<p>It’s foolish to define Yale simply as a large research university.
But I was startled when an alum described Yale as a special place that is at once
a research university AND a liberal arts college. (first of all, is that even possible?)
With its interactive residential colleges and other programs that endorse a
liberal arts education, I can see how Yale could be a research university and a LAC at the same time. But no one would deny that Yale is an outstanding research university. Would anyone deny that Yale is equally accomplished as a “liberal arts college?”</p>
<p>Yale is indeed a very special place and is one of the the top liberal arts school’s in the country. If you need proof of that, look at its list of notable Alumni: [List</a> of Yale University people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Yale_University_people]List”>List of Yale University people - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>That is true as a technical matter, and as a good description of the place: Yale College is a liberal arts college that is part of a major research university. </p>
<p>Of course, that’s not unique to Yale. One would say the same thing about Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth (except, maybe, the “major research university” part), Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, etc. It’s true of Columbia College (but not of Columbia’s separate Engineering College). It’s true of Penn’s SAS (but not Engineering, Nursing, Wharton). And so forth.</p>
<p>The “liberal arts college” in each of these universities is somewhat bigger than what we usually call “liberal arts colleges,” but not by that much. Yale, Princeton, and Chicago have about 1,300 students/class. Dartmouth and Columbia College are around 1,000. That’s about the same size as Ithaca College or St. Olaf, and not much bigger than Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Now, this is also true about the LSA division at Michigan, and lots of other public universities. Almost every major comprehensive university has some sort of liberal arts college among its undergraduate divisions. As they get larger, however, and as the non-liberal-arts alternatives like engineering schools, architecture schools, business schools, etc. also get bigger relative to the LAC and occupy more psychic space at the university, the feel changes somewhat.</p>