How are SLACs easier to navigate relative to big state schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has been over the president’s house more than once for receptions. Knows his dogs, etc.

For the holiday formal, the faculty serve the kids their meal.

When a class is full or you may not meet the eligibility criteria, the kid writes to the prof and usually can get in.

International students who stay on campus over breaks are invited to faculty homes for the holiday.

Etc etc

Sounds lovely, what school?

I went to a SLAC and so have 2 of our kids. I agree that getting to know faculty is a major advantage for students at SLACs, but having the profs serve the holiday dinner sounds cringe-y.

I see why you might think that, but it is not done from a sense of entitlement or being spoiled. I am sure that the faculty who volunteer (some deans do too) are just good sports. It is a very folksy community (not slick or snarky). The students stand on chairs and sing the 12 Days or Christmas (and there are non-Christian songs as well). To buy tickets, they have to tent on the quad overnight with their friends. it is one of many traditions (like Mountain Day and Storm the Arch) that my DD cherished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SLACs don't have graduate students, so undergrads have more opportunities to do research with faculty.

This is a very big point for SLACS for kids who have an interest in grad school or research-based fields like the social sciences. Yes, other schools have undergrad research programs, but the undergrads are typically the only game in town for faculty. And faculty at SLACs are research-active. Plus there are virtually no adjuncts or grad students teaching at a SLAC so every class you take is a chance to click with a faculty member that you could join their research work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SLACs don't have graduate students, so undergrads have more opportunities to do research with faculty.

This is a very big point for SLACS for kids who have an interest in grad school or research-based fields like the social sciences. Yes, other schools have undergrad research programs, but the undergrads are typically the only game in town for faculty. And faculty at SLACs are research-active. Plus there are virtually no adjuncts or grad students teaching at a SLAC so every class you take is a chance to click with a faculty member that you could join their research work.

*edited--'only game in town for faculty at a SLAC.'

[Anonymous]

This captures the vibe well:

http://juniataadmission.com/madrigal/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has been over the president’s house more than once for receptions. Knows his dogs, etc.

For the holiday formal, the faculty serve the kids their meal.

When a class is full or you may not meet the eligibility criteria, the kid writes to the prof and usually can get in.

International students who stay on campus over breaks are invited to faculty homes for the holiday.

Etc etc

Sounds lovely, what school?

Juniata College.

They also assign each student two advisors (one must be outside their field.)

When she decided she wanted to work in a lab for credit (to gain experience, I think sophomore year), she approached three professors and got three offers. She just graduated, with multiple peer reviewed publications and having presented her research at multiple national conferences. It is a great place.

What will she do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has been over the president’s house more than once for receptions. Knows his dogs, etc.

For the holiday formal, the faculty serve the kids their meal.

When a class is full or you may not meet the eligibility criteria, the kid writes to the prof and usually can get in.

International students who stay on campus over breaks are invited to faculty homes for the holiday.

Etc etc

Sounds lovely, what school?

Juniata College.

They also assign each student two advisors (one must be outside their field.)

When she decided she wanted to work in a lab for credit (to gain experience, I think sophomore year), she approached three professors and got three offers. She just graduated, with multiple peer reviewed publications and having presented her research at multiple national conferences. It is a great place.

What will she do

Grad school...but I had better not reveal more, just to respect her privacy.

[Anonymous]

Beats me. I had close relationships with my professors at a big public school.

We toured one SLAC and the student guide said she wouldn’t know what to do at a big school. Really? The world is big. The world is more like a big school than a small school. I wouldn’t want my child to be so unsure of themself.

I think a small college can allow students to be a big fish in a small pond. Big schools offer more and small nooks can be found to stand out. Basically, I don’t see one as better than another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SLACs don't have graduate students, so undergrads have more opportunities to do research with faculty.

This is a very big point for SLACS for kids who have an interest in grad school or research-based fields like the social sciences. Yes, other schools have undergrad research programs, but the undergrads are typically the only game in town for faculty. And faculty at SLACs are research-active. Plus there are virtually no adjuncts or grad students teaching at a SLAC so every class you take is a chance to click with a faculty member that you could join their research work.

At a big school, I had one adjunct and one TA over four years. It depends on the courses you choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has been over the president’s house more than once for receptions. Knows his dogs, etc.

