Post your own state's college reputations'

College Search & Lists
581

<p>Louisiana State university: party school. Still, as the ‘flagship’ university in Louisiana, it is considered equal to or better academically than the other colleges in the public system. A large majority of Louisiana students go to LSU, from those who are intellectually gifted and with really really high ACTs (we don’t use SATs down here that much) right down to those who just squeak in with ACT of 22 and GPA of 3.0. That’s because kids do apply outside the state and get admitted to top universities, but often can’t afford to attend, especially with college being practically free for top scorers or tuition being way reduced for more average scorers due to the TOPS program. Baton Rouge, where LSU is located, is boring and uninteresting. </p>

<p>University of Louisiana at Lafayette: More of a local college populated by students who live around Lafayette, with the occasional African or Asian or Indian or Arab student. Much much smaller than LSU. OK academics. Lafayette is the most livable city in Louisiana to live in. Lots of festivals, friendly people.</p>

<p>Northwestern State University: Not sure about the college, attractive campus, but the town of Natchitoches is really lovely in parts, with old historic homes, and has definitely got small town charm.</p>

<p>University of New Orleans: was mostly a commuter school before Hurricane Katrina did its damage. Slowly recovering. Used to have a terrific biology dept., much more demanding than LSU’s but that was before Katrina. </p>

<p>That’s all I know or have heard of.</p>

582

<p>CALIFORNIA (Undergrad only – UCBerkeley is the #1 grad school on earth):</p>

<p>Well, it turns out California has about 35 public and more than 35 private that are worth mentioning, but I’ll keep my comments to the top 25 or so, in more or less ranked order:</p>

<ol>
<li>Caltech (if physical sciences major). Smartest kids on earth, bar none.</li>
<li>Stanford - no need to comment. it’s part of HYPSM add Caltech for CHYMPS</li>
<li>Harvey Mudd – 4th smartest kids (SATs) (after Caltech/Harvard/Princeton). Caltech lite, but with a HUGE advantage of being able to take classes at Pomona and Claremont Mckenna, only 3-4 minutes away by bicycle.</li>
<li>Pomona College - A very small Stanford missing the athletics and big U feel, but getting much more individual attention. More intellectual.</li>
<li>UC Berkeley - not higher only because of size. At the graduate level the #1 university across the 41 Ph.D. disciplines measured by the NRC. Best prestige bang for buck in the country (aside from the Cooper Union in NY).</li>
<li>UCLA: closing the gap with Berkeley since its 1929 founding as the “Southern Branch” of the University of California. #1 in NCAA championships (103). Great in EVERY sport but football and rowing. Go figure. Equal to Berkeley undergrad, only #12 in NRC rankings.<br></li>
<li>USC: Closing the gap with UCLA for the past 20 years (used to be a B student, full tuition campus), pretty much even with UCLA now at the undergrad level. By 2040 will be even at the Ph.D. level. The first lousy neighborhood on my list.</li>
<li>Claremont McKenna College: Slightly less intellectual students than sister college Pomona (but much more than USC), with more of a PoliSci/Econ focus. I suppose the brilliant ones can take science classes at Mudd.</li>
<li>UC San Diego: Science focus, but good econ too. Beautiful setting. Use a formula in admissions that gives big boost to those that have lacked opportunities. Astounding how highly ranked (#6) in NRC rankings for Ph.D. programs (sciences) since the campus is only about 45 years old.</li>
<li>Pitzer College: A huge runup in the student quality the past three years. New on my radar screen. Again, can take classes at co-located Mudd/Pomona/CMC</li>
</ol>

<p>For the rest, I’ll simply list according to general (undergrad) prestige:</p>

<ol>
<li>UC Davis</li>
<li>UC Santa Barbara</li>
<li>Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (on of the 23 Cal State Universities)</li>
<li>Occidental College (see Barack Obama, Jay Matthews)</li>
<li>UC Santa Cruz</li>
</ol>

