ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature and extent of the similarities and differences among institutions. The differences among colleges in noncognitive outcomes probably are greater than those relating to cognitive outcomes. This may be so because the most pronounced differences among institutions lie in such noncurricular features as size, residential arrangements, religious emphasis, cultural programs, and extracurricular activities. The chapter shows that institutions of various types have much in common. Such differences as exist presumably are due to variations in the programs they offer and the environments they create—differences in such features as institution size, residential arrangements, curricular emphasis, student-faculty relationships, and religious orientation. Some studies bearing on differences among institutions relate the total institutional environment to the outcomes for students. Alumni of the more elite institutions were more likely to mention intellectual outcomes, such as general knowledge and ability to think clearly, and less likely to mention career outcomes than alumni of less elite institutions.
