<p>^^
My info may be out of date, but I was at MSU 30 years ago as an OOS student. I did not feel out of place at all and my Honors College experience was great. MSU’s music program is solid, and depending on focus/instrument, might even be a hidden gem.</p>
<p>Re Big Ten football, it may be “down” this year on the field, but I don’t think that the experience that one has when attending games is any different than it has been for years, ie, GREAT! </p>
<p>Like others who have posted, I am not necessarily a huge fan of the actual games, but I greatly enjoy the scene that accompanies major college sporting events from the tailgates to the people to the on-field pageantry to the sometimes intense and exciting games to the post-game parties/gatherings. If you focus just on the actual games and wins/losses, you’re missing a lot of what these events are all about.</p>
<p>vicariousparent:</p>
<p>Your daughter will be fine. Not every student attends the games. She will not be left put if she decides to forgo getting tickets her freshman year. Other than hearing the announcements from the football stadium even in her dorm, it will generally be a good, quiet time to study. My guess though is by sophomore year, she’ll make sure to have tickets with her friends and will likely attend basketball and hockey games too. In that environment, its hard not to root for your team.</p>
<p>As far as Honors College, yes, OOS may participate. My son applied and was offered Honors College, in state tuition, and numerous perks.</p>
<p>MSU has a great college town which is easily accessible.</p>
<p>It’s Ohio State that’s embarrassed the Big ten nationally in football. Sure, they’re ranked nationally, as they always are. But the last two years they dominated the Big Ten and yet were completely exposed and outclassed in the national championship games, and they were run off the field earlier this year by USC. It’s not like the good ol’ days when the Big Ten truly was the dominant national football power conference, or at worst second to the SEC. A lot of people think the Big Ten is now the weakest of the BCS conferences, and Penn State’s strong season notwithstanding, I’d find it hard to disagree.</p>
<p>Also off-topic, but regarding posts #43 and #49, I thought that you were supposed to shake your keys when the upcoming play had the potential to be a game-changer, or in other words, “a key play.” Have I been unintentionally insulting people all these years?</p>
<p>It’s threads like this that keep me coming back to College Confidential! :D</p>
<p>I find this very offensive. The University of Minnesota is arguably a better institution than Wisconsin. The Institute of Technology has an average ACT score of 31/32, the College of Biological Sciences 30/31, and the Carlson School of Management 29/30. These scores are on par or slightly below second tier selective colleges (Northwestern, WashU, etc.).</p>
<p>The reason that the University of Minnesota is not seen as prestigious is because it has not forgotten its goal as a public university-to serve the Minnesota’s residents. It is true that the U of M admits students that have lower scores but still have potential into the College of Education and Human Development and the College of Food and Natural Sciences. But even within the latter two colleges, there are students on pre-professional tracks such as Physical Therapy.</p>
<p>^^ I see that you are very new to this forum. You must realize that the focus here is on very highly selective colleges. Many of us spend a great deal of time stressing that there are more than 20 colleges in the country. You have to get used to the mindset around here and don’t be offended! We know there are many wonderful public universities- even in the Big Ten and (gasp) SEC.</p>
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<p>“Even in the Big Ten”? Tell me you’re joking. The Big Ten has, academically speaking, the strongest public universities in the country, top to bottom. Here’s how the Big Ten schools (except Northwestern which is private) are ranked among all public universities by US News:</p>
<p>Michigan #4
Wisconsin #7
Illinois #10
Penn State #15
Ohio State #19
Minnesota #22
Purdue #26 (tie)
Iowa #26 (tie)
Michigan State #30 (tie)
Indiana #30 (tie)</p>
<p>That’s 3 of the top 10, and 10 of the top 30 publics. So don’t tell me that “even in the Big Ten” there are wonderful public universities. More like, first and foremost in the Big Ten there are wonderful public universities. They, along with the UC system, are the cream of the crop.</p>
<p>Wisconsin has twice as many award-winning faculty and a far great research production. Uminn is good but not that good yet.</p>
<p>OP should be thinking about a PAC10 school. (4 BCS wins for this past season of 4 games played). The weather is better too. Its going to be near 60 degrees in Washington, and Washington needs the help in football.</p>
<p>Of course I was joking. I graduated from a Big Ten school. I was referring to the usual mindset on this forum.</p>
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<p>HYPSM (not kidding)</p>
<p>One of the U of M’s goals is to become one of the Top 3 Research Institutions. Despite pursuing this goal, TAs never teach the classes and the professors are extremely accessible despite being extremely published. Does anybody know if this is true at Wisconsin? All I know is that I have a few friends who attend UW-Madison and they say that TAs are overburdened with teaching while the “famous” professors come in sporadically. </p>
<p>MomofWildChild, I have noticed that the focus of this forum is highly selective college, but I wanted to point out that the University of Minnesota should not be spoken of in such disparaging terms. Although it is not known to many, the Twin Cities (where the U of M is located) are the home to numerous Fortune 500 companies. As a result, the job placement rate for students out of the Carlson School of Management is outstanding. This is reflected by the fact that nearly every room in the Carlson School of Management is named after a corporate benefactor (I don’t know if this is something to be proud of, but it is an anecdote). Further illustrating this point is the fact that a significant portion of Target, General Mills, 3M, Travelers entry level employees are University of Minnesota graduates. </p>
<p>Over dependence on rankings from sources such as US News should also not be used to rate schools, since many factors that are arguably irrelevant to the average student are factored into that sort of rankings. In fact, I have heard an administrator say that weather is factored in some rankings…hardly a way to judge academic experiences.</p>
<p>^ It’s a little misleading to say “TAs never teach the classes” at Minnesota. My D, a HS junior, is taking three classes there this semester as part of the state of Minnesota’s PSEO program, in which the state pays for qualified HS students to take college classes (if the college admits them). Two of her three classes will be taught by grad students, albeit under hte title 'Instructor," not TA. I think this is actually quite common in lower-division (first- and second-year) classes at the U. That’s not to say these Instructors won’t do a good job; they might, and as I understand it they’re advanced graduate students who will be seeking full-time tenure-track jobs at other schools in the relatively near future, so they might be as good as any Professor and will probably work hard at it. But you never know; it’s just the luck of the draw. I do think this is an area where Minnesota needs to improve if it hopes to move up in the rankings.</p>
<p>Hey, publics, including the Big Ten are getting flooded with apps in this downturn, so selectivity is likely to go up.
I do agree with MOWC - this forum is a weird bubble…not at all reflective of how must folks think.</p>
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<p>Early candidate for post of the year.</p>
<p>I think that just as often it is the people that get into the Ivy-league schools that are “looked down” on nowadays.</p>
<p>A first year Harvard MBA student said the following on a TV program that aired just a week ago:</p>
<p>"When I told my best friend that I was accepted to Harvard’s MBA program, the first thing he told me was ‘Congratulations’. Then the second thing he said to me was ‘Now, don’t become a jerk.’ "</p>
<p>As stated above, with 10 of the 30 top public schools (and a private school, Northwestern, among the top 10-15 privates), I really don’t understand the justification behind your question.</p>
<p>The first post indicated “Not the good ones like UMich, Northwestern, and Wisconsin”. The original question was raised about other schools, not the top ones.</p>
<p>Implying there is anything wrong with Illinois, Minn, TOSU, Purdue, Indiana, MSU and Iowa is just wrong. All have some great programs and are solid across the board.</p>