Post your own state's college reputations'

beth_w737 · February 13, 2006, 11:30pm

I’m from NJ, so here goes:

Princeton - as someone else said, don’t need to say much, top Ivy school
Rutgers - state school, good but large classes.
The College of New Jersey - in my opinion, this is the next most selective school in NJ after Princeton. Of course, I’m biased, graduated cum laude from TCNJ this past August. It’s considered very selective, and recently rated one of the top public schools in the northeast. It used to have a reputation as a ‘suitcase college’ and in some ways, still does - a lot of people are from NJ. It can be somewhat ‘cliqueish’, I transferred in and commuted, and found it hard to meet people, I’d be friendly with people at school but they didn’t always want to socialize outside of class. However, it’s a top school in terms of academic rigor, very good classes and profs. I feel it’s prepared me well.

Beth

beth_w737 · February 13, 2006, 11:33pm

Also, the person who wrote about TCNJ, saying it’s in the middle of nowhere is totally wrong. It’s 15 mins from Princeton - I don’t think people would say Princeton is in the middle of nowhere, and TCNJ (The College of New Jersey, formerly Trenton State College) is just 15 mins from Princeton. Princeton is an awesome town. It’s true, there’s not a ‘town’ per se in Ewing, where TCNJ is located, but TCNJ is also just 4 miles from Pennington, which is a nice small town (my hometown). TCNJ is also just an hour by train to Philly or NYC - I’d say that’s a good location.

Beth

beth_w737 · February 13, 2006, 11:35pm

Rutgers does not own TCNJ. TCNJ is rated more highly than Rutgers, it has much small class sizes and you get to personally know your professors - so when it comes time to ask for LORs, TCNJ students have an advantage, having known their professors well. I think the courses at TCNJ are more rigorous, and it’s definitely harder to get into than Rutgers.

Beth

ihateCA · February 13, 2006, 11:41pm

University of California-hmm.
Berkeley, LA=well regarded
the rest=blah.

tracemhunter · February 13, 2006, 11:46pm

UT Austin - huge school. where all the partying kids go. in the hippie town known as austin. everyone is obsessed with the football team. i think they rival USC fans in both insanity and stupidity. it is a good school though but i am forbidden since my family went to OU.

Texas A&M - good school but there is nothing special about it. college station is a horrible and boring town.

SMU - where the hottest girls in texas go. in the richest part of dallas (highland park) and right down the street from me :). the greek life is of course huge and it is known for its arts and business schools. good for the region because all of the girl’s dads are ceo’s so if you marry one of the girls you will certainly get a great job.

TCU - the butthole of smu. located in south fort worth. the area is good and the football team is okay but any dumbass can get in. also known for its girls.

Baylor - work hard and play hard. a lot of the smart kids in texas end up going here. located in waco.

UNT - where a lot of the transfer students from community colleges in the DFW area go.

Rice - The Ivy of Texas. Some people are cool, some are not. My cousin’s ex-fiance graduated from Rice and he is pretty cool.

ubetteraccept_me · February 14, 2006, 10:28pm

Well I live on the boarder of Georgia and Tennessee, so I feel obliged to comment on both:
Tennessee:
Vanderbilt: By far the states shining point. Great school, nationally known. To most Tennesseeans, this is their dream school.

Rhodes: Probably the second best school in Tennessee. In Memphis, great academics, but not such great athletics. Pretty small too. This is usually where the Vandy denials go. But it also attracts a huge population of strong students not from Tennessee.

Sewanee-U of the South: Pretty much exactly like Rhodes, GREAT campus.

UT-Knoxville: Big party school. Easy admission, but actually difficult school if you want it to be; however, if you want it easy, you can definatley have it that way. Great athletics.

MTSU: Just getting better and better–has good education, aerospace, and journalims programs. Largest undergrad population in Tennessee.

ETSU: Easy to get into, I honestly don’t know much about this school. I Know it’s generally the backup to UT and MTSU

UT-Chattanoog: This is the school in my hometown–CHATT TOWN. Usually just attracts Chattanoogans, but is a decent school.

UT-Martin: honestly, I had never heard of this school untill this website, not very presitigious. I’m guessing it only attracts people from Martin.

Geogia:
Emory: Best school in Georgia, one of the best in the south. Great med school, quite liberal. Located in Atlanta, one of the best cities in the country. Over half of its population isn’t from the south. Crappy athletics (DIII), but great social life.

UGA: Most popular school in Georgia. One of the best public universities (obviously not a UVa or UNC-Chappel Hill, but it’s really good). It just keeps getting tougher and tougher to get admitted here, especailly in state with the HOPE scholarship. Located in one of the best college towns of all–Athens.

Georgia Tech: A great school for engineering–top 5. It’s known as being very difficult, but not as difficult to get admitted. Located in Atlanta. the campus is supposed to suck, but its location makes up for it. A lot more dudes than ladies, also known as a “nerdy” bunch.

