UGA vs Florida - in terms of reputation and academics

Colleges & Universities University of Georgia
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<p>We have so many “rep” threads here. Why not add one that actually makes sense?</p>

<p>Flordia:
<a href=“http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-florida-1535[/url]”>http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-florida-1535&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>UGA:
<a href=“http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-georgia-1598[/url]”>http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-georgia-1598&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Both:
[National</a> University Rankings 2011 | Washington Monthly](<a href=“http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2011/national_university_rank.php]National”>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings_2011/national_university_rank.php)</p>

<p>Both are public ivys, big party schools, big of football, strong science schools, etc.</p>

<p>Go!</p>

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<p>They are not “public ivys”. Someone wrote a book and named 40+ schools as “public ivys” in order to sell that book. </p>

<p>What makes an “Ivy” (other than the athletic conference)? You can go to Harvard, major in Art History, and graduate making $150,000+ per year in BB banking or $100,000+ per year in MBB consulting. You can’t do that at Florida or Georgia or any other non-Ivy school save MIT and Stanford. Even at the highly respected public schools like UVA, UNC, GT, Michigan, etc. the consulting and BB banks only target those schools for certain majors (Business, Engineering, Econ, etc. depending on what that school is known for). Schools like UGA and UF aren’t target schools for MBB or BB even if you are an honors student with a 4.0 GPA. </p>

<p>The book should have been called “nationally known state flagship schools”, but that wouldn’t sell books.</p>

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<p>They’re still called public ivies and to the public eye…they are. Book or no book.</p>

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<p>No significant difference.</p>

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<p>The only place that calls either of them a “public ivy” is Green’s Guide. And to the public they most certainly are not. Or are you delusional to believe that a UGA or UF (or SUNY or Rutgers or Iowa, etc) degree pulls the same weight as a Harvard, Princeton, or Yale degree?</p>

<p>And if you believe that they do, why are so many UGA graduates unemployed? And where are the “high prestige” recruiters on their campuses? MBB Consulting, BB Banks, VC firms, hedge funds, etc. strongly recruit Columbia, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Yale, and Cornell but wouldn’t even read a resume from a UGA or UF undergraduate. Graduates from top schools have opportunities, salaries, and career options that UF and UGA students don’t even know exist.</p>

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<p>Wow! If UGA grads are such a bunch of hicks I wonder why you (obviously someone who knows every single UGA graduate and where they are employed and what salary they make) even bother to comment on such a lowly thread about such a worthless school! You seem to be spending an extraordinary amount of time trying to convince everyone that UGA just does not measure up and may not even be worth attending! If UGA is so worthless why do you even care?
College is what you make of it wherever you go. The people on this thread are interested in UGA. Since you seem apparently seem to find all public universities, and UGA in particular, so repugnant, perhaps you are not the best person to be giving advice here.</p>

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<p>FYI:
From the UGA website:
The University of Georgia continues to be a national leader in the number of students each year who receive the very top national academic scholarships. Since 1996, UGA has produced seven Rhodes Scholars, plus 37 Goldwater, ten Truman, seven Udall, six Merage, five Gates Cambridge, four Marshall and three Mitchell Scholars. UGA has produced 21 Fulbright Scholars in the past two years.</p>

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<p>Banjohitter goes to tech. Don’t mind him.</p>

<p>1,444 posts without the ability to stay on topic. No, public ivies are not the same thing as real ivies…hence the name public ivies. </p>

<p>I wonder if this kid even goes to tech.</p>

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<p>Ironically the book that lists both UGA and UF as Public Ivys is titled: “The Public Ivies: America’s Flagship Public Universities” (2001) by Howard and Matthew Greene. [This is a successor to the original 1985 book which was titled “Public Ivies: A Guide to America’s best public undergraduate colleges and universities”.]</p>

<p>As far as the differences between UGA and UF, I think you will find that they are very similar. UGA does have a well respected Honors program that may differentiate it. But if your choices come down to these two schools I would go to whichever one is the least expensive. Georgia has HOPE and Florida has a similar program. If you are out of state for both I would pick the one you liked the most!</p>

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<p>I’m going to Georgia. I’m pre-dental lol my undergrad doesn’t matter as long as I go to a 4 year flagship research university.</p>

<p>I was just wondering for the sake of debate.</p>

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<p>It’s actually the UGA Foundation Fellows program that has produced those - not so much the university at large. FF is an awesomely-generous, uber-selective scholarship program to lure several dozen top students away from Harvard, Yale, MIT et al each year.</p>

