<p>Thanks for the heads up. I know CSUMB is not pretty. We’ll have to see how big a factor that is for the kids. I also know it’s not in Monterey but in the ugly little duney area just North.</p>
<p>I didn’t know that it was so distant from grocery stores etc. </p>
<p>That said…I stand by my post. Aesthtics are a concern but programs are key as are finances and campus climate. I am sure CSUMB won’t compare favorably w/ other pretty schools my Ds will be visiting in the next 18 mos on that score but its a standout in other respects.</p>
<p>On another note I totally agree w/ you about UCSC. It gets the rep for being a weak UC because of it’s gradeless history but , at least when I was there it was what made it. Sure you could take a class nicknamed “suntan psych” and you didn’t have to have grades, but I remember visiting DePauw in Greencastle and seeing another student’s bookbag. She had two books written by my professors at UCSC. She was amazed that I not only had had classes with them but that we were on a first name basis b/c I’d played IM basketball with them.</p>
<p>Mootmom, my son went to FDU and LOVED it. He is now in their masters of accounting program,which he finds to be very good.</p>
<p>However, my daughter is attending University of Cincinnati. If you haven’t seen the school, you REALLY should check it out. Most of the Ohio State universities are very good and very well-endowed,…with money that is. UC is no different. They have over a billion dollar endowment and the campus has been experiencing a major renaissance in building architecture. Most buildings are very new and designed by leading architects. They have fabulous facilities such as gym and swimming facilities. In fact, one of their pools has a current where you can swim against it for more exercise or swim with it for fun.</p>
<p>Their school of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning is nationally ranked in the top5 in the US as is their Concervatory of Music and their criminology program. They have a fabulous marching band which my daughter loves. Overall, this is a very underrated school and is a fabulous deal for the money considering they are big in giving out both merit scholarships and need based grants.</p>
<p>My son will be attending the University of Denver.</p>
<p>It’s a school that’s in that hard-to-find size range–not big, not small. It has about 4500 undergrads–he felt that a lot of the LACs he liked might grow stifling over time, but he didn’t like the huge classes at the big state U’s. He also likes being on a definite campus in a definite campus bubble (he wants the full experience of a traditional, classic campus life) but being in a great city.</p>
<p>The programs he is most interested in–either business or public policy–are both exceptionally strong. There are no TAs at the school. He was impressed by the professors he met and the classes he sat in on. He liked the students he met–While a lot of them like to ski on weekends (so does he) the school seemed to be very serious during the week. Internships and Job placement seems to be very strong as well.</p>
<p>boysx3- University of Denver also has a strong music school in the Lamont School of music. They also have a very new performance facility with many state of the art features and wonderful acoustics.</p>
<p>My brother, the magna cum laude graduate of Harvard in Philosphy and Psychology, got his PhD from University in Denver because they had a fabulous Child Psych program at the time. So there you go.</p>
<p>He also got to be a very good skiier over those years:).</p>
<p>KCOHIO and other Ohioans: Ohio is a mecca for underrated schools! S2 says Ohio is fabulous for music - even the smaller schools have access to great teachers. Cleveland Institute and Cincinnati conservatory were two schools he was sad to turn down. </p>
<p>D’s original list of 10 or so schools had four Ohio schools on it (we live in Georgia) and she ended up applying to two: Denison and Miami U. (She liked the others, too, - Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster - but needed to limit her list.) She will be attending Miami U, but I will restrain from recommending it until she actually attends and we see how it goes. Everything looks good from here so far, though, and they were very generous with money (as was Denison).</p>
<p>OK…I’m from Ohio and I will vouch for the high quality of both the state universities (all of them) and the plentiful number of great private schools as well. I’m a Ohio University graduate, and that school has really made a nice name for itself and grown in many ways since I left there. Their allied health professions are terrific, as is their college of communications. I can’t speak personally to the other schools. They also have one outstanding marching band. Athens is a quaint college town. But don’t ignore Ohio’s other state schools…Ohio State, U of Cincinnati, Bowling Green, Miami University, Kent State…they are also quite good. Then there are the terrific privates…Case Western, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Marietta, John Carroll, Wooster, Baldwin Wallace, geez there are so many colleges in Ohio it’s hard to remember their names. And the conservatories…CCM, CIM, Oberlin.</p>
<p>My son went to an a capella performance at Lamont while he was there–he really enjoyed it, andhe raved about the venue. He’s looking forward toseeing all kinds of performances there.</p>
<p>The snowboarding is a definite plus in the eyes of my son–he has only been on the bunny hills of central Ohio.</p>
<p>We cast a wide net when we were making our list for him to check out–we did University of Denver as an adjunct to a trip to Colorado/Boulder, which he also liked. But he fell in love with the University of Denver. He applied EA and heard Jan. 3–that was it for him.</p>
<p>We were rather surprised that DU isn’t higher “rated”. I think if the school was located on either coast rather than in fly over country it would be a lot more popular.</p>
