<p>Good question. In some places everyone is related to everyone 
As we say, âyou are so southern, you are related to yourselfâ.</p>
<p>OMG, Jym is a cousin of Paula Deen.</p>
<p>I attended a branch campus of Emory, worked closely with students from the main Atlanta campus, and then transferred to a mid tier state flagship that accepts around 79% of students. Cobrat, did any of your cousins or friends attend University of Oklahoma? If not then Iâd say Iâm a bit more qualified to speak on the status of how students in the top 25% of OUâs incoming freshmen feel about the school.</p>
<p>From what Iâve heard from honors students (and smart kids do seem to stick together even if theyâre not specifically placed into an honors college), the level of discussion in some of the non weeder classes can be quite low and honors students have to actively seek out challenges when they get into their upper division classes. The reality is, and this isnât just true for OU or Mizzou, professors tend to teach towards the median (this may be less true for the sciences) and if that median is low, the average expectations of professors will be similarly lower, decreasing the amount of information a top student learns. </p>
<p>In other subjects, especially ones with weeder courses or ones that average students just do not seem to study (philosophy, Chinese, etc) the level of the course may be quite high. After my chem classes, I try to watch lectures on the subject that we just covered so as to better understand the material. Typically these lectures come from one of three schools: MIT, UC Berkeley, and UC Irvine. Generally speaking, the material we covered in class is exactly the same as what theyâre doing, although the UCI lecturer does seem to demand a bit more from his students in terms of critical thinking than mine does. </p>
<p>One other thing Iâve noticed when comparing the ambitions of Emory students to those of even top OU students is that the best OU students seem to have a more regional outlook than their Emory peers. This manifests itself in terms of where to apply to grad school, where to seek jobs, and ideas about other regions of the country. At Emory, students aim to get into the best places they could, regardless of the region, whereas at OU, students seem to constrain themselves to certain geographic boundaries.</p>
<p>Oh thank heavens I cannot claim that relation, xiggi! That said, as I said elsewhere, her real cousin makes great cakes!! [Johnnie</a> Gabriel of Gabrielâs Desserts - Paula Deenâs Cake Cookinâ Cousin](<a href=âhttp://www.seniorlvgmag.com/gabriel.html]Johnnieâ>http://www.seniorlvgmag.com/gabriel.html)</p>
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<p>When I go to the Engineering Honors webpage, it states the selection critieria include, in addition to GPA and rank, such non-numerical metrics as âextracurricular activitiesâ and âleadership experienceâ.</p>
<p>And here is the description of what they say the Honors Program in Engineering is all about:</p>
<p>âa <strong>non-curriculum based program</strong>designed to enhance the undergraduate experience <strong>outside the classroom</strong> Participants gain access to scholarships for first-year students, honors housing, faculty mentors and community building events hosted by the University Honors Center and the Engineering Honors Council.â</p>
<p>By this description, it doesnât seem as though the classroom experience will be limited to those just in this program. So if I am reading this correctly, the students in the classroom will not be as uniform as the students in the program. So maybe youâre living with students with 100% over a 31 ACT, but youâre not necessarily having classmates with the same profile.</p>
<p>And for what itâs worth, even with their âholistic admissionâ criteria, Stanford manages to get 75% of its <strong>entire student body</strong> with a composite over a 31 ACT, Harvard with 75% over a 32, MIT the same with over a 32, Cal Tech with over a 33(wow!), etc.</p>
<p>Compare that to another great school of engineering, Georgia Tech, whose top 75% have above a 28 ACT.</p>
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<p>That is absolutely possible, and especially true for pre-professional programs. </p>
<p>TPG offered the example of Cockrell and Plan II in Austin. You could easily add McCombs Business that culls its students from the top 1-4 percent of applicants for the REGULAR B-school. The Business Honors Program is even more selective and is surely at the highest level in the nation. </p>
<p>UT can afford to pick departments for elevation to world-class status as it did six years ago with its neuroscience dept, as it actively recruited top faculty and students. Money and the chance to live in ABC or Littlefield was a draw for students admitted to HYPS and MIT.</p>
