List Three Reasons Why You Love Your School

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Alright, this for current college students/alumni to help out prospective students and to brag about your school. List the three things you most love about your college. I’ll start.</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH</p>

<p>1.) Location. Location. Location. I could not go to a school that was 300 miles removed from the rest of society. Pitt is in the heart of Pittsburgh, a hub for arts, entertainment, and culture. I just love the diversity of cities. So much to do. And Pitt students ride the Pittsburgh buses for free, so you can go anywhere you want in Allegheny County without paying a dime. Pitt aso has a program called PittArts which offers discounted tickets for students to plays and concerts and such around the city. If you need to get away from the city lights, Schenley Park, one of Pittsburgh’s largest parks, borders the campus. And right next door is Carnegie Mellon, another one of the premiere universities in the world. Pitt and CMU work closely together in all aspects. Pitt students can even take classes at CMU.</p>

<p>2.) It is a large university, without many of the negatives. There are around 17,000 undergrads at Pitt, which gives you a ton of opportunites for student organizations (there’s over 400,) intramurals, and the like. And the sports are top-notch. The two major sports teams, football and basketball, have both been nationally ranked, as has wrestling, swimming, and ultimate frisbee. The baseball, softball, gymnastics, soccer, and tennis teams are also excellent. There is a ton of schools pride, you will see people (even non-students) walking around in Pitt gear. But Pitt is not one of those “party schools” that you commonly associate with other large state schools. Sure there are parties, but, because of #1, there is just so much more to do. Class sizes are small, most classes are taught by professors, and large classes have recitations which are smaller discussion classes. And unlike mot urban schools, Pitt actually has a defined campus with plenty of green spots, so you do get a sense of school community that is absent in other city colleges. </p>

<p>3.) It is a world-class university. Because it is not known as a party school, Pitt has an excellent reputation in the real world. Also, Pitt’s $1.8 billion endowment (over $105,000 per student) ranks 25th in the country. It is a major research center, particularly in medicine and the sciences. Pitt has top programs in Philosophy, Chemistry, Economics, English, History, Busines, Physics, Political Science, Engineering, Psychology, and Physiology. Pitt’s study abroad program is one of the top in the country. And Pitt recently unveiled a ten-year, $1 billion (that’s $1,000,000,000) plan to renovate, update, and build new facilities all around campus.</p>

2

<p>And as creator of this thread, I hearby ban all mentions of US News.</p>

3

<p>Boston U.</p>

<p>1) Boston. 'Nuff said.</p>

<p>2) Terriers Hockey.</p>

<p>3) State school size, so a lot of different people and extremely diverse.</p>

<p>3 reasons is far too few, but that’s the basic overview.</p>

4

<p>Johns Hopkins:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>much of the best research in all fields goes on here, and there are ample opportunities to get involved as an undergraduate. --Largest recepient of research grant in the country, approx. 40% goes to medical school, remaining 60% goes to A&S, Engineering and APL.</p></li>
<li><p>World class professors–many of the professors are leaders in their field. My physics 2 professor analyzed Chandra deepfields from the Hubble, and is the principal investigator for a new telescope to replace hubble. Also, any of my social science and humanities professors are well-regarded in academic circles.</p></li>
<li><p>Size, class sizes and general professor-graduate-undergraduate relations. Class sizes are small, save for large intro classes. It’s easy to get to professors and graduate students and many are very eager to talk about future plans, graduate schools, and I have been offered research positions more than once–and I just finished my freshman year!</p></li>
</ol>

<p>(Also, lots of new construction–whole new quad, new dorms, and Gilman Hall renovation! And substantial endowment increase–see Knowledge for the World Campaign. Sorry, more than 3–and there are many more)</p>

5

<p>Ouch, no mention of Bluejay’s Lax? ;)</p>

1 Like
6

<p>Well, you know, they’re okay…Go jays!</p>

7

<p>I like the idea of this thread… thanks, Pat!</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO</p>

<p>1) The core curriculum. The core is the school’s way of making sure that a certain type of student and a certain type of person applies to the school. This type of person may want to one day be a doctor, a lawyer, or a businessman, but for the time being wants the chance to read-- or to suffer-- alongside Aristotle and Kant, Plato and Marx. It attracts the type of student who is just as comfortable playing beer pong or watching Rocky as he is talking about Tolstoy while playing Super Smash Bros. in the dorm lounge at 3 am. Students at Chicago don’t usually come just for the name-recognition and they don’t usually come just to get a degree that will jumpstart their careers; they come to be learn and be goofy and meet people who are as effervescent as they are.</p>

<p>2) Professors seem to bend over backwards for students. I’m sure that’s the case with many other schools, but it most certainly happens here. Chicago’s big on small, discussion-based classes, so even if you’re in intro to Econ or whatnot, you’re still going to be in some smaller classes. My older brother went to an Ivy League school and vowed never to take a small discussion class outside of the minimum requirements of the first-year writing seminar… that’s not to say that they weren’t offered, it’s to say that he decided to avoid them. At Chicago, you can’t “decide” to avoid anything-- that holds as true in signing up for classes as it does when you’re having a debate with somebody and want to sidestep evidence.</p>

<p>3) Chicago as a city offers many opportunities; Hyde Park is one of the most fascinating neighborhoods in the country, insofar as wealthy, high-powered African Americans (Barack Obama, Carol Moseley Braun) and lots of middle- and upper-middle class racially mixed families live right near the U of C. I came from a suburb that was almost completely white; going out to a restaurant and seeing many people, many ages, many colors reminds me that integration really can work. And when you can’t find any tourists coming to Hyde Park specifically for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and the Museum of Science and Industry, you can get to the loop and neighborhoods north in about 20-45 minutes.</p>

8

<p>to the first poster-- i cant believe u actually listed ultimate frisbee as a sport to be nationally ranked in</p>