Mercer: Known to have a lot of rich kids. Also, rich, not-so-smart kids. Not nearly as selective as Emory, UGA, or GTech. Very small, that’s about all I know about it.

Georgia State: don’t know very much about it…

Drew00 · February 14, 2006, 10:37pm

Ohio (i don’t live there but I’m close enough…)

Ohio State University (OSU) - Huge campus, good school, fine b-school, nice campus.
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) - good school, crappy town, very good writing programs (James Baldwin (probably my favorite writer of all time) taught/studying there for a while, what initially attracted me and what made me chose it over Michigan state) good teaching, good (well, good in the MAC) athletics.

University of Toledo (UT) - mediocre school, open admissions, very nice campus, good pharm program (or so i hear)

Miami University (of Ohio) - preppy school, nice town, good academics, formerly good football team.

University of Cincinnati - good school, good (but overrated) music dept., great art/architecture programs, kind of in a bad part of town.

Ohio University - good school, big time party school, nice town (athens is really cool) (i regret not applying there)

University of Dayton - good school, i don’t know much about it

OSUforME · February 14, 2006, 10:52pm

Drew, I really dont think Dayton is very good. If you want a Catholic school in Ohio, I think Xavier is a much better choice. Plus, Xavier dominates Dayton in basketball.

Sam_Lee · February 15, 2006, 1:08am

This doesn’t qualify as scandal. Stanford adminstration/professors didn’t help those few students get the coke/pot, did they? But the scandal at Cal did involve a (or two? don’t remember exactly) Cal professor.

When I said “using”, I refer to Berkeley admitting athletes with terrible academic records even they know these athletes will have a hard time graduating (their low graduation rate shows). Basically, if a Berkeley coach wants someone and the recruit accepts the coach’s offer, it’s a done deal. Berkeley adcom could care less as long as the athlete meets the NCAA eligibility. Although Stanford’s athletes have lower average SAT than their Stanford peers but it’s still one of the highest among all D-1 teams (#1 among all football teams in D-1). Their graduation rate is very similar to their Stanford peers’. It’s well-documented that Stanford adcom rejects prized recruits that the coaches want. The stats can be found on <a href=“Cardinal 247 - Stanford Cardinal Football Recruiting”>Cardinal 247 - Stanford Cardinal Football Recruiting;
Notice the Berkeley football team had lower average SAT than those in most other Pac-10 schools, quite a constrast to the fact their student body as a whole had the 2nd highest in the Pac-10. Every D-1 school has some sort of academic compromising when it comes to admission for athletes. But Berkeley just does so to much greater extent. Speaking of special assistance given to athletes at Stanford, I have no knowledge of that. Do you know it as a fact or is it just your wild speculation?

Kjoodles · February 15, 2006, 1:30am

Who gives a **** about stanford athletes and how they’re not as stupid as they are.

This thread is about colleges in your state and not about stanford or berkeley or south pasadena community college athletes.

Sam_Lee · February 15, 2006, 2:09am

You don’t have to read the exchanges among DRab, GentlemanScholar, and I if you don’t like it. It’s that simple and easy. By the way, people talk about the towns where schools are located and that isn’t technically “reputation” either. Is that upsetting you also? People digress all the time on this board. So chill!

Kjoodles · February 15, 2006, 2:11am

I’m not the one who gets aggro when somebody mentions the slightest weakness about Stanford.

dsctt726 · February 15, 2006, 5:38pm

Okay, I’m going to really do this.

NORTH CAROLINA:

UNC-CH- Among North Carolinians it is considered to be a very preppy school. A great deal of “old money” is associated with the school. Pretty big party scene. Generally, the top students of EVERY North Carolina class goes there.

UNC-Wilmington- Nice School. A very laid back vibe. Near the beach, so it attracts a lot of beach bums.

UNC-Greensboro- A lot of homosexual students. Pretty good music school.

UNC-Charlotte- Good school. I don’t know too much about it.

Duke- Stereotypically known for it’s stuck up students. I’m not sure if it’s true. Oh…it’s well-known…

Wake Forest- If you didn’t have one before, everyone comes out with an elitist attitude and they embrace it. I’ve noticed a lot of CCers say it’s really competitive, but I know a handful of people that go here after getting turned down by UNC.

East Carolina University- Party School(period) I’ve been there on a Saturday and I honestly didn’t encounter a person that wasn’t completely wasted. Fun to visit, but I wouldn’t want to go to school here.

There are a lot more, but I’m bored with this…

DRab · February 15, 2006, 6:09pm

Sam Lee, it’s pretty well known that if you get into Stanford, it’s really, really hard to flunk out. Anyway, I do admire Stanford in some ways for their pretty much only taken decent to good students who are also athletes. Do you have graduation rate records, or is that “wild speculation?” Do you have assitance records, or is that “wild speculation?” Do you have proof of your claims (that Berkeley ignores NCAA eligibility, that any coach who wants an athlete can get them no matter what, that the adcom’s could care less (they might very well care)? Or are you just wildly speculating?

