What’s the educational difference between a highly-rated college and a good one?

[Anonymous]

If you have direct experience (you are/were a student, professor, parent of a student) with a top 25 national university or SLAC liberal arts program, how does the education materially differ from a run-of-the-mill college experience? I’m not talking about the school’s “network,” but the education itself. For example, how will the “product” of an English major educated at Princeton or Williams be different from that of a student at a US News 50-200 school. Put another way, if students at these different programs read the same books, how will their educations be different at the end of four years?

[Anonymous]

Peer group. If you are at a very selective college where most, if not all, students have a strong academic base and are strong students, the classroom discussion, the types of assignments and the pace of the curriculum/amount of material covered will be different from a school where students are good learners but may need more time to learn the same content.

[Anonymous]

Peer group.
Class size
Professor quality
Extra-curricular opportunity.

I went to a large public school in the Midwest and transferred to a top 10 school my junior year. Was a major difference going from a class of 500 to a class of 15. Daily interactions with a professor and kids who pushed me harder to know more and do more. Kids knew more than my peers at Big State U. Out of class we had things like NYTimes bestselling authors come to campus for chats whereas my old school never had those opportunities.

[Anonymous]

"Professor quality" will be equally great at top-notch and good schools and even the ones considered not so great. The job market for academics is terrible (especially in the humanities) so just ok schools can recruit the best and the brightest. I teach at GW and literally all my colleagues (myself included) got our PhDs at top universities and are very well regarded in our fields. So from that point of view the education your child will get is exactly the same as at Yale etc.

I think it is true that the peer group at top tier schools will be stronger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Professor quality" will be equally great at top-notch and good schools and even the ones considered not so great. The job market for academics is terrible (especially in the humanities) so just ok schools can recruit the best and the brightest. I teach at GW and literally all my colleagues (myself included) got our PhDs at top universities and are very well regarded in our fields. So from that point of view the education your child will get is exactly the same as at Yale etc.

I think it is true that the peer group at top tier schools will be stronger.

+1 I'm a professor at UMD. I previously taught at Hopkins. No measurable different in colleagues or "professor quality." In general I agree about peer group. However, there are many smart kids at UMD that would do well at Hopkins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Professor quality" will be equally great at top-notch and good schools and even the ones considered not so great. The job market for academics is terrible (especially in the humanities) so just ok schools can recruit the best and the brightest. I teach at GW and literally all my colleagues (myself included) got our PhDs at top universities and are very well regarded in our fields. So from that point of view the education your child will get is exactly the same as at Yale etc.

I think it is true that the peer group at top tier schools will be stronger.

+1 I'm a professor at UMD. I previously taught at Hopkins. No measurable different in colleagues or "professor quality." In general I agree about peer group. However, there are many smart kids at UMD that would do well at Hopkins.

*difference

Typing on my phone

[Anonymous]

I agree: Peer group. To use your example: the students may read the same books, but the class discussions are likely to be very different. One thing that stands out to me is the large number of students and professors who are genuinely excited about their work. They do extra stuff — just because it’s fun. There may also be lots of students deeply interested in multiple things.

When I was in college, I briefly chatted with a cute guy on the football team. I later found out that he was not only the Captain of the team, he was a future Rhodes Scholar. Pre- Med students doing independent research and developing community based resources in their free time. English majors who are also writing operas. So the intellectual curiosity that the students are bringing to the discussions in and out of class is pretty heady.

[Anonymous]

It really depends. If your kid is self motivated they'll find a good peer group anywhere. If they're a slacker they'll find other slackers even at Yale.

I had a friend who got into Harvard. She took the easiest classes and graduated w a C average and barely earns anything. I don't understand how her ambition switched off as soon as she got in, but she had a group of friends just like herself.

Meanwhile I know many people earning 300k+ who went to low ranked schools, but are widely read, ambitious and hard workers. I know which group of rather my kids be in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree: Peer group. To use your example: the students may read the same books, but the class discussions are likely to be very different. One thing that stands out to me is the large number of students and professors who are genuinely excited about their work. They do extra stuff — just because it’s fun. There may also be lots of students deeply interested in multiple things.

When I was in college, I briefly chatted with a cute guy on the football team. I later found out that he was not only the Captain of the team, he was a future Rhodes Scholar. Pre- Med students doing independent research and developing community based resources in their free time. English majors who are also writing operas. So the intellectual curiosity that the students are bringing to the discussions in and out of class is pretty heady.

Just to add: not all of the students that I knew were scholars or into their classes, but all of them had intense and often varied interests that brought incredible energy to the community.

[Anonymous]

They take 4 classes a semester instead of 5 so 8 less classes to graduate.

[Anonymous]

What's important more is the professors and their quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They take 4 classes a semester instead of 5 so 8 less classes to graduate.

Unless something has changed, at Yale, it’ s a minimum of 36 classes — 9 per year, although most people take more, especially with labs and studios.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have direct experience (you are/were a student, professor, parent of a student) with a top 25 national university or SLAC liberal arts program, how does the education materially differ from a run-of-the-mill college experience? I’m not talking about the school’s “network,” but the education itself. For example, how will the “product” of an English major educated at Princeton or Williams be different from that of a student at a US News 50-200 school. Put another way, if students at these different programs read the same books, how will their educations be different at the end of four years?

A highly selective college, the students actually read the books rather than using sparknotes for them.

[Anonymous]

To the UMD professor: Do you give attendance points that will increase grades? (My friend’s son went to UMD and this was the case for him). Sounds like high school, to me.

My son’s SLAC:
-no extra credit
-most exams were essay form vs scan-tron
-no opting out of finals
-minimal grading on the curve
-no homework points

[Anonymous]

We’re struggling with this question ourselves. Our DD has the grades and scores to probably get into a Top 50, maybe even a Top 20 but doesn’t want to be around rich d-bags, frat bros, trust fund kids and jocks. She likes her diverse friend group which doesn’t always have to include the smartest kids in the class.

Two schools that are about equally distant from us that we’re considering are Gettysburg (#53 in the US News rankings) and St. Mary’s College of MD (#92), but the impression we get about Gettysburg is that it caters more toward the rich kid/frat bro and the SMCM has more “normal people” (my DD’s words) that tend to flourish there. She seems to much prefer the latter.

YMMV, but that’s our take.