When you're a Freshman, you take what most students call the "basics," and here you are required to take lab sciences, literature courses, math courses, foreign languages...the requirements vary between degree plans, but essentially you are expected to have a well-rounded education. I think it's definitely worth noting that in early 2011, an article in the Washington Post praised the curriculum at Lamar as more diverse and therefore better than HARVARD. Reason being, even if you're an English major like me, you still have to take statistics, and biology or geology, and those types of courses that aren't so interesting to me. And according to the Washington Post, that makes me more well-rounded than a Harvard grad. HA!
Another big perk for us here is the class sizes. We seem to keep growing in numbers when it comes to enrollment, which is always cool, but our largest classes generally hover around 40-50 students tops. As you get higher up into your senior level classes, they dwindle down sometimes as small as 6-10. We all love it; we get to know each other, our professors, and we build better relationships between faculty and students which ultimately makes for a better education overall. The professors know us, they know what we need, and they make themselves available to us if and when we need their help with something. It's really a luxury that other larger schools just don't seem to offer.
But we aren't small potatoes, either. We're a nice-sized school with a nice variety--you can get your PhD in Chemical Engineering or you can major in Studio Art. As for me, I earned my bachelor of arts in English and I just wrapped up my first semester back as a grad student earning my masters in English. Getting this far has been no cake-walk, but it has certainly been a fun journey as I've had encouraging faculty who have supported me so much. Mushy, I know, but when you're in college, a supportive faculty is something you really learn to love and appreciate.
Basically, Lamar is a great place to kind of "find yourself," so to speak. Whether you're certain about your career dreams or you're just kind of trying to figure all that out, Lamar is a comfortable place to be. I know a guy who came here to study Chemical Engineering, which is a very lucrative career in this area, and changed his mind when he fell head over heels in love...with math. Now, he's soaring to the top in mathematical research.