Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 20:06     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Grinnell works for some, but not for all. It is a very wealthy school. Very liberal.


Wrong again. Yes, it’s liberal. But it is not wealthy at all, especially when compared to other elite liberal arts colleges. Do your research before spouting off.


You are incorrect. Grinnell College is a wealthy LAC. Grinnell's endowment is almost at $3 billion--which is more than Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Tufts, or Georgetown.

Grinnell's Endowment Per Student is almost $2 million per student which places it as approximately the 10th highest among all US universities & colleges.

Grinnell College is a very wealthy school.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 20:00     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Old but I think this article gets across that Grinnell isn't interested in having a school full of rich kids.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/upshot/top-colleges-that-enroll-rich-middle-class-and-poor.html

Their big endowment allows them to have a good aid program.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 19:55     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Grinnell works for some, but not for all. It is a very wealthy school. Very liberal.


Wrong again. Yes, it’s liberal. But it is not wealthy at all, especially when compared to other elite liberal arts colleges. Do your research before spouting off.


Not the PP but I think they meant wealthy as in having a very large endowment. Grinnell has a larger endowment per student that any Ivy other than HYP.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 19:47     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:Grinnell works for some, but not for all. It is a very wealthy school. Very liberal.


Wrong again. Yes, it’s liberal. But it is not wealthy at all, especially when compared to other elite liberal arts colleges. Do your research before spouting off.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 19:31     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Grinnell works for some, but not for all. It is a very wealthy school. Very liberal.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 19:30     Subject: Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The "preppier" LACs like Williams, Amherst, Colgate, Colby, etc. tend to have good career outcomes right out of undergrad.

The "crunchier" ones like Grinnell, Carleton, Pomona, Oberlin, etc. have very little on-campus recruiting -- the vast majority of students go to grad school (often a PhD, which have questionable ROI).


My kid is a Grinnell grad married to a Grinnell grad. They both have excellent jobs and landed them right off the bat, and all of their friends from college are doing equally well or better. Some went on to grad school, some didn’t. One got a PhD. All did fine.

I don’t think I know anyone from any college who got their job through on campus recruiting, honestly. I’m sure it happens, but I would never advise a kid to pick a school based on who recruits on campus. Most graduates get their jobs by casting wide nets.

Also, on the PhD front, while it’s certainly true that graduates of SLACs tend to get PhDs in disproportionately large numbers, it’s still the case that the overwhelming majority of SLAC grads don’t go on to get a PhD.


Grinnell College is a great school if you fit in. And that is the primary concern about LACs or about any small community--especially if isolated.

Rural, isolated, ultra-liberal, ultra wealthy, politically correct school that is heaven for some and not-so-nice for most.


Glad your kid did well, but the fact is that Grinnell has a very poor ROI unless you major in computer science or economics.


Learn to read. I didn’t just talk about my kid. I talked about my kid, my kid’s spouse, and every single one of their friends.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 19:20     Subject: Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The "preppier" LACs like Williams, Amherst, Colgate, Colby, etc. tend to have good career outcomes right out of undergrad.

The "crunchier" ones like Grinnell, Carleton, Pomona, Oberlin, etc. have very little on-campus recruiting -- the vast majority of students go to grad school (often a PhD, which have questionable ROI).


My kid is a Grinnell grad married to a Grinnell grad. They both have excellent jobs and landed them right off the bat, and all of their friends from college are doing equally well or better. Some went on to grad school, some didn’t. One got a PhD. All did fine.

I don’t think I know anyone from any college who got their job through on campus recruiting, honestly. I’m sure it happens, but I would never advise a kid to pick a school based on who recruits on campus. Most graduates get their jobs by casting wide nets.

Also, on the PhD front, while it’s certainly true that graduates of SLACs tend to get PhDs in disproportionately large numbers, it’s still the case that the overwhelming majority of SLAC grads don’t go on to get a PhD.


