tennis8713

whats everyone think of quinnipiac?

all4thesport

Ok, here we go with some PENNSYLVANIA schools....and PA has a ton (and I mean a TON) so I'll mostly do the ones I know about (I'm from the Philly area).

University of Pennsylvania - Ivy League, easily the top PA school, most smart kids apply here, lots of early decision applicants. Great campus, great school spirit, the social ivy.

Penn State-University Park (Main Campus) - Everyone applies here (either as a safety for the really smart kids or a reach for the not so smart kids). Even if you don't go to Penn State, you still LOVE it. Huge party school. Everyone in PA is for some reason or another completely obsessed with Penn State and its great for getting jobs if you plan on living in PA because of all the Penn State alumni around. Good honors program, but admission to it is REALLY tough, we're talking Ivy League standards.

Other Penn State schools - If you don't get into Main Campus, you go here. They're okay, nothing special, not too good academically.

University of Pittsburgh - The other big, popular, party school. Lots of people apply, not as many as Penn State, but a good amount. About the same academic quality as Penn State.

Temple - It's in Philly. Everyone says its dangerous, people get shot sometimes. It's not bad if you stay on campus.

Drexel - Good for engineering. Ugly buildings.

St. Joe's - Generally a good school. Good scholarships.

Villanova - Lots of people apply. Really nice school, nice campus, good academic programs. Happy. Peaceful.

Bucknell - Liberal arts school, suburban, white, people from my area apply. It's good academically.

Swarthmore - Very competitive, good academically, no one really talks about it.

Other state schools - Bloomsburg, Millersville, Kutztown, etc. - not too good

Haverford - another good academic liberal arts school, no one ever talks about it

Gettysburg - good for history, not much else

GoBlueAlumMom

Anyone want to give an assessment of Michigan's private schools, specifically the LAC's? I'd like a student's perspective.

ophiolite

I grew up in Pa and I have to disagree with this statement...they are argruably the best schools for education in Pa. All of the students that wanted to become teachers went there from my high school...

ndcountrygirl

since i know everyone here wants to head to north dakota....hahaha i'll just do our two large universities, both about 12,000 undergrad

NDSU--known for its Pharmacy D program, excellent college of agriculture, and its college of engineering and architecture actually attracts many out of staters, new department of polymers and coatings. Just moved to Division I, excellent football program (GO BISON) and slowly becoming a good research university

UND--#2 in nation for binge drinking I believe?? Also known internationally for its school of aerospace science (aviation, atmospheric sciences, space studies) , excellent Law and Medical School, honors college. An AMAZING D-1 hockey program, other sports are D-II.

Both are in the red river valley of ND with 20 below temps and 30 mph winds common in winter...it tends to scare away all non-midwesterners

imiracle911

well the obvious
UVA - it's the best in the state. But to some extent i think the admissions process is overrated. I don't really see a whole package type of admission. Some people i know who got in were like people who have high SAT and high GPA but really no ECs whatsoever in fairfax county.
W&M - second in state, but admissions i guess is overrated. maybe it's just because we're in-state but the caliber of those accepted at both UVA and W&M aren't really the smartest people although there r exceptions.
VT - it's like the school a lot of engineering people go to. Besides a lot apply b/c of the football.
JMU - it's kind of parallel in terms of academic caliber of VT except not just engineering people.
GMU - i think people who just take APs but get like Cs and Ds go there.

these were my observations. i'm not elitist or anything it's my observation. if u want to refute it, be my guest.

meluvcherries

Pennsylvania:

Penn State U. Park- Mostly preppy white kids. The school gives of the impression of being slightly racist. Students tend to discriminate on the minorities, especially if you're black.....otherwise, its a pretty good school. However, they don't live up to their admissions standards. I know kids with very low SATs that have gotten in.

Swarthmore, Haverford - Best Liberal Arts schools in PA, and one of the best in the country for that matter. Very Hard to get in. Location is also not bad, they are both close to Philadelphia.

Allegheny, Gettysburg, Ursinus, Muhlenberg, Lafayette - These schools are also very good liberal arts schools, but admission is not as selective as Swarthmore/Haverford. However, they are great schools if you want to go for Pre-Med, as some of them have programs with Jefferson Hospital and UPenn.

Kutztown, Millersville - pretty good liberal arts schools, not as selective as the other two groups. They offer very good preparation for basically any field.

Drexel - Horrible campus. Their financial aid is even worse, as they tend to give ridiculous packages to good students but leave the extremely poor with not so great grades without any money whatsoever. Not a bad school, but not a very good one either.

