LACs are overrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Extending this thread into year five to shit on LACs (and UVA now?). The desire to gatekeep prestige is strong!

That gate never existed among those who matter.

The Ivies and some others have long been respected along with top SLACs and regionally some other schools while most of us went to nearby public schools. Rankings were something to be mildly amused by but nothing more. Things didn’t really jump the shark until large quantities of immigrants from very hierarchical societies started pouring into the US and then college admissions. We are now living an example of “when you don’t know but you think you know” otherwise known as Dunning-Kruger effect in it’s purest form.

[Anonymous]

I had to look this up. Not a good advertisement for the academe. Something tells me the name won’t stick in common parlance. How about “out of your depth,” a phrase that existed long before 1999?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had to look this up. Not a good advertisement for the academe. Something tells me the name won’t stick in common parlance. How about “out of your depth,” a phrase that existed long before 1999?

Or “a little knowledge is dangerous”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They sit in that odd in-between where they're lesser-known by the general populace, but are incredibly overhyped by those in the know.

No one cares about your Williams or Amherst or Swarthmore, and they're slowly but surely becoming increasingly irrelevant in today's higher ed landscape.

I can only share my experience of having a kid who went to Grinnell. They became friends with faculty, received an education of unusual breadth and depth, explored several different disciplines, learned to thoughtfully consider and evaluate a wide spectrum of ideas, grew up immensely, became exponentially more articulate, got a fantastic research job straight out of school where their research skills and job performance led supervisors to say they wanted to hire more Grinnell grads, and got into a prestigious PhD program. More importantly, they became an extraordinarily kind and caring person. This was a kid who used to be a little abrasive. Would it have happened at a good public or large private research university? Perhaps, but I don't they'd have received the same level of nurture and adult attention, which I think drove intellectual, academic, personal, and professional growth. There are many great options out there. Sometimes LACs are an excellent fit that can transform your child. No disrespect to any other institution, but I am very grateful for the transformative effect an outstanding LAC had on my kid.

So, your kid couldn't make it to the top 50. I understand.

My kid is now doing a PhD at a Top 10 university. Grinnell got them there. Funnily enough, they seem better prepared than some of the other students who did their undergrad educations at top research universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They sit in that odd in-between where they're lesser-known by the general populace, but are incredibly overhyped by those in the know.

No one cares about your Williams or Amherst or Swarthmore, and they're slowly but surely becoming increasingly irrelevant in today's higher ed landscape.

Amazing you wrote this four years ago yet liberal arts colleges have become even more relevant today.

[Anonymous]

Williams mom here. My kid has tiny classes with lots of interactive discussions and essentially no one on their phones. More in class work and less use of AI. Teachers so clearly deeply invested in their undergrads and not focused entirely on grads and fellows and research. Lots of opportunities for research projects and lots of personalized guidance from staff. Public universities and even many ivies simply don't enjoy these benefits. Most grads head off to meaningful lives and lots of elite grad schools and careers. Williams grads are among the most loyal alum with a per student endowment in the top 5 in the nation.

There are many benefits of a small top LAC in today's world where AI, emotions isolation, and chronic phone use is a real problem.

Clearly tons of benefits of large schools too!

My daughter is also relieved not to be in a Trump state, as are we

She is so happy at Williams and the teaching quality is just outstanding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Williams mom here. My kid has tiny classes with lots of interactive discussions and essentially no one on their phones. More in class work and less use of AI. Teachers so clearly deeply invested in their undergrads and not focused entirely on grads and fellows and research. Lots of opportunities for research projects and lots of personalized guidance from staff. Public universities and even many ivies simply don't enjoy these benefits. Most grads head off to meaningful lives and lots of elite grad schools and careers. Williams grads are among the most loyal alum with a per student endowment in the top 5 in the nation.

There are many benefits of a small top LAC in today's world where AI, emotions isolation, and chronic phone use is a real problem.

Clearly tons of benefits of large schools too!

My daughter is also relieved not to be in a Trump state, as are we

She is so happy at Williams and the teaching quality is just outstanding

+100 Great to hear this.

[Anonymous]

Don’t grads from all universities head off to meaningful lives?

[Anonymous]

Elitism

[Anonymous]

Limousine liberal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For premed I would rather my DC go to LACs. Big Us have tons of resources, true. But the big U professors don't give a fxxk about their undergraduate students, or teaching undergraduate in general. This is generally okay if you are engineering major, getting a couple Cs and Ds here and there won't preclude you from getting a job. For premed, entirely another story. They love to weed you out at the introductory courses as the Big U can support all the premed-interested kids.

Unless you are 100% certain you will always be that top 10% kid, and never will have an exam on a sick day and getting an F. LACs are a better bet for parents' investment in the kid's medical career.

So at an LAC it is common to ask a professor to delay your exam because of illness?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For premed I would rather my DC go to LACs. Big Us have tons of resources, true. But the big U professors don't give a fxxk about their undergraduate students, or teaching undergraduate in general. This is generally okay if you are engineering major, getting a couple Cs and Ds here and there won't preclude you from getting a job. For premed, entirely another story. They love to weed you out at the introductory courses as the Big U can support all the premed-interested kids.

Unless you are 100% certain you will always be that top 10% kid, and never will have an exam on a sick day and getting an F. LACs are a better bet for parents' investment in the kid's medical career.

So at an LAC it is common to ask a professor to delay your exam because of illness?

I was at a top R1 and never had any issues getting an exam rescheduled if ill. Not sure why you think it is a LAC thing?

[Anonymous]

other than williams most people I know haven't really heard of any of them unless they personally went there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:other than williams most people I know haven't really heard of any of them unless they personally went there.

this just speaks the people you know.

you hang around the low information types. Congrats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:other than williams most people I know haven't really heard of any of them unless they personally went there.

Most people you know have heard of Williams but no other SLACs? Also people you know who went to SLACs have not heard of any of them save Williams and their alma mater? Cool story.