For whom is a SLAC/LAC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The S in SLAC stands for “selective”, not small liberal arts colleges.

My whole life SLAC meant small liberal arts college. Then I came to DCUM.

SLAC has never meant small liberal arts college. That is a redundancy because all LACs are small.

SLAC distinguishes among the selective LACs, and the ones that are less selective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who attends a small liberal arts college or liberal arts college these days? Is it a back-up school if student can't get into state public flagship? Does each state have a well known liberal arts college, or are LACs mostly in the northeast region of US, along east coast US and east-midwest US?
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/120/1284381.page

People who don't want to go to a football school, and who instead value small class sizes and accessible faculty members.

Ugh, this trope again? Schools with football can also have excellent academics, small-medium class sizes, and accessible faculty members. Imagine!

It's not a trope. While big football schools can and do have some of that, you can also spend 5 years and never actually meet a professor if you want to avoid small classes. That is a plus for alot of kids who are perfectly happy ot sign up for big lectures where no attendance is taken so you don't actually have to go. On the other hand, that is the entirely to of the SLAC experience and something you seek because you cannot avoid it and become anonymous. That is what it is all about.

Is it the same officious poster making these grand pronouncements about public universities, about which she clearly knows nothing? Not a great spokesperson for SLAC people, just FYI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The S in SLAC stands for “selective”, not small liberal arts colleges.

My whole life SLAC meant small liberal arts college. Then I came to DCUM.

How old are you? (Or rather, how limited is your worldview?)

"Selective Liberal Arts Colleges: Higher Quality as Well as Higher Prestige"
The Journal of Higher Education, 1985

"The Distinctive Scholarship of the Selective Liberal Arts College"
The Journal of Higher Education, 1987

DP. You're quoting from books published four decades ago to try and make some kind of point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MD, the other state universities other than UMCP aren't great so a LAC it is.

Which LACs? Washington college, Goucher, where are the LACs in MD? In VA?

Loyola

Loyola is not a liberal arts college.

Yes, it is a LAC.

https://www.loyola.edu/about/

The benefits of Loyola’s Jesuit, liberal arts experience lead to a life-long approach of learning and questioning and critical analysis that prepare our alumni for—and set them apart in—the workforce and the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a college not prepare you work working afterwards? Then what is the point?

Every day at my job I research things and write up summaries of them for other people, sometimes present them orally. Those are core job skills I learned at a liberal arts institution. I've worked in finance and tech. Same skills are core to law practice as well.

Interesting! My kids - at state universities - are all well-versed in writing, summarizing, researching, analyzing, and presenting orally. How could this have happened?!
DP

I mean, my third grader does all those things too, but I do them better than he does. Similarly, controlling for school ranking, the average SLAC student is going to do those things better than the average state school student. But state school students have more in the way of hard skills, so everyone has their strengths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a college not prepare you work working afterwards? Then what is the point?

Every day at my job I research things and write up summaries of them for other people, sometimes present them orally. Those are core job skills I learned at a liberal arts institution. I've worked in finance and tech. Same skills are core to law practice as well.

Interesting! My kids - at state universities - are all well-versed in writing, summarizing, researching, analyzing, and presenting orally. How could this have happened?!
DP

I mean, my third grader does all those things too, but I do them better than he does. Similarly, controlling for school ranking, the average SLAC student is going to do those things better than the average state school student. But state school students have more in the way of hard skills, so everyone has their strengths.

This is so intriguing, and I'd love for you to share your sources for these claims. TIA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a college not prepare you work working afterwards? Then what is the point?

Every day at my job I research things and write up summaries of them for other people, sometimes present them orally. Those are core job skills I learned at a liberal arts institution. I've worked in finance and tech. Same skills are core to law practice as well.

Interesting! My kids - at state universities - are all well-versed in writing, summarizing, researching, analyzing, and presenting orally. How could this have happened?!
DP

I mean, my third grader does all those things too, but I do them better than he does. Similarly, controlling for school ranking, the average SLAC student is going to do those things better than the average state school student. But state school students have more in the way of hard skills, so everyone has their strengths.

This is so intriguing, and I'd love for you to share your sources for these claims. TIA!

Why are you so uncomfortable with the idea that SLACs might be stronger in a given area than state schools? No one is contesting that state schools produce better e.g. engineers. SLACs have areas where they excel and areas where they are weaker. So do state schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The S in SLAC stands for “selective”, not small liberal arts colleges.

