Brag about your "lesser known" school!

[abasket]

Since joining CC about January (FASFA time!) I have become much more familiar with many schools across the country. Of course, some schools are talked about more on CC than others. The better knowns take up much space on here as well as it seems (to me at least) the east coast and west coast schools.

My D is an awesome student and person and did very well in high school grade wise, test wise, EC's - but it was really not a concern of hers to attend a large or well-known school. As a parent on CC, I often wonder about those who post little or "lurk" for not feeling their child's school is "important enough" to talk about, brag about or be mentioned.

So (I'm holding up a toast here) here's to the lesser well-known schools! Share the one YOUR child may be going to and smile with pride!!!!

My D will be attending Ohio Northern University in the village (yes, it's beyond small) of Ada, Ohio. Touted as "large enough to challenge, small enough to care" they are known for great pharmacy and engineering programs, but also have other specialties. My D will be majoring in Communications with a public relations emphasis - we chose the program because it was small but very active in PR organizations both in the state and nationally and have had many students become PR award recipients as students.

The campus of about 3500 students includes a law school and an active fine arts program with many music/dance/theater performances each year.

Though expensive ($37,000/year) they offered very nice merit aid and meet (I believe) close to 100% of need. Check it out!:

www.onu.edu

Don't be shy! Let's hear about your school - you may help someone else on CC who is searching for a school outside the realm of the well-knowns...

[JEM]

Thanks, abasket, for sharing the info on Ohio Northern and for starting this thread -- great idea! Let's keep it going folks!

[WashDad]

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. They have their own golf course, they own a town, the control center for the Very Large Array is on campus and they have not one, but two explosive material research institutes. What's not to like?

[S0ad]

My parents don't go online, so I'll brag for myself. :-D

I go to SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. #98 on U.S. News Top National Universities. #43 on the Best Value list. Its a small school (approx. 1,500 undergrads) but we get to mooch off Syracuse University. We live in their dorms & eat their food (not for free though), use their gyms, go to sporting events, and can join their clubs. Best of all we can take classes at SU without paying their price. Its the same cost as the instate tuition paid at SUNY ESF. :-D

[kathiep]

Great idea! My son will be entering his sophmore year at Roanoke college in Southwestern Virginia. www.roanoke.edu It's a small liberal arts college with just under 2,000 students. It's most popular sport is lacrosse and it's a high rated d-3 school for that. 40% of the students are from out of state, mostly from the mid-atlantic states. Son loves the location with the Appalachian Trail just ten minutes from his campus but the same time will get you into the small city of Roanoke in another direction. The college itself is two blocks from main street Salem, a smallish town of about 25,000 with the requisite cute stores, bars, restaurants and coffee shops.

I liked the small classes, avg. 18. and max of 41. All students are required to do a May term which is a 4 week intensive learning session that often has a study abroad attached to it. Community Service is required of all freshman and encourged of all students. It REALLY does a good job of connecting the freshman to the college. My son was happy there right away.

Sticker price is $35,351 inclusive. 85 percent of Roanoke's full-time students receive financial assistance of some kind. The average award is $19,800. Most kids do a study abroad and/or an internship. Many majors require an internship and they say they will help students get them. Haven't done that yet so I'm only going by what we were told. There is a 3-2 engineering program with Virginia Tech (30 minutes away) and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Also has a great education program for teachers. All in all, this is a good college for my son.

Now that my daughter is graduated, I'll post about her school too!

[kathiep]

My daughter just graduated from Principia College in Elsah, IL with dual degrees in Education (certified k-9 in IL) and Sociology/Anthropology. This is a tiny (less then 600 students) Liberal Arts college open only to those of the Christian Science Faith (This is NOT Scientology). http://www.prin.edu/college/ It's outstanding feature is it's wonderful world view philosophy. 92% of the students are from out of state and many are international students. My daughter became friends with people from all over the United States and the world. Three quarters of the students do study abroads and they are done differently then most colleges. Class size is about 10- 15.

My daughters Peru abroad was intended primarily for Spanish majors. My daughter and a couple of other students were able to attend because there were a couple of other spaces. Two teachers traveled with the students and it was intensive 5 weeks of Spanish only speaking, homestays with people that did not speak English, traveling to different places and hiking 40 miles in the Andes mountains. All the while the teachers did on location teaching and the students gave presentations and kept journals.

The education department is outstanding. She did three student teaching stints in three very different schools. Yes, she knew what she was getting into after teaching at an inner city school for a few weeks.

One of Principia's proudest accomplishment is their solar car's achievements. Solar cars at most colleges are built by the engineering students. Principia does not have an engineering major and anyone can work on the solar car that wants to. Nevertheless, Principia's team has consistently come in the top ten every year since 2001, beatings such teams as Stanfords. They also pride themselves on having more female drivers then any other team. With a school that's 60% female, I guess that makes sense.

Within the past year my daughter has traveled to Peru twice, the UK and Africa. Now that she is graduated she's going to teach in China for a year. I won't say Principia is the only cause of all this globetrotting but it certainly made her aware of how important it is to think globally.

Price is just over $30,000 but the overwhelming majority of students receive financial and merit aid. The campus and most dorms are beautiful and were designed by Bernard Maybeck to look like an English village http://www.prin.edu/maybeck/build/sylvester.htm. In fact the college is a designated Historic Landmark. Okay, that's enough bragging and I apologize for rambling.

