Consider a Small Liberal Arts College
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(the images on this page are of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York)
Most Drake graduates attend one of the campuses of the University of California System, the California State University System, or the California Community College System. There are a lot of sensible reasons for this. These colleges are inexpensive, close to home, accessible in terms of admissions, and some of them are quite prestigious.
However, there are reasons to consider a very different kind of college instead: A private liberal arts college of 1000-3000 students. I have taught at two of these (Hobart & William Smith Colleges in New York and Middlebury College in Vermont), so I'm particularly qualified to tell you the pros and cons of attending one.
Quality of Education:
Although it is possible to get a great education anywhere, small liberal arts colleges offer some big advantages over large universities, especially during the first 2-3 years of college.
Your introductory classes at a typical state university will be very large, and often taught by overworked and distracted instructors who may or may not be 'real' professors. In most cases they simply will not have time to get to know you individually or to help you develop your skills. So the standards and expectations they set for you may be pretty low. Once you choose a major and start taking advanced courses the classes will get smaller and you will get more attention from the professors.
Also, universities have graduate students. These are older students who have already graduated from college and are studying for a Master's or Ph.D. degree. Graduate students have priority over you for all the special opportunities you find at a university: doing scientific research, directing a play, having a gallery show your art, traveling to a conference, etc.
Class sizes at small liberal arts colleges are smaller, and classes are nearly always taught by full-time, permanant professors who think helping you is their primary job. This means a more engaging and stimulating experience for you. There are no graduate students to compete with, so you get to do the things graduate students normally do.
Having a stimulating and engaging college experience is very important to your future! We're talking about four years of your life and tens of thousands of dollars! A college should challenge you, inspire you, and help you find your passion. If it dosn't, it's a gigantic waste of time, money and opportunity.
Cost: Private colleges are expensive. Many charge over $40,000 per year for tuition, room and board. However, these colleges are extremely generous with financial aid and scholarships and less than half of the students who attend them pay full fare. Many middle class students get steep discounts, and many others attend almost free. It all depends on your family's finances and on any scholarships the college offers. When I taught at Hobart & William Smith, I knew some students who had very little money. They were going there for next to nothing - the local state university would have charged them more!
So don't assume you can't afford a private college. Apply for financial aid and see what happens.
Admissions: some of these colleges are very competitive to get into, and some are very easy. Most range somewhere between. No matter who you are, there's a small liberal arts college out there that's just right for you in terms of who they'll admit.
Lifestyle: nearly everyone lives in campus dorms at these places, and eats in campus dining halls. Social life revolves around events on campus, and some of the people in your classes will live down the hall from you. Under these circumstances it is easy to have fun and to make friendships that last a lifetime.
Name recognition and prestiege: Large universities are better known, so get used to people not having heard of your small college, or having them confuse it with another one. However people know that small liberal arts colleges as a category offer an excellent education, even when they haven't heard of the one you attend.
Transition to the world of work: Big universities may have the edge here over small colleges, especially if you don't plan on going to graduate school right away. Many small liberal arts colleges are in rural areas or idyllic small towns. There just aren't very many jobs available locally, or working adults for you to meet. The professors can advise you on how to become a professor like themselves, but don't generally have a lot of contacts in business, government, etc. Maybe that's one of the reasons small liberal arts colleges send a lot of their graduates directly on to medical school, law school, business school, Ph.D. programs, teacher training programs, and other kinds of graduate school.
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Here's a partial list of small liberal arts colleges with good reputations:
NEW ENGLAND: Amherst, Bates, Bennington, Bowdoin, Colby, College of the Atlantic, Connecticut College, Hampshire, Holy Cross, Middlebury, Mt. Holyoke, Williams, Smith, Trinity, Wellesley, Wesleyan
PENNSYLVANIA, NEW YORK, MARYLAND: Allegheny, Bard, Bryn Mawr, Bucknell, Colgate, Dickinson, Elmira, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Hamilton, Hartwick, Haverford, Hobart & William Smith, Ithaca, Lafayette, Sarah Lawrence, St. Johns College, St. Lawrence, Skidmore, Swarthmore, Union, Vassar, Washington College, Washington & Jefferson
MIDWEST: Antioch, Beloit, Carleton, Coe, Cornell College, Denison, DePauw, Earlham, Grinnell, Hillsdale, Illinois Wesleyan, Kalamazoo, Kenyon, Knox, Lake Forest, Lawrence, Macalester, Northland, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Ripon, St. Olaf, Wabash, Wheaton, Wooster
SOUTH: Berea, Davidson, Eckerd, Guilford, Morehouse, Oglethorpe, Rhodes, University of the South, Spelman, Washington & Lee
WEST: Claremont McKenna, Colorado College, Harvey Mudd, Lewis & Clark, Mills, Occidental, Pomona, Pitzer, Puget Sound, Reed, St. John's College of Santa Fe, Scripps, Whitman, Whittier, Willamette
So many colleges! A lot of them sound and look the same. How can you choose between them? It would be an exercise in absurdity to try to rank them academically. They really are very similar. Picking a college is a bit like falling in love - something catches your attention and before you know it you feel that this is the right one for you.