<p>------------ fairly significant separation here. All above Top 100 , below who knows -----------</p>

<ol>
<li>Cal State San Diego (San Diego St.)</li>
<li>UC Riverside</li>
<li>Santa Clara University</li>
<li>Cal State Long Beach (Long Beach St.)</li>
<li>Cal State Fullerton</li>
<li>Cal Poly Pomona</li>
<li>Loyola Marymount </li>
<li>Cal State Sonoma … an up and comer.</li>
<li>UC Merced. New. by 2020 will be on par with UC Riverside.
#25 Scripps College – not really ranked here, as it is a 100% female college… but the women there are smart as tacks. If it were Coed I would have placed it #10, ahead of Pitzer.</li>
</ol>

<p>One has to be careful about characterizing schools based on distant history. I can remember when Berkeley was known for a five year period as the school for social activists, nuts, and hippies. Well, they were very smart hippies. And that was FORTY years ago. It is actually a reasonably conservative place, with college republicans alongside democrates and independents.</p>

583

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</p>

<p>Lol, all I can tell you is that having lived on UNC campus and been to many games, the hype over football is just as big as over basketball…it tends to switch year by year though, depending just how well/badly each is doing. (I forgot to add basketball though, my bad on that.)</p>

584

<p>I know a bunch of people in NC, and no one cares about Tar Heel football…</p>

585

<p>I must know some really strange people then. xD Uhh…for what it’s worth, I don’t think people in NC other than Chapel Hill care about it…? I wouldn’t really know though.</p>

586

<p>Yikes, I can’t believe I forgot Pepperdine in my post #583.</p>

<p>Pepperdine would be on par with UCSB/UC Davis for undergrad.</p>

587

<p>Community Colleges:</p>

<p>Nassau Community College-the best community college in the US. The biggest SUNY community college campus out of 30. Over 21,000 students attend. Everyone from Long Island including people from Suffolk County. Has one of the best junior college football teams in history. </p>

<p>Suffolk Community College-Not as good as Nassau. </p>

<p>SUNY:</p>

<p>Stonybrook-one of the best for anything medical. Highly underrated. Primarily a research university. Smart Long Islanders go here.</p>

<p>Binghamton-best SUNY college. </p>

<p>Geneseo-selective university. Underrated.</p>

<p>Farmingdale-the college for Long Island dummies. Used to be a 2-yr school. Need a car. So-so campus. </p>

<p>Purchase-great school for the performing arts. Bricked, boring campus. Nothing to do. Has terrible food.</p>

<p>Albany-party school.</p>

<p>Ivy:</p>

<p>Columbia-best college in NY but in bad, unsafe location. Awesome for grad.</p>

<p>Cornell-middle of nowhere. Nice campus. Second best to Columbia. </p>

<p>Private:</p>

<p>NYU-Columbia rejects. Some Long Island people go here. It seems they’re great in everything. Best school is Tisch and then Stern. Was on list of “dream schools” a number of times. Some people only go here to be in NY. Great for grad. Can get lonely. Hard to make friends since dorms all spread out. No school pride. </p>

<p>Syracuse-upstate. Average school. Not hard to get into except for Newhouse. One of best communication programs in the US. Famous alumni from broadcasting department. Snowy weather. Near Albany. Good sports.</p>

<p>Hofstra-rich, snobby Long Island kids driving BMWs and Mercedes. Girls wearing Louis Vuitton bags. Dorms are unclean. Close to the city. Lots of transportation available. Half of students from out-of-state. Unknown college to non-NYers. Lots of commuters. No social life.</p>

<p>Adelphi-lots of Long Island people. Average school. Easy to get into. Nice campus. Parking can be bad. Gets quiet and boring. Unknown to people not from NY.</p>

<p>Five Towns College-the real stinker. Everyone from Long Island. Has only one academic building. Feels like day camp with campus excluded from everything else. No cars allowed as freshman. Prison. No concerts allowed. Nothing to do. No social life. People entertain themselves in boredom. Do not go here!</p>

