Class size: how small is too small?
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Anonymous
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DC (junior) is strongly leaning LACs. Favorites are Swarthmore, Williams, Pomona, Vassar, Hamilton. School counselor told us all are realistic reaches/targets as the school has a track record sending unhooked kids to these schools every year and DC fits the profile of previous accepted seniors. Still, long shots we know. They are helping her narrow her ED choice.
DH and I both went to large state schools. Loved our experiences and have never thought much of, and definitely are not familiar with, LACs. DC’s counselor think her learning style, close relationships with teachers and active engagement with several school activities with tight-knit groups make her a perfect LAC fit. DH and I wonder if 400 kids a year is too small a world. But looking back, we also don’t remember hanging out with hundreds let alone thousands of fellow students. We each had a group of maybe 3-4 close friends, 10-12 friends we would see regularly in extended friend group that we would go to parties with or went into the city with, and we did rah rah sports stuff maybe once or twice a year for 4 hours and it’s not like we personally knew 90% of the kids inside the stadium. So we now think perhaps our own world at our large publics were roughly about 100-200 kids too. Maybe I’m trying to justify this to support DC’s preference. We want to. How small do you think is too small that your kid would not get a chance to experience close to a real world ecosystem during their 4 years of undergrad? And are there larger universities that offer similar benefits and fit for someone who would do well at a LAC? |
Anonymous
| It’s all relative, but even at a small LAC with under 2,000 students there will still likely be hundreds more per grade than in high school. Perhaps if you went to a huge high school it’s different. My DC has 200 in his senior class and is headed to a LAC with just under 3,000 total. From what I hear, that size has you run into people you know and people you have never seen everyday - good stuff. |
Anonymous
| My DC at a LAC thought that the smaller size made it easier to make friends— if you strike up a conversation with someone after class or at an event you tend to see them again in the dining hall, at other events, etc, so it’s a more natural way to get to know them before reaching out to propose meeting up rather than reaching out to someone based on one conversation. Also DC now knows enough people from class, clubs, etc, that if no one in their friend group is in the dining hall or at an event they always know someone to sit with. For some, that might seem stifling, and maybe in a few years it will feel that way to DC, but at least for the first year I think it has made making friends and the transition much easier— it seems like there are fewer kids sitting alone in the dining hall, feeling really unconnected during first year. The downside is that I don’t think there is as much opportunity to be constantly meeting new people if that is something that appeals, and if there is drama everyone knows about it. |
Anonymous
First, college has a lot more mixing among the year levels than HS, so a 1600-student campus is just that, 1600, not 400. But also, 1600 is quite small. There are many LACs bigger than that. DC is very much a LAC person, but 2000 is the smallest they want to consider. Wants at least 4x the size of the private HS they’re at now. There are one or two 1800-student schools still on the list, but most are 2500-3500 with a couple 6000-8000 mid-size schools in the mix. |
Anonymous
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As long as this is not the counselors idea. Counselor pushing it. All that matters is your daughter's preference. Where your daughter can see herself. Where she would feel at home. Has she spent enough time on a small campus, visiting?
DH and I loved our large state school experience. We would want that for our children so I understand your concern. We also know a child of ours could be very different from us, and thrive somewhere else. |
Anonymous
| Agree it's all relative. My senior's class is 750 kids and she wants a school much larger than that. |
Anonymous
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Agree with all posters so far, based on my kid’s experience at a 3000+ LAC (after graduating from a 2000-student HS). My kid likes that he always knows someone in his class, which was not at all my experience at a large state university. He also has friends across years, especially from activities, so it really is a 3000-person community, not just the 800 in his class.
Also agree that 1600 is very small; none of the schools on your list is quite that small. You might look at Wesleyan and Middlebury, both of which are on the larger side for SLACs. I’d also be thoughtful about location—a very small school in a remote location (e.g. Williams) might feel more limited/isolating. Vassar, Swarthmore, and Pomona don’t have that issue. And Pomona also has the advantage of being part of the 5Cs, which have about 8000 total. |
Anonymous
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Beyond considering class size, you also may benefit from considering the broader attribute of classroom experience:
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=best-classroom-experience |
Anonymous
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if you kid has a strong leaning, then that's that.
my only concern would be any counselor saying Williams/Pomona/Swat "are realistic reaches/targets". our HS has a track record too (not at every school) but still these schools accept far fewer than they reject. Vassar a bit easier. And they have ED2 so you could do ED1 to Pomona or Williams and then ED2 to Vassar |
Anonymous
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OP, make sure you can do full pay comfortably.
Since you and DH did not go to a SLAC and likely paid less for your education, make sure you and DH are in agreement that a SLAC is a reasonable choice. The worst outcome would be for you and DH, now and going forward, to compare/contrast and complain about your DH's college experience/cost. |
Anonymous
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Is your DC coming from a private school?
I have one DS from a public school and another at a private school, and they are vastly different and to some extent influences how they might want their future college experience to be. Older DS, who is a senior now, can never imagine himself being at a school that small because he is a social butterfly, enjoys getting to know a diversified group of kids, and his varying interests lend to a larger college population or, at the least, be in a city. At the same time, he prefers to have a bit more support than what a state school could offer. So somewhere around 6K students (~1500 per class) might be the smallest that he is willing to go, but prefers it to be around 10K undergrad probably. |
Anonymous
| I went to Michigan and have a tight Big Chill size group of lifelong friends. I didn't need or want more. I didn't need a giant school to find me that size circle of friends. |
Anonymous
OP obviously meant WSP as reaches and Vassar, Hamilton are targets. That’s not far fetched coming from a feeder private. |
Anonymous
it wasn't obvious to me and my kids are at a T10 feeder private where it's not true that we have a great track record at WSP (it's true at 2 of them, but not all 3). |
Anonymous
Definitely try and visit LACs of different sizes and your DC’s preference may change or become more apparent. We took our son to Amherst (~2K) and it was too small, just like HS. Then Wesleyan (~3K), better, but given its small town location, he thought he might get bored after 2 years. Then Tufts (~7K) — more like a LAC within an R1 university — hit the sweet spot with enough size and proximity to the city that he could get the benefits of both a liberal arts mindset & tight community, and city interests & opportunities. Each kid is different and will gravitate to different environments. |