Higher ranked SLAC most people haven’t heard of VS. lower ranked big public everyone has heard of?

[Anonymous]

what is better is which type is a good fit for your kid. After the first job, it wont matter where you went.
But a kid who would thrive at a SLAC may not do so well at State U with 40K undergrads. The environment and it's fit for your kid matters more than name recognition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why but kids at SLACS seem much more likely to take a semester abroad than students at big state schools, if that is of interest. Was an incredible experience for my son and many of his high school friends from other SLACS were scattered across Europe first semester of Junior year, even those who played D3 spring sports.

Blah blah blah. You can study abroad from any school. Easily. One of my kids did it from a SLAC. Two others did it from State U. I did it from a Catholic U way back in the day.

My hunch is that a higher proportion of SLAC kids study abroad only because they feel like they’re suffocating in their small environments and feel the need to get away.

No---SLAC attract kids who have interest in learning about the world. Many require everyone to take 2 years of foreign language. They attract students who are interested in studying abroad by the nature of the curriculum. So when 50-60% of kids tend to study abroad junior year, even those who were no planning to often explore the options and decide to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kind of employer who knows Davidson is the kind of employer that DD should pursue. Undoubtedly, it'll be more prestigious and the people that she'll be working with will be running around in more elite circles than those who have only heard of schools like Penn State. Harsh, but true.

I hate this mentality. Your resume will first be reviewed by a recruiter who probably went to a big state school and was in a sorority. It doesn’t matter if your eventual boss knows your school, if the sorority girl doesn’t pass you along, you’ll never have the chance to do an interview.

I think most people think the school brand is far more important than it really is. Sure, big time consulting, finance have their target schools. But for most jobs IME, it's what you did at school, not the name. I regularly hire and I don't much care where someone went to school. Basically, if a college is good enough to end up in the Princeton or Fiske guide that's going to be good enough and that's been the case everywhere I've worked. I look at the the projects they did in their classes, the research, the internships (and I hire interns and still don't care about the college).

I've had interns, full-time direct reports, and coworkers from Ivys, big state Us, LACs, and served on interview panels for different roles. I see good performers and the occasional meh one from all types of schools. The only time the school name raises a note to probe in interviews is I'm more alert for an entitlement attitude when interviewing Ivy students. I've had some issues with that in the past so it's something I keep an eye out for.

BINGO! It's what you did at school, not the name.

Once you get your first job, it does not matter. First job it only matters that the school you attend has a good career office, so that they bring in good companies to interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why but kids at SLACS seem much more likely to take a semester abroad than students at big state schools, if that is of interest. Was an incredible experience for my son and many of his high school friends from other SLACS were scattered across Europe first semester of Junior year, even those who played D3 spring sports.

Blah blah blah. You can study abroad from any school. Easily. One of my kids did it from a SLAC. Two others did it from State U. I did it from a Catholic U way back in the day.

My hunch is that a higher proportion of SLAC kids study abroad only because they feel like they’re suffocating in their small environments and feel the need to get away.

No---SLAC attract kids who have interest in learning about the world. Many require everyone to take 2 years of foreign language. They attract students who are interested in studying abroad by the nature of the curriculum. So when 50-60% of kids tend to study abroad junior year, even those who were no planning to often explore the options and decide to attend.

Oh, just give it a rest already. Again, you are painting SLACs like their student body is somehow more special than anyone else. All kids who go to college want to see the world. Mine did and they didn’t go to a SLAC. So did I, and so did my spouse, and neither of us went to an SLAC either. And when I studied abroad, no one I met there was attending an SLAC. They were from major state universities, almost all of them.

The reason why so many kids in liberal arts schools go abroad is, as I say, because they are suffocating in their teeny tiny schools which are typically located in the middle of nowhere. Stop sugarcoating things. Take off your rose colored glasses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kind of employer who knows Davidson is the kind of employer that DD should pursue. Undoubtedly, it'll be more prestigious and the people that she'll be working with will be running around in more elite circles than those who have only heard of schools like Penn State. Harsh, but true.

Lol.

[Anonymous]

Someone on DCUM is trying to make Davidson into something that it's not, i.e., if you haven't heard of it and aren't aspiring to attend, you're an unsophisticated idiot. No offense to Davidson, but it's not the nationally renowned / respected institution that the PP is making it out to be, and that's OK, plenty of schools aren't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why but kids at SLACS seem much more likely to take a semester abroad than students at big state schools, if that is of interest. Was an incredible experience for my son and many of his high school friends from other SLACS were scattered across Europe first semester of Junior year, even those who played D3 spring sports.

I'm guessing it's because study abroad costs extra $$$ and kids that go to big state schools are less likely to have the extra $$$ sitting around to do the semester abroad. As a Cal grad, that's my thinking-- lots of kids at Cal were strugging just to pay tuition, etc. there, let alone extras.

Also, friends that have gone to SLACs have told me they did semester abroad because the small school/small town situation became oppressive and they were eager to get out and see something new. As big state schools just generally have more going on with big sports games, lots of people coming and going, located in larger cities, easier to blend into a crowd if ther are people you want to avoid, etc. it's less likely they will have the drive to go elsewhere for a semester.

