Post your own state's college reputations'

Zamzam · January 28, 2008, 11:14pm

----- The State Schools -----

UMass Amherst - The biggest (I duuno, but probably) and most exciting of the UMasses, it is located in Amherst, Massachusetts, with like five other colleges, at which you can take classes even if you’re enrolled at UMass. Despite this, Amherst is still in the middle of nowhere, and as such, students spend most of their time partying. It’s not terrible academically if you’re self-motivated, but it’s completely outshined by everything else our state has to offer. If you’re looking for an okay school at a cheap price, though, it’s nice.

The Other UMasses (Dartmouth, Lowell, Boston) - I think there’s one more, but to be honest, they’re all pretty much the same school. Poor housing, decent academics, and a drop in prestige from UMass Amherst. They do specialize in some areas, though: Dartmouth is known for business, I guess. UMass Boston is pretty much completely ignored and suffers from the same problem as Amherst: too many awesome schools in the area to really be noticeable.

The State Colleges - Honestly, I’m not too familiar with these. They don’t get a whole lot of press. Salem State is locally recognized for its education program, though.

------------ Private Colleges ----------
(The biggies will go first.)

Harvard - Biggest endowment, most prestige, right in the middle of Boston, close to Harvard Square (duh?), basically, top notch. It’s assumed that the people who go there are all from other countries or from D.C., because “real people don’t go to Harvard.”

MIT - Wholly academically-based. It is assumed that everyone there will either commit suicide or end up a famous physicist (whichever comes first). MIT’s reputation for pulling stunts, however, is looked upon fondly. (Unfortunately, it is also common knowledge that guys there have a tendency of drugging drinks. Bring your own water to parties.)

Amherst College - Really prestigious LAC conveniently located in Amherst, which is close to nothing of any importance. I haven’t really heard anything about it.

Tufts - Has some massive out-of-state reputation as being a college full of Ivy League-wannabes, but where I live we see it as a perfectly legitimate and very respectable institution. It has excellent International Relations and Med grad programs, and it’s known for having surprisingly good campus food. (It’s my first choice.)

Boston College - Out-of-staters tend to see BC as a better school than we Bay Staters do, but that’s mostly because we see it as a magnet for all of the preppiness, wealth, and North Face-wearing-Caucasians in the state. Aside from the preppy populace, the school also has a reputation for being really jocky and placing heavy emphasis on athletics. Still, the academics are competitive, and the campus is stunning. Honestly, that’s what college should look like.

Boston University - Gigantic school right in the middle of Boston. Known to Bay Staters as being full of entitled, spoiled kids who focus almost entirely on partying. The campus is, well, nonexistant (unless you count being a mile-long stretch of road on either side of a 6-lane street with a tram track in the middle a campus), but the fact that it is actually in the middle of Boston is a big plus. The academic atmosphere is not very strong, but if you want to excel, you can.

Northeastern - Another school right in Boston, but situated in a decidedly more dangerous area of the city. Known primarily for having ridiculously nice junior/senior housing, for its pharmacy program, and for co-op. Other than that, it pretty much always takes the backburner because of its proximity to the aforementioned schools.

Emerson - Communications school, like a smaller Northeastern but with greater emphasis on liberal arts instead of sciences. Has an awesome college-run radio station.

Hampshire College - Another Amherst college. It has some weird hippy curriculum that some girl in my English class talks about all the time but has never explained. It’s for people who seriously want to become writers of some sort, and it’s very hard to get into.

Brandeis - Um, it’s Jewish and the campus is ugly. That’s all I’ve ever heard about it.

Women’s Colleges - Smith, Wellesley, etc. Being a guy, I haven’t really researched these much, but my friend who wants to go to Wellesley says that she wants to go so she can wear ratty sweats to class. Apparently men can take classes there, though; they must just be a very small minority. Basically, the average teenage male assumes that everyone who goes to these schools is an ardent feminist who hates men so much that she can only go to a college with other women. This probably isn’t true, but hey, it’s just what I’ve seen in my classmates.

All Schools in Worcester - Please don’t go to Worcester. I hear some good things about the schools themselves (like Assumption), but overall, Worcester might as well be a ghost town, and if you don’t like resorting to getting drunk as amusement, I’d look at the plethora of other colleges Mass has to offer.

