LAC:  LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE，中文又译作文理学院，是美国一些只设立了本科的学院，以其精湛的本科教育出名，学院一般人数远远少于大的UNIVERSITY。

liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is an institution of higher education found in the United States, offering programs in the liberal arts at the post-secondary level. They encourage — and often require — their students to take a substantial number of classes in topics which may not directly relate to their vocational goals, in an effort to provide a "well-rounded" education. They may be distinguished from colleges offering programs primarily in business, engineering and technology, the trades, the fine arts, theology, or other specialized subjects. Liberal arts colleges have sprung up outside the U.S. as well, such as in The Netherlands and Canada.

Liberal arts colleges usually focus on tertiary education leading to a bachelor's degree in a program designed to be completed in four years' worth of study, though some include post-graduate programs. They tend to be relatively small, private, and predominantly residential. As such, they may offer a more uniform student experience than at a larger university with more diffuse course offerings. While they lack the name recognition of larger schools, the top liberal arts colleges are highly selective and compete with elite universities for students. Although private liberal arts colleges tend to be very expensive, there are also a number of state-supported institutions modeled on traditional liberal arts colleges.

Some institutions referred to as "liberal arts colleges" are distinguished from universities not so much by a difference in kind, but a difference in size, taking the form of small universities, complete with subsidiary schools dedicated to a particular specialized course of study and offering a limited set of graduate degrees. In this sense, large liberal arts colleges and small private universities occupy similar niches.

Furthermore, university units whose faculty and curriculum encompass the traditional liberal arts and pure sciences are frequently labeled "liberal arts colleges." Indeed, some are explicitly named a "College of Liberal Arts," or a variant such as "College of Arts and Letters" or "College of Arts and Sciences" to distinguish them from units focused on the manual arts and applied sciences. Both colloquial and professional references to "liberal arts colleges" generally refer to standalone institutions, excluding such units.


