Sara Said:

Small, liberal arts colleges?

We Answered:

Take a look at the top liberal arts colleges in New England according to US News & World Report rankings:

Williams College (MA) This one is about 3 hours from Boston and NYC. Very remote.
Amherst College (MA) This one ain't too much better, 2 hours to Boston and in a small town.
Bowdoin College(ME) 2 hours to Boston and up in frigid Maine.
Wesleyan University(CT) 2 hours to NYC and 3 hours to Boston. In small town.
Smith College(MA) In small town 7 miles from Amherst so same undesirable qualities as Amherst.
Colby College(ME) Same issues as Bowdoin.
Bates College(ME) Same issues as Bowdoin except uglier city.
College of the Holy Cross(MA) 40 minutes to Boston or Providence. In New England's second largest city. On MBTA line to Boston, 10 trains/day

Andrea Said:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of going to a small liberal arts college vs a university?

We Answered:

First you have to decide what is most important to you--do you want a small, close-knit environment, or a big one you can sort of get lost in? My boyfriend goes to UMass-Amherst (19,000 students) and I know when I visit him that I could never go there because the amount of people makes me feel overwhelmed, and the university can feel impersonal, especially when you're sitting in a lecture hall with 400 other students (I've been to classes with him, and the teachers didn't even notice I was there). But there's also tons of opportunities and they offer many majors and programs, and there's always someone to talk to or a club to join or an event to go to.

Personally, I go for smaller schools, but I'm pretty introverted and get easily overwhelmed. Smaller schools naturally have smaller class sizes, so students get more attention from professors. But it can also be harder to make friends just because there's fewer people, and some schools are so small that they're just quiet and can get boring.

Barbara Said:

Stoner and Small Liberal Arts Colleges?

We Answered:

If that is all that you are basing your decision on, you are not going to have to worry because you probably won't last there all that long anyway. Pothead's rarely manage to get through school and have an actual productive life.

Norman Said:

Big research university or small liberal arts college for pre med?

We Answered:

You could just look for a small/mid sized research university. Are you the type to need more personal motivation from professors? Than the smaller school might be for you even if you'll have to work harder to find experience and internships. If you are self motivated and would like a wider range of internship and lab experience.
Either way ask around about how easy it is to find research opportunities and what the teacher student ratio is in the higher level courses that you'll be spending most of you time in. The posted ratio for my school was 1:20, but intro level courses could be well over 100 and upper level classes were around 10.

Jason Said:

Do you think people that go to small liberal arts colleges are socially weird dependent people?

We Answered:

Well, I don't know if its much of a stereotype. When I visit colleges I like to see the way the students interact with each other. For example, during Presidents week I visited UPenn, Princeton and Swarthmore. UPenn is a big . Many kids were speaking to each other. WHenever anyone walked in anywhere they seemed to know at least one person. THe students spoke to each other. Very social. Princeton was similar, but a bit smaller. But it still had lots of social interaction. At Swarthmore on the other hand, I would consider this school a small liberal arts college, no student was walking with another student. In the cafeteria, everyone seemed to just be by themselves. It didn't seem as if anybody had friends.

Jimmie Said:

Who has any thoughts on small liberal arts colleges vs big universities?

We Answered:

I'm a huge proponent of a smaller liberal arts colleges--for certain people.
Why I liked a smaller school vs. a bigger one: Smaller classes. This means less lectures and more of the Socratic method; closer relationships with your professors and more access to your professors; more of a "hands-on" learning approach; a greater possibility of students being engaged in the class (it's pretty easy to nod off/get lost in the 'shuffle' if you're in bigger classes.) I also liked being able to walk around campus and see people I knew. At a big school, you might not see your friends for a day or two if you don't have classes with them, since it's so spread out. Smaller schools also tend to be prettier in terms of dorm rooms. They also tend to really listen to their students. You also get the ability to really make a name for yourself at the school. I'm also not hugely into sports--I'd go to games, but I was never partial to the huge pep rally culture that you'll see at places like USC and Notre Dame. Bigger schools can have a major focus on sports.
The only downside I see of a small school is that there won't be as many classes offered. However, my school wasn't THAT small--something like 2,400 people--and I was only frustrated once by not having a large number of class choices. Luckily, I went to a college where you can take classes for credit at 4 other colleges that were in my 'consortium,' so I had thousands of classes available to me (one great consortium=Claremont McKenna.)

Samuel Said:

Small Liberal Arts Colleges?

We Answered:

You can find top listing of liberal arts college courses in this site - collegefinder.bebto.com
It also has info about each, tips to apply and which salary should you expect (to comparison)