<p>CW Post-lovely campus. Long Island peeps who couldn’t get into better colleges. Boring. Tries to get money out of students’ pockets. </p>

<p>School of Visual Arts-for the very artsy people. Buildings look dull.</p>

588

<p>Florida Atlantic U- It’s very close so not many kids though. They recruit heavily for Harriet Wilkes (honors) at my school. A lot of kids have research internships and the like there. The honors college seems like a pretty cool place. Nobody wants to go to the normal campus (though it’s alright in my opinion).</p>

<p>UF- The harvard of Florida. Seriously, if you want to stay in state after you graduate you’re better off staying here for the huge alumni network and the absolutely stellar reputation. It’s not uncommon for kids to pass up ivy leagues for UF at my school. It’s also highly selective in state. People at my school tend to speak very highly of Gainesville for the most part, but those who don’t absolutely hate it.</p>

<p>FSU- Party school. For people who can’t get into UF for the most part and the red necks. Decent academics, but in a really crappy city.</p>

<p>University of Central Florida- For people who want to be near a city in Florida and/or were rejected from FSU and UF. Gigantic school. A lot of average to below average students wind up here.</p>

<p>University of South Florida- Should be UWF, but whatever. I didn’t hear anyone talking about it until their amazing football run last season. Seems to be a pretty decent school</p>

<p>University of Miami- The perception at my school is that it’s ugly and for northerners. I disagree, I think the campus looks nice but not much nicer than that open campuses of private high schools in fl. In fact, the whole school screams high school to an instater based on its appearance in certain places. Personally, I like the school. They give excellent aid and scholarships.</p>

<p>FIU- I’ve never even met someone who applied here.</p>

<p>Palm Beach CC- The PBCC near me basically belongs to Jack Nicklaus, and so it basically belongs to my high school (long story). Nicklaus donated all the athletic fields in my school’s name so it basically is where the middle school practices and where the boy’s or girl’s lax team practices. CC isn’t necessarily frowned upon, it’s viewed as a legitimate way to get into University of Florida. </p>

<p>Rollins College- People always overrate or underrate this school. It’s not a bad school, but it certainly isn’t great. It has a good business program. It’s very, very, very preppy. A lot of the golfers and rich kids who are smart but for whatever reason didn’t have the greatest grades in high school. I know one kid who has Rollins as one of his top choices who is a very hard worker but because of golf got a low gpa (he also got low test scores, but whatever).</p>

<p>Nova Southeastern- Don’t go for undergrad. Has a decent MBA program that’s respected in state. A lot of internationals in the dorms. </p>

<p>University of North Florida- At least twice last year they held info sessions in a holiday inn near my school. After this they reviewed you transcript and accepted or rejected you on the spot. I’m guessing that if a school is doing this that very few are rejected. If they do it next year I’ll probably do it just to be in somewhere but it’s a very weird thing for any college to be doing, in my opinion.</p>

<p>Obviously there are a lot more. Maybe I’ll get to them later.</p>

589

<p>^^^^I nominate the person above for the “clueless poster of the year” award. It’s obvious this person doesn’t know much about colleges in Florida. Rednecks at FSU? I think he’s your confusing Tallahassee with Gainesville. Anyway, disregard everything this misguided kid posted.</p>

590

<p>Ok, thanks I guess. I was just sharing the perceptions of my school. Another reason not to attend FSU, I guess.</p>

591

<p>Rednecks at FSU? You’ve got to be kidding. :rolleyes: Liberals, Socialists, Nihilists, Communists and Maoists - maybe (oh yeah - lots of Democrats) Perhaps a few Cowgirls in pickup trucks and slackers wearing sandals during winter…</p>

<p>You might try reading up a bit more on the “Berkeley of the South” sometime while you’re a student at the so-called Harvard of Florida. It’s interesting…it appears the only people who refer to UF as a “Harvard” or a “Public Ivy” are people who seem to be students there.</p>

