Pros and Cons of Public Flagship vs Private Colleges
socaldad2002
1145 replies22 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 1,167 Senior Member
As a product of the University of California college system, I used to assume that my kids would go there someday as I received a pretty good education and it’s ”relatively” affordable for in-state students. However, many of the high stat kids from D20’s high school will be applying to many private colleges throughout the U.S. and using the UCs as back-up colleges.
Why do you think this is? Is there something about top 50 private colleges that should make them more attractive than the top public colleges?
323 replies Why do you think this is? Is there something about top 50 private colleges that should make them more attractive than the top public colleges?
Replies to: Pros and Cons of Public Flagship vs Private Colleges
If they didn’t get the merit and financial aid needed, we would have been proud to send them to our public universities. I went to one myself. As it is, our kids were able get the small school, discussion based classes, non-compacted liberal arts education they wanted for less at a non-state school. They have strong relationships with their professors which isn’t impossible at a state school but certainly easier to get right off the bat at a LAC. Plus, lots of perks like living-learning communities, more support for travel abroad, etc.
Until they get results and compare the costs. Unless you are in an extremely rich area, a lot of those high stat kids will pick the UCs in the end. Most 17 year olds have dreams of going elsewhere, and there are no guarantees of getting into UCB/UCLA. What does your high school list as college destinations for the 2018 graduates?
Average public HS: mostly state universities and community colleges.
Public HS in wealthy area: more private and out of state colleges, but still many to state universities.
Academically elite private HS: mostly private colleges, fewer to state universities.
Religious HS: more likely to colleges of that religion.
Her SoCal HS graduating class is around 400, while many kids will apply to the CSU/UCs, the top 50 to 70 seem to apply heavily to the ivies, USC, Washu, Vanderbilt, Duke, Tulane, Boston privates, NYU, etc and seem to favor these colleges. Most are full pay. Just wondering if these families know something that I’m not thinking of, such as graduating on time, smaller classes, better alumni network, more internships oppos, etc
We do not qualify for financial aid, so for us, private schools and OOS publics are much more expensive than our in-state public schools, even with merit.
Private universities will offer a more intimate campus feel, smaller class sizes, more individualized advising, and probably a more diverse geographic mix of students. There may be great alumni networks and great research opportunities, depending on the major.
Applying is one thing...anyone can apply. BUT how many will actually attend these colleges?
The question was...how many from the 2018 graduating class went to these top 50 colleges?
If it is mainly wealthy full pay families, then it is not a surprise that they will use money to greatly expand their kids' choice of colleges, rather than be limited by financial limits like most students and families. E.g. NYU (with its poor FA and limited merit scholarships) is not a realistic application for students from non wealthy families (a high reach at best for merit scholarships for top end students), but wealthy families can include it in the application list.
Some of the top 20 schools are rural and may have more limited offerings, such as no engineering or music schools. Not all are, of course. For me, a school with fewer than 3000 students is just too small.
If you live in California, you (or your kids) would have to decide just how far away they want to go. It's a long way to Colby Maine or Williamstown Mass. Planes, trains and automobiles.
Personally having attended a small liberal arts school I found it stifling and limited, so I have pushed for the big state publics where the offerings of majors seem limitless. Now where I grew up private was more common but thats the NE.
Basically we have all different thoughts on the matter.
To which I would add that some of those - outside the IVYs and a few others - also have generous merit aid as well.
As a result, many of the students who are fortunate enough to be accepted to both top privates and public flagships find top privates to be less, or even significantly less, expensive than instate public flagships.
And then there are the super smart kids who get into the privates but still choose UC--Berkeley over Princeton full pay--yes I swear it's true-- and 3 chose Berkeley over Northwestern, Berkeley over Carleton.
I'm from the east coast--prep school and top LAC-- so I understand the pull of prestige that these schools hold back there. And for sure it's a different experience than a large public university but for those who do send their kids to UC's they do not have inferior "facilities or course offerings"--that is most likely a comment from someone who hasn't ever visited these beautiful campuses and seen first hand the diversity, the vibrancy, and the academic excellence they offer. And yes, it is not only possible, but easy to graduate in four years. YMMV
The elite tier of public flagships make it hard to look at the many lesser private schools so many on CC need to consider relative to their flagship. So, it depends on your state. Why spend more on a school with fewer available courses, no grad offerings et al. Honors programs can offer many of the so called advantages of private schools. The elite students, ie those with equivalent stats/ability, often end up at their flagship U.
I guess cons would include sharing a school with many more students and those merely good instead of better. One could list many pros and cons- depending on the individual public and private school being compared.
From what I know of the UCs, the first two might be concerns - it's worth looking at those closely. The 4 year grad rate of 75%-ish for the top 2 UCs. You can look at course catalogs for class sizes.
The last two on your list likely vary from school to school, and kid to kid. Is there a formal (electronic directory at least) alumni network at those UCs? A mentoring program? Are summer internships made available to students by the university itself, and/or is there a source for them in the career center's offerings?