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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My private school kid, who has worked hard but not done well, will likely only have SLACs as his choice. Already deferred at one state university and will likely get rejected from the other three he's applying to. Our local pressure cooker privates have a direct line to the SLACs for the bottom of the class kids who can't get into the large universities. [b]For my kid with a severe executive function disorder, he would have a difficult time navigating a large state university anyway.[/b] Though I have no stress about him navigating life once he graduates. He's smarter than 99% of the world. [/quote]

Do SLAC’s really provide that level of coddling?  I mean what specifically are SLAC’s doing that make it so much easier for students to navigate the system? [/quote]

Agree. This coddling sounds like middle school. How do these kids make it in real life?[/quote]

OP here, that’s exactly what baffles me about the response on this thread. Individual this, personalized attention that; you can find these at state schools too if you seek them out, but no one serves them to you on a silver spoon. You have to be a go-getter. And being a go-getter is much more emotionally healthy for kids in the long run than coddling them from 18-22. How do these graduates even function in companies? No wonder so many of them are shoehorned into the ivory tower as adjunct lecturers are what not. Honestly sad that their parents would *encourage* that sort of decision.[b] Listen up SLAC parents: if your kids don’t have the executive function skills to cut it at a state school or a large/medium-sized private (like an Ivy), they’re probably not ready for college at all.[/b] [/quote]

How are you an authority on this? 
I'm a professor at an R1 university, and there are many, many kids who do not manage to graduate from larger universities. They don't make it. They don't get the help they need, and they never manage to stick around long enough to find out if they could "cut it." And, frankly, there are a lot of kids who skate through larger universities who can't cut it in the real world because they've only had to show up for a final exam. 
Also, check out the average graduation rates at large state schools vs SLACs, which even out perform private universities. There's a lot of growth that happens between the 18 year old that arrives on campus for the first time and the 22 year old who leaves. 
I find the animosity towards SLACs so odd. There are a ton of people on these boards who are just so incredibly insecure when they learn about SLACs as an option for college, and then feel the need to lecture parents about why SLACs coddle students or why state schools are better. This despite the fact that study after study shows that SLACs offer superior outcomes for their graduates in terms of continuing onto graduate school, long-term earning potential, and winners of major prizes. I can only guess the disdain for SLACs is an extension of feeling left behind or having grown up in a community that was excluded from the socio-economic circles that consider sending their children to SLACs. Instead of feeling so bitter and trying desperately (embarrassingly) to put down SLACs, why don't you just accept them? DCUM offers a plethora of information and insight into the circles that do send their children to SLACs. No need to lash out.  No one is forcing you to send your kid to a SLAC, but now that you know about them and their benefits, why not feel glad that you know about them and can consider them as an option?[/quote]

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