Lakeside School

"They're too small!"
"I already had that experience by going to Lakeside."
"I want to do research (and get a job after graduation), so I need to go to a research institution." 

Every January, as college counselors meet with each of our new 11th grade counselees for the first time and begin building their college lists, we hear these same myths. I get it: I myself graduated from a tiny, private high school, then a small liberal arts college (SLAC) — but it wasn’t until I began working as an admissions counselor that I started to fully understand this category of schools and how they’re misunderstood. A few Aprils ago, a senior deciding whether to enroll at a highly selective liberal arts college even asked me: Why aren’t more Lakesiders talking about SLACs, when at admitted students events, she met enrolling students who had chosen the school over Caltech, Stanford, Yale, and Columbia?

Before families and students dismiss small liberal arts colleges (SLACs) entirely, I encourage you to ask yourselves these three questions:

#1. Am I confusing school size with school culture?

Many Lakesiders tell me they don’t want college to be a repeat of Lakeside, where it feels like everyone knows everyone (and, occasionally, too much of your business).

But don’t confuse school size with school culture! Even the smallest SLAC has around 1,000 students—about double the size of Lakeside Upper School. Plus, unlike the start of Lakeside Upper School, where students from Lakeside Middle School mix with those from other sending schools, in college, you're entering a community where you can reinvent yourself, and where your social circle can expand far beyond a single cohort. (Recently, at my 10-year college reunion, I was bewildered by the number of classmates I did not know!)

College operates differently from Lakeside. Students will have to be responsible for their own schedules — when to eat, sleep, exercise, and do homework — which may be a change from high school. If, at Lakeside, getting personalized support from teachers who know and understand you has been important to your success, consider colleges where that accessibility continues — like SLACs, where professors know your name and office hours are genuinely accessible.

School size can also mean two different things; I encourage students to differentiate between the number of students and campus acreage. Lakeside is about 30 acres, with beautiful facilities and separate buildings surrounded by trees. Small liberal arts campuses can range from Harvey Mudd (33 acres) to Berry College (27,000 acres). Hamilton College, with around 2,000 undergraduates, is about the same acreage (1,350 acres) as University of Maryland - College Park, with over 30,000 undergraduates.

#2. Where are undergraduate research opportunities actually accessible?

“R1 or bust” is a myth! 

Do you know the methodology for the "R1" research university designation, which many families misunderstand as the gold standard for research? The Carnegie Classification system awards “R1” status based on the number of doctoral degrees a university grants and the volume of research expenditures. In other words, R1 measures the scale of graduate student research activity, not undergraduate access to research. An R1 university might have state-of-the-art labs and tens of millions in research funding, but that doesn't mean undergraduates can easily work alongside faculty in these positions. In fact, at many large research universities, undergraduates find themselves competing with graduate students and postdoctoral researchers for faculty attention and lab positions — if they can access research opportunities at all before junior or senior year.

At liberal arts colleges, serious research still happens — and there are few (if any) graduate students. At SLACs, faculty are expected to conduct and publish research as part of their job responsibilities and their advancement towards tenure (to progress, for instance, from assistant to associate to full professor). So, when faculty have grants and lab space, they're looking for undergraduates to fill those roles; undergraduates are not competing with a pipeline of graduate students.

Research at SLACs is often designed specifically with undergraduates in mind because undergrads are the only students available to do the work. Students co-author papers, present at national conferences, and work one-on-one with professors on projects that would be handled by PhD candidates at larger universities. Best of all, how students secure these research positions can be as casual as asking their professor after class! 

This doesn't mean research universities are bad choices — many of our students thrive at schools like MIT, Cornell, Santa Clara, and Northwestern. But if research access is a priority, don't assume that bigger automatically means better access to research.

#3. What do I really need to be career-ready?

One of the most persistent myths is that SLACs are only for students who are undecided about their major or who aren't serious about career preparation. The assumption goes something like this: If you know you want to study engineering, business, or pre-med, you need to go to a university with a pre-professional program and skip the "liberal arts" detour.

But here's the reality: a liberal arts education isn't the opposite of career preparation — it's a different kind of preparation, one that's increasingly valued by employers and graduate schools. The ability to think critically, write clearly, adapt to new challenges, and integrate knowledge across disciplines doesn't become less important when you're pursuing a STEM field or a professional career. If anything, these competencies and mindsets become more important.

Many small liberal arts colleges—including where our recent graduates enroll, such as Grinnell, Macalester, and Williams — produce graduates who go on to top PhD programs, medical schools, law schools, and competitive careers in tech, finance, consulting, and beyond. These aren't students who lacked ambition or direction; they're students who valued the depth of engagement and intellectual flexibility that a liberal arts education provides.

I encourage students and families to make an informed choice, whether or not students end up applying to or enrolling at a liberal arts college. Visit a small liberal arts college, if you can. Talk to alums, including recent Lakeside graduates who've enrolled at SLACs, about their experience. Don't decide immediately based on assumptions about size, location, or prestige until you've actually explored what these colleges offer. By deepening your understanding and helping your student make a fully informed decision, you can only improve their chances of finding the right fit and discovering where they can thrive best.

Frances Nan (they/she) is associate director of college counseling at Lakeside School. Reach them and other members of the team at info@lakesideschool.site.