Post your own state's college reputations'

College Search & Lists
141

<p>well the obvious
UVA - it’s the best in the state. But to some extent i think the admissions process is overrated. I don’t really see a whole package type of admission. Some people i know who got in were like people who have high SAT and high GPA but really no ECs whatsoever in fairfax county.
W&M - second in state, but admissions i guess is overrated. maybe it’s just because we’re in-state but the caliber of those accepted at both UVA and W&M aren’t really the smartest people although there r exceptions.
VT - it’s like the school a lot of engineering people go to. Besides a lot apply b/c of the football.
JMU - it’s kind of parallel in terms of academic caliber of VT except not just engineering people.
GMU - i think people who just take APs but get like Cs and Ds go there. </p>

<p>these were my observations. i’m not elitist or anything it’s my observation. if u want to refute it, be my guest.</p>

142

<p>Pennsylvania:</p>

<p>Penn State U. Park- Mostly preppy white kids. The school gives of the impression of being slightly racist. Students tend to discriminate on the minorities, especially if you’re black…otherwise, its a pretty good school. However, they don’t live up to their admissions standards. I know kids with very low SATs that have gotten in. </p>

<p>Swarthmore, Haverford - Best Liberal Arts schools in PA, and one of the best in the country for that matter. Very Hard to get in. Location is also not bad, they are both close to Philadelphia. </p>

<p>Allegheny, Gettysburg, Ursinus, Muhlenberg, Lafayette - These schools are also very good liberal arts schools, but admission is not as selective as Swarthmore/Haverford. However, they are great schools if you want to go for Pre-Med, as some of them have programs with Jefferson Hospital and UPenn.</p>

<p>Kutztown, Millersville - pretty good liberal arts schools, not as selective as the other two groups. They offer very good preparation for basically any field. </p>

<p>Drexel - Horrible campus. Their financial aid is even worse, as they tend to give ridiculous packages to good students but leave the extremely poor with not so great grades without any money whatsoever. Not a bad school, but not a very good one either. </p>

<p>Temple - Not a bad school. Big campus, located in the middle of Philadelphia. Someone else mentioned it was a dangerous school, I have to disagree. I mean, its located in a city that does have a crime problem, but all schools in Philadelphia then, including Penn, would have to be classified as dangerous, and its just not true. Good social life, but their sports kind of suck.</p>

143

<p>ty! wow i sounded stupid there. :(</p>

144

<p>I’m from Texas, and I think that some of the posters have been a little mean about a few of the schools.
UT Austin- Obviously this is the best state school in Texas. Austin is a very cool town. Truly it doesn’tfell like you are in Texas when you live there. </p>

<p>Texas A&M- Someone said that this school was “cultish.” I don’t think that is really fair. This school is amazing for a certain type of student, and not so great for others. If you are conservative, and have lots of school spirit I would look into the Aggies. They truly have a lot cool traditions that really create a very bonded, spirited class. If you apply, and are accepted (which you probably will be) I suggest a visit to figure out what you think of the traditions.
Texas Tech- Another conservative state school that has a lot of partying, and a strong frat and sorority presence. The academics are good, but not great, and the honors college is a way to get quite a few perks.
University of North Texas- A school that seems to be somewhat on the rise. The campus is not especially pretty, but it has a strong fine arts program. It also has one of the best music programs in the state. Denton is basically part of Dallas so you have all the benefits of that town.
SMU/TCU- These colleges often seem the same to outsiders, and even sometimes to people from the state. The universities are both in nice areas of the Dallas/Fort Worth metro. I think SMU is prettier, and the Cox school of business is much more respected. Either one of these degrees is greatly respected in state, and not so much out of state.
Austin College- Small, LAC college that has a growing reputation. Interesting place, but not set in the most exciting of towns. (Sherman)
UTSan Antonio, UT Arlington, Ut El PAso, UT Tyler, UT Dallas- A lot of the students at these schools do plan on transferring to Austin, but lots also plan to saty and complete their degree at one of these schools.
Ut Dallas is known for its engineering</p>

145

<p>i guess youll be watching the Texas v Southern Cal game , eh?</p>

<p>i know i will :)</p>

146

<p>Michigan’s Private colleges?</p>

<p>People say that Alma and Almont are good schools. I know absolutely nothing about them. The only two people I know remotely interested are hardcore Republicans who like the locations because they are in the country and they could ride their horses nearby.</p>

<p>U Detroit-Mercy has a decent reputation I guess. Seems like a lot of local lawyers and doctors went there.</p>

<p>Honestly I don’t ever hear much of anything about the other schools. Most people in suburban Detroit would be clueless as to Hillsdale, Hope, Calvin, etc. I know these are some good academic schools, but very few people I know consider them.</p>