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<p>My impression from both that GT and UGA boards has always been that BanjoHitter really wanted to go to MIT or other highly-selective schools, didn’t get in and had to settle for Tech, and now spends a lot of time putting down UGA in order to try to feel better about Tech and himself. Sorry if I’m wrong BH, but that’s just how it comes across.</p>

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<p>Straw man. That was never said (though it’s telling that’s your opinion)</p>

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<p>And a personal attack to top it off. You guys are better than this.</p>

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<p>It is wrong. One thing I’ve realized in life is that there are two different worlds when it comes to college graduates. In one world, $40,000 - $50,000 after graduation is a good salary and $100,000 by age 40 is successful. In another world, $100,000 at graduation is a good salary and $1 million+ per year at age 40 is successful. People in these situations lead completely different lives. </p>

<p>That second world is really not that hard to crack, as long as you go to the right schools at pursue the right careers. That’s the difference between an “Ivy” and other schools - at Georgia you have virtually no chance at a career in that second group. A Wharton graduate can get into those careers easily.</p>

<p>The idea of a “public ivy” is that there are some public schools that give you a shot at the high salary careers. Schools like UC Berkeley, UCLA, UT Austin, UVA, UNC - and yes - GT give you a shot at those career paths. UGA, UF, Alabama (basically the rest of the SEC) do not despite being called “flagship” schools or “public ivys” or whatever you want to call them.</p>

<p>The realization of the difference between top schools and other schools is why this country seems to have perpetual poverty in some families and perpetual prosperity in others. Unless you’ve been in that second world, you don’t even know it exists, and you won’t caution your children accordingly. You’ll make a comment like “Well, UGA is pretty good and it’s closer than UVA” without understanding the salary implications later in life. Meanwhile, successful parents are more apt to push their children to accept reasonable risk in order to obtain much high rewards.</p>

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<p>BH, are you saying that the purpose of college and life is to make the most money? It is trite but would appear to be necessary to make the point that money doesn’t bring happiness. A lot of people do graduate from UGA and do extraordinarily well financially, but many go to UGA, and other colleges that are a good fit for them, and have experiences that forever enhance their quality of life.</p>

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<p>So, back to topic. Both schools have been hit by big budget cuts lately. UGA has raised its tuition. UF was not permitted to. That said, I personally feel that UF has a slightly all around stronger academic core, though the schools are academically much closer than they used to be decades ago. What do you plan to study? Where do you live?</p>

<p>*** oh, you are already at UGA. Whats the point of the thread? To stir up a rivalry?</p>

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<p>The discussion was what makes a “public ivy”. At any school (UGA, UF, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, UCF, USF, etc.) you can graduate and work as a middle school teacher, live in the middle class, and have a quiet life. There’s nothing wrong with that life, but you can go virtually anywhere and get to that point so it’s not a differentiator. </p>

<p>What is a diffrentiator are the “high prestige” careers (MBB management consulting, BB investment banking, venture capital, private equity). These careers are closed to UGA and UF graduates unless they have an extenuating circumstance (Rhodes Scholar, billionaire family, cured cancer). However, these careers are open to most Ivy League schools and a few public schools (as mentioned, UCLA, Berkeley, UT-Austin, GT, UNC, UVA, and you can add Michigan, McGill, and Toronto) and a few private schools (Rice, Duke, Northwestern, MIT, Caltech, Chicago, NYU). </p>

<p>In summary, my point is that neither UF nor UGA give you the same opportunities at highly desirable (and, yes, high paying) careers as an Ivy League school or a prestigious public school. Both UGA and UF give you an opportunity at a comfortable life making an honest wage, but you can’t compare them to the opportunities at the best schools.</p>

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<p>I mentioned income above because it’s quantifiable and comparable in terms of how “success” is different in the two classes of universities. I wanted to convey the point that $200,000 per year at age 50 is a highly successful person from UGA and probably one of the most financially successful people in his class. At a top school, that’s probably below average. I could have used “happiness”, “self fulfilling”, etc. instead of money, but you can’t objectively measure or compare those.</p>

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<p>Concerning budget cuts: I worry about UGA’s budget. When Adams added engineering (which will be the most expensive department at UGA), he swore that he could do it without any funding from the State. That was the sole reason his request was granted despite budget cuts and many legislators and regents and swore to hold him to it.</p>

<p>So how will he add an incredibly expensive program without bankrupting the school? He looked at GT’s research budget (which brings in 6 times more for engineering than UGA brings in as an entire university) and said “if I can steal 10% of GT’s research grants…” </p>