Temple - Not a bad school. Big campus, located in the middle of Philadelphia. Someone else mentioned it was a dangerous school, I have to disagree. I mean, its located in a city that does have a crime problem, but all schools in Philadelphia then, including Penn, would have to be classified as dangerous, and its just not true. Good social life, but their sports kind of suck.

firewalker

ty! wow i sounded stupid there.

sarah_mc

I'm from Texas, and I think that some of the posters have been a little mean about a few of the schools.
UT Austin- Obviously this is the best state school in Texas. Austin is a very cool town. Truly it doesn'tfell like you are in Texas when you live there.

Texas A&M- Someone said that this school was "cultish." I don't think that is really fair. This school is amazing for a certain type of student, and not so great for others. If you are conservative, and have lots of school spirit I would look into the Aggies. They truly have a lot cool traditions that really create a very bonded, spirited class. If you apply, and are accepted (which you probably will be) I suggest a visit to figure out what you think of the traditions.
Texas Tech- Another conservative state school that has a lot of partying, and a strong frat and sorority presence. The academics are good, but not great, and the honors college is a way to get quite a few perks.
University of North Texas- A school that seems to be somewhat on the rise. The campus is not especially pretty, but it has a strong fine arts program. It also has one of the best music programs in the state. Denton is basically part of Dallas so you have all the benefits of that town.
SMU/TCU- These colleges often seem the same to outsiders, and even sometimes to people from the state. The universities are both in nice areas of the Dallas/Fort Worth metro. I think SMU is prettier, and the Cox school of business is much more respected. Either one of these degrees is greatly respected in state, and not so much out of state.
Austin College- Small, LAC college that has a growing reputation. Interesting place, but not set in the most exciting of towns. (Sherman)
UTSan Antonio, UT Arlington, Ut El PAso, UT Tyler, UT Dallas- A lot of the students at these schools do plan on transferring to Austin, but lots also plan to saty and complete their degree at one of these schools.
Ut Dallas is known for its engineering

firewalker

i guess youll be watching the Texas v Southern Cal game , eh?


i know i will

dsmo

Michigan's Private colleges?

People say that Alma and Almont are good schools. I know absolutely nothing about them. The only two people I know remotely interested are hardcore Republicans who like the locations because they are in the country and they could ride their horses nearby.

U Detroit-Mercy has a decent reputation I guess. Seems like a lot of local lawyers and doctors went there.

Honestly I don't ever hear much of anything about the other schools. Most people in suburban Detroit would be clueless as to Hillsdale, Hope, Calvin, etc. I know these are some good academic schools, but very few people I know consider them.

Four tiers of people at my school: those who don't go to school, those who go to Central/Western, those who go to MSU, and those who go to Michigan. Others are few and far between. Of my class of 675+, I know of only one smart kid who is going OOS for sure (Princeton).

GoBlueAlumMom

dsmo--Only in-state public schools with that huge class of seniors? How about the D2/D3 athletes? Son's HS is also suburban in Oakland County. He and several other athletes are being recruited for various sports by some of the in-state privates. High quality LAC's that give out decent merit aid bringing costs down to public school levels or less. Son is seriously considering Kalamazoo College for that reason.

Pongo

University of Missouri- Columbia (Mizzou)- party school, nice campus. Pretty much everyone goes there, not very academic but goot journalism school.

St. Louis University (SLU)- Pretty good academically, not many people I know go there (strangely. I guess people just wanna leave.) St. Louis isn't the greatest city. But we do have a pretty nice arch.

Wash U- The Missouri Ivy. Good med program, expensive, hard to get into.

Truman- out in the middle of no where (the only thing in town is a wal*mart) but good school.

CMO, Southwest Missouri State (there's like 10 of these... every possible direction you can think of attatched to "missouri state")- where people go who don't get into Mizzou.

Kansas City Art Institute: Pretty good school, buy Kansas City is meh.

RSood06

DC....udc not the best...Gtown very good...GW best in my eyes but decent.....

sydney_bristow87

Michigan (again.)

U of M (ann arbor) - Snobby (they call themselves the harvard of the midwest), lots of studying... but its still a great school, in great city (ann arbor rocks!!! )

U of M (dearborn) - "I didn't get into Ann Arbor. But Dearborn gave me a full scholarship!!" You catch my drift.

EMU- if you want to be a teacher, great... if not, well, there's not much else of a reason to go there. it's kind of just a lame excuse for a college.

MSU- Vet school.

Washtenaw Community College- someone once said, "Washtenaw is world renowned for it's medical program." That was news to me when I heard it, but as far as community colleges go, washtenaw is nice if you just want to hang out for a year or two before transferring or something.

and... that's all the colleges I can think of at the moment.