<p>Four tiers of people at my school: those who don’t go to school, those who go to Central/Western, those who go to MSU, and those who go to Michigan. Others are few and far between. Of my class of 675+, I know of only one smart kid who is going OOS for sure (Princeton).</p>

147

<p>dsmo–Only in-state public schools with that huge class of seniors? How about the D2/D3 athletes? Son’s HS is also suburban in Oakland County. He and several other athletes are being recruited for various sports by some of the in-state privates. High quality LAC’s that give out decent merit aid bringing costs down to public school levels or less. Son is seriously considering Kalamazoo College for that reason.</p>

148

<p>University of Missouri- Columbia (Mizzou)- party school, nice campus. Pretty much everyone goes there, not very academic but goot journalism school. </p>

<p>St. Louis University (SLU)- Pretty good academically, not many people I know go there (strangely. I guess people just wanna leave.) St. Louis isn’t the greatest city. But we do have a pretty nice arch. </p>

<p>Wash U- The Missouri Ivy. Good med program, expensive, hard to get into. </p>

<p>Truman- out in the middle of no where (the only thing in town is a wal*mart) but good school. </p>

<p>CMO, Southwest Missouri State (there’s like 10 of these… every possible direction you can think of attatched to “missouri state”)- where people go who don’t get into Mizzou. </p>

<p>Kansas City Art Institute: Pretty good school, buy Kansas City is meh.</p>

149

<p>DC…udc not the best…Gtown very good…GW best in my eyes but decent…</p>

150

<p>Michigan (again.)</p>

<p>U of M (ann arbor) - Snobby (they call themselves the harvard of the midwest), lots of studying… but its still a great school, in great city (ann arbor rocks!!! :D) </p>

<p>U of M (dearborn) - “I didn’t get into Ann Arbor. But Dearborn gave me a full scholarship!!” You catch my drift.</p>

<p>EMU- if you want to be a teacher, great… if not, well, there’s not much else of a reason to go there. it’s kind of just a lame excuse for a college.</p>

<p>MSU- Vet school.</p>

<p>Washtenaw Community College- someone once said, “Washtenaw is world renowned for it’s medical program.” That was news to me when I heard it, but as far as community colleges go, washtenaw is nice if you just want to hang out for a year or two before transferring or something.</p>

<p>and… that’s all the colleges I can think of at the moment.</p>

151

<p>sydney don’t forget Hope, a private school in Holland, Mich that can get a student into Med school.</p>

152

<p>rsood, do you know a girl named mona tehrani?</p>

153

<p>seriously- CA is a great place to go to school.</p>

154

<p>Im from Pennsylvania, but I wont do UPenn because a lot of you already know about it (probably more then me since Im more of just an above average student rather then a top tier student). Ill try to give you guys some insight on schools.</p>

<p>Penn State U. Park - Great overall state school. I agree with an above poster that they do not live up to their admission standards, but its still nonetheless a great school. Very good honors program. Ive been to the campus and loved it. Its a small town, but the college basically IS the town. I didnt see any racism when I was there, and my dad went there and absolutely loved it back in the day. The campus is very large, but you can get around pretty easily with a bus or bike. When I went on the tour of the campus, they told me that every dorm room gets a microfridge, and EVERY student gets Napster FOR FREE. I mean honestly, you wont have to be afraid of getting caught with illegal music downloading. The food there is ok, pretty average if you ask me, but I had chocolate milk there that tasted great (probably because there are farms all over the place there) Plus, theyve always been really good at football ;). They also have great branch campus’s for people who dont meet the admission standards, and a lot of people then transfer after 2 years. Theres a ton of them all over PA, most having on campus living. Basically if you want a very traditional large scale school, and you have pretty good grades (out of state much harder to get in), Penn State is a great choice.</p>

<p>Pittsburgh - Its a little ghetto in Oakland (right outside of downtown, where the campus actually is), but if you like urban schools Pitt is great. Its academics have really been on the rise and their admissions have gotten tougher and tougher. If you want to go to an urban school, and you get above average (but not EXTREMELY good) grades, check into pitt. They have good athletics, and their basketball games are always packed. Ive heard that the dorms are a little crappy, but I think its because theyre a little on the older side. Pitt’s best school is their med school for sure, with a ton of hospitals nearby.</p>

<p>Now, I know the most about those two schools because a lot of kids at my school go to them, but Ill play a little word association with other schools in PA. Ill name the school, and give you one word to describe it.</p>

<p>Temple - Ghetto
Lafayette - Uptight
Lehigh - Preppy</p>

<p>:) I hope I helped some kids that are interested in PSU/Pitt. Ask questions if you want, I can answer some or I could ask my dad ;)</p>

