Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs

[Anonymous]

From the link above "Engineering school graduates fared worst, earning 76% more 10 years out of school."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are the obsessed anti/SLAC posters so obsessed? It’s really sad. If you think they are inferior, why are you threatened by them? And why not be happy that those students aren’t taking up spots in the schools you covet?

Why do the handful of obsessed SLAC posters write inaccurate descriptions of National Universities and often resort to insults and name-calling rather than discussing the realities ?

If LACs were so great, there would be more of them and fewer of the existing LACs would be in such dire financial situations.

I am not that PP and I went to state schools and HYS so no personal experience with SLACs. I started reading this forum about a year ago. As a FYI, my kids aren’t at SLACS, except that now that I’ve been reading your obsessed posts on DCUM for awhile, I’m going to encourage my youngest to look at SLACs. Your posts are distinctive — you post ALL the time on any post even slightly related to SLACS — and over the past year or so have made me look a lot more deeply at SLACs because you sound so bizarrely jealous and unhinged. I figure there must be something really good for someone to be so bitter about not getting into one and to blanket the College forum so incessantly. Then I learned about the spectacular educational possibilities. So thanks for that education! I think my youngest will benefit!

Ditto! I attended a large state university and never considered SLACs but now think it may be the way to go for my introverted one. Thanks for shining the light

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m another anti-SLAC poster, but not because I think they’re overrated or you can’t get a job coming out of them etc. I think they’re fine schools generally, but only if they’re top 14-20, and below that (CTCL level) they’re just not worth the extra money and attract too many underachieving students with well to do parents who somehow have convinced themselves that simply by virtue of smaller size and larger price they are better than the other option available to their kids - second tier state schools - when in fact the truly important metrics (quality of entering study body, graduation rates, and employment statistics) are equal.

NP here. What difference does it make if other students are slackers? Serious question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (who just graduated from an SLAC) had many more leadership and research opportunities then she would have at a large public. The community is so small that no one goes unnoticed (in a good way). She really emerged and shone.

Plus, because there are only undergrads to staff the labs, she had her choice of research opportunities and parlayed that into 3 or 4 peer reviewed publications as an undergrad. I doubt that would have happened at a large RO1 university.

Although I see more advantages in attending private National Universities and large public honors colleges than small, rural, isolated LACs, I do think that the above post presents a reasonable position. The post indicates that there is less competition at his or her kid's SLAC which has some advantages and benefits.

What about SLACs in urban areas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (who just graduated from an SLAC) had many more leadership and research opportunities then she would have at a large public. The community is so small that no one goes unnoticed (in a good way). She really emerged and shone.

Plus, because there are only undergrads to staff the labs, she had her choice of research opportunities and parlayed that into 3 or 4 peer reviewed publications as an undergrad. I doubt that would have happened at a large RO1 university.

Although I see more advantages in attending private National Universities and large public honors colleges than small, rural, isolated LACs, I do think that the above post presents a reasonable position. The post indicates that there is less competition at his or her kid's SLAC which has some advantages and benefits.

What about SLACs in urban areas?

What SLACs are in urban areas? Macalaster in a more suburban part of St Paul. Love to know about other ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (who just graduated from an SLAC) had many more leadership and research opportunities then she would have at a large public. The community is so small that no one goes unnoticed (in a good way). She really emerged and shone.

Plus, because there are only undergrads to staff the labs, she had her choice of research opportunities and parlayed that into 3 or 4 peer reviewed publications as an undergrad. I doubt that would have happened at a large RO1 university.

Although I see more advantages in attending private National Universities and large public honors colleges than small, rural, isolated LACs, I do think that the above post presents a reasonable position. The post indicates that there is less competition at his or her kid's SLAC which has some advantages and benefits.

What about SLACs in urban areas?

What SLACs are in urban areas? Macalaster in a more suburban part of St Paul. Love to know about other ones.

Off the top of my head, the Claremont Colleges and others in the LA area. Are they an outlier and SLACs tend to be more small town?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never really paid attention to SLACs for my kid because of two concerns, but I wonder if they are justified.