Stanford’s athletes are generally way academically below their peers who got in their for intellect, work, and the like. Stanford is very much using their athletes in a similar way to Berkeley. However, Berkeley, to my knowledge, isn’t whipping out 12 million dollars a year in sports scholarships. I don’t feel like finding the link, but it’s somewhere in my posts and on stanford’s site. I only know of one “well documented” case of a rejected star athlete. Anyway, perhaps Berkeley is bending its admissions too much, but I don’t know many of the details.

More than whom? USC? Oregon State? The almost ten year old chart is something, but is there anything more modern that you can supply?

DRab · February 16, 2006, 4:13am

Very well, I can pretty much only reiterate what I said in my last post. Perhaps there are a few factors that make the Stanford athletes graduate at high rates, close to but below their non-athlete peers. 1. They’re generally better students than other athletes. 2. It’s really hard to flunk out of stanford, especially if your coach is making you do some work, when some work means high enough grades to pass classes and get a degree. Again, I admire Stanford’s generally only letting in decent to good students who are also great athletes. Perhaps more schools should do this, but most schools simply cannot. When did Stanford’s high standards for athletes begin? Again, I see no proof of your claims that any coach who wants an athlete can get him or her no matter what, although there is some tapping system, one probably somewhat similar, but much more influential, than Stanford’s, and that adcom’s don’t care (as they may very well care). That scandal is years old, but c’mon now, if we’re talking about grades in college and work done, do are you going to get mad at the Stanford profs who give gentleman’s Cs and Bs?

Sam_Lee · February 16, 2006, 11:56am

DRab,
I didn’t say the coaches could get them “no matter what” or “ignore NCAA eligibility”; I said “as long as they meet the NCAA eligibility”. I admit I have no “proof” and it’s more my own deduction. But I think it’s a logical one based on their consistently low grad rate; if you were an adcom, would you honestly believe an athlete with a SAT average of 880 (the average for the football team in 1997; sorry, NCAA has stopped making stats public like in the late 90s) would be likely to handle Berkeley’s rigor? I don’t know if Berkeley has improved since Stanford got them exposed. Maybe they have. Often rivalry helps you improve.
I personally see no problem with Stanford’s scholarship program since it’s entirely self-funded. It doesn’t compete with the need-based one if that’s what you were thinking about.

GentlemanandScholar · February 16, 2006, 2:00pm

Sam Lee, what do you see as a worse offense, a student being unfairly helped to get passing grades, or a person that sells Coke, pot, and illegal precription pills out of his dorm room? (never mind the student who had a seizure do to too much coke) If you view the former as being worse then I can see that we just can’t see eye to eye on this one. Besides that, I’ll give credit where credit is due, and I think Stanford does a good job managing academics and atheletics. I could also say that yes, stanfords football and basketball players have higher stats, and maybe thats one of the reasons that the’ve lost the Big Game four years in a row and aren’t going to make the NCAAs in basketball;)

funkdoc · February 16, 2006, 3:56pm

Heh, that would be me. Well it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere to me because…I kind of live in Paterson so yeah, even Montclair is in the middle of nowhere for me. :D

paulnirvana · February 16, 2006, 5:27pm

Johns Hopkins- Elite college in MD… good med school but people there are all potheads lol

University of Maryland College Park- Good school in MD many people go here who are smart and wants to stay in-state

University of Maryland Baltimore County( UMBC)- U Must Be Chinese or U Made a Bad Choice…all the people who didn’t make CP go here… haha

Montgomery College( MK)- community college… all the slackers

GentlemanandScholar · February 16, 2006, 10:20pm

Heres a another post for Sam Lee and his coke selling, coke enduced siezure having, drunk on the job stanford students:

The Stanford University tree has been toppled for being drunk on the job.

"The student wearing the costume of the legendary mascot was suspended from duty after UC Berkeley police observed her drinking from a flask during a Stanford-Cal basketball game last week, officials said today.

"She was taking drinks inside the tree,‘’ said Kevin Klintworth, assistant athletic director at Cal. "The officers could see the flask through the costume.‘’

Erin Lashnits, 23, a fifth-year undergraduate biology student, was given a breath test shortly after halftime of the Feb. 9 game at Haas Pavilion. Authorities said the test showed she had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit for driving. She was cited for public drunkenness and told to leave the court but was allowed to watch the rest of the game from the grandstand.

The imbibing tree violated the terms of the band’s three-year alcohol ban, which Stanford administrators imposed after band members got drunk on a notorious bus ride home from a USC football game in Los Angeles in 2003."

What a classy bunch!!!

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