Brag about your "lesser known" school!

<p>I’m proud to say I attend Florida Atlantic University, more commonly known as FAU. Go Owls!!!</p>

<p>The 10 main points (as of Summer 2007):</p>

<p>1) Mid-major school founded in 1961 with a main campus in Boca Raton, Florida (USA). There are six “partner” campuses, the most notable being the FAU Honors College in Jupiter, Florida. All comments from here on will be in regard to the Boca campus unless otherwise noted.</p>

<p>2) Approximately 95,000 alumni (better known as Owl Country). Current population of approximately 20,000 students and growing, so it’s perfect for someone who wants a college between 5,000 people where there are too few people and 50,000 people, where there are too many people. Campus size is similarly adequate for people who don’t want to be overwhelmed – you can walk across campus in about twenty minutes. It’s also an EXTREMELY safe campus… you can walk around at midnight with absolutely no problems.</p>

<p>3) Out of those 20k students, approximately 2500 live on-campus with plans to add another 2000 by next Fall. Residential students love it here. We also have “living learning communities” where people with similar interests/majors (i.e. engineering, premed, women’s leadership) live and take classes together.</p>

<p>4) ~170 student organizations including 40 academic organizations, ~20 Greek organizations, 19 honor societies, 18 spiritual/religious organizations, 16 diversity appreciation organizations, 5 service organizations, 25 personal interest organizations, 12 club-sports and 7 student government agencies including student newspaper, radio and TV. The twelve club-sports include intramural sports on our new track and field and our renovated basketball arena, known as The Burrow.</p>

<p>5) From an athletics standpoint, we are a Division One school. Our baseball team has won a ridiculous amount of awards, our women’s softball and women’s swimming/diving won the Sun Belt Conference Championships last year, the men’s basketball team proceeded to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament last year, and the football team – only seven years old – is gaining a lot of attention while under the tutelage of football legend Howard Schnellenberger. Go Owls!</p>

<p>6) Students are a fair mix intellect-wise, very diverse in backgrounds (we were ranked in the Top 50 Most Diverse Schools in the Nation), and almost all of them are down-to-earth, sociable people. Flip flops and beach wear are common since we’re five minutes from the beach. We also have a volleyball pit in our housing quad.</p>

<p>7) Professors, by and large, are excellent. You get the occasional professor who is just there to do research but everyone is accessible and willing to help you succeed. I’ve had multiple professors really change my outlook on something, whether it was capitalism or Disney or the relationship between science and religion. Departments with difficult classes (math/chemistry/physics) have tutoring labs. We also have devoted writing centers for people who need help with essays.</p>

<p>8) We have a medical school (through a relationship with the University of Miami) and a nursing school. In the next five years, we will have a nine story teaching hospital on-campus to support both of those prorgams and the surrounding community.</p>

<p>9) FAU is primarily known for its psychology, business, nursing, and education programs. In fact, one of our psych professors is a cofounder/pioneer of the field of evolutionary psychology. </p>

<p>10) Long story short, FAU is an awesome school that’s quickly on the rise. The website is <a href=“http://www.fau.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.fau.edu</a>. Definitely check it out. Thank you!</p>

<p>…AND GO OWLS!!! RED AND BLUE! WOOT!</p>

<p>FAU is also very nice to students with LDs, and offers special classes to kids who have problems with passing math requirements.</p>

<p>Check out New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire, a private LAC in south central NH, 90 highway minutes to Boston suburbs. My parents were both professors there. I can still see my Mom making soup at her wood-burning stove as the students cross-country-skiied up to her doorway to hand in a term paper. She always stirred and counseled them at the same time. My phone voice sounds like hers, so whenever the phone rang it was a student, sometimes asking, “Can I have an extension on my term paper?” My standard answer, “It’s fine with ME; but you’d better ask my Mom!”</p>

<p>It’s the “Live Free or Die” (state motto) place, so faculty skills include independent things such as chopping their own firewood, tapping maple syrup or various cottage crafts. Every four years, the presidential primaries bring all the new candidates through, always speaking at the college because it has the town’s largest facilities. I’ve heard many of the people you see on national news right at NEC. The state capitol, Concord, is 25 minutes away.</p>

<p>She told me that the average SAT’s were in the 500’s, and it embraced its student:faculty ratio of 10:1 to provide PERSONAL attention for students.
Therefore its “niche” was as a private alternative to the large sizes of UMass at Amherst or SUNY, attracting mostly students from the Boston and NY Metropolitan areas, as well as students from NH, VT, Maine. Perhaps its most famous graduate is Geena Davis, although to be fair the theater department prof who mentored her has moved on so don’t run there for theater. Business is a very popular major, but it has the usual LAC choice of majors.</p>