<p>I am giving a shout out for The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. It has just under 100 majors, a law school, and many graduate programs. It has a great business program. terrific opportunities with major corporate home offices such as Target, Cargill, Medtronic, Best Buy, 3M and Carlson Companies. Over 50% of their senior class has participated in a study abroad program. It has about 10,000 students. It is Catholic affiliated, but not the fabric of the school. It has something to offer everyone. They are starting a medical school in the next 5 years in cooperation with Allina Health. Check it out: <a href=“http://www.stthomas.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.stthomas.edu</a></p>
<p>University of Denver is a sick school. I definitely wouldve looked at it if my parents wouldve allowed me to go to school west of Chicago. I absolutely love DenCO though.</p>
<p>As I must periodically do, I’m dropping in to say that that the University of St. Thomas also boasts a lovely, relatively new science building that your’s truly’s father served as a main Architect for!</p>
<p>Two other very solid midwestern LACs that are being endowed with science buildings by my father and his team: Beloit and St. Olaf! Check them out, especially if cold winters and beautiful science buildings float your boat. :)</p>
<p>This is a very interesting and pleasant thread. I’m struck by how many of these colleges I have a connection to because I know someone who has attended (including Principia, Beloit, Millikin) or know someone who will be attending (Kalamazoo – my son’s chosen school). I am a very strong believer that we have an embarrassment of riches in this country when it comes to fine institutions of higher learning, and that finding fit is more important than finding a name brand.</p>
<p>I’ll put in a plug for one of my own alma maters – the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (known here simply as UWM). It’s nearly unique among large (25,000+) urban public doctoral universities (or even private universities) in that it’s nestled in the best neighborhood of a large city. It has excellent schools of architecture and urban planning, fine arts, library science and business. It has a diverse student body. Even with the University of Wisconsin only a little more than an hour a way in Madison, an extraordinary number of the top business executives and civic leaders in the Milwaukee area attended UWM. And remarkably, it’s where Golda Meir went to school; she was a Milwaukee native. (The UWM library, in fact, is the Golda Meir library.)</p>
<p>i chose to not attend, but Beloit and Berea colleges are two wonderful colleges worth looking into.
Beloit is in Wisconsin and about an hour from Chicago.
Berea is actually free if you get in, and has been ranked the number one school of the south for the seventh year in a row.</p>
<p>i chose to not attend, but Beloit and Berea colleges are two wonderful colleges worth looking into. >></p>
<p>I agree. I recently interviewed the head of admissions at Berea for my blog. He was also a Berea grad. His comments about how Berea changed his life were heart-warming and heart-felt. Although their main mission is serving low income students in the Applachian area, they do take students from across the country and around the world. All students receive full tuition scholarships, and work in on campus jobs. It is a true gem, and it is too bad that more kids don’t consider it (or know of it).</p>
<p>And, as a Beloit parent, I can’t say enough good things about my daughter’s experiences there. It is truly a college that cares. I particularly like how supportive the faculty is at Beloit. Lots of schools talk about this, but it’s really neat when my daughter talks about having coffee with Fran or repeats a joke that Scott told her and I realize that she’s talking about her teachers who she considers dear friends. My son is seriously considering Beloit as well, even though he has the stats to go to much higher ranked schools. I think that Beloit is special because it really is a place that fits kids at different academic levels, and helps them achieve their full potential. It’s not for everyone (what school is?), but if it fits, it can be a terrific place.</p>
<p>Other schools that have impressed me during campus visits, or in talking with their admissions people, and that I think deserve more attention: Augustana College (IL), Ripon College (WI), Hanover College (IN), Sewanee/The University of the South (TN), Lawrence U(WI), TCU (Texas Christian U), Southwestern U (TX), Trinity U (TX). I have also been very impressed with many of the honors programs at major universities - to me, places like the tutorial college at Ohio U, and the college of creative studies are UCSB, are gems that deserve more attention. DePaul is also a school that has some exceptional programs in certain areas, and since so many kids say they want “urban” it is suprising that more kids don’t check it out.</p>
<p>I could go on but the bottomline is: Guidebooks like the Princeton Review and the Fiske Guide only touch the surface. There are many wonderful schools out there for those who look beyond the “names.”</p>
<p>My best friend will be attending a verrrry small school called Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. There are about 900 total undergraduate students. </p>
<p>It is really a diamond and the perfect school for a girl like her. She loves nature and animals and volunteering, to the point where she has traveled to Peru, Mexico and is currently in Nicaragua to help families build homes and to learn more about each culture. She wants to join the Peace Corps one day, but until then will enjoy her amazing education at WWC. The school has a triad program which involves “Academics,” “Work,” and “Service.” It is a requirement that each student play a part in the school’s continuance. I’m assuming there are other people out there like my friend, and should check this school out. </p>