9

<p>secondly- i would not calll Pitt a “world-class university”…sorry</p>

10

<p>Thank you for your contributions, Steve.</p>

11

<p>Sarah Lawrence College is:</p>

<p>Open curriculum
Fits my personality
30 minutes from NYC</p>

12

<p>Tufts:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>People: everyone here truly is an “active citizen”, unlike many schools which tout their liberal ideals as though they’re Greenpeace’s mouthpiece, Tufts students really go out and do things and the school is constantly encouraging students to do so, I interned at an NGO called Yonso Project (<a href=“http://www.yonsoproject.org%5B/url%5D”>www.yonsoproject.org</a>) which helps children’s education and community in the small village of Yonso in Ghana. That NGO was started at Tufts and is run by Tufts students and others now as it expands. Almost everyone I know is involved in some kind of cause, non-profit, humanitarian work, whether it’s helping students in local medford, or going to Africa, South America, Asia, etc and helping needing families in whatever way they can. This is a school where people are not going on little “visits” to these places to feel better about themselves, but where people truly care about the earth and its’ people, and its’ a remarkable to be surrounded by them. </p></li>
<li><p>Academics: Professors here are obviously top-notch, but that’s not what makes it great, it’s the personability and accessability of them. My classics professor and pre-major advisor has taken me to lunch multiple times, he held TWELVE review sessions for the final exam, for a class of ~25, and is the kindest man I know. My future history advisor, and world-renowned historian (Felipe Fernandez-Armesto) took me to the Taj (the original Ritz in downtown boston) for a chat about my future goals and aspirations, and lunch, a remarkably kind man. I have had long conversations with both of them. My Arabic professor spent weeks looking for jobs/internships, anything for me this summer, contacting all of her friends and contacts, even though we had not talked a whole lot outside of the classroom. There are other experiences with professors, but I don’t want to go on forever, and I only just finished my Freshman year! The classes are great, they’re very small, even as a freshman, and I have yet to find a single lecture dull.</p></li>
<li><p>Boston/Opportunities: Boston’s amazing - blue man group, Fenway, north end, aquarium, MFA, museum of science, clubs, CONCERTS! (tons of little venues everywhere) endless amazing food and restaurants and a lot of it for surprisingly low prices, culture, subway, american history all around you, I could go on. There are so many opportunities on campus and in the boston area to take advantage of - there are something like 35 schools in the area and more in the greater boston area, which provides for a great college social experience, there are internships galore, Tufts specifically strongly encourages undergrad research, and has many unique programs, including NIMEP (new initiative for middle east peace)- a student founded and run think-tank that travels every year on an extensive 3 week research mission (almost entirely academic) to a location in the middle east, and publishes a journal called “insights” with their research findings, they recently went to Lebanon this spring break, and I edit the journal and am part of the leadership and will certainly be going on the research mission this winter, to somewhere in north africa or azerbaijan. There are just so many things to do on campus, and so many revolve around being an active citizen. The tisch scholars program selects a small group of students and they spend their 4 yrs at Tufts constructing an extensive volunteer project, rehabilitating neighborhoods, schools, rivers, business, what have you in the area of Medford and greater boston, it’s great. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I know I’ve gone on and on, and most of you probably don’t care, but I never can pass on an opportunity to promote my school. :)</p>

13

<p>Pat2323: you love Pitt for exactly the same reasons I love Berkeley (though I’m not a student there – yet :)).</p>

14

<p>bump- i like this topic. =]</p>

15

<p>UMiami:

  1. Reaaaallly Diverse
  2. Great Athletics: Gotta love packing the football stadiums :smiley:
  3. gorgeous country club/park looking campus with huge lake in the center
  4. Cosmopolitan location! Big cities have so much to offer
  5. close proximity to ocean: I love sailing!</p>
16

<p>Vassar College (I might come back and do an updated post when I go there this fall)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The extensive variety of majors (53 for a school of ~2500 is pretty sweet) and classes.</p></li>
<li><p>The accessibility of professors for students.</p></li>
<li><p>The fact that the school is almost completely an undergraduate institution (according to collegeboard there is one graduate student) and as such allows its students to experience work in the lab and in independent research early on.</p></li>
</ol>

17

<p>Rice. </p>

<ol>
<li>Residential Colleges</li>
<li>Atmosphere and people (laid-back, great people)</li>
<li>BEEEEER BIKE!!!</li>
</ol>

18

<p>MIT</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Boston - love the city, and I even love the weather (especially when it gets cold enough to ice skate on the charles river, one of the great experiences of my life).</p></li>
<li><p>Opportunities - the UROP program is great (undergraduate research opportunities) which can double as a summer job and to constant access to the industry found in Cambridge. I don’t know how it compares to anywhere else of course, but for me it’s worked out fantastic</p></li>
<li><p>The range of students - go from one side of campus to the other and you can find pyromaniacs, hackers, gym rats, athletes, and everything inbetween, and between classes, frat parties, and anything else MIT throws at us you end up with a wide variety of people to hang out with, which I find awesome. Again, could be like anywhere, but all I know is MIT does it for me, and I love it.</p></li>
</ol>

19

<p>BU</p>

<ol>
<li>MIT Frat parties</li>
</ol>

20

<p>

</li>
</ol>

<p>That is almost exactly what I was going to write. My list for Rice would have been: </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Residential College System. The colleges give each student at Rice a new home from the very beginning. It fosters amazing friendships and only improves the overall academic experience.</p></li>
<li><p>Collaborative nature of students. Very rarely have I met a student at Rice who exhibited any “cut-throat” personality traits. Students are willing to help one another, to their mutual benefit.</p></li>
<li><p>Beer Bike! Well, this speaks for itself.</p></li>
</ol>