My whole life SLAC meant small liberal arts college. Then I came to DCUM.

How old are you? (Or rather, how limited is your worldview?)

"Selective Liberal Arts Colleges: Higher Quality as Well as Higher Prestige"
The Journal of Higher Education, 1985

"The Distinctive Scholarship of the Selective Liberal Arts College"
The Journal of Higher Education, 1987

DP. You're quoting from books published four decades ago to try and make some kind of point?

DP here. I think the point is that selective liberal arts college has been an acceptable meaning for SLAC for decades, contrary to the assertions of many here that it is a DCUM phenomenon adopted by snobs on this forum. No need to be obtuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MD, the other state universities other than UMCP aren't great so a LAC it is.

Which LACs? Washington college, Goucher, where are the LACs in MD? In VA?

Loyola

Loyola is not a liberal arts college.

Yes, it is a LAC.

https://www.loyola.edu/about/

The benefits of Loyola’s Jesuit, liberal arts experience lead to a life-long approach of learning and questioning and critical analysis that prepare our alumni for—and set them apart in—the workforce and the world.

You poor thing. You don't really think that that sentence means that Loyola is a liberal arts college, do you?

Loyola has a College of Arts & Sciences, a business school, a school of education, and has 11 graduate programs. It has more than 5000 full time students and over 1000 graduate students. It's a university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MD, the other state universities other than UMCP aren't great so a LAC it is.

Which LACs? Washington college, Goucher, where are the LACs in MD? In VA?

Loyola

Loyola is not a liberal arts college.

Yes, it is a LAC.

https://www.loyola.edu/about/

The benefits of Loyola’s Jesuit, liberal arts experience lead to a life-long approach of learning and questioning and critical analysis that prepare our alumni for—and set them apart in—the workforce and the world.

I hope this is a bored teen and not a
parent, otherwise you are a bit out of your depth. Just because a school offers a liberal arts curriculum does not mean it is a LAC. Many traditional universities offer a liberal arts curriculum or have colleges within the university that do so. Brown is a notable example. Loyola is in fact a university comprised of 3 or 4 schools IIRC. Please step your game up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MD, the other state universities other than UMCP aren't great so a LAC it is.

Which LACs? Washington college, Goucher, where are the LACs in MD? In VA?

Loyola

Loyola is not a liberal arts college.

Yes, it is a LAC.

https://www.loyola.edu/about/

The benefits of Loyola’s Jesuit, liberal arts experience lead to a life-long approach of learning and questioning and critical analysis that prepare our alumni for—and set them apart in—the workforce and the world.

I hope this is a bored teen and not a
parent, otherwise you are a bit out of your depth. Just because a school offers a liberal arts curriculum does not mean it is a LAC. Many traditional universities offer a liberal arts curriculum or have colleges within the university that do so. Brown is a notable example. Loyola is in fact a university comprised of 3 or 4 schools IIRC. Please step your game up.

Loyola has only been a university since around 2009. All students take the liberal arts core. The addition of the other schools doesn't change that part of it. Maybe it is now classified as a university but what makes a liberal arts education is still there. I wouldn't consider the school to even be a university since it's the same size as it was before that designation. They've added a bit more to the grad programs (mostly education programs) but it's still focused on undergrads (appr. 4,000 of them). I think it became a university and changed from Loyola College to Loyola University Maryland mostly as a way to distinguish itself from the other Loyolas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MD, the other state universities other than UMCP aren't great so a LAC it is.

Which LACs? Washington college, Goucher, where are the LACs in MD? In VA?

Loyola

Loyola is not a liberal arts college.

Yes, it is a LAC.

https://www.loyola.edu/about/

The benefits of Loyola’s Jesuit, liberal arts experience lead to a life-long approach of learning and questioning and critical analysis that prepare our alumni for—and set them apart in—the workforce and the world.

I hope this is a bored teen and not a
parent, otherwise you are a bit out of your depth. Just because a school offers a liberal arts curriculum does not mean it is a LAC. Many traditional universities offer a liberal arts curriculum or have colleges within the university that do so. Brown is a notable example. Loyola is in fact a university comprised of 3 or 4 schools IIRC. Please step your game up.