I think that’s pretty much it. (Whoa, this post was GIGANTIC.)

dvm258 · January 28, 2008, 11:19pm

Sorry about that FAU-Guy. I kinda meant it as a joke, though the Boca area does indeed have the reputation of being a city with a large elderly population. No doubt FAU has it’s share of parties, but I just don’t see what else there is outside of campus.

LiveToday08 · January 30, 2008, 7:26pm

Most of the people at my school have lived in Arkansas, myself included.

Hendrix: Some people think it’s full of weird students and they’re pretty much right. They have a pretty high acceptance rate but hardly anyone with crappy grades applies there. I applied there, got accepted, but barely got any merit money. I was somewhat surprised but…whatever. They don’t have my major and pretty much everyone I know that has applied there has gotten in. The campus is gorgeous, the dorms are pretty nice, and the food is great. Despite the high acceptance rate, you have to be smart to MAKE it there. There are a lot of parties, despite the nerdy images of the students.

U of A: PARTY TOWN!! I heard someone say the other day, “I don’t know why anyone would send their kid to U of A. All they’re going to do is drop out.” I replied, “Well, they have the highest graduation rate in the state.” It is a LARGE party school but the scholarships are pretty nice if you have the grades and the magic ACT score. If you’re a minority, you can pretty much get a full ride with a decent ACT score…(24+). The campus is nice from what I hear but there are some pretty crappy dorms, some of which don’t even have air conditioning. To emphasize how huge this school is, one of my girlfriend’s friends decided to go there…and so did her friend. One day they were on the phone discussing college and one asked, “Where did you decide go to school?” “U of A.” “OH my gosh! Are you serious? ME TOO!!” This was after a semester had passed and they still hadn’t managed to see each other on campus.
The general education classes can be as big as 250+ and if you’re in the Honors College, of courses your classes will be smaller.
Some people thrive on the huge college atmosphere, others don’t.

UALR: Only losers go here. It’s not that bad of a school. It’s just so close to home for the kids in central Arkansas. It has a pretty nice honors program and they pay you a lot of money to be in it. It has a high amount of “non-traditional” students and the campus isn’t in THE best part of Little Rock which isn’t helpful considering just about anyone can walk on the campus.

UCA: SO many people from my school go here. This school has grown a lot over the years and with that said, the scholarship standards have gone up. To me, the financial aid is pretty crappy but it is a great school. Despite so many kids going here, you don’t run into those you went to school with unless you make a genuine effort to meet up together. It is a great school but some people are turned off by how popular it is. It’s in Conway which is home to Hendrix College and Central Baptist College.

Arkansas Tech: It’s not a wildly popular choice at our school but it is a good school and it’s a mid-size public university. The scholarships are better than UCA and there are a lot of private scholarships for Arkansas students depending on where they are from and what they plan to major in. I’m actually going to attend this college.
The dorms are pretty decent but because of the huge growth the school has seen, if you even have a SLIGHT interest in the school, go ahead and send in your housing application in because housing is such a huge issue there.
The town it’s in is pretty small but very friendly. They have a lot of on-campus events for students since a lot of them aren’t leaving for Conway or Little Rock on the weekend like they used to (gas prices).

Pulaski Technical College: This school is the butt of many jokes at our school, along with UALR. It’s a two year school and it’s not that bad of a choice if you’re a student who may not have been a top performer but you still want to go to college, if your family doesn’t have enough money for a four year college, or you simply need an associates degree. It’s really close to my high school and we have a concurrent program with them in which you can get high school credit and college credit.

Central Baptist: I don’t hear much about this one and don’t know of any past graduates who have attended this school.

Harding: VERY religious and conservative. It’s very expensive and there is barely any financial aid. You pretty much have to be a National Merit Finalist to get a full ride. Even a 36 on the ACT or a perfect score on the SAT won’t get you a full ride.

Henderson State: It’s not a bad school. A lot of my family attends and graduated from there. I started to apply there but my only negative with this school is that they have random fees for EVERYTHING! You can easily spend $600-700 for fees (not including books) vs. the $200-250 (if that much) at other public schools. It’s also out in the middle of nowhere but it’s what you make it.