Glad your kid did well, but the fact is that Grinnell has a very poor ROI unless you major in computer science or economics.


Learn to read. I didn’t just talk about my kid. I talked about my kid, my kid’s spouse, and every single one of their friends.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 19:16     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have read through this thread. Why are the SLAC/LAC supporters so angry ? They come across as unhinged and militant.


Really? I think it's the anti-LAC crowd that seems unhinged/militant. Why do they care so much that some students prefer a small college?


Not the PP to whom you're responding, but: I think the answer in many cases is that they get so worked up because they belive LACs are hotbeds of liberal politics, not just "liberal arts." My DC goes to a LAC which is, indeed, a hotbed of liberal beliefs, but how my DC's attendance there affects the anti-LAC militants or their kids is just beyond me.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 18:34     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have read through this thread. Why are the SLAC/LAC supporters so angry ? They come across as unhinged and militant.


Really? I think it's the anti-LAC crowd that seems unhinged/militant. Why do they care so much that some students prefer a small college?


They don't.

Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 17:36     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
I have a child at a rural LAC, a child at a large university in a large city and a child in a medium sized university in a medium sized city. Each child is happy where he/she landed. There are pros and cons to all three. I can say, though, that my kid at the LAC has loved and been impressed by all his professors. He also finds it easy to get involved with organizations and activities on campus. That's not the case with the other two kids.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 14:06     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:I have read through this thread. Why are the SLAC/LAC supporters so angry ? They come across as unhinged and militant.


Really? I think it's the anti-LAC crowd that seems unhinged/militant. Why do they care so much that some students prefer a small college?
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 14:04     Subject: Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
My kid went to an SLAC and neither she nor any of her college friends had any trouble landing good jobs. It’s only on DCUM where people think stuff like this matters. In the real world, it doesn’t.

You’re just a bunch of obsessed weirdos.

^^^^^THIS
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 08:18     Subject: Re:Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
I have read through this thread. Why are the SLAC/LAC supporters so angry ? They come across as unhinged and militant.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2023 08:04     Subject: Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:Why are the obsessed anti/SLAC posters so obsessed? It’s really sad. If you think they are inferior, why are you threatened by them? And why not be happy that those students aren’t taking up spots in the schools you covet?


I've always thought that the dichotomy some posters set up between universities and LACs reflects a lack of critical thinking skills and, therefore, intelligence. While some college applicants do have a preference for bigger or smaller schools, most of my friends and classmates, like me, were much more interested in the perceived rigor of the schools to which we applied than in the size of their respective student bodies. Those who applied to Stanford and Yale also applied to Williams and Swarthmore, for example (and for the record sometimes got accepted to the universities but not to the LACs or chose to attend the LACs over the universities: I had quite a few classmates who chose our LAC over academically comparable universities). No one chose to attend our in-state public university over a more rigorous LAC just because the former was a university.
Anonymous
Post 12/14/2022 07:51     Subject: Question of Parents of Kids at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid (who just graduated from an SLAC) had many more leadership and research opportunities then she would have at a large public. The community is so small that no one goes unnoticed (in a good way). She really emerged and shone.

Plus, because there are only undergrads to staff the labs, she had her choice of research opportunities and parlayed that into 3 or 4 peer reviewed publications as an undergrad. I doubt that would have happened at a large RO1 university.


Although I see more advantages in attending private National Universities and large public honors colleges than small, rural, isolated LACs, I do think that the above post presents a reasonable position. The post indicates that there is less competition at his or her kid's SLAC which has some advantages and benefits.


What about SLACs in urban areas?


What SLACs are in urban areas? Macalaster in a more suburban part of St Paul. Love to know about other ones.


Off the top of my head, the Claremont Colleges and others in the LA area. Are they an outlier and SLACs tend to be more small town?


Claremont Colleges are in suburbia. Not urban.


I think the point is that they are not rural/isolated.