When looking at colleges and universities, one problem students most commonly run into is the decision between a Liberal Arts college and a traditional university.  Liberal Arts colleges (LACs) offer a different perspective to post-secondary education and many more students are enrolling into these types of colleges. While both schools provide the opportunity for higher education, there are many factors to consider when deciding which type of post-secondary institution to enroll into.

Class Sizes

Generally, Liberal Arts colleges have smaller class sizes. The student to teacher ratio is considerably less than typical universities. Liberal Arts colleges can have as few as 10-15 students to one teacher in a class while universities could have large seminars and have hundreds of students in one class.

Variety of Majors

Universities tend to have many different options when it comes to different majors and minors you can earn. Liberal Arts colleges have broader majors and less specific subjects. For example, a large university can have different types of biology like Molecular Biology or Biochemistry, while LACs typically offer more general majors which would be like Biology. Larger universities also focus on research more than LACs.

Different Types of Degrees

Since LACs are smaller, they offer more general degree such as Associate's and Bachelor’s degrees. More rigorous and prodigious degrees like P.h.D’s and Graduate School for Medical or Dental majors.

Extracurricular Activities

Larger colleges and universities generally are big on sports. Many of the big universities are apart of Division I sports, while smaller LACs are typically have Division III sports. Both types of institutions offer many different clubs and organizations, but due to the fact that universities have more funding and a higher student body population, more clubs could exist.

Examples of Schools

Some examples of LACs are:

• Amherst College - Amherst, Massachusetts
• Carleton College - Northfield, Minnesota
• Grinnell College - Grinnell, Iowa
• Pomona College - Claremont, California

Some examples of Major Universities:

• Yale University - New Haven, Connecticut
• University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley, California
• Johns Hopkins University - Baltimore, Maryland
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Cambridge, Massachusetts

---

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COLLEGE ADMISSIONS? CHECK OUT THE YGITW BOOK HERE!

LOOKING FOR A HIGH SCHOOL OR COLLEGE INTERNSHIP? APPLY HERE!

---

PHOTO CREDITS:

http://multimedia.uga.edu

http://blog.valorebooks.com

http://www1.cuny.edu