The top in-state schools for my high school (in no particular order: Fayetville, UCA, and Hendrix.

rmatai · January 30, 2008, 11:33pm

Virginia

UVA–Ridiculously hard to get into and full of fussy stuck up kids

VTech–Agricultural school w/ mainly engineering, for those who don’t get into UVA

VCU–backup school of choice, slackers and wannabe artists. okay med program

Radford–STD, STD, STD…also a back up school of choice

George Mason U–Default for most kids in Northern VA near D.C., known to be mostly a commuter school

phila · January 30, 2008, 11:59pm

UC’s are way overrated. They are really research based, and also only good if you plan to and have the means to go to grad school. It is really hard to get a job straight out of Berkeley, because it isn’t an education that prepares you for the real world - they are just degree-producing machines. CSU’s are very underrated - the education recieved at a CSU prepares you for jobs in the real world. If you want an engineering degree, you should go to Fresno State or San Jose State if you want to be hired right after getting a bachelor’s degree. Also, music departments in most CSU’s are vastly superior to those at LA and Berkeley.

bunny27 · January 31, 2008, 1:15pm

NY has been done like a million times already but I’m bored so I’ll do it again =)

PUBLICS:

Binghamton - Really good academic school, but the campus and surrounding area put a damper on things.

Geneseo - Great school, pretty campus, good for liberal arts and education, in a pretty area but still in the middle of nowhere.

Buffalo - Good school, don’t know too much about it, again campus is not so great.

Albany - OK school, hideous campus, tons of parties.

Purchase - Ugly ugly campus, very good for performing arts, otherwise i don’t know.

Fredonia is good for music, the rest like Brockport, Potsdam, Plattsburg, Oneonta, Oswego I don’t know too much about…

PRIVATES:

Columbia,Cornell,NYU - self explanatory.

Fordham - Very good jesuit school, probably would have an even better rep if it wasn’t overshadowed by it’s neighbors NYU&Columbia

Ithaca - good for communications and music (i think??) upstate NY though =

Marist - very good school,good for communications, fashion, pretty campus, in poughkeepsie though bleh…

Vassar - top notch liberal arts, gorgoeus campus, known for being kind of hippie, again it’s downside is poughkeepsie

There’s a bunch of other little privates that I’m too lazy to list or don’t know too much about.

FAU_Guy · February 16, 2008, 7:38pm

No problem dvm.

Outside of campus, it’s mostly

Ale House/Duffy’s Sport Bar/Flanigan’s/Wings Plus
Boca Mall/Mizner/Downtown Atlantic Avenue
Muvico/Boomers
Aqua Lounge/Murphy’s/etc
the beach

Boca really should make more of an effort. There are three colleges (PBCC, FAU, Lynn) within a mile of each other. Between the three there has to be over 50k college students…

etc · February 16, 2008, 8:19pm

South Carolina:

University of South Carolina (Columbia is the only campus I am familiar with): Not really a campus, sort of like university-vomit on the city. A lot of graduates from my high school go there. Honors college is pretty excellent. Big on football. Pretty good school of music (my friend’s dad is the dean, and he’s really improved the program drastically).
Clemson University: Many graduates also go here. Good engineering program (best in SC, though GAtech is better). Again, good honors college. Big on football. Very pretty campus. Somewhat far from society?
Furman University: Near Clemson. Again, very pretty. Almost everyone is white and Southern Baptist. It’s pretty exciting stuff. Academically, it’s probably the best known SC school.
College of Charleston: Party school. Hard to get housing. Party school. Party school. Very good acceptance rate to MUSC (I think? The medical university of sc or something). It’s like 99%. Charleston is pretty excellent.
Coastal Carolina: Sooo pretty. I don’t know about it academically though?

Those are probably the main five that the kids from my high school end up attending. There are others (Wofford, Winthrop) that are also good LACs. Other colleges in SC tend to be very religious. um, yeah. That’s my spiel.

headlinenewsrox · February 16, 2008, 8:25pm

New Hampshire- I haven’t seen it done yet.

Dartmouth-Obviously a very good school located in the western part of the state bordering VT just south of the north country. Not many NH kids go there because they want to leave NH because there is nothing to do. Hanover(where its located) is a great college town.

UNH-Good school with pretty good academics, good sports(HOCKEY), #7 party school in the country because there is nothing else to do in Durham NH. Durham is near the seacoast about 2 hours from Boston up 95.

Southern NH University-Located in the Biggest City in NH, Manchester, its actually in Hooksett just north of manchester, but it is about 100 ft from manch, south of the Lakes region. It used to be more of a community college, but recently has picked up its academics slightly. It is a 2 minute walk from my highschool. They have a nice turf field. Known in NH for their culinary program.