PS-- I'm hoping my kids go to SLACs rather than big state school-- I don't mean the above as a total dig on SLACs at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why but kids at SLACS seem much more likely to take a semester abroad than students at big state schools, if that is of interest. Was an incredible experience for my son and many of his high school friends from other SLACS were scattered across Europe first semester of Junior year, even those who played D3 spring sports.

Blah blah blah. You can study abroad from any school. Easily. One of my kids did it from a SLAC. Two others did it from State U. I did it from a Catholic U way back in the day.

My hunch is that a higher proportion of SLAC kids study abroad only because they feel like they’re suffocating in their small environments and feel the need to get away.

No---SLAC attract kids who have interest in learning about the world. Many require everyone to take 2 years of foreign language. They attract students who are interested in studying abroad by the nature of the curriculum. So when 50-60% of kids tend to study abroad junior year, even those who were no planning to often explore the options and decide to attend.

No. Most universities require foreign language and all have study abroad programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why but kids at SLACS seem much more likely to take a semester abroad than students at big state schools, if that is of interest. Was an incredible experience for my son and many of his high school friends from other SLACS were scattered across Europe first semester of Junior year, even those who played D3 spring sports.

I'm guessing it's because study abroad costs extra $$$ and kids that go to big state schools are less likely to have the extra $$$ sitting around to do the semester abroad. As a Cal grad, that's my thinking-- lots of kids at Cal were strugging just to pay tuition, etc. there, let alone extras.

Also, friends that have gone to SLACs have told me they did semester abroad because the small school/small town situation became oppressive and they were eager to get out and see something new. As big state schools just generally have more going on with big sports games, lots of people coming and going, located in larger cities, easier to blend into a crowd if ther are people you want to avoid, etc. it's less likely they will have the drive to go elsewhere for a semester.

PS-- I'm hoping my kids go to SLACs rather than big state school-- I don't mean the above as a total dig on SLACs at all.

Very well said. I agree completely.

[Anonymous]

The suggestion that SLACs send more kids to study abroad because the kids are more sophisticated and intellectual and want to see the world is so nauseating and condescending and untrue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone on DCUM is trying to make Davidson into something that it's not, i.e., if you haven't heard of it and aren't aspiring to attend, you're an unsophisticated idiot. No offense to Davidson, but it's not the nationally renowned / respected institution that the PP is making it out to be, and that's OK, plenty of schools aren't.

It's always been a pretty good regional school. No need to denigrate it or puff it up. It doesn't carry much name recognition outside of its home region, though. I'd never even heard of it before I moved to DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone on DCUM is trying to make Davidson into something that it's not, i.e., if you haven't heard of it and aren't aspiring to attend, you're an unsophisticated idiot. No offense to Davidson, but it's not the nationally renowned / respected institution that the PP is making it out to be, and that's OK, plenty of schools aren't.

It's always been a pretty good regional school. No need to denigrate it or puff it up. It doesn't carry much name recognition outside of its home region, though. I'd never even heard of it before I moved to DC.

Kinda like UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SLAC for graduate, medical and law schools, large public flagship for industry.

Vast majority of SLACs are too small to have meaningful career centers and industry recruitment.

There are several that look impressive for elite jobs - Williams, Amherst, etc. But going to an equivalent university like Brown or Dartmouth will provide better recruitment and career center support.

OP was comparing SLAC to Big State - not to elite top 10/20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone on DCUM is trying to make Davidson into something that it's not, i.e., if you haven't heard of it and aren't aspiring to attend, you're an unsophisticated idiot. No offense to Davidson, but it's not the nationally renowned / respected institution that the PP is making it out to be, and that's OK, plenty of schools aren't.

It's always been a pretty good regional school. No need to denigrate it or puff it up. It doesn't carry much name recognition outside of its home region, though. I'd never even heard of it before I moved to DC.

Kinda like UVA.

Indeed.

In all seriousness, that was one consideration for me when I was picking colleges way back when. If you're not going to a place like Harvard or Oxford, you need to give serious thought to whether the school you're going to has recognition in the region you're planning to live post-graduation. If you want to live in Tampa, say, a U of Florida degree is more valuable than one from Vassar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why but kids at SLACS seem much more likely to take a semester abroad than students at big state schools, if that is of interest. Was an incredible experience for my son and many of his high school friends from other SLACS were scattered across Europe first semester of Junior year, even those who played D3 spring sports.

Blah blah blah. You can study abroad from any school. Easily. One of my kids did it from a SLAC. Two others did it from State U. I did it from a Catholic U way back in the day.

My hunch is that a higher proportion of SLAC kids study abroad only because they feel like they’re suffocating in their small environments and feel the need to get away.

I think the SLAC kids are more likely to study abroad because of the types of students they are. First - their families are more likely to have money to support study abroad compared to those choosing their in-state flagship. Second - financial aid at these small schools translates to support study abroad too. Third - many of these kids that like SLACs are the kind that are curious learners who are okay with broad liberal arts requirements and/or foreign language requirements and who enjoy the small class environment that are seminar style vs lecture. These kids may be more curious about experiencing another culture. Obviously, big state kids like to go abroad too and also fit the description of the curious learner.