<p>What he missed in that analysis is that much of GT’s funding comes in for programs UGA will not have and therefore cannot steal, most of the funding is nationally granted on renewing contracts UGA cannot steal, much of the funding comes in from GTRI’s patents and incubators, which UGA cannot steal, and the small remaining amount of funding comes from competitively bid grants, which UGA with a small unranked and unaccredited engineering school employing unknown faculty will not be competitive to steal from GT or even from schools like Clemson or Auburn (two schools with heavily state-subsidized engineering programs). </p>

<p>Engineering is going to be a financial loss for UGA for at least the next 10 years, and with legislator and regent promises to block additional funding for UGA if the engineering program starts to lose money, I don’t know how Adams plans to make up the difference.</p>

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<p>BH: Based on your posts here, you seem to have a great deal of knowledge about both overall college rankings, “public ivy” rankings, average salaries of graduates, and how companies run their hiring and promotional practices. Can you give us more details on when your knowledge base is coming from, and your experience in the corporate world? I think this would better assist readers in understanding your view of things. In addition, do you have the numbers for the different colleges you have listed for alum who earn $1 million per year by age 40, or if not, where you found this data? </p>

<p>As for Engineering, I would guess that it is hard to predict what will happen, as both UGA and GT have changed a great deal in their history, especially in the last 20 years. But just so I can understand, I know that the freshman class at GT is about 2,700 or so every year. Any idea how many of these are from the state of GA and are majoring in Engineering? Next, how many HS grads are in GA every year, and how many of those desire Engineering? I believe the overall HS graduation numbers were given out by the BOR not too long ago, and the most recent numbers are in between 90,000 and 100,000, but I am not sure. I think that this information, if nothing else, would be a good start to the discussion, and as to whether more engineering seats are needed in the state (I am guessing that GT is not wanting to grow, right?). You also stated information about Clemson and Auburn, can you tell us what the % of state funding these colleges have as compared to GA, as I believe that SC is barely funding their higher ed, but I could be wrong. Thanks!</p>

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<p>No **** this is a debate between UF and UGA. Obviously there’s going to be controversy. Banjohitter just can’t get over tech.</p>

<p>Banjohitter is a little confused. Tech is a STEM school. UGA offers a far wider variety of degree programs than tech does. That’s the disparity in starting salary and midyear salaries. I can’t imagine how many ivy league high school teachers there are. I’m satisfied with UGA. UGA is a great school. Besides tech and emory it’s the third best university in Georgia. It’s an up and coming school too. UGA-GHSU partnership for research and Athens campus will serve Georgia well. UGA has an excellent pharmacy and vet school. UGA needs to tackle the niche of medicine. Their public health program is great. UGA needs to capitalize on this. I am a pre-dental biochemistry major and I know. UGA has a higher rate of matriculation into medical and dental schools. UGA’s chemistry and biology department are top notch. All type of agricultural science is phenomenal at UGA. Science courses at UGA are actually very difficult. I know people who transferred from Tech to UGA when they decided they would do pre-med only to find the courses are the same. UGA’s honors program is one of the most selective programs in the country. I know many very intelligent people who go to UGA. UGA’s symbol is the arch. The arch stands for truth, wisdom, and balance. This is just what Georgia is. It’s one hell of a college life. College isn’t just about money. College shapes you as a person. </p>

<p>I don’t think anyone can make the case that UGA is better than tech in terms of prestige. It’s impossible. However, what you’re not understanding banjohitter is that tech is a niche school. UGA is still a very respectable flagship institution. It has one of the strongest alumni base in the south east. Btw, UGA’s 2011 budget is actually higher than tech’s just so you know. </p>

<p>My undergraduate degree isn’t going to matter. My DDS is going to matter. If I was doing engineering would I go to UGA? hell no. Would I go to UGA if I was doing computer science? Nope. Would I go to UGA if I was majoring in business? Probably not. </p>

<p>UGA is an up-and-coming school. Come ranking updates this year, I think we will see an improvement.</p>

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<p>"In summary, my point is that neither UF nor UGA give you the same opportunities at highly desirable (and, yes, high paying) careers as an Ivy League school or a prestigious public school. Both UGA and UF give you an opportunity at a comfortable life making an honest wage, but you can’t compare them to the opportunities at the best schools. "</p>

<p>If this is all you’re trying to say banjohitter then maybe you’re not as crazy as people make you out to be with your 1449 posts. I agree with the above statement. </p>

<p>Luckily, I will be getting the best of both worlds $ and college exp. :)</p>