@sbdad12 what did you mean when you said, “ Your only concern might be how others at the school look at you, but that’s minor?” Just a little confused as to what you meant by it…
Just that other students that aren’t honors on campus may be a bit jealous of the perks and benefits you get as a Barrett student. First pick of classes, small class sizes, more advisors, nicer dorms and better dorm food. And that they may think that you believe you are better than they are. But you will also have general classes too. No one is certainly better than anyone else.
Also, Barrett students don’t go around saying “look at me, I’m a Barrett student”!
Barrett is very social (the residence halls were even purpose built to encourage social interaction and it DOES take place in many different forms).
High school students who take lots of AP exams often find that many of them give subject credit that is not useful for them or do not give subject credit at all for their major at their college. This is because the choice AP courses and exams while in high school are generally not made with an eye on the college catalogs and degree requirements, especially since high school students do not yet know which colleges they will attend.
@ucbalumnus yeah and that’s what sucks about those courses. It just seems like we kinda have to take those classes to stand out in college admissions, and in turn, high school students have more homework and lose more sleep because of them.
@sbdad12 but would they ever look at you as a “nerd” cause your in an Honors college. Just wondering if that’s the stereotype or not?
@MYOS1634 yeah I mean I’m sure most if not all the Barrett kids are all nice and respectable, and don’t need to be boasting about anything. Just curious, but what are some of those purposely done things to encourage social interaction? Also, another thing I heard about U of AZ is that they’re not allowed to keep their dorm doors open for some reason too…
ice cream socials, field trips, social spaces to encourage interaction, the living communities (the Sustainable House or Business Honors), the special cafeteria with themed stations/menus, kitchens, community assistants who organize activities…
Seriously, the problem with social life at ASU is that students get swept up in all there is and forget they’re attending college. That shouldn’t be orry.
also, buy the book the naked roommate by harlan cohen, it’s a great practical book to prepare for college in general.
So in my mind your down to Barret, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Since your wait listed at Wisconsin and you want social. Minnesota is of course better for social and sports. Their sports are really upcoming. But I didn’t hear anything about sports or school spirit. The Big Ten is a different animal in general.
You seem to be hung up on what you will look like at Barret. Asking questions is good. But I wouldn’t worry about how you will be perceived. College is what you make of it yourself. You want social and party then go for it (slow as suggested… Lol) many a GPA get destroyed so be careful for what you ask for. Maybe you didn’t know but since you really don’t want cold… ASU is not cold. Not Minnesota cold. 
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Also even though internships etc can be regional they don’t have to be. You are free to go to indeed etc and apply to internships/Jobs anywhere in the country.
Many are telling you Barrets for good reason. It seems to have everything you want in a college experience. Not sure why the hesitation.
@Knowsstuff In my mind, Arizona and USF are still in the running; I never once said I had ruled them out. I’m still trying to be open minded and trying to do more research before I start drawing conclusions.
I would have to disagree with you on the MN and Wisco comparisons you made though. Madison has and will continue to be stronger in sports. Just because the Gophers has one good football year doesn’t mean their going to continue that streak (they also had two good draft picks that led the team, especially Antoine Winfield). Gophers hockey is also slowly going down the ranks as well. And in terms of social scene, Wisco again beats out MN by a lot. I mean they aren’t know for “work hard, play hard” for nothing. It just seems like you don’t know how crazy Mad-Town can get, and this shows. However, I’m not saying that U of MN doesn’t have a social scene, they definitely do and the campus revolves around it, but Wisco definitely takes the edge for sure.
I think @sbdad12 would say differently about trying to go away from the networking opportunities that the college you go to provides, especially since he also went to Carlson at the U. It’s easier said then done about just simply moving somewhere and expecting that a job will fall on a silver platter for you, especially if this Rona virus stuff continues…
Again, I continue to express an open mind about my choices and I’m not trying to make a bonehead decision in a snap.
@MYOS1634 @sbdad12 Also, if I were to go to U of AZ (or really any school that is just the campus), what is there to do on the weekends, especially if there aren’t any opportunities for fun in Tucson for instance?
Just trying to help you narrow down. Since your not accepted to Wisconsin yet I took them out of the running and was comparing Minnesota to the other choices not to Wisconsin. I know all about Wisconsin and the Big Ten living in the Midwest my whole life. My son’s at Michigan. I get it. I saw him apply to internships etc. It doesn’t have to be regional at all. His first one was international. It comes down to you and what you do on campus. Sure many internships are regional but doesn’t mean you can move and live where you want to go. Even after your first job offer your second job doesn’t have to be in the same city/town is all I am saying.
Also you make the networking opportunity not the schools. If your active in your campus community in some meaningful way… The opportunities will be there for you. No one said anything about a silver plater. You got to make that happen. You want it then make it happen.
Do you know where you want to live after college?
The Arizona schools are within the California orbit. Phoenix to LA is a 5-6 hour drive depending on which part to which part. So jobs and internships in Southern CA are within easy reach and both AZ schools are heavily populated with Californians. So I expect that CA companies recruit there heavily.
The Florida schools are in an entirely different orbit and where you’d want to go for jobs in the big SE cities in FL as well as perhaps Atlanta and Charlotte and maybe TX.