<p>I suggest going into any of the Top-20 universities sections here on the CC and see if UF gets any love as a Harvard or an Ivy. I will concede UF is the Harvard of Gainesville, though. ;)</p>

592

<p>I am now on page 21, and STILL NO COMMENTS FROM ALABAMA.</p>

<p>I hope I find something before I get to the last page!</p>

593

<p>Found a post on Alabama on p. 35, and another little entry between 22 and 27 (sorry), forgot to write it down.</p>

<p>so U.A. Huntsville has a good rep. I thought as much. Thanks to the poster.</p>

594

<p>jmc2009 - wesleyan, and other connecticut colleges, are mentioned back in post #258:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/132602-post-your-own-state-s-college-reputations-18.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/132602-post-your-own-state-s-college-reputations-18.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

595

<p>parents2noles: Last time I checked, I was still in high school. I don’t understand why FSU people keep getting so defensive. For some reason all these supporters and alum seem to be very sensitive to others’ opinions. Any school has everything you said, but I was saying the reputation at my school. People pass up ivies to go to UF, and those same people don’t look at FSU. FSU isn’t all rednecks, but that’s the impression people have where I live. If you are insulted with that take it up with them, not me. </p>

<p>Also I can’t get into UF. I don’t have Bright Scholars and I’m not top 10% of my class, so it’s basically impossible. FSU is a safety for me, however. But you’re representing your alma mater well by bashing anyone who states their opinion (or other opinions of it) that is contrary to yours and making assumptions that are completely wrong. I don’t like Gainesville, and even if I could get into UF I’d have 0 desire to attend. I hate UF, I hate FSU, but that doesn’t detract from it’s reputation where I live.</p>

596

<p>I don’t mind legitimate criticism and analysis. But writing that FSU is a party school composed mostly of UF rejects and rednecks deserves a response.</p>

<p>I’m also sure you know such generalizations are not true, yet you post them anyway. This means you either don’t care to determine the truth or you’re simply interested in posting patently wrong information.</p>

597

<p>whyhaveaa…you’re welcome. :]</p>

598

<p>Whatever, all I said was the reputation in my area, if you can’t deal with that then sucks for you. I plan on applying to FSU and I’m not a redneck and I don’t even want to apply to UF. Then again, if people are like you, parent2noles can’t understand that I WASN’T EVEN POSTING MY VIEWS ON THE SCHOOL, then maybe I should just pass.</p>

599

<p>“You might try reading up a bit more on the “Berkeley of the South” sometime while you’re a student at the so-called Harvard of Florida. It’s interesting…it appears the only people who refer to UF as a “Harvard” or a “Public Ivy” are people who seem to be students there.”</p>

<p>Sorry to tell ya, but even though UF ain’t Harvard, in state it is looked upon on the level of a UNC, Texas and it’s (again in state) rep is VERY close to that of Ga Tech for engineering. In fact, nationally, UF is very close to Texas and encroaching on UNC too. There is PLENTY of overlap between the top of UF’s class and ANY school, including Michigan, Cornell, you name it. Don’t believe me? Ask the 13% of applicants with a 1400+ SAT who were rejected.Take it easy, this doesn’t mean FSU is a bad school, tough. If i were 18 and deciding on a Florida school, I would try for UF or FSU as they with Miami are the alpha dogs of the state.</p>

600

<p>^I have no issue whatsoever with UF having some excellent programs as my father is a UF grad as are other family members. </p>

<p>I do have issue with sweeping generalizations that unfairly paint one school (in this case Florida State as I am an FSU alumnus) with negative information. If you post it, expect some analysis of that information and requests for proof.</p>

<p>Titan - good luck on your applications. Word to the wise - FSU’s Fall 2008 SAT average was 1265, having increased from 1218 the previous year. </p>

<p>Apply early (early August) for the best chance at entry. Once admitted, immediately - online - apply for housing.</p>