List of liberal arts colleges
Acadia University
Adrian College
Agnes Scott College - women's college
Albertson College of Idaho
Albion College
Albright College
Alice Lloyd College
Allegheny College
Allen University
Alma College
Amherst College
Anderson College
Antioch College
Aquinas College
Argosy University
Asbury College
Ashford University
Assumption College
College of the Atlantic
Augsburg College
Augustana College
Baker University
Baldwin-Wallace College
Bard College
Barnard College -women's college
Barton College
Bates College
Belmont University
Beloit College
Benedict College
Benedictine College
Bennet College
Bennington College
Berea College
Berry College
Bethany Lutheran College
Bethel College (Indiana)
Bethel College (Kansas)
Birmingham-Southern College
Bowdoin College
Brevard College
Bridgewater State College (public)
Bryn Mawr College - women's college
Calvin College
Carleton College
Carroll College
Castleton State College (public)
Catawba College
Central College
Centre College
College of Charleston (public)
Chapman University
Chatham College
Christopher Newport University (public)
Claremont McKenna College
Coe College
Coker College
Colby College
Colgate University
College of William and Mary
Colorado College
Concordia College
Connecticut College
Cornell College
Cumberland University
University of the Cumberlands (formally Cumberland College)
Curry College
Davidson College
Deep Springs College (all-male)
Denison University
DePaul University
DePauw University
Dickinson College
Drew University
Earlham College
Eastern Connecticut State University (public)
Eastern Nazarene College
Eckerd College
Elizabethtown College
Elmira College
Elon College
Emerson College
Emory and Henry College
Erskine College
Eugene Lang College
Evergreen State College (public)
Finlandia University
Fort Lewis University (public)
Francis Marion University
Franklin and Marshall College
Franklin Pierce College
Furman University
State University of New York at Geneseo (public)
Geneva College
Georgetown College
Georgia College & State University
Gettysburg College
Goshen College
Goucher College
Grinnell College
Guilford College
Gustavus Adolphus College
Gutenberg College
Hamilton College
Hamline University
Hampden-Sydney College (all-male)
Hampshire College (alternative)
Hanover College
Hartford College for Women- women's college
Hartwick College
Haverford College
Heidelberg College
Henderson State University (public)
Hendrix College
Hillsdale College
Hiram College
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hollins University - women's college
College of the Holy Cross
Hope College
Houghton College
Huntingdon College
Illinois Wesleyan University
Ithaca College
Jamestown College
Jacksonville University
Johnson State College (public)
Juniata College
Kalamazoo College
Keene State College (public)
Kenyon College
Keuka College
King's College, Pennsylvania
Knox College
Lafayette College
Lake Forest College
Lawrence University
Lewis & Clark College
Lingnan University (Hong Kong) (public)
Louisiana College
Luther College
Lyndon State College (public)
Lycoming College
Lynchburg College
Macalester College
Madonna University
Manhattan College
Manhattanville College
Marian College
Marietta College
Marist College
Marlboro College
Mars Hill College
Marygrove College
Marymount College
Maryville College
University of Mary Washington (public)
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (public)
McDaniel College
McKendree College
MidAmerica Nazarene University
Middlebury College
Mills College - women's college
Millsaps College
Mount Vernon Nazarene University
University of Minnesota Morris (public)
University of Montevallo (public)
Moravian College
Morehouse College (all-male)
Morningside College
Mount Allison University
Mount Holyoke College - women's college
Mount Ida College
Muhlenberg College
Nebraska Wesleyan University
New College of Florida (public)
North Central College (Naperville, IL; private)
Northwest Nazarene University
University of North Carolina at Asheville (public)
Northland College
Oberlin College
Occidental College
Oglethorpe University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Olivet College
Olivet Nazarene University
Ouchita Baptist University
Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy
Pacific Lutheran University
Pitzer College
Point Loma Nazarene University
Pomona College
Prescott College
Providence College
University of Puget Sound
Ramapo College of New Jersey (public)
Randolph-Macon College
Randolph-Macon Woman's College - women's college
Roanoke College
Reed College
Rhodes College
Ripon College
Rochester College
Rockford College
Rollins College
Roosevelt Academy
College of St. Benedict
Saint John Fisher College
St. John's College
St. Lawrence University
St. Mary's College of California (Private)
St. Mary's College of Maryland (public)
St. Olaf College
St. Thomas Aquinas College
St. Thomas More College
Saint Vincent College
Salem College
Sarah Lawrence College
Scripps College - women's college
Sewanee, The University of the South
Siena College
Siena Heights University
Simmons College - women's college
Simon's Rock College
Skidmore College
Smith College - women's college
Sonoma State University (public)
Southern Nazarene University
Southern Oregon University (public)
Southwestern University
Spelman College - women's college
State University of New York at Geneseo (public)
Susquehanna University
Swarthmore College
Sweet Briar College - women's college
Thomas Aquinas College
Thomas More College of Liberal Arts
Transylvania University
Trevecca Nazarene University
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Trinity Christian College (Illinois)
Trinity University (Texas)
Truman State University (public)
Union College
University College Utrecht
University of Dallas
University of Richmond
University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
Ursinus College
Vassar College
Virginia Military Institute (public)
Virginia Wesleyan College
Viterbo University
Warren-Wilson College
Wabash College (all-male)
Wartburg College
Washington College
Washington and Jefferson College
Washington and Lee University
Wellesley College - women's college
Wells College
Wesleyan University
Western Oregon University (public)
Westminster College, Salt Lake City
Westminster College, Missouri
Westminster College, Pennsylvania
Westmont College
West Virginia Wesleyan College
Wheaton College, Illinois
Wheaton College, Massachusetts
Whitman College
Whittier College
Willamette University
William Jewell College
William Tyndale College
Williams College
University of Wisconsin-Superior (public)
Wittenberg University
The College of Wooster
World College West (defunct)

Rankings
In the influential but controversial America's Best Colleges issue of the U.S. News and World Report, the top 25 "national" liberal arts colleges [1] were ranked as follows (2006 edition):

(1) Williams College
(2) Amherst College
(3) Swarthmore College
(4) Wellesley College
(5) Carleton College
(6-tie) Pomona College and Bowdoin College
(8-tie) Haverford College and Middlebury College
(10-tie)Claremont McKenna College and Davidson College
(12) Wesleyan University
(13) Vassar College
(14) Washington & Lee University
(15-tie)Colgate University, Grinnell College, and Hamilton College
(18) Harvey Mudd College
(19) Smith College
(20) Colby College
(21-tie)Bates College and Bryn Mawr College
(23-tie)Mount Holyoke College and Oberlin College
(25-tie)Macalester College and Trinity College