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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Actually, classes at places like Swarthmore or Wesleyan are arguably more rigorous than classes at Harvard.[/quote]

I went to a similar SLAC to these two and never had a class not taught by a professor. I have three very good friends who went to Harvard and almost all their classes the first two years were taught by TAs.[/quote]

But so what? There are plenty of TAs who are better teachers than many professors. TAs haven't finished their doctorates, but the doctorate only shows how well you can research, not how well you can teach.

I went to a SLAC and had excellent professors, but their teaching ability didn't come from their degrees. It was because they had the interest in and ability to be good at it. [/quote]

The professors at a SLAC are hired largely because of their teaching skills.  They also often have many years of teaching experience before they become professors.  The TAs at a large research university are hired almost completely because of their research skills and academic credentials, and are at the beginning of their careers.  It stands to reason that, while there may be some TAs who are outstanding, you'll have overall higher quality among the professors at a SLAC than among the TAs at a research university.

I attended a school that is somewhere in between, a research university but smaller and private, like Tufts, or Georgetown, or Chicago. The TAs who taught us were definitely not of the same caliber as the professors.  Again, with a few exceptions.  [/quote]

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