Sick of public university, am I the only one? Should I transfer to private institutions?

College Life
1

Hi,
I am a student attending in a public university

While I was applying to colleges, I heard warnings about public schools from several people.
They told me cheap stuffs are cheap for a reason: public schools give minimal care and attention to students and sometimes would give out terrible grades at students because they simply don’t care about recruitment.
I sorta ignored their warning because… Public schools are so much cheaper than private ones!
Even though I am international and thus out-of-state, I am saving about $15000~20000 per year by attending a public school.

Well… it turned out to be quite true
So far, this is what I saw and felt about the public school that I am attending

-Advisers who have over 400 advisees and often never reply to my emails

-Professors who care too much about research and don’t even bother about us undergrads. Those people sometimes explicitly express they are rather forced to teach us and hate to do so.

-Professors who would rely on TA’s to cover course materials. In most of the case like this, TA’s are confused about the course materials as well.

-Professors who recycles assignments and even exams for years and thus give advantage to students who have connections to upperclassmen.

-Even the most caring professors are very busy and can’t spend time for students even though they want to.

-There are some good TAs. But most of the TAs give lectures about stuff that is not relevant to the course or are even incapable of teaching.

-Part time instructors who don’t even bother to give organized lectures. Even though they are not professors who can’t be easily fired, some of the instructors like that have been teaching in my school for a decade or two because the university finds hiring them as a cheap way of running classes. I was very disappointed about this

-Professors from Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc… who would give 20% of the class D because they consider us as worthless morons who didn’t make in to those schools and thus do not deserve any decent grades.

-Departments refusing to open more classes spaces for students to save money… I have even seen some people being forced to graduate half or a year slower because they couldn’t take major subject on time due to lack of space.

… Am I the only one who feels like this? Do you think I would be better off if I transfer to private institutions?
Overall I feel like there is no personalized environment in public universities. No one really cares about student. I rather think public schools are giant factories that mass produce students at cheapest cost as possible.

Thank you for reading this long thread. :slight_smile:

2

Well endowed private schools may avoid some of those issues. But most private schools are not well endowed. The well endowed ones tend to be the most selective.

3

I am sorry you are having this experience. My daughter is at a public school and is not facing these issues at all. If you decide to transfer you will need to do your research first.

4

@twogirls
Hi Thanks for your reply
May I ask perhaps what’s your daughter’s major?
I have seen some people having higher satisfactory rate with college in certain major in general

5

There is a wide variety of public universities. It sounds like you may be at a particularly poorly funded one.

However, I wonder if culture adaptation is part of your problem. Professors who feel at least 20% of their students are “worthless” does not ring true to me.

6

@SolidKC my daughter attends an excellent public university. She is in the school of public health with a double minor in biology and Hispanic Studies. The school of PH is one of the best in the country as per USNWR - not that I discuss rankings but I wanted to show you that there are good public universities.

I agree that professors don’t usually view their students as worthless morons. (?)

7

@twogirls
I think my school considers itself as prestigious as well. It is a flagship university.
However, I am not satisfied with my school.
To be honest at this point, I am not sure whether all colleges are like this regardless of being public or private…

8

This is not a public vs. private university issue - this is a specific-universities-are-worse-than-others issue.

Public universities are less expensive than private ones because they are partially supported by state taxpayers. That’s why they are cheaper for in-state students than for out-of-state students, too. Private universities are supported by a variety of means, but tuition is a big chunk of that at all but the very wealthiest schools.

Of course public universities care about recruitment. Most states have more than one, so they are competing with other public schools in their state, not to mention private schools all over the country. And some public schools are competing with OOS public schools, too.

The rest of the stuff you mentioned happens at many research universities, regardless of public vs. private status. Professors at research universities are rewarded for their research, not teaching, so some professors care less about it (and are encouraged to do so) and rely on TAs and recycle assignments so they have more time for research. Part-time and adjunct instructors exist everywhere, too, even Ivy Leagues.

There are lots of public universities that are noted for their excellent education, so I think it depends on where you are. However, you sound like you may like the environment of a smaller regional campus or a small private liberal arts college.

9

From your posting history the problem may be you, not your public university. You considered dropping out of high school, you are an international student. You appear to be at a Big 10 school. There also have contradictory posts.

Transferring colleges will not likely fix things for you. You need to visit the counselling center.

10

OP You sound depressed. I agree that a smaller (perhaps not as prestigious or competitive) campus might suit you better.

11

@julliet @redpoodles
Yes, I think I would rather enjoy being in smaller environment
But I am not sure whether I can afford that

Thanks for the advice though

12

@TomSrOfBoston
Well that brings back my awful memory.
I won’t say much but ,as you probably read from my past post, my highschool had lots of issues with incapable instructors and the curriculum.
I was extremely stressed during my senior year due to college admissions due to that.

And yes, I do admit that it may be my problem as it is not my first time complaining about the institution that I belong to.

By the way, I am not a high school drop-out who pretends to be in a Big 10 school.
Also, what’s wrong with being international?

13

Nothing wrong with being international but it is a factor in your predicament. You were unhappy in high school. You are unhappy at a major public research university. You will probably be unhappy at a private university unless you get to the root cause of your problem.

Blaming a school for your unhappiness is not the way to deal with your situation.

14

@TomSrOfBoston
Then what would be the root cause?

15

That is what a therapist would help you determine.

16

And just saying, I wasn’t a complainer for the entire time.
I actually went to two different high school and was perfectly fine with the older one.
It was much academically organized and actually gave students some attentions.
I heard similar things about private schools which relatively have smaller size compared to public ones.
So I was having this “hope” that I may be better off by switching my school

17

@TomSrOfBoston
I don’t think I need a therapy.
Stop judging someone would be mentally disturbed after peeking through his/her past posts.

18

Therapy isn’t just for the “mentally disturbed.” Nevertheless, if that isn’t helpful to you, ignore it and go back to the other good advice you’re getting on this thread.

19

Well, I have no interest in looking at your old posts, so update us a little–

What year are you? Could you hover around your department and make it into a smaller feeling school for you? I mean, you’ll get to know people there very well by the end if you go to all the TA sessions and Professor office hours and make study groups or join clubs in your department. Then it’s like the big giant U is an option you can visit rather than constantly in your way. Try to come up with 5 ways you can make this school feel more comfortable.