@Camasite preferably somewhere warm, but that’s a pretty broad answer. I’ve never really been to Cali or AZ enough to know their respective vibes. It seems like Cali for be pretty fun, it just seems like there’s a lot of horror stories of the rent, traffic, and overpopulation with everyone trying to live there. AZ is cool but I feel like after the four years of college it might get kinda boring and the summers are unbearable. I’ve been all over Florida and love it a lot. Again the summers are hot, but I think as long as I would be close to the ocean, it’d be pretty fun. Some people have said that the people there aren’t very nice, but I’ve never had a problem with anyone down there, and I’ve been traveling down there my whole life. And just to be clear, I don’t think it’d be boring to go to college in AZ, especially at ASU with all the college things going on, but then all the things to do in Tempe, Old Scottsdale, and PHX. And Lake Havasu and Powell are somewhat close. And it wouldn’t be hard to fly over to LA, San Diego, or SFO for the weekend
@wmanning11 , all three of the schools are equal regarding athletics. As you know, Im a Michigan grad who went to Carlson for my MBA. The Gophers are fun to watch in football, Wisconsin is always good, and ASU was exciting too with a young QB, Jayden Daniels. All three schools have good basketball and all three have D1 hockey. You won’t have problems being entertained with sports. Of course, don’t make your decision based on who was ranked higher this year, or ever, because these things change. Just know you won’t lack for school spirit at any of these three.
Regarding U of A, don’t know what they do for fun. They have mountains surrounding the school, and they have bars around the campus. The City of Tucson isn’t too bad, but it’s not Phoenix, Tempe (Mill Avenue), and Scottsdale, which has a lot going for it. Madison (State Street) and Minneapolis (Dinkytown) too have good nightlife.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’d pick Wisconsin and Barrett equally, then Minnesota, above U of A, USF, etc. But I wouldn’t pick ASU or U of A non-honors because they are a different experience. And because you are already in the business school at ASU and Carlson, that’s big. Maybe an edge over Wisconsin on its own.
And for recruiting and internships, most schools are regional, including the three listed. Michigan is more of a national school when it comes to reputation. But certain schools excel in certain disciplines. Check out the US News rankings. Wisconsin excels in Insurance (#1) and Marketing (#9), ASU in Supply Chain Management (#2), Management (#9) and Marketing (#11). U of A (Eller) always has had a good MIS program (#4), Carlson is #6, and ASU is #9. If you want to be recruited in one of these five disciplines, you shouldn’t have an issue getting an internship or job, but who knows with the current economic environment?
I will leave you with one thing. When we toured ASU Business, I asked them what are the chances my daughter will get a TA vs a Professor. (I was used to having a TA at Michigan). They looked at me funny and said, “In the business school, we don’t have TAs teach classes, not even in discussions. You will get a professor.” That’s big in my book.
@Knowsstuff It’s all good. I mean I guess that’s what I wanted when I wrote this, hoping people could provide some info and experiences about the different schools I had listed. But yeah since you meant, MN vs. ASU, U of A, and USF, I’ll agree with you that MN is probably more social than USF just for the Big 10 fact. However, for MN vs the AZ’s I’d say it’s debatable; each are pretty good in their own respects and means of having a good time.
And yeah that’s what I inferred with the silver platter in that you gotta work to get the jobs you want, and that if you move somewhere, you cannot expect everything to fall into place for you without doing anything is all.
@sbdad12 I wonder if you’d be able to provide a little more info about these potential scenarios. So, since you think the top two are ASU and Wisco I’ll ask the following scenarios based of just these two schools (unless you also wanna throw in MN or the others in addition to ASU): If I do happen to get directly admitted to the business school at Madison, what would be the better option? And the second, if I don’t get admitted to the business school at Madison and get admitted to L&S, then which would be the better option? Also, to keep in mind, it seems as if after going through the Madison Waitlist 2024 Forum, more people than not are getting accepted to L&S, rather than there preferred school/major.
Also, what did you mean by the non-honors experience at ASU and Arizona being different? Did you mean it’s just not as worth it for a general (non-honors) education or something else?
In terms of each schools respective program rankings, I just don’t know how much I really should be looking at those considering that if I do happen to go into business, I don’t know which specific niche I’d wanna go into.
And I know you said that the top business schools like UPenn and UMich are recruited nationally, but if a school has a really strong major, like Madison’s Insurance, is that particular major recruited nationally, of is it just the overall school that’s recruited at the national level?
Yep another + and reason for ASU. Feels like it would be great to know and trust that your getting an education and degree from someone who’s a trusted teacher, knows the material, and what they’re taking about. And I think (correct if I’m wrong), but that’s where the Big 10 and possibly UC schools struggle.
@sbdad12 seems like after I started this discussion, there have been far more +’s in ASU’s direction than any other school mentioned here…
Compared to the TX and the south, California is TREMENDOUSLY unaffordable for recent college grad. The price you will pay for living in CA is ultra high rent for some nondescript suburban apartment complex way out in the middle of nowhere suburbs. Whereas in a southeast city like Atlanta or Charlotte or Orlando you will be able to afford something nice in a nicer area.
As for Phoenix and Tucson? What many non-Arizonans don’t know is that you are close to the beach for weekend trips. Puerto Peñasco is about 3 hours south of either Phoenix or Tucson and is a favorite Mexican beach resort for Arizona college students. Google it.
ASU is a very very good school. Ignore everyone saying “you’ll have too much fun and get distracted from academics” because that’s just not true. If you want to party, you can find one. If you want to study, there’s thousands of driven students doing that everyday. ASU is a top-tier school and will be worthwhile.