Liberal arts colleges exist to teach undergraduates and only undergrads. That's far different from universities that are designed to focus mainly on faculty research and graduate students. Star professors at many universities, including the Ivies, never go near undergrads. At liberal art college, students can't hide in the back of a large lecture hall because there aren’t any students in a classroom setting. Some introductory courses might have 40 or 50 students, but most are going to be far smaller. Especially for introductory classes, universities tend to herd hundreds of undergrads into lecture halls and often let the teaching assistants deal with these students in smaller settings. It's a fallacy that you have to attend a state flagship or Ivy to enjoy a good shot at grad school. Liberal arts schools dominate the list of the top 10 institutions that produce the most students who ultimately earn doctorates. Liberal arts colleges produce twice as many students who earn a PhD in science than other institutions. This shouldn't be a surprise. Liberal Arts College provides the sort of research experiences that universities often reserve for grad students. One of the missions of liberal arts colleges is to teach kids how to think, talk and write. Don't all schools do that? Not necessarily. You can graduate from plenty of universities without writing essays or research papers. Who, after all, is going to grade 500 essays? In small class settings, liberal art students are more