<p>How do you reconcile that claim with the fact that some Ivy Leagues admit students with scores below 500? If you refuse to believe this shocking truth, check out the 2009 Common Data Sets of Cornell or Brown.</p>
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<p>At every college or university in this country you’ll find students who cannot think on the level expected by their school. At Ivies, you’ll find students who are not capable of handing the work; the same thing can be said of state schools.</p>
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<p>While this isn’t directed at me, I’d like to respond because I think you conclude with an important implication: it’s not fair for a public school student to cast Ivies in a negative light just because he or she cannot/did not attend one. How about we take the converse of that idea? It’s not fair for an Ivy League student to cast all public schools in a negative light just because he or she cannot/did not attend one.</p>
<p>Debrockman- Despite your brilliance, you don’t have a right to lie. The above statement is simply false. I attended a midwestern state university- in fact YOUR state university! I love the south- was born in the south and got back as fast as I could. (It’s the northeast, where I grew up, that I tend to insult. ) </p>
<p>I don’t work for the federal government. </p>
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<p>It may shock you that some people who value education go beyond a cost-benefit analysis. There are many factors that go into a college choice- in the case of my kids there was a sport (in one case) and a performing art (in the other case) involved. There was also the fact that both wanted to be in a certain kind of academic and intellectual environment. My daughter’s 2nd choice school was Indiana and she feels that she would have done fine there, but she was thrilled with her first choice. My son, for many reasons (some very unique to him) would not have gotten what he needed from a state school- especially not one like Miami. My daughter would have hated Harvard or Penn.</p>
<p>I feel sorry for you, debrockman, because you are obviously quite insecure about your family’s choice. If you have read my posts (which I know you have) you know that I am a big fan of almost all the SEC schools AND the Big Ten schools. I am NOT a huge fan of Miami-Ohio (and I know a lot about it since my law partner’s daughter is on the 5 1/2 year plan there and I’ve lived through every minute), but I’m thrilled that they are throwing money at your son. Good for you. Now go buy the sweatshirt.</p>
<p>Consumer reports has conducted numerous studies on the cost vs. perceived quality of commodities. Take jeans for instance. A high priced ‘must have/must be see in’ label has zippers which do not stay up, unevenly stitched back pockets and ‘gaping’ problems. A lower priced version had none of these problems, fit better and was made of a higher quality fabric.</p>
<p>It’s been shown over and over again that the results of wine tastings are influenced by what the tester THINKS they are evaluating. Expensive,highly rated by experts, wines served in ‘Two Buck Chuck’ labeled bottles receive low reviews by these same experts. Conversely, inexpensive wines served in bottles whose label is associated with ‘expensive and excellent quality’ consistently receive high ratings. When tastings are blind, results vary based on individual taste.</p>
<p>Just as kids are not immune to the advertising hype given by cereal manufactures during Saturday morning cartoons, we adults are being suckered into the frenzy of ‘name brand’ this and that. Regretfully, higher education has one of the most active frenzies going.</p>
<p>No it has not been shown “over and over” that wine tastings are influenced by social perception. More likely its the casual, wine drinkers who don’t have the knowledge and experience with wine to know the subtleties and nuances of the wines to have trouble discerning the difference between an ok wine and a stellar wine. Those with knowledge and experience in oenology aren’t influenced by the “top 20” tier lists of wines and go with what is best for them.</p>
<p>I was in the field yesterday and did not see the news till now. This is GREAT news!</p>
<p>D2 has also apparently achieved success! She found a slot that will enable her internship and later sitting for the RD exam. She still has the ticket to grad school as well. </p>
<p>Good news for your daughter! Just shows that there are opportunities for grads from that <em>other</em> FL (non-Gator Nation) school (jk)</p>
<p>Personally, I think all these “lists” and “rankings” are ridiculous. This is my favorite ranking site <a href=“http://www.rankyourcollege.com/ddmethod.html[/url]”>http://www.rankyourcollege.com/ddmethod.html</a>
Click on the “classic” and “fairness” rankings, and if you don’t like the order of the rankings, just refresh the page, and they change! Read their disclaimer. It is amusing. Read their press release. It is spot on.</p>
<p>Historically I have been a pretty heavy contributor to my undergrad college (at least from my perspective … the school might not think so). I read a similar thought a few years ago and greatly decreased my donation to my school and instead donated a lot more to local charities. I love the idea of donating to my local state U and will figure out how to sneak it into the mix.</p>
<p>Rathole FYI - I originally read about this when reading about the Bill Gates Foundation (or whatever it is called). I am not a huge fan or MicorSoft or of Bill Gates’ business practices but reading about his path to generosity and what he is doing now was fascinating and compelling. He is donating something like 95% of his wealth to charity and is trying to create the biggest impact with those dollars … he is catching a lot of grief because a lot of charity is not in the US but issues like children’s medical care in developing countries provide a bigger bang for the buck so he is focused on issues like those. (And in my miny donation budget a donation to UMass is muh more impactful than a donation to any of the 3 schools I attended)</p>
<p>I’m not saying that UGA is a terrible school, but as someone who lives in Atlanta and knows quite a few people who attend UGA, all I’m saying is that I wouldn’t dream of considering it a “budget Ivy”. The people in their honors program might be exceptions, but for the most part the students at UGA are the same students that makeup a normal highschool - they’re just average. In no way could you ever compare the majority of the students at UGA to the students at a school like UPenn.</p>
<p>I live in Atlanta too. The opportunities available through the Honors program and the Foundation Fellows scholarship are not to be scoffed at. The valedictorian from younger s’s private Atlanta HS is a foundation fellow. Great, great opportunity.</p>
<p>FYI, neither of my kids went to UGA. One used Ga Tech as his safety and went elsewhere. Both have attended private schools (one top 20, one top 50). Neither would consider a huge mega U flagship so did not apply. That said, I would still not insult UGA. It has lots of great opportunities and isnt as easy to get into as many may think.</p>
<p>informative is as usual uninformed. The University of Iowa does not even offer any Ag majors. It is the liberal arts and professional schools university in Iowa. Many of its departments are very good to excellent.</p>
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(jk)</p>