Reply to Okay, so where is DS/DD going to go to college next fall?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So first my background--I have experienced the range of schools:  I attended a state school, went to a HYP for grad, and taught at a Top 25 liberal arts college.

I'm just curious...I went through this thread and I see a lot of people saying that they are going to stretch financially to send their kids to places like the place I used to teach.  Which is to say schools like Bates or Pomona.

And I guess I'm just curious and trying to understand why.  Based on my experience, these are places that are great and where a student will get a decent education and have a pleasant life for four years.  But very honestly, they are a similar price as HYP without offering the same level of name recognition, facilities, faculty, peers, etc.  You can get an equivalent education at the University of Maryland--maybe better if you are interested in doing undergraduate research--and typically go to the grad or professional school of your choice.  So what draws people to faraway expensive colleges?

The answers I came up with myself are that for some parents [b]college is not just about education but about DS/DD finding a partner[/b], or maybe the family is interested in a religious education (Catholic schools, BYU, etc.), or maybe they think that four years on an idyllic campus and what are hopefully lifelong friendships are worth the $240k price tag.  But I still honestly have some trouble wrapping my mind around that.  I'd be curious to hear people's responses.[/quote]

Another academic here -- and, abstractly, I have the same reaction to SLACs vs. public schools (with some exceptions re specific schools and specific majors).  But I'd also throw in the mix the facts that the best state universities are getting harder to get into for in-state residents and, of course, for those of us in DC, there's no high-quality public university.  So, yeah, Berkeley over Bates but if the choice is Claremont vs. JMU (or Carleton vs. UC Merced), it's not so clear cut to me.

What I don't get is why so many private school parents seem be more inclined to pay for Colby than to pay OOS tuition to send their kids to Ann Arbor or Madison.   But then I'm biased toward major research universities and am not particularly invested in the public/private distinction.  And I'm guessing that not many parents (or kids) are primarily interested in seeking out schools where the intellectual action is.  They're looking at social environment, networks, job prospects, and grad school acceptance rates.  [/quote]

I guess not everyone sees the benefit of large research universities for undergraduates nor do they underestimate the intellectual firepower of SLAC professors and students. The sports emphasis at places like Michigan and Wisconsin can also be a major turn-off. I find your perspective and attitude to be narrow and narrow-minded - all the most reason for me to support the kind of broad education a liberal arts college provides. [/quote]

Clearly it's true that people don't see the benefit of large research universities for undergraduates -- that was my point.  There's a much broader education available on a campus where 3676 are offered to undergraduates (Michigan) vs one where 395 courses are offered (Swarthmore).  As for the "intellectual firepower" of SLAC professors, it really depends on personality and field.  Intellectual stagnation is a real risk in situations where you don't have grad students, colleagues in your subfield, funding for state-of-the-art labs, and where the emphasis is on undergraduate teaching (which, of necessity, tends to get repetitious -- some courses need to be offered year in and year out and there may be only one faculty member who can teach them).  SLACs are not the most intellectually stimulating environment for faculty.

As for the students at SLACs, I'm not making assumptions about their "firepower."  Just saying that access to grad courses, better facilities (labs, libraries, museums, hospitals), and a larger and more diverse faculty and student body can be a really important (and "broadening") experience for an intellectually-inclined kid.  Maybe parents who are more concerned, at this stage, with small class sizes, personal attention, and the right cohort sometimes [b]do their kids a disservice when they encourage them to select a college using the same criteria we use for selecting an elementary school.[/b][/quote]

I will use your Colby example since you single it out to contrast to big research U. Maybe you should know that the chair of the Government department is a non-resident fellow at the Brookings. And another Colby Government prof is also a development practitioner with field experience as Team Leader for State Department- and USAID-commissioned assignments in the Middle East and North Africa, Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Balkans, West Africa and East Africa. And that's just two of my kid's professors. So no, she (not we) did not "select a college using the same criteria we use for selecting an elementary school". And she did not choose Colby to find a partner.

And further, some of the best art museums in the country are at SLAC's. Have you ever been to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute at Williams, or the Smith College Museum of Art or the Colby College Museum of Art?

You appear to suffer from a bad case of superiority complex or you need glasses to correct your myopia. You are also condescending and patronizing. You must be a peach of a professor. [/quote]

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