155

<p>psu = ARGH. a close friend of mine got rejected from university park :(</p>

156

<p>What are the reputations of these schools? (my state is TX and too much had already been said about Tx schools!)</p>

<p>Rhodes
Haverford
Mills
Carnegie Mellon</p>

157

<p>Surprised no ones posted much about NY school. Probably because not many people want to go to the SUNYs. The opinions where I am:</p>

<p>SUNY Binghamton: Generally regarded as the best suny but no one really wants to go there. Good school all around, not the best area ie kind of boring</p>

<p>SUNY Geneseo: The next best regarded school. Small, in the middle of nowhere, good LAC type school for low price, more liberal.</p>

<p>SUNY Stony Brook: Good for the sciences, commuter campus</p>

<p>SUNY Buffalo: EVERYONE wants to go here. Not the top tier kids but everyone else. party school, one of the only suny schools to be inside a big city, lousy football team but at least its division 1</p>

<p>SUNY Albany: Regarded negatively, only good for politics</p>

<p>SUNY Potsdam: Good for music</p>

<p>SUNY New Paltz: hippy school, small, kids go there own way</p>

<p>Some other SUNYs but no one thinks about them</p>

<p>Syracuse University: the local school so liked or disliked depending on if you want to be close/far from home, awesome communications program, great sports teams (not football anymore), pretty hard to get into but not too hard</p>

<p>NYU: A lot of people want to go here, artsy school, large, good to be in NYC</p>

<p>Cornell: Tons of people want to go here and apply and get in ED or RD, great for its ivy program, good sports, hard for science/math/engineering</p>

<p>Ithaca: music, communications people want to go here, the other school in Ithaca</p>

<p>Colgate: good sports, partying/beer, good academics</p>

<p>Hamilton, other rich private schools regarded as good but expensive</p>

<p>So many schools in NY so hard to get a good picture on all of them</p>

158

<p>even though some ppl have posted about PA already, i think i’ll share views from my school. i go to a very rich and preppy (the kind where ppl show off their own bmw’s in the parking lot), but relatively good public school outside of philly, so the views of my school are somewhat different</p>

<p>Penn State - my school is so elitist that no one even thinks about any of the campuses besides the main one. for some odd reason, it’s considered an insult to be put in any of them. i don’t really understand, but i guess. but otherwise, we have a lot of ppl go to penn state, probably about 10% go and about 35% apply. it’s mostly for those that either applied to a lot of reach schools and didn’t get in anywhere, or for ppl that like to party and have a lot of ppl on their campus.</p>

<p>Temple - i don’t know very many ppl that go to temple. it’s got a pretty good communications and arts school, so the ppl that aren’t scared of the location but want to pursue those go there.</p>

<p>Haverford - a lot of the bright, only-apply-to-ridiculous-schools people apply here, but hardly anyone goes. for most of us, it’s a 10-15 minute car ride… no one wants to go there. but its regarded highly for quality academics and good sciences for a LAC</p>

<p>Swarthmore - we’ve had a lot of ppl go lately, a whole 4 in just a year and one ED period. it’s also pretty close, but more like 25-30 minutes, so ur not that close to home. again, great academics. it’s usually for ppl that are good at absolutely everything and don’t know what to do with their life</p>

<p>Drexel - oh god. none of the ppl i know actually like drexel, but some ppl end up going there. it’s a pretty unhappy school, but at least its right next to upenn (like, literally across the street), and has a good co-op program.</p>

<p>Kutztown - for some reason, all the ppl that i know that go there are mostly slackers that seem to choose it for the name that they find funny. it’s weird.</p>

<p>there are also lots of other universities, but my school is elitist enough taht we dont’ talk about them, so i can’t offer an honest opinion.</p>

159

<p>Hey, I can help a bit with Rhodes, lalamomma. I had a chance to talk to a school representative at a college fair last year. He was a super friendly guy, very kind and intelligent. He mentioned that something like 85% of Rhodes students are heavily involved in community service–it’s HUGE there. You don’t have to come from a big community service background, but you should expect to do a lot once you’re there. About 80% of the student body is also involved in Greek life, and there is no delayed rush. The campus isn’t located right in Memphis–it’s a bit of a car ride to get into the main city. The campus itself is BEAUTIFUL, absolutely breathtaking, like a country club. Go to webshots.com and see for yourself–one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. The representative had an entire book of pictures of it, and I was transfixed.</p>

<p>Hope that helped. :)</p>

160

<p>MERRIMACK IS IN THE AFFLUENT TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER NOT LAWRENCE. students here are parochial school grads who couldn’t get into Holy Cross, B.C. OR EVEN fAIRFIELD BUT REFUSE TO ATTEND THE LOWER TIER PLACES SUCH AS UMASS LOWELL, ENDICOTT, SALEM STATE and their like.</p>