<p>Not to hard to understand. In a world of Mercedes and BMW, Toyota created a luxury brand with Lexus to target the same selective buyers. Honors programs are indeed very selective, but their success hinges on remaining a school within a school and specialty programs.</p>
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<p>If you had carefully parsed my earlier comment, I was strictly speaking about Mizzouâs J-School and not any other state schools. </p>
<p>Pizzagirl and her fellow travelers love to start little tiffsâŠeven when PG later acknowledges implicitly that it would be reasonable that I know many Mizzou alums/parents of alums because their J-School has a well renowned reputation among those in the journalistic field.</p>
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<p>Constraining oneâs goals to oneâs regional boundaries is a YMMV quality. </p>
<p>Some students and/or their families would regard that as a positive while others would regard that as a serious negativeâŠsuch as most folks in my extended family.</p>
<p>Cobrat, Qui bene amat bene castigat. Pizzagirl believes that who loves well punishes well.</p>
<p>Your stories with a multitude of cousins range from the endearing to the downright puzzling. Your family tree must be of a museum quality.</p>
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<p>No, I donât think itâs âreasonableâ at all that you know âmanyâ Mizzou alums / parents of alums. You went to hs in NY, college in Ohio, you seem to have spent time mainly in Boston and NY, and youâre in computers â not even remotely related to journalism. If you said you were a working journalist, I might consider it reasonable that youâd know Mizzou journalists. But no, til then, I am not going to âacknowledgeâ that itâs reasonable that you know more Mizzou-related people than I do when I actually lived in the state and have ties there, any more than it would be reasonable to assume I know more Oberlin people than you do. Itâs ridiculous. There is no topic in which you donât have numerous âfriends and acquaintancesâ who supposedly have links there. No one believes it, really.</p>
<p>BTW, have you considered that what your extended family thinks isnât of interest to most people? Note how most of us on these boards donât post what our extended families think, since we know itâs irrelevant to anyone but us.</p>
<p>I attended journalism school at another leading program in a state that shares a border with Missouri, have spent my whole working life in editorial/marketing/communications in the midwest, and have never met a single Mizzou J-school graduate. Just saying.</p>
<p>Well, Brad Pittâs the only person I know of that went to Mizzouâs J-school. But he dropped out 2 credits shy of graduating. But thatâs probably what being surrounded by all those fellow Mizzou students who were not very academically inclined , just wanted to party, and who had little ambition will do to you!</p>
<p>Know of Brad Pitt ⊠Know Brad Pitt. Same difference 
Hey, say hi to Brad for me</p>
<p>My DH had 17 aunts and uncles, all but one married and all that married had kids. So he has copious first cousins, not to mention cousins once removed, second cousins, etc. Yet what they think, what they do, where they studied, etc, is, for the most part irrelevant to posts/posters here. What posters are trying to say, directly or couched in humor, is that your comments, even when spot on, get watered down and potentially devalued when constantly related to the knowledge/experience of some friend, classmate, cousin, other relative, doctor, lawyer, accountant, writer, engineer, <<<<<fill in="" the="" blank="">>>>>⊠You are in IT? You also said you worked in a law firm, IIRC. Large resume and family tree.</fill></p>
<p>Well, Pizzagirl, I would be happy to say hi to Brad for you! Just wish he was my cousin!</p>
<p>For a lot of Chinese, everyone is a cousin. All of their parentsâ friends are uncle or aunt, whether they are related or not.</p>
<p>We referred to some (well, maybe one) of our parentsâ dear friends as âaunt and uncleâŠâ but never called their kids âcousinsâ. That is interesting, oldfort, but doesnt explain the numerous friends, roommates, former classmates⊠who have all had experiences attributed to them.</p>
<p>Had he graduated, Pitt might have been âunderstandableâ in that Chanel commercial. ;)</p>
<p>Oh, now it makes sense. Cobrat has a billion cousins.</p>
<p>True, that Chanel ad was interesting. And I read that Brad Pittâs area of interest in the J-School was advertising.</p>
<p>Old fort and jym make a point - my parents had close friends that I called "aunt " and âuncleâ.
I am kind of sad that the practice in not popular today - I think it was a wonderful way to recognize these special people who were, in essence a part of our family.</p>