1. My current junior is very undecided in terms of major or career path, and so it seems like a larger university would have more options once her direction becomes clearer. I'm certain she won't be interested in engineering, so there's no need for an engineering school. But generally speaking, it seems like larger schools would have a broader and deeper set of majors.

2. I'm wondering about the process of getting a job at graduation. I'm not questioning the quality of the schools. But large schools have tons of employers coming to campus for on-campus interviews. And it may even matter in terms of internships and that kind of thing, given that a large school with more infrastructure for career services would be beneficial. (I have an older kid (current sophomore) at a lower ivy and she has had a ton of summer internship interviews -- and I get the impressing that many of those firms have a list of schools they draw from.)

If your kid is at a SLAC, have you found the above to be challenging, or am I overthinking things?

I think your first point is a valid one. My DS knew from day one he would be going to law school. So it really was just about finding a major that interested him and getting good grades. For someone who is not at all sure what career path to go down, certainly more majors and areas of study makes sense.

The second point on its face may seem valid as well. But there is a lot of nuance here. First, many (the majority) of families at top SLACs come from a fair amount of money/connections. My son got a job after law school as a paralegal from a family friend's law firm (he could have had dozen or so other offers from other friends). It was also amazing to be able to tap into my son's friends' family network. My son played on the lacrosse team in college and his friends families were providing opportunities to him that were mind boggling. Also, at a SLAC, the professors seem to take an active interest in helping their students land plum after college jobs. There was on econ prof who seems to always get his econ students internships which lead to jobs at top finance firms. Finally, the career center at the SLACs go out of their way to make sure their grads are gainfully employed with offers preferably before graduation. I know all career centers do. But when you have a graduating senior class of 400 or so, the attention one gets is much more intense/focused.

Anyway, my 2 cents. All in all things worked out for my son. But all that said, there were certainly times I wondered whether going the SLAC v large university was the right choice.

[Anonymous]

What about SLACs in urban areas?

My somewhat introverted D (from an urban area 2800 miles outside the Beltway) just was admitted to Macalester ED. We think it is the perfect choice for her.

[Anonymous]

"NP here. What difference does it make if other students are slackers? Serious question"

I went to HSYP for college and then did a PhD at a small university. I taught both as a TA and as an adjunct at various colleges. I actually do think the attitude students take toward their academics does impact on the experience of other students. At some of the SLACs where I taught, the kids themselves set a high bar for preparation in seminars and discussion sections and it made for a much more stimulating learning environment. There are several SLACs that are not the top ranked ones where the average and mean SAT scores are on par with much higher ranked colleges. I was reminded of this when looking at colleges for my own kids. The rankings include lots of factors that don't impact on student quality, so this shouldn't have surprised me. It's also the case that SLACs tend to be more holistic when evaluating applicants and seem to be more willing to take students with grades or scores that don't reflect the level of enthusiasm and energy that they will demonstrate once sitting in the college's classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has recruited 100+ people from both SLACs and Research Universities, I would say it's a different answer than it was 10 years ago. Circa 2010, I'd take SLAC grads over a place like VT, Cal, or Michigan e.g., because they were generally better critical thinkers and writers. The emphasis on core curriculum, writing, logic, etc. made better entry level employees in consulting. That has changed, imho. SLAC grads are weaker than they were (not judging on why, but can guess). It's not that the big school grads are better at critical thinking and writing, but they haven't gotten worse, and they tend to be more motivated and have useful hard skills. This is just one recruiter's observation.

+100

This is it. SLACs full of rich kids who have been coddled all their lives and throughout college, being told by their parents and professors that "they're so special" are in for a RUDE awakening after graduation. Give me the scrappy, resourceful Cal/VT grad any day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (who just graduated from an SLAC) had many more leadership and research opportunities then she would have at a large public. The community is so small that no one goes unnoticed (in a good way). She really emerged and shone.