Plymouth State-Located north of the lakes region, but to quite in the North Country. Really easy to get into. Known for Binge drinking, crappy sports, and hazing.

Keene State- Pretty much the same as Plymouth State, but the academics are slightly better. They have a really good Holocaust and Genocide center. Located in Southwestern NH almost on the border of VT and MA.

Daniel Webster and Franklin Pierce- Both local community colleges with names to not make them sound like community colleges. Daniel Webster has a decent aerospace program. They are both located in Nashua(known as Trashua) in southern NH bordering Mass.

Hesser-Located in Manchester. Dreadful location and dreadful academics. Overall it is a horrible school.

kyledavid80 · February 16, 2008, 8:37pm

phila:

They’re research universities. The same can be said of Harvard, Stanford, MIT, etc.

I agree, they are only good. =)

Source?

FWIW, Berkeley’s grads make as much on average as Stanford’s grads – and for some majors, even more on average.

[Career</a> Development Center](<a href=“http://cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/surveys/0607/destination/default.htm]Career”>http://cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/surveys/0607/destination/default.htm)
[Career</a> Center - What Can I Do With a Major In…?](<a href=“http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm]Career”>http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm)

And the overwhelming majority have a job or are going to grad school after graduating.

Er, so are all universities. That’s the primary reason for going to university – to get a degree. (And I can say this with certainty because without that purpose, universities would cease to exist.)

That’s what CSUs advertise – the whole “learn by doing.” If there are any real “degree-producing machines,” it’s the CSUs, as they’re geared toward terminal degrees. In fact, the whole purpose of the CSUs is to get students in and get them out. The UCs are designed to be research institutions that educate students both in the theory and in the practicality of a discipline. That’s the same philosophy of top schools like Harvard and Stanford; if you think that is “worthless,” then you’re saying that a Harvard degree is also worthless because of that philosophy. That’s also why CSUs are not allowed to grant PhDs without the consent of a UC.

This is all in the California Master Plan for Higher Education.

[California</a> Master Plan for Higher Education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Master_Plan_for_Higher_Education]California”>California Master Plan for Higher Education - Wikipedia)

UCs prepare their students very well for jobs, which is why their employment rates are similar to (and often better than) those of CSUs, and why students who graduate from UCs tend to be paid higher. If the UCs were doing a poor job, they wouldn’t be existing anymore for undergrads – just research institutions.

What nonsense – if you want an engineering degree, you go to Berkeley, which is usually ranked 2nd or 3rd in the nation for engineering, behind MIT. That’s why Berkeley’s grads on average have much higher salaries than grads of CSUs. UCLA’s and UCSD’s engineering departments are superior to pretty much all the CSUs. And if you do go to a CSU for engineering, your best shot would be Cal Poly SLO, not FSU or SJSU.

Er, UCLA’s and Berkeley’s music departments are well-known to be the very best. One ranking places Berkeley 3rd.

Most of what you’ve said is exactly the opposite of reality, which is why I’m led to believe that your post is a joke.

collegealum314 · February 16, 2008, 9:33pm

This is not my post but I don’t know how to quote and I’d like to make a few comments on it:

ILLINOIS(excuse my typo tendencies; its late and im tired!!)

UIUC(urbana-Champaign)-the overrated flagship state school that is the goal for most above-average students in illinois; not many OOS’ers go here and it tends to specialize in more random majors(aka agriculture & aviation)not as great as some prairie-staters make it out to be.

Northern Ill.-Good state school; good for business, economics. not as much partying but academics are solid in comparison to other state schools.

Northwestern-Most highly regarded school in Illinois by far. surpasses UCHicago in almost all aspects. awesome for pre-med, pre-law, and obviously journalism.(medill is no.1 school for journalism in nation!!) great suburban chciago location i nheart of evanston, beuatiful “old money” neighborhood literally right on lake michigan. best school in illinois academically and in my opinion overall.

<h2>UChicago;“where fun comes to die.” Yuck! hate this school, it has absolutely no personality and the students here are all seemingly miserable. party scene is basically nonexistant and the location leaves much to be desired. def. not the school many make it out to be, although architecture is wonderful and is harry-potteresque everywhere.</h2>

<hr>

**my comments:**So I guess Northern Illinois is ok for business but what it’s really known for is education and nursing. A lot of future Illinois teachers go there for bachelor’s and/or masters degrees.

