<p>He completely missed the point of this thread and addressing his points would detract from the original purpose. As the title of the thread clearly states, the point is not to measure academic offerings to individual students but the overall academic power of a university. In that regard, major research universities will fare better than other universities. </p>
<p>Whether a university affords undergrads the opportunities to get to know its faculty is a CC fear-tactic used to ward students off research powerhouses. The fact is, every single student I have known at Michigan and Cornell has taken dozens of small classes (fewer than 25 students) where they really got to know their professors. Research opportunities were availlable to all students who actively sought them. I have never met a single student who attended those two large research universities who did not easily find two or three prominent faculty members that knew them very well and were willing to give them glowing recommendations when needed.</p>
<p>But that is not the purpose of this thread. The thread is about raw academic power.</p>