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

[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.

The most likely reason that students at SLACs study abroad at a higher proportion is because they are much wealthier on average than the average public university student.

Compare W&M's median parental income with Virginia Tech's or even Berkeley's, despite being a public LAC.

The second reason is because the liberal arts majors are less demanding and one can take a light course load studying abroad for a semester, as opposed to engineering which is more demanding schedule-wise. Then add in-semester internships and co-ops for engineering. Most SLACs don't have engineering while most top publics are geared towards engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The most likely reason that students at SLACs study abroad at a higher proportion is because they are much wealthier on average than the average public university student.

Compare W&M's median parental income with Virginia Tech's or even Berkeley's, despite being a public LAC.

The second reason is because the liberal arts majors are less demanding and one can take a light course load studying abroad for a semester, as opposed to engineering which is more demanding schedule-wise. Then add in-semester internships and co-ops for engineering. Most SLACs don't have engineering while most top publics are geared towards engineering.

I'm with you except on BOLD. It's not that they are less demanding, it's that it's far easier to find study abroad programs that will align with a liberal arts major. It is harder to align science/engineering curricula across different universities because skills are taught and meant to build on one another in a different way than skills learned in humanities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The most likely reason that students at SLACs study abroad at a higher proportion is because they are much wealthier on average than the average public university student.

Compare W&M's median parental income with Virginia Tech's or even Berkeley's, despite being a public LAC.

The second reason is because the liberal arts majors are less demanding and one can take a light course load studying abroad for a semester, as opposed to engineering which is more demanding schedule-wise. Then add in-semester internships and co-ops for engineering. Most SLACs don't have engineering while most top publics are geared towards engineering.

I'm with you except on BOLD. It's not that they are less demanding, it's that it's far easier to find study abroad programs that will align with a liberal arts major. It is harder to align science/engineering curricula across different universities because skills are taught and meant to build on one another in a different way than skills learned in humanities.

I have no idea if LAC students are more or less likely to study abroad but do need to clarify -- science IS a liberal art. LACs do not=humanities. Many LAC students are studying biology, chemistry, physics, math, etc.

[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.

Ummm... it's ranked 15 out of 228 LACs... what would you you need it to be nationally renowned and respected?

I won't call you an idiot because that is harsh and I don't know you, but maybe you are unsophisticated on this topic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The most likely reason that students at SLACs study abroad at a higher proportion is because they are much wealthier on average than the average public university student.

Compare W&M's median parental income with Virginia Tech's or even Berkeley's, despite being a public LAC.

The second reason is because the liberal arts majors are less demanding and one can take a light course load studying abroad for a semester, as opposed to engineering which is more demanding schedule-wise. Then add in-semester internships and co-ops for engineering. Most SLACs don't have engineering while most top publics are geared towards engineering.

I'm with you except on BOLD. It's not that they are less demanding, it's that it's far easier to find study abroad programs that will align with a liberal arts major. It is harder to align science/engineering curricula across different universities because skills are taught and meant to build on one another in a different way than skills learned in humanities.

I have no idea if LAC students are more or less likely to study abroad but do need to clarify -- science IS a liberal art. LACs do not=humanities. Many LAC students are studying biology, chemistry, physics, math, etc.

Many LACs have a higher percentage of students in STEM than large publics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But the point is that to most people if you throw out the name Davidson or one of the “silly” CTCL schools they won’t know the difference.

The employers who previous posters said are “prestigious” sure would. They get it.

Huh. I worked at McKinsey and Google as a hiring manager for both. I probably hired about a dozen employees at those companies, and more than that at other companies. Until my kid reached high school and I started visiting these boards i honestly didn’t know anything about Davidson. Had heard of it, but that’s about it.

+1. Went to Willams and needed to tell quite a few people that it was a good liberal arts school..and all hiring managers don't know Williams. My boss at a big financial services company told me three years into my job that she thought I went to William and Mary. However, I did get another job in part because the head of the team saw that I went to Williams and was impressed. It cuts both ways. Your kid should go where they think they will do well. If your child does well in college and gets good internships they can do whatever they want to do. The school name will probably not hold them back or help them. FWIW, I've found the network thing to be overrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But the point is that to most people if you throw out the name Davidson or one of the “silly” CTCL schools they won’t know the difference.

The employers who previous posters said are “prestigious” sure would. They get it.

Huh. I worked at McKinsey and Google as a hiring manager for both. I probably hired about a dozen employees at those companies, and more than that at other companies. Until my kid reached high school and I started visiting these boards i honestly didn’t know anything about Davidson. Had heard of it, but that’s about it.

+1. Went to Willams and needed to tell quite a few people that it was a good liberal arts school..and all hiring managers don't know Williams. My boss at a big financial services company told me three years into my job that she thought I went to William and Mary. However, I did get another job in part because the head of the team saw that I went to Williams and was impressed. It cuts both ways. Your kid should go where they think they will do well. If your child does well in college and gets good internships they can do whatever they want to do. The school name will probably not hold them back or help them. FWIW, I've found the network thing to be overrated.

I have heard "Williams and Mary"