Liberal Art College

[Allan]

What is the major difference between liberal art colleges and national
universities? Are liberal art colleges good in science majors?

[Raanmed]

From: "Allan" <alla...@ihug.co.nz>
Date: Mon, Jun 22, 1998 05:59 EDT
Message-id: 6mla4c$cr$1...@newsource.ihug.co.nz>

>What is the major difference between liberal art colleges and national
>universities? Are liberal art colleges good in science majors?
>
>
>

Their approach to teaching seems to be the
major difference. Liberal arts professors are
expected to have some minimal interest
in teaching undergraduates and doing their
own research. According to one thread on
this subject, university professors are treated
more like trophy wives whose
undergraduates are supposed to worship
whether they can teach or not.

A liberal arts college is basically any
baccalaureate granting institution without
professional schools or graduate programs.
There are hundreds of them in the US,
and the best include some of the most prestigious colleges in the country, the
worst
are just Bible schools or vocational schools
posing as colleges. It is interesting that even
the larger "national universities" still refer to
their main residential campuses--as "colleges".

The best include the older New England
colleges that resisted expansion during the
great wave of university growth in the
19th century. These include Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Swarthmore,
and Haverford. Also, look at some of the West Coast stalwarts such as Reed,
Pomona,
Harvey Mudd and Occidental; and, the
Midwestern progressives (among the first to
admit women and blacks), Oberlin, Carleton
and Grinnell. And Davidson, in the South, also seems to be moving up.

If you restrict your search to the top 25 or so
of these institutions, you need not worry
about being a science major. The schools
mentioned above have over the years
outperformed much bigger schools in the
production of future Ph.Ds in science; their
pre-med programs are impeccable; and, some, like Bryn Mawr and Wesleyan even
have small doctoral programs of their own.

--Ron Medley

[Ly...@my-dejanews.com]

Allan,

Liberal arts colleges require a set number of classes that are to be taken in
each area of the college such as English, science, pysical edu, religion, and
social sciences. Each college varies the number of classes in each area, but
most require the same areas of study. Unlike state colleges, liberal art
colleges usually have a strong department. Like you said, most are science. I
attend Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This is a liberal arts school
that is know for its science and premed. programs.

Kellie

-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading

[Dodge Johnson]

Allan -

>What is the major difference between liberal art colleges and national
>universities? Are liberal art colleges good in science majors?

It sounds as if you have been reading the U.S. News College Issue.

In theory, liberal arts colleges offer students broad education and tend
to be smaller than universities. In theory, national universities tend to
have more than one 'school' (e.g. liberal arts, engineering, business, etc
- as vs departments which tend to be smaller. They are classed by U.S.
News as National because students come from across the country - as vs
regional where they don't. This category distinction isn't really
meaningful, but it does enable U.S. News to play with its markets.

Science is sometimes distinctly better for undergraduates at liberal arts
colleges, since there aren't graduate students to soak up all the
goodies. It can also be excellent at universities. In other words, good
science is where you find it.

Good luck

Dodge Johnson
Educational Consultant
College Planning

[Darccity]

>What is the major difference between liberal art colleges and national
>universities? Are liberal art colleges good in science majors?

Others have sung the praises of LA colleges, and their points are correct. But
there is another side. A liberal colleges offers liberal arts degrees, with
emphases in specific subjects. Many restrict required courses in any one major
to approximately 25% of all coursework. Of course, you may take more, and
grad-bound students are strongly encourage to do so. This is OK for
humanities, social science, and pre-med/pre-law/pre-MBA types. Thus, it is
important to check the following before committing yourself to a liberal arts
college: (1) how often do advanced courses "make"? Sexy courses listed in the
catalog may not have be offered in years (or ever). (2) How large is the
faculty in your science and related fields and how diverse are the specialties?
(3) When did the tenured science faculty get their PhD? There are dozens and
dozens of liberal arts science departments whose academic training is getting
very old on the vine. Older faculty wisdom is fine, but lack of any recent
permanent hires is a real danger signal. (4) How many majors are there? A
large faculty alone may merely indicate a "service" department.