<p>Nearby places that always impressed me also: Keene State College in Keene, NH; especially for teachers and community programs; and further away near the coast: University of New Hampshire where the education faculty writes books of national interest on the teaching of writing. For rugged, mountainous beauty, give me New Hampshire.</p>

<p>unalove & momof3sons, thanks to both of you for the Simmons College mention. I currently attend Simmons and I love it, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. It’s a wonderful school, and you get the best of both worlds with the traditional campus in the heart of Boston. I never imagined that professors would be so caring and invested in the quality of their students’ education - I transfered from a state U after freshmen year where not a single professor or my advisor knew my name. And while the student body is academically focussed, it’s much more supportive, rather than competitive. I could really ramble on for ages, it was just so nice to see someone mention Simmons :)</p>

<p>I know someone who has a D attending Keene for some type of music major. They are from NJ, and I can tell you that getting home is a challenge! I realize that it is a state school in NH, but it is tough on the OOS student. She does love this school! She seems to take a lot of one credit classes, so it sounds like the structure is a bit different than the typical college experience.</p>

<p>northeastmom, yes that “Live Free or Die” motto in New Hampshire also means it’s the only state in the union with BOTH no state income tax and no sales tax. So I don’t know how they fund state colleges there. Sorry it’s an ouch for OOS, except to buy clothing tax-free when attending there.</p>

<p>I second the endorsements of Ohio Wesleyan, Denison and Kenyon. We visited last year and S2 ended up loving all three and applying. Ohio Wesleyan offered him a great scholarship. Ultimately, he chose to attend another college, H’s alma mater, but he would have been happy at any of these three schools. Another small Ohio private that I have heard raves about from a young colleague is Bluffton. She is from Ohio and I believe many of her family attended and taught there. It is Mennonite-affiliated, I believe. She went to law school at Ohio State.</p>

<p>Northeastmom, one credit hour courses are quite common for music majors; my daughter carried 18 credit hours each quarter, and because she is a music major that often meant 6-8 actual courses.</p>

<p>I graduated from Keene State College ages ago. Teacher Education program was well regarded when I attended. It really was a nice campus back then, but I could not believe the changes when I visited a few years ago. They have many new and beautiful buildings, a great Art Gallery, and a nationally recognized Children’s Literature Festival in October each year. As a student at the time, I was able to eat lunch with several authors and illustrators. The Monadnock region is really beautiful in the fall. I will agree about getting there-I was driving from the other side of NH and it took over 2 hours. It took some of my CT friends the same amount of time. There are no major highways in NH that run east to west.</p>

<p>mezzomom, thanks for clarifying. I did not know that about music major classes. paying3tuitions, we have state income taxes in NJ, but enjoy buying clothes tax free too! We make up for that in our property taxes, LOL.</p>

<p>Northeastmom- I’ll second mezzomom’s explanatory note on one credit music classes, and the sheer number and havoc they wreak on a scedule. Son is a '07 BM performance grad who started out with a performance/ed combo major.</p>

<p>Credit load was consistently 18-19 credits, 3 or more courses per semester being one credit. 6, 7, 8 registered courses not uncommon. For example, orchestra, which sat for 5 class hours per week over 2 days was only worth 1 credit. The amount of time and effort far exceeded anything necessary for a 3 credit survey course.</p>

<p>Kelsmom–</p>

<p>Colorado College is in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Not well known generally. Gets confused with Colorado University or Colorado School of Mines.</p>

<p>It is touted as a small (450 freshmen class) LAC but there are plenty of science focused paths. It is unique in you only take one course at a time and have a block break of 4-1/2 days off every 3 1/2 weeks. Very outdoor oriented student body. Absolutely beautiful location. Students can ride a set bus to ski and boarding locations. They sell a discouted 5 mountain pass that keeps down the cost to ski/board.</p>

<p>Has a great hockey team.</p>

<p>This is not exactly a lesser known college but I want to mention the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. They describe it as a graduate school for undergraduates, small classes, chances for research, close faculty advising and students are free to develop their own majors and curriculum. It is part of the university, but students need to put in a separate application. So you have the advantages of a big university along with the perks of a small LAC. Son decided on Cal instead but it was a really tough decision for him.</p>