For the holiday formal, the faculty serve the kids their meal.

When a class is full or you may not meet the eligibility criteria, the kid writes to the prof and usually can get in.

International students who stay on campus over breaks are invited to faculty homes for the holiday.

Etc etc

DS has this at his state school honors program too. These provide a way to navigate big state schools.

Sure, that's helpful. But one of my kids is at a big state school, and the honors college's advantages can't compensate for everything. A big hunk of the classes are taught by adjuncts, who aren't around as much and aren't as connected to the community. So if there's a problem with a class, your advisor may not have the sort of close relationship with a colleague that professors at a SLAC likely do. Nor can you just breeze in to see your dean when all else fails, as I could when I went to a SLAC.

My kid is happy at the big state school, and a SLAC doesn't offer as many majors as Big State does. And the honors college is a great boost to the regular experience. But it's not going to give you what a SLAC can.

[Anonymous]

Medium size private University is the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SLACs don't have graduate students, so undergrads have more opportunities to do research with faculty.

This is a very big point for SLACS for kids who have an interest in grad school or research-based fields like the social sciences. Yes, other schools have undergrad research programs, but the undergrads are typically the only game in town for faculty. And faculty at SLACs are research-active. Plus there are virtually no adjuncts or grad students teaching at a SLAC so every class you take is a chance to click with a faculty member that you could join their research work.

At a big school, I had one adjunct and one TA over four years. It depends on the courses you choose.

Yes, but every prof you took a class with probably didn't exclusively have undergrads as their research assistants. That's the difference I was talking about--every class is a potential connection with faculty projects in a more realistic way than at a larger school with graduate programs. (I'm a prof who has taught at both--when I was at a SLAC I was looking at every class seeing who might be interested in working on research, encouraging undergrads to think about it, hiring them for all the varied roles. At a research university, I'm always having to make sure I have enough funding for my doc students, that they have opportunities to teach and that I'm on top of finding avenues for my MS students to have independent lines of research in my projects. I value undergrad research so I make sure there's always an undergrad in the lab but they are much less integral just because grad students have to come first for research opportunities since that's their main focus.

[Anonymous]

"At a big school, I had one adjunct and one TA over four years. It depends on the courses you choose."

Seems like what matters is what major you choose. Some majors are so much more popular among the people who choose those large schools that almost every course is going to have at least 100 students, like finance or other business majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The price to pay for "easier navigation" is less course availability/flexibility, fewer professors (meaning that students often have to have the same professor time and again for courses in their major, which isn't necessarily a good thing), and a suffocating social scene.

Huh . . . wondering which SLACs you're familiar with. I'm a Williams grad and this was not my experience at all.

I had kids attend both UVA and a top 10 SLAC. Both schools had pluses and minuses. I'm sure Williams is no different. Sorry, but no school is perfect, and your experience may have been great for you but doesn't apply to everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has been over the president’s house more than once for receptions. Knows his dogs, etc.

For the holiday formal, the faculty serve the kids their meal.

When a class is full or you may not meet the eligibility criteria, the kid writes to the prof and usually can get in.

International students who stay on campus over breaks are invited to faculty homes for the holiday.

Etc etc

Sounds lovely, what school?

I went to a SLAC and so have 2 of our kids. I agree that getting to know faculty is a major advantage for students at SLACs, but having the profs serve the holiday dinner sounds cringe-y.

I see why you might think that, but it is not done from a sense of entitlement or being spoiled. I am sure that the faculty who volunteer (some deans do too) are just good sports. It is a very folksy community (not slick or snarky). The students stand on chairs and sing the 12 Days or Christmas (and there are non-Christian songs as well). To buy tickets, they have to tent on the quad overnight with their friends. it is one of many traditions (like Mountain Day and Storm the Arch) that my DD cherished.

Please pass the vomit bag. Thanks.

I mean, c'mon. This is so over the top.

[Anonymous]

I went to Cornell and it might as well have been a huge state school. So many classes were taught by TAs, I barely saw an advisor and so much self-advocacy was necessary. I could have vanished in the middle of my first semester and no school employee would have noticed…until the tuition went unpaid.

I loved my time there but now, when I take my son on college tours, I see what I missed out on.