For a liberal arts college student, the contrast between a big university and a small, intimate college can be drastic. As a fellow student here in the U.K. told me, “At Mount Holyoke, you are always taken care of with professors making sure that you are on the right track. Here, you are pretty much on your own.”
When I first started my classes at the University of Edinburgh, I was astonished by the number of students and professors. Although I was prepared to attend classes with hundreds of students, I didn’t expect to see the courses co-taught by six to ten professors. I often sit there and wonder how can the professors form close relationships with their students.
At Mount Holyoke, my professors know me well and I regard many of them not only as my mentors, but also as close friends. Here, however, I often wonder if the professors even know the names of their students. Of course, when students have questions, they can always go to the professors’ offices or email them, but rarely will students visit professors as friends. A friend of mine joked, “My advisor is always busy—I only see him when we meet and discuss my thesis. I often have to chase him!” In contrast, at Mount Holyoke, I often go to my advisers just to share about what is going on in my life. I remember that during my sophomore year, when I was going through a tough period, I attended my adviser’s office hours every week just to chat with her. Each time I came out of her office, I felt a lot more composed.
Education in the U.K. is also more specialized. Chemistry students may spend years doing nothing but chemistry. They dig deep into this field, but may not learn much about other subjects. I consider this both a benefit and a disadvantage. In my medicinal chemistry class, for example, the chemistry majors often struggle with biology concepts. As my adviser here joked when he saw “History of Medicine” on my course record, “Wow, a humanities class! What are humanities? I don’t understand a word about them! Well, but I am just a boring chemist.” On the contrary, the unique liberal arts education of Mount Holyoke offers students more perspectives and problem-solving methods to think about. Most American students I met here seem to have more lab experiences and tend to approach questions from broader angles.
In this way, the U.K. education system resembles that of other countries like France, Germany and China. Such systems offer a more focused and specialized education. Students specialize in a certain subject and often go into the workforce in that area. The U.S. system, and especially liberal arts education, on the other hand, focuses on nurturing well-rounded students.
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