What’s the educational difference between a highly-rated college and a good one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Profs don’t always favor SLACs, but when their kids aren’t interested in or aren’t competitive for top R1s they have enough info to steer them to (and distinguish among) a variety of good schools that aren’t as universally well known as Ivies or state flagships. Hence the relative popularity of SLACs among academics.

I really don’t believe SLACs provide a better education (or have faculty who are better teachers) than R1s. R1s have many more resources and a much broader range of course offerings (more majors and more courses within each major as well as multiple profs in the same subfield) than SLACs. They also have more people doing cutting-edge work.

Whether and how that matters to your DC is a real question, but for me as an undergrad it did. My kid was the same. And both of us (at different R1s and in very different fields) had close relationships with faculty members (and also appreciated the presence of grad students).

Faculty as teachers? Get serious. It’s the TA’s who are doing the teaching. I hear two of my kids who go to Big Ten schools talking about their TA’s relative suckitude and it’s depressing. My two SLAC kids look at them like they’re aliens.

Not are R1s are Big Ten. Not all classes at R1s have TAs. Those that do have TAs aren’t taught exclusively by TAs. Profs aren’t always better teachers than TAs. Not all teaching happens in class. Kids at R1s who are looking for a great education can find it. Kids who aren’t (the vast majority of undergrads everywhere) have plenty of other ways to do college.

[Anonymous]

Not all R1s are Big Ten..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Profs don’t always favor SLACs, but when their kids aren’t interested in or aren’t competitive for top R1s they have enough info to steer them to (and distinguish among) a variety of good schools that aren’t as universally well known as Ivies or state flagships. Hence the relative popularity of SLACs among academics.

I really don’t believe SLACs provide a better education (or have faculty who are better teachers) than R1s. R1s have many more resources and a much broader range of course offerings (more majors and more courses within each major as well as multiple profs in the same subfield) than SLACs. They also have more people doing cutting-edge work.

Whether and how that matters to your DC is a real question, but for me as an undergrad it did. My kid was the same. And both of us (at different R1s and in very different fields) had close relationships with faculty members (and also appreciated the presence of grad students).

Faculty as teachers? Get serious. It’s the TA’s who are doing the teaching. I hear two of my kids who go to Big Ten schools talking about their TA’s relative suckitude and it’s depressing. My two SLAC kids look at them like they’re aliens.

Literally no Big Ten has TA's teach/lecture courses. They have TA's that lead discussion or lab sections - the same as any private school.

Some parents are so uneducated about basics in college education that they simply repeat what they've incorrectly heard ad nauseum, until it becomes true. Again, R1's don't have TA's teaching courses - they have PhD's. Even GMU, which some here thumb their nose at, has PhD's teaching courses, not TA's.

And ironically, at your SLAC you might not even have PhD's teaching courses - they may simply be "instructional staff" with a Masters. Nothing wrong with it, of course, but their academic background is essentially the same as a TA's.

[Anonymous]

But if there are hundreds of students in the class, the kids who are struggling will have to go to TA's with their questions, not the single, busy professor. That is not the case at all at a SLAC.

Professors there are easy to access and generous with their time. The class has say, 19 to 30 students. And my child has NEVER had anyone but a PhD teach her classes.I never even saw someone in the department faculty listing with only a Masters degree.

I am not sure what school you are referring to...but this is my kid's experience at a SLAC ranked between 50 and 100 nationally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really depends. If your kid is self motivated they'll find a good peer group anywhere. If they're a slacker they'll find other slackers even at Yale.

I had a friend who got into Harvard. She took the easiest classes and graduated w a C average and barely earns anything. I don't understand how her ambition switched off as soon as she got in, but she had a group of friends just like herself.

Meanwhile I know many people earning 300k+ who went to low ranked schools, but are widely read, ambitious and hard workers. I know which group of rather my kids be in

People see what they want to see. Confirmation bias.

[Anonymous]

So, as a grad student at, ok I'll say it, Stanford, I was a TA for a class taught by another grad student. Given the level of the course, that was probably not a problem. I view the quality of undergraduate teaching at Stanford as similar to a Big Ten flagship where I also took classes. I went to top 10 SLAC and found the quality of undergraduate teaching and dedication of the professors to be much better than either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But if there are hundreds of students in the class, the kids who are struggling will have to go to TA's with their questions, not the single, busy professor. That is not the case at all at a SLAC.

Professors there are easy to access and generous with their time. The class has say, 19 to 30 students. And my child has NEVER had anyone but a PhD teach her classes.I never even saw someone in the department faculty listing with only a Masters degree.

I am not sure what school you are referring to...but this is my kid's experience at a SLAC ranked between 50 and 100 nationally.

Having a PhD doesn’t make someone a good teacher (learning how to teach isn’t part of the curriculum) — nor does working at a SLAC make someone a good teacher (job market doesn’t work that way). TAs are more approachable and more likely to remember how/when they learned the stuff they’re teaching. For these reasons, TAs are the first stop (and only stop) for many undergrads, but profs are available too and they all have weekly office hours for students to drop in.

[Anonymous]

Good luck at Hopkins (grad school anyway). I knew one person there who would barely make time for her doctoral thesis advisee.

Some faculty members at big research universities are selfish, desperate for tenure, do NOT like teaching and are under all sorts of pressures to do other things (like get grants, publish, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck at Hopkins (grad school anyway). I knew one person there who would barely make time for her doctoral thesis advisee.

Some faculty members at big research universities are selfish, desperate for tenure, do NOT like teaching and are under all sorts of pressures to do other things (like get grants, publish, etc).

N=1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck at Hopkins (grad school anyway). I knew one person there who would barely make time for her doctoral thesis advisee.

Some faculty members at big research universities are selfish, desperate for tenure, do NOT like teaching and are under all sorts of pressures to do other things (like get grants, publish, etc).

N=1

Are you honestly debating the PP's last statement?

[Anonymous]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3999612/

I guess N>1

[Anonymous]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-professors-send-their-children-to-college/

https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v25y2006i2p201-210.html

Ask any faculty member--not an adjunct, but someone who has earned tenure--and they will tell you why they prefer SLACs for their own kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-professors-send-their-children-to-college/

https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v25y2006i2p201-210.html

Ask any faculty member--not an adjunct, but someone who has earned tenure--and they will tell you why they prefer SLACs for their own kids.

I only have one data sample, but a UMD professor that I know is sending his son to UMD in fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-professors-send-their-children-to-college/

https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v25y2006i2p201-210.html

Ask any faculty member--not an adjunct, but someone who has earned tenure--and they will tell you why they prefer SLACs for their own kids.

I only have one data sample, but a UMD professor that I know is sending his son to UMD in fall.

Probably because one of his perks at work is tuition remission.

Duh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-professors-send-their-children-to-college/

https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v25y2006i2p201-210.html

Ask any faculty member--not an adjunct, but someone who has earned tenure--and they will tell you why they prefer SLACs for their own kids.

I only have one data sample, but a UMD professor that I know is sending his son to UMD in fall.

Probably because one of his perks at work is tuition remission.

Duh

This. Exactly.