5,000 merit scholarship from Chicago in the meantime that cut down on loans/work study money, convincing my parents (albeit reluctantly) to let me submit my deposit to Chicago.</p>
<p>I’m still unsure how hard (if at all, at this point I’m only signed up) I will pursue the wait-lists because I’d only get a few thousand extra at best in aid and it would be a tough call to make in the middle of May.</p>