Anonymous wrote:Don't let DCUM be your gauge of what's actually happening in reality.

+1

You’ll see a lot of talk of LACs on here, but most people don’t think about them (not a shot at LACs, they’re great, just unknown). Most students just want to go to their state school, which doesn’t require all the research people are putting into LACs. So, it may be unusual for those not familiar with LACs to see all this talk about them when they may not know anyone who has gone to one of these schools. They are popular with educated families on the east coast, which is the main demographic of DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:Because a large percentage of students applying to LACs apply ED, so the time to decide whether this is the right type of school, and which school is the best fit for you, is right now. In the spring people will be debating the pros and cons of large schools that accept a lot of students in RD.

This cannot be more wrong. LACs are really small. The number of LACs is also much smaller than the number of national. Percentage wise, national universities have comparable % ED admits, with some schools even higher. Chicago, for one, has 70-80% ED admits.

Don't let DCUM be your gauge of what's actually happening in reality.

Bc they actually teach/focus on the students - from someone who went to HYP.

Because a large percentage of students applying to LACs apply ED, so the time to decide whether this is the right type of school, and which school is the best fit for you, is right now. In the spring people will be debating the pros and cons of large schools that accept a lot of students in RD.

Bc the well-funded LACs won't be cutting budgets for student life, faculty, and everything in between for the next 4 years?

Just look at schools like Northwestern, Cornell, and Vanderbilt - the cuts will be enormous (as reported in their school newspapers). Endowment taxes, research cuts, DEI "fines" - all of it has to be covered by other funds or things get cut. Meanwhile, Amherst & Swat get a tax cut?

Every private college counselor out there is talking about the resurgence of top SLACs right now. If you aren't, you're missing something.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawhitford/2025/07/05/these-26-rich-private-colleges-just-got-a-tax-cut-from-republicans/

Anonymous wrote:I see we have more than 10, 15 LAC posts on the front page.
Why people are so interested in going to LACs?

A timely answer from today’s NYT. Gift link below.

“The moral of those two stories is that the smartest approach to college may be precisely the one that its trajectory of late has conspired against: range widely across subject offerings and focus not on a skill that could become obsolete but on intellectual dexterity and powers of judgment with better odds of enduring relevance. “A liberal arts degree is a pre-professional degree — you just don’t know what the profession is,” said Zimmerman, who teaches a seminar for first-year students at U-Penn called “Why College?”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/opinion/college-soul-ai-education.html?unlocked_article_code=1.WU8.owfE.ZRjWn3tmhilb&smid=url-share

So many unhappy kids on the southern schools who couldn’t get out for college. Wouldn’t wish that on others

Anonymous wrote:Math is hard !

Which is why your son chose business!

Anonymous wrote:Math is hard !

Math is one of the most common majors at all the top lacs!

Math is hard !

Anonymous wrote:I see we have more than 10, 15 LAC posts on the front page.
Why people are so interested in going to LACs?

Not sure that this reflects strong interest in attending LACs so much as curiosity about the dominate personality found at each of these tiny schools to assess whether or not one's child might be comfortable in a particular small community.

National Universities usually have something for everyone socially & academically due to their size. Biggest concern seems to be size of large intro classes at large public universities, but this concern is alleviated for those who enroll in the honors college at most large public universities.

Just read those threads, couldn't be more clear what the perceived pros and cons are.

I see we have more than 10, 15 LAC posts on the front page.
Why people are so interested in going to LACs?