Reply to I go to a top LAC for history and stem. It is overrated.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]These discussions always focus on admit rates to PhD programs, rather than success in the PhD program. I'm a STEM prof at a research university and I have consistently seen the students from LACs, who had great transcripts, glowing letters, etc etc, struggle with the rigor and independence that is expected of a PhD student. [/quote]
I'm the LAC booster (with concerns about some LACs) from earlier in the thread. This comment codifies my core general worry about LACs: the small classes and tutorial-like nurturing atmosphere are great, but at some point the budding scientist or scholar has to make it on his or her own.  I don't doubt that the first-year experience may be enormously better at a LAC, but I suspect that the student who really is a candidate for an eventual PhD may be in better long-term shape having gone through undergrad in a way that more resembles the research culture of grad school.  (Of course, it depends on the individual student. But my kid's probably going to choose a research university over a highly PhD-productive LAC for this reason, among others.)[/quote]

I think the counterpoint is the research is more likely to be meaningfully led by the student at an LAC. Removing grad students from the mix means undergrads play a bigger part in study design and analysis.  (They also play a bigger part in educating other students which itself is a learning experience, but that’s another matter.)

Several of the top grad school feeder LACs also require a senior thesis that needs to be presented to a committee.

Reed probably has the curriculum that most mirrors grad school, complete with qualifying exams that precede the senior thesis. [/quote]

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