[doubleplay]

My kids don't go here, but Embry Riddle is "right up the street" from us and it is one of the, if not the, best Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering Programs in the country:

http://www.erau.edu/er/abouterau/index.html
http://www.erau.edu/er/newsmedia/new...06/usnews.html

Daytona Beach Florida, baby...

[PackMom]

My S attends NC State University. When NC is mentioned on CC everyone automatically thinks of UNC-CH, DuKe, Wake Forest, or Davidson.
NC State is the largest university in NC. It's located in Raleigh, the capitol of N.C. which is about 2 hours from the coast.

NC State is generally known for Agriculture and Engineering but has so many other strong programs. The School of management has recently overtaken engineering as the largest school on campus. Accounting is a popular 5 year program that includes a Master's degree. State also has one of the largest Textile programs in the country. The school of Design is well repected.
The Forestry program is well known too. I hear that since NCSU is not known for humanities that the students in those programs are very happy because they have a small sch. in a big sch. environment. State also has learning communities in the dorms to make the big sch. seem smaller. For instance, WISE community is for Women In Science and Engineering.

The science classes are generally the large auditorium type but S's other classes have closer to 30 students.

Sports in the ACC are spectacular events.

The cost of NC State for an in-state student is around $13,000-$14,000/year give or take.

[mezzomom]

My daughter is a rising sophomore at Otterbein, which is considered a "comprehensive college" by USNWR (as is Ohio Northern, where abasket's daughter attends). According to USNWR, this means, "These institutions focus primarily on undergraduate education just as the liberal arts colleges do but grant fewer than 50 percent of their degrees in liberal arts disciplines. They also offer a range of programs in professional fields such as business, nursing and education." There is a strong pre-professional emphasis at Otterbein with degrees offered in areas like actuarial science, nursing, education, sports management, equine science, and musical theatre, as well as the "usual" LAC degrees. If Otterbein is known nationally at all, it is usually for its exceptional musical theatre program (e.g. the young man playing Roger in the Broadway revival of "Grease" has his musical theatre BFA from Otterbein).

Westerville is a quaint suburb of Columbus, OH with the legacy of being the historic "home" of the Anti-Saloon League. It is only within the past two or three years that any alcohol has been allowed in Westerville, and it is served at only one restaurant that I know of. Despite a dry policy in Westerville and at Otterbein, students who want to drink find a way, but my daughter felt that after first quarter, much of the drinking she initially observed dropped off.

Otterbein's undergrad student body of about 2300 is drawn heavily from central Ohio; most of the out-of-staters tend to be in arts-related degrees. My daughter chose to attend as a vocal music major (BA) in their NASM-accredited program with the intent of double majoring in communications (focus on television production). As so many freshman do, she's switched course and is working on a proposal for an individualized BA with a working (and lengthy) title of Global Cultural Relations with a cultural emphasis in music. The music department has been fully supportive and is encouraging her every step of the way. Although Otterbein was always her sure bet school, it was this feeling of being embraced from Day One that led her to choose Otterbein.

Merit aid is readily available; some scholarships are automatic based upon class rank and SAT/ACT scores. Their most generous scholarship requires an essay, and fifty students are selected each year for this award. There are also community service scholarships; scholarships for students of color; leadership awards; and talent awards for majors in the areas of music, theatre, communication, visual arts and for dance minors. In addition, because of Otterbein's relationship with the United Methodist Church, United Methodist students have the option of applying for scholarships through their local conference or for national UM scholarships and/or loans. Tuition, room and board for 2007-2008 are listed as $32,214 with COA estimated at about $35,100. www.otterbein.edu

[mommusic]

kathiep--I took a look at the Principia buildings and they are adorable!

[historymom]

This is a great thread and I agree, i'm sure some people are intimidated about their lesser know college choices. My Ds are rising Juniors but we are going to visit Cal State Monterey Bay next week. For one of my girls I think it will be a perfect fit in spite of the fact that her stats can take her to many more prestigeous schools.

Why we like CSUMB

size....it's got fewer than 4000 students

price...private LAC size at a Cal State Price

Bio Program...the largest marine lab going...aka the Pacific, awesome professors who are matched as mentors with Bio Students

experiential learning

ranked as a college w/ a conscience by Princeton Review

An active Newman Club where she will be supported in her Catholic faith

It's on the Monterey Bay

I'll be posting the visit on CC if they have done what I asked and added it as a reviewable school. According to their HS counselor who is also their soccer coach, they will both fall in love.

[originaloog]

Our son could have probably attended the likes of Cornell or JHU but chose to enroll at Rensselaer more than three years ago. In addition to the $100,000 in merit aid he was offerred, he has had a wonderful three years at "The Tute" and is in the midst of a wonderful internship in Pasadena< Ca which will be winding to a close in a few weeks.

He has some friends who are attending the likes of Cornell and Amherst so they may have some bragging rights. But I doubt that they are any better prepared as they approach graduation next year.

[Olymom]

I have yet to meet a kid from Western Washington Univ who is unhappy with that school. Worth a look!

[Alumother]

I love this thread...

[mythmom]

Congratulations! You must be so proud of your students!