<p>After spending some time on this site, it it truly refreshing to see all these posts. I would like to add another school that my child chose after much thought. It is The University of Tulsa, a small liberal arts university with many good programs including engineering and business. She was accepted to some excellent more well known schools but chose Tulsa for the small environment and the chance to get to know her professors. They also give out great scholarships based on academics and talent. The school has about 2800 undergraduates and with the graduate program and law school the population is about 4000. I know we all get caught up in the rankings and the prestige of some schools that it is hard to look past that and see all the wonderful schools that are out there. Good luck to all.</p>

<p>I second U of Tulsa - don’t write off Oklahoma as all flat and ugly - Tulsa is hilly and pretty, with lots of oak trees and bluffs. If you happen to be NMF they offer full ride scholarships.</p>

<p>This is such a great opportunity to brag about my school - the best school in the world - Bowdoin College. Although not that many people have heard of it, I couldn’t be happier here. The academics are top-notch, especially government, econ and math (I am a gov and math double major), food is the best in America, the ocean is 5 minutes away and the location si priceless. I am really outdoorsy, and Maine is never too small. Did I mention the great dorms?
I have no idea why our school is not that well-known, but I just don’t have enough space or time or ability to speak well about it. You send an email to a professor at 11:30 pm about your project and you get an answer after 15 minutes! Everybody is really friendly and laid-back and people are not competitive at all (but are very, very intelligent). The school just makes us feel at home and I have so many happy memories from this first year - the trips, the ocean, the barbeceus, the annual Lobster dinner, the parties at my professor’s house. The classes are not easy, but the effort the professors put in makes them easier. And all departments are incredibly strong - especially, as I said, government, biology and economics. Everybody cares about you and wants you to succeed. The alumni network is awesome too - alums are fanatical about the school and will get you internshps in no time.
That was my rant, folks.
I really think people way underestimate LAC-type edication, but they are so wrong.</p>

<p>What matters most is that employers known Bowdoin–that’s for sure.</p>

<p>I’m really enjoying this thread and the way it widens options rather than narrowing them. Maybe it will help discourage the use of the dismissive term, “Podunk U,” and help readers embrace the range of choice out there. I’ll mention three places that friends’ Ss or Ds attend or where my S’s h.s. friends decided to attend despite the puzzled looks they got. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>University of Delaware. Not well known (at all) in CA, but a friend’s D fell in love with the campus and it had the program in hotel management that she was looking for. What has really impressed me is my friend’s praise for the level of personal attention (housing problem) and academic advising her daughter has received at a public university. Also, that through the program and connections, her freshman daughter was able to snag a paid summer internship at a Marriott Hotel in a top CA location. They are very pleased despite paying OOS tuition there. </p></li>
<li><p>Chapman University in Orange. Not completely unknown for students looking into film-media-TV studies since it just opened a new state-of-the-art facility for film production, editing, etc. (see <a href=“http://ftv.chapman.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://ftv.chapman.edu</a>) but not really on anyone’s radar outside CA for other programs, including business, political science, global studies. The president of the college is a dynamo and I predict it will only get better and better known. </p>

<ol>
<li> Univ of North Dakota. It never would have occurred to me that one of my S’s friends would choose this school over UCSB or UCI or any of state schools he could have attended. But this one has respected programs in aviation and aerospace studies and that’s what this young man wants to study. Maybe it’s worth a look for someone with similar interests. <a href=“http://www.und.nodak/edu/academics[/url]”>http://www.und.nodak/edu/academics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
</ol></li>
</ol>

<p>It’s my great hope that as S2 begins to consider colleges, he will look beyond the UCs and name recognition and peer pressure and really examine what is available in some “lesser known” colleges and some “fly over” parts of the country.</p>

<p>Thirding U of Tulsa. I know somebody very, very high up there. It’s a great school.</p>

<p>Also going to add Hollins University to the list. It’s a women’s LAC in the vein of Bryn Mawr and Smith, but the tendency is to go “Hollins WHAT?” The Hollins students I’ve spoken to, though, have impressed me with their honesty and their motivation, both academic and otherwise.</p>

<p>Two very good schools are SMU (Southern Methodist University) and Austin College, both in Texas. SMU has a fantastic business program and Austin College is probably the best school to go to in Texas if you want to do pre-med.</p>

<p>However, I turned both of these schools down for NYU, even though I would have probably been happier at SMU or Austin College, because going to a name-school is modern-day America is very important.</p>