UIUC: I wouldn’t say it “specializes” in agriculture. Yes, it is a strength. However, the engineering and science programs tend to be top 10, if not top 5.

I wouldn’t say Northwestern is “superior in every way” to University of Chicago. U. of Chicago truly has a beautiful campus, but the surrounding area (Hyde Park, South Side of Chicago) is the most dangerous park of the city. Northwestern has a very pleasant, idyllic campus. University of Chicago is best at economics and theoretical subjects like math and physics. Northwestern is really awesome at chemistry (it is also really good in economics, but doesn’t have the cache of Nobel Laureates like U. of Chicago.) Most people I know chose between U. of Chicago and Northwestern based on what subjects they were interested in studying. Math or physics people went to U. of Chicago while bio + chem went to Northwestern. (However, both U. of Chicago and NU are good at everything so you would get a good education at either, but their strengths are different.)

jarnizzl · February 16, 2008, 10:05pm

I agree with collegealum314 about U Chicago. People who dislike the school don’t understand that this is a primarily research-based university. It is highly ranked nationally because of this and the number of Nobel Prize winners that work there. Yes, there is a limited party life because the students here are focused on education and academics. If you want to have a busy social life, you probably want to avoid U Chicago. Otherwise, it has a beautiful campus, very decent dorms, and a completely nerdy atmosphere. <3

kyledavid80 · February 16, 2008, 10:24pm

^^ exactly. It’s very much dependent on what kind of a person you are. I personally would prefer U Chicago over NU. But to say that one is superior to the other is nonsensical.

collegealum314 · February 16, 2008, 10:56pm

yeah, they are pretty even in reputation.

cjmdjm · February 17, 2008, 1:58am

Since I doubt anyone else is from here, I’ll do it.

KANSAS

If your not from Kansas these are probably the only schools you’ve heard of in Kansas.

Kansas State University: Pores most of its money into it’s Engineering Department, thus it has a decent engineering program.

Kansas University: Known mostly for its medical school. Also, has a good basketball team, but is generally more expensive then KSU.

classic3020 · February 17, 2008, 3:24am

OREGON-

TIER 1:

University of Oregon- Mostly hippies and liberals. Not a very pretty campus. Good for journalism, business, and education. Despite being in Eugene, UO is very “Portland”.

Oregon State University- Mostly rednecks and conservatives. Gorgeous campus, but it’s very rural. Good for forestry (#1 in the country), engineering, and marine biology. OSU is very “Rest-of-the-State”.

TIER 2:

Portland State University- Right in downtown Portland. It’s not nearly as important or famous as either UO or OSU, although it does have some good programs and the well-known Population Research Center.

TIER 3:
Western Oregon University
Eastern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University
Oregon Institute of Technology

sakky · February 17, 2008, 11:17am

I think I have to agree with each and every one of kyledavid80’s criticisms that he presented on post #471.

Look, it’s one thing to criticize the UC’s for their problems for they surely have them. But it’s quite another to state that the CSU’s are better. That is a huge stretch. Whatever problems the UC’s may have, the CSU’s are, frankly, worse.

sakky · February 17, 2008, 11:21am

Uh, Harvard is ‘right in the middle of Boston’? How’s that?

Perhaps you could say that of the Longwood Medical Campus which houses, among other things, the Medical School, the Dental School and the School of Public Health. But the ** vast vast ** bulk of Harvard is located in Cambridge, which is a different city entirely. Harvard Square itself is in Cambridge. Another sliver of Harvard is located in the Allston, which is technically part of Boston but hardly qualifies as being ‘right in the middle of Boston’ (unless you think the middle of Boston is a quaint suburb).

I think you forgot about Williams College.

Worried_Student · February 17, 2008, 4:45pm

Have you ever been to U of O? “Mostly hippies and liberals”? This is not true. Most people here are normal and the “hippies” are actually the minority. If anything, the hippies live in the town of Eugene, but they don’t go to the school. I also don’t know what you mean by “very ‘Portland’”…

U of O is getting somewhat preppy. You’ll see lots of North Face jackets and some Lacoste polos on campus. There are a growing number of wealthy students from out of state.

beefs · February 17, 2008, 4:51pm

Worried student, that looks like a very beautiful,green-type campus. Nice place to go to college definitely.

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