• Small classes Most professors have a Ph.D.
• Professors/advisors accessible
• Emphasis on students being broadly educated through taking liberal arts courses before specializing
• Students can change majors without losing much ground
• Students able to get classes they need
• Most students can graduate in four years
• Tend to be more diverse geographically
• Less regional due to small size
• Most colleges are 2500 or smaller
• Easier to make friends and allow students to be more actively involved in student activities
• Each college has its own "feel" which allows students to choose an institution which most matches them
• Campuses are more open and friendly

CONS:

• Most are expensive
• Most are small
• Not always diverse
• Not always "known" in their reputation or athletic emphasis
• Often very liberal
• Due to small size, often hard to find Christian friends
• Limited number of majors

CHRISTIAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

PROS:

• Same as those in private colleges plus:
• Opportunity to attend with other Christians
• Opportunities to be taught by Christian professors who integrate faith and learning
• Opportunities for Christian growth through chapel, bible classes, and outreach/mission work
• Opportunities to not only be prepared for your career, but to develop a strong Christian world view, values/moral-centered environment

CONS:
Same as private liberal arts colleges and universities except not liberal.

LARGE STATE RESEARCH UNIVERSITY

PROS:

• Usually inexpensive
• Large number of majors/courses
• Very diverse in all areas
• Large athletic programs
• A city onto itself (lots of people, a police force, a clinic, a wellness/fitness center, libraries, shops/stores, varieties of entertainment, etc.
• Large student body
• Graduate programs
• Famous professors
• Research being done
• Modern labs and equipment

CONS:

• Size—Students are numbers
• Impersonal; very bureaucratic
• Large classes (150 - 1000)
• Teaching assistants instead of full professors teaching many classes
• Professors are inaccessible
• Poor advising
• Professors primary purposes are to research and publish, not to teach
• Very liberal —often times in academic, political, and moral views (both students and professors)
• Majority of students take 5 years or more to graduate
• Course registration and availability is often difficult
• Top professors usually do not teach undergraduates

REGIONAL STATE UNIVERSITY

PROS:
Many of the same "pros" as a Research University, except closer to home

CONS:
Because they are regional, they are not always diverse in certain areas and can be "commuter or suitcase: campuses
Tend to attract older students

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

PROS:

• Very inexpensive
• Close to home
• Students can take typical freshman/sophomore required courses and transfer to a four year institution
• Provides student the chance to "start over" academically if high school record was weak
• Usually non-competitive or open admissions process
• Provide opportunities to take college courses while remaining at home
• Provide opportunities for students during their summers to take courses they would like to "get out of the way" which are required at their four year institutions

CONS:

• Too close to home
• Non-traditional student body and student life
• Large number of older students
• Usually a non-residential campus
• Lacking national academic reputation/recognition
• Little athletic emphasis

IVY LEAGUE

PROS:

• Prestige/reputation
• Name recognition
• Outstanding facilities
• Strong faculty
• Competitive student body
• Future career placement

CONS:

• Political correctness
• Liberal faculty
• Very expensive
• Very diverse
• Distance

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