College acceptance rates

middle professor wrote:

A valid criticism of some of the research universities is the poor quality teaching - nobody at these schools receives tenure and promotion based on their teaching skills. Teaching skills are valued at the liberal arts colleges and there are great, intimate research opportunities at these schools where you will be mentored by the professor and not a graduate student, who is being mentored by a postdoc. But while the liberal arts faculty can do some awesome research they will not be doing world-changing research like you will find at Harvard/MIT/Cal Tech/Stanford. But an undergrad in these labs will be really, really, small fry. That's my perspective from the sciences.

I've always wondered about this problem in the sciences. I was a humanities student in college, went to an undergraduate only institution and got a great education and never even saw a t/a, let alone be taught by one.

But in the sciences does this same dynamic exist? My son wants to be a scientist. Should he even look at a place like Dartmouth, that does not have significant graduate work in the sciences, but might have better instruction?

I know you have to go college by college, but in the context of the sciences, I don't know how to value the existence of resources at a Cornell or U Michigan versus the intimacy of a small school.

(for the record, in the humanities, I can't see the logic of going to a Cornell or Penn over an Amherst or Williams or Dartmouth)

It's definitely true to some degree in the sciences. My brother went to a liberal arts-style state school (TCNJ) in a small chemistry department. He wound up working on research directly with a professor, publishing, and flying out to San Francisco to present. Now he's at an Ivy doing his PhD. I don't think you'd get the same kind of treatment in a huge department.

If he is strong in mathematics and has AP in calculus, he probably has a shot at MIT. Good track and x/c programs, good coaching staff and excellent facilities. Bottom line: he has got to set up appointments and visit any place he thinks may be right for him. D1 or D3 should not be a factor in his decision. An ACT of 33 should rank him high among athletes. Even at elite academic schools, there is more than one standard for admission.

coaching101 wrote:

(4:16/9:18)

That combined with the 33 ACT will get him into any university in the country.

Not quite true. Very close, but not quite. Some of the top academic schools have very limited numbers of roster spots and some of those are quite competitive in track/cc.

However, any coach would be at least interested in talking to the guy and most likely bringing him in on a visit. Might depend a bit on how the fall XC season goes.

#1 piece of advice: Contact coaches now and say you're interested. They will tell you whether they can get you in or not, and if they want to.

grades will help him get in the school he wants, but he needs to make sure coaches know he is interested in the schools. a lot of the schools you mentioned like applicants to declare early so he needs to notify them early that he has a interest