Reply to Is it really worth it?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Is it really worth it?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For those saying that an Ivy is worth it compared to a state school, would you say the same about top small liberal arts college?

My DD was admitted to Swarthmore.  Her other option right now is a much lower ranked private (still small compared to a state school, but not as small as Swarthmore).  She is getting cold feet about Swarthmore because she has heard the stories of it being a depressive environment with an insane work load.  She has no plans to get a PhD.[/quote]

I don't feel the same way about SLACs. Even the best have very limited resources compared to major research universities and the focus on teaching/absence of grad students means that they don't retain faculty who are doing cutting-edge work and are being continually intellectually challenged.  For a kid who is not going into academia, that may not matter.  But if the selling point of a SLAC is its focus on undergrad education, then why on earth should there be an insane workload?  If what you get out of college is a credential, better reading/writing/thinking skills, an exposure to a range of different fields, and a love of learning (or, more prosaically, the skills to figure out what you need to know and how to learn it), none of that requires an oppressive workload.[/quote]

Swarthmore grad here. Swarthmore definitely has an oppressive workload. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics