Technically, UC Berkeley is supposed to be used for the academic side of the institution, while Cal is supposed to be used in a sports context.
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Penn (not only Penn State) actually does get a non-trivial amount of money from the state every year. Itās a little like Cornell in that regard.
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I find this one confusing too and Iām from the Northeast. Iāve always known USC to be Southern Cal, but there are a lot of people around here (mostly those younger than me) that assume South Carolina when you say USC.
Iāve lived in Georgia for 24 years now, and ā same!
Iāve learned that writing āU of SCā typically means South Carolina while USC means California ā thatās what Google returns first, too.
But yeah, I guess the default around here is always going to be the SEC school!
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hah S26 was amazed I knew the golden gophers. Just a result of having college football on in the background. Fun note about the āgopherā.
Grooms, while driving to the University of Minnesota from Iowa, stopped at a rest stop and sketched what he thought were gophers. He presented the drawing to U of M bookstore manager Harold Smith, who loved it. Only after the image was put into production did it become realized that the animal drawn was actually a chipmunk.
So they are really the golden chipmunks.
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I think thereās often confusion around abbreviations that depend where you are and what you see most often. I used to CSU being the cal states, but have seen it referred to Colorado state too. I am sure for example, depending which M state you are in, MSU could be a few different ones.
They told us this when we toured UMN!
Wow I am an alum and never knew that!
(Go Bears)
Does anyone here know anything about the town of Mount Pleasant where Central Michigan is located? Thatās one of D26 safeties that she has been accepted to with adequate funding.
Interesting! Always love to learn new fun facts 
I did not know that!
They did a whole study and surveys and whatever trying to figure out how to reconcile their branding recently. My understanding is that they determined they couldnāt. Berkeley was too entrenched in rep on the academic side and Cal on the athletics side. They could not move to one unified brand.
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āPennās School of Veterinary Medicine was allocated $31.5 million, a repeat from last yearās budget. In the 2023-24 budget, funding was withheld over concerns regarding antisemitism. Penn Vet is the only state-funded veterinary school and has received state funding since 1889.ā
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My D26s top three schools all have atypical mascots with a Sage Hen, Scottish Terrier, and a black squirrel. There is even an albino squirrel mascot on her list. No bears at all.
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We went to the Colorado School of Mines open house this weekend:
Very cute mascot 
āBlasterā the burro
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Back to the topic of admission interviews, D26 has now done all of her interviews she is planning on doing at this point! Six total I believe. I previously mentioned how one was so bad it sunk her impression of the school (The one with the 90s HR-style interview question). Well, her final one was really good and between that and the additional research she had to do on the school to prepare, her interest in the school has climbed. It helped her see more things she would really enjoy about going there.
Overall, really great learning experience for her to do these interviews. It is the type of thing she really doesnāt like to do as a serious introvert and she was anxious before every one. But, she did great and got a lot of practice in which I think will be helpful as she looks for internships in college and has to sell herself in convos with strangers. Proud of her for how she handled it all.
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D26 had a meeting today with an admissions representative. It was less of an interview and more of a chance for her to ask questions. She was really nervous and didnāt think It went as well as the one on Friday. The person gave very short answers and didnāt really engage in much conversation so it only lasted about 15 minutes. It was interesting because he said their acceptance rate was much lower (55%) than what D26 has seen online (low 80s for EA). Plus he told her that although they do look at applicants holistically, the most important thing is GPA, which does not bode well for her being accepted 
.
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As an alumni interviewer for the black squirrel school, I hope she had a good interview experience.
@2plustrio can probably provide some info.
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My daughter is at freshman there and loving it. Small town surrounded by nothing but the town has everything she needs. The main street with all the shops is walkable from campus. Very safe.
Any questions you can pm me! We have zero regrets about her choice thus far.
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