Loyola has only been a university since around 2009. All students take the liberal arts core. The addition of the other schools doesn't change that part of it. Maybe it is now classified as a university but what makes a liberal arts education is still there. I wouldn't consider the school to even be a university since it's the same size as it was before that designation. They've added a bit more to the grad programs (mostly education programs) but it's still focused on undergrads (appr. 4,000 of them). I think it became a university and changed from Loyola College to Loyola University Maryland mostly as a way to distinguish itself from the other Loyolas.

Well, guess what? It doesn’t matter what you “consider it”. It is not a liberal arts college, it does not describe itself as one, and it is not classified as one by the Carnegie classification system. It is in no way shape or form a liberal arts college and you are absolutely clueless and have zero idea what you’re talking about and are embarrassing yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who attends a small liberal arts college or liberal arts college these days? Is it a back-up school if student can't get into state public flagship? Does each state have a well known liberal arts college, or are LACs mostly in the northeast region of US, along east coast US and east-midwest US?
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/120/1284381.page

People who don't want to go to a football school, and who instead value small class sizes and accessible faculty members.

Ugh, this trope again? Schools with football can also have excellent academics, small-medium class sizes, and accessible faculty members. Imagine!

It's not a trope. While big football schools can and do have some of that, you can also spend 5 years and never actually meet a professor if you want to avoid small classes. That is a plus for alot of kids who are perfectly happy ot sign up for big lectures where no attendance is taken so you don't actually have to go. On the other hand, that is the entirely to of the SLAC experience and something you seek because you cannot avoid it and become anonymous. That is what it is all about.

Is it the same officious poster making these grand pronouncements about public universities, about which she clearly knows nothing? Not a great spokesperson for SLAC people, just FYI.

I went to a big football school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a college not prepare you work working afterwards? Then what is the point?

Every day at my job I research things and write up summaries of them for other people, sometimes present them orally. Those are core job skills I learned at a liberal arts institution. I've worked in finance and tech. Same skills are core to law practice as well.

Interesting! My kids - at state universities - are all well-versed in writing, summarizing, researching, analyzing, and presenting orally. How could this have happened?!
DP

I mean, my third grader does all those things too, but I do them better than he does. Similarly, controlling for school ranking, the average SLAC student is going to do those things better than the average state school student. But state school students have more in the way of hard skills, so everyone has their strengths.

This is so intriguing, and I'd love for you to share your sources for these claims. TIA!

Why are you so uncomfortable with the idea that SLACs might be stronger in a given area than state schools? No one is contesting that state schools produce better e.g. engineers. SLACs have areas where they excel and areas where they are weaker. So do state schools.

Why does it make you uncomfortable when asked to provide citations for your claims? Unbiased citations shouldn’t be difficult to find, right? The bolded claim in particular. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MD, the other state universities other than UMCP aren't great so a LAC it is.

Which LACs? Washington college, Goucher, where are the LACs in MD? In VA?

Loyola

Loyola is not a liberal arts college.

Yes, it is a LAC.

https://www.loyola.edu/about/

The benefits of Loyola’s Jesuit, liberal arts experience lead to a life-long approach of learning and questioning and critical analysis that prepare our alumni for—and set them apart in—the workforce and the world.

I hope this is a bored teen and not a
parent, otherwise you are a bit out of your depth. Just because a school offers a liberal arts curriculum does not mean it is a LAC. Many traditional universities offer a liberal arts curriculum or have colleges within the university that do so. Brown is a notable example. Loyola is in fact a university comprised of 3 or 4 schools IIRC. Please step your game up.

Loyola has only been a university since around 2009. All students take the liberal arts core. The addition of the other schools doesn't change that part of it. Maybe it is now classified as a university but what makes a liberal arts education is still there. I wouldn't consider the school to even be a university since it's the same size as it was before that designation. They've added a bit more to the grad programs (mostly education programs) but it's still focused on undergrads (appr. 4,000 of them). I think it became a university and changed from Loyola College to Loyola University Maryland mostly as a way to distinguish itself from the other Loyolas.

Well, guess what? It doesn’t matter what you “consider it”. It is not a liberal arts college, it does not describe itself as one, and it is not classified as one by the Carnegie classification system. It is in no way shape or form a liberal arts college and you are absolutely clueless and have zero idea what you’re talking about and are embarrassing yourself.

DP, but wow. You are truly a piece of work.