Plus, because there are only undergrads to staff the labs, she had her choice of research opportunities and parlayed that into 3 or 4 peer reviewed publications as an undergrad. I doubt that would have happened at a large RO1 university.

Although I see more advantages in attending private National Universities and large public honors colleges than small, rural, isolated LACs, I do think that the above post presents a reasonable position. The post indicates that there is less competition at his or her kid's SLAC which has some advantages and benefits.

What about SLACs in urban areas?

What SLACs are in urban areas? Macalaster in a more suburban part of St Paul. Love to know about other ones.

It all depends on how you define SLAC and urban, but there are several:

Swarthmore (Philly suburbs)
Haverford (Philly suburbs)
University of Richmond
Colorado College (Colorado Springs)
Occidental (LA)
Trinity College (Hartford)
Rhodes (Memphis)
Trinity University (San Antonio)
St. John's College (Annapolis)
Reed (Portland)
Sarah Lawrence (NY suburbs)
Lake Forest (Chicago suburbs)
University of Puget Sound (Tacoma)
Lewis & Clark (Portland)
Goucher (Baltimore)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend with a freshman kid in the dorms at UC Berkeley. Her dorm has been in multiple lockdowns due to invasions from violent street residents, where the kids have been ordered to stay in their rooms and lock the door. Meanwhile her kid hasn’t had a class since end of October because of strikes. Not really seeing how that experience is supposed to be so much better than my other friend whose kid is at Middlebury.

But to the ranking-obsessed DCUMer, the Berkeley kid has hit the jackpot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (who just graduated from an SLAC) had many more leadership and research opportunities then she would have at a large public. The community is so small that no one goes unnoticed (in a good way). She really emerged and shone.

Plus, because there are only undergrads to staff the labs, she had her choice of research opportunities and parlayed that into 3 or 4 peer reviewed publications as an undergrad. I doubt that would have happened at a large RO1 university.

Although I see more advantages in attending private National Universities and large public honors colleges than small, rural, isolated LACs, I do think that the above post presents a reasonable position. The post indicates that there is less competition at his or her kid's SLAC which has some advantages and benefits.

What about SLACs in urban areas?

What SLACs are in urban areas? Macalaster in a more suburban part of St Paul. Love to know about other ones.

Occidental

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (who just graduated from an SLAC) had many more leadership and research opportunities then she would have at a large public. The community is so small that no one goes unnoticed (in a good way). She really emerged and shone.

Plus, because there are only undergrads to staff the labs, she had her choice of research opportunities and parlayed that into 3 or 4 peer reviewed publications as an undergrad. I doubt that would have happened at a large RO1 university.

Although I see more advantages in attending private National Universities and large public honors colleges than small, rural, isolated LACs, I do think that the above post presents a reasonable position. The post indicates that there is less competition at his or her kid's SLAC which has some advantages and benefits.

What about SLACs in urban areas?

What SLACs are in urban areas? Macalaster in a more suburban part of St Paul. Love to know about other ones.

Off the top of my head, the Claremont Colleges and others in the LA area. Are they an outlier and SLACs tend to be more small town?

Interesting. The Claremont schools are at the far end of LA county, 50+ miles away from downtown LA. I didn't think of them as urban, but see your point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid (who just graduated from an SLAC) had many more leadership and research opportunities then she would have at a large public. The community is so small that no one goes unnoticed (in a good way). She really emerged and shone.

Plus, because there are only undergrads to staff the labs, she had her choice of research opportunities and parlayed that into 3 or 4 peer reviewed publications as an undergrad. I doubt that would have happened at a large RO1 university.

Although I see more advantages in attending private National Universities and large public honors colleges than small, rural, isolated LACs, I do think that the above post presents a reasonable position. The post indicates that there is less competition at his or her kid's SLAC which has some advantages and benefits.

What about SLACs in urban areas?

What SLACs are in urban areas? Macalaster in a more suburban part of St Paul. Love to know about other ones.

Off the top of my head, the Claremont Colleges and others in the LA area. Are they an outlier and SLACs tend to be more small town?

Claremont Colleges are in suburbia. Not urban.