<p>My D originally was not thrilled with attending in state, even seriously researching schools where she could transfer during sophomore year.
However, she opted to stick it out, and eventually made it work for her.
Despite the mediocre rap some directional Us get, she has had many opportunities in her major ( environmental education) and already has a job lined up for after graduation that seems custom made for her.</p>
<p>We couldn’t be more thrilled and proud for her.
:D</p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter ek!</p>
<p>My son graduated from a directional U two years ago, job lined up with a Fortune 500 company, great relocation package and benefits not often seen these days. Oh, and very little debt!</p>
<p>Congrats back to your son!</p>
<p>Those fixated on the “top” 30 schools are apparently unaware of the competitive nature of academia.
Even at community colleges profs usually have Ph.ds and many families who choose not to burden themselves with alot of debt recognize that the directional Us, with their reliance on professors instead of TA’s in the classroom, can be a pretty good deal.</p>
<p>I appreciate the start of this thread as DD2 ended up applying to quite a mix of Us, directional ones included. Her nose was somewhat turned up at them, but she qualified for such high merit scholarships that they fit within our education budget. She has now decided to take a gap year, but I would still consider re-applying next year if she is agreeable.</p>
<p>Buckeye, if she wants to take a gap year, she should contact the college at which she wants to attend and see if they will let her take the gap year and hold her scholarship for her for the following year. There is no guarantee that if she turns them down now and goes through the admission process next year that she would be accepted or get the award. </p>
<p>Happykid is at a directional U. She’s already working in her field (and has been since she was at community college). She has been turning down work since community college. But she’s in theater tech/design and that industry is definitely who-you-know-and-who-you’ve-worked-with-and-golly-you-are-really-good-at-XYZ. One solid gig leads to another. No big-name school (even a big name for her industry) would have landed her all of this work in our region because of the wykawywwagyargaXYZ nature of the job market. Each institution feeds particular regional job markets.</p>
<p>My kids also took gap years and that contributed to some of Ds initial dissatisfaction as she was older than some of the students, but as she settled in, she found her place.</p>
<p>S2 went to a large directional state u. He wasn’t a star student in h.s. but became a much better student in college. His confidence grew by leaps and bounds. He graduated(2012) in 4 years/ debt free. He has a good job (not related to his major) with good benefits and is completely self supporting. He loved his 4 years at directional state u. We couldn’t be more proud. BTW, his school is known as a party school. S2 was not immune to that (not gonna lie) but learned quickly how to balance work and play. </p>
<p>I like the directional Us, because they are smaller than the flagship or land grant U’s, they have profs instead of TAs generally, and they often have at least a few areas that they excel at.
Even the most competitive majors, many strong students can still be admitted to, & if instate, it is nice to have your kid within driving distance.</p>
<p>^^^Right.S2 never had a TA or grad student as an instructor other than one Biology lab freshman year. He never had any foreign professors whose English left something to be desired.
S2 never had any problem getting the classes that he needed each semester at his directional u.</p>
<p>Our S1 went to a big land grant/research university and had to drop a Calc. class one semester because the visiting prof. had such poor English skills that he was unintelligible in the large auditorium setting. </p>
<p>My husband went from a small, directional, public university to medical school. Of our friends who graduated from the same university we know a couple of lawyers, an optometrist, a veterinarian, a couple of professors, a dean of students, a school principal, many teachers and nurses, someone doing agricultural research, business people, stay at home parents… </p>
<p>Not a total failure among them.</p>
<p>IMO, smaller or lesser known schools suffer only one real drawback. They don’t have the name recognition/networking power or reputation of their big brothers. That really only matters when a kid is going for the 1st real job. After that, work experience and success is much more important than which school or what grades were achieved. The financial advantages of going to an affordable school FAR outweigh any perceived advantage of going to a prestigious school and incurring debt. - Oh, and the instructors at many smaller schools are more interested in actually teaching than research or publishing. To me, that is more important than even the difference between having an MS or PhD.</p>
<p>I teach at one of those directional schools (about 5000 undergrads, mostly residential, liberal arts focus). Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly.</p>
<p>The good: small classes, no TAs, almost every professor is here because we love teaching. Cost is low, and good students are likely to get significant merit aid. Lots of opportunities for campus involvement. Our best students would be competitive anywhere, but they’re here mostly for financial reasons. Those who put in the effort have landed excellent jobs in their fields or prestigious grad schools post-graduation.</p>
<p>The bad: less name recognition than our president would have you believe. Small campus means that a lot of students go to the nearby flagship campus to party on weekends. Funding issues.</p>
<p>The ugly: we’re doing better now, but it’s been a long journey to overcome the school’s history as a regional one. Many students have modest ambitions to return to their home town and work in the family business, which is admirable, but it sometimes makes it challenging to get them to step out of their comfort zone and try new things.</p>
<p>One of my DDs went to a top 50, maybe it was top 25, not sure, but well reputed, well known public. She took some summer classes at the nearby directional U. “Wow, Mom, the professor teaches us, not the grad student and the Professor is not ESL. I think I learned more about XYZ subject here than at home school”</p>
<p>This was class 2 or 3 in a science series. DD went on to do a master’s at that directional U, she enjoyed the few classes she took there so much.</p>
<p>Another benefit I learned after D chose a school in a beautiful area ( where she is encouraging us to retire), is that some of the profs seem to be thinking of just that.
They’ve taught in other more prestigious universities, but they are attracted to the area and want to teach not necessarily have publishing research as their rasion d’être.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I like the directional Us, because they are smaller than the flagship or land grant U’s, they have profs instead of TAs generally, and they often have at least a few areas that they excel at.
Even the most competitive majors, many strong students can still be admitted to, & if instate, it is nice to have your kid within driving distance.[/quote</p>
<p>I agree with emerald on this statement. Icing on the cake is if the student is planning on staying in that particular region of the country, the directional public universities have great awareness among HR recruiters mitigating that “lack of name awareness” complaint that people often cite as a reason not to go to one of the smaller state publics. And some of the directionals are known for specific programs that make those colleges a wiser choice than perhaps a larger uni that doesn’t have the major (i.e. pharmacy programs, environmental science programs, geology programs and there are probably others). </p>
<p>I hope this thread isnt too old to bump, but we just spent the weekend in Ds college town attending parents weekend and walking and eating.
It was gratifying to see her so excited about her program and to hear how much she admires & appreciates her profs.
One in particular she cant stop talking about and Im thinking its a good thing that she is graduating since he is also retiring after more than 40 years at the college. <:-P</p>
<p>While IMO WWU is one of the best schools in the region, my post isnt so much to spread the word about Western, but to point out that there are many hidden gems across the country.
Schools that dont have prestigious law or medical schools attached, but where students are getting personal attention from profs who are there because they want to teach undergrads, and who have been fortunate enough to work at a school that appreciates & supports them.</p>
<p>This time of year, some students may be feeling embarrassed and disappointed that for whatever reason they will be attending a school that not many outside of their region know much about, and those that have heard of it may have it wrong. Schools are generally much more than " a party school", or a school with a crappy football program, but it is far enough away so they dont feel pressured to live at home.</p>
<p>My daughter ended up at Western because on paper it was the best choice, academically & financially for her at the time. But she wasnt jazzed about it, like many students feel they need to be. However, she has a good head on her shoulders and she made it work for her. In doing so, I wonder if she didnt find out more about herself & her capabilities than if she was lucky enough to be at a school that was a perfect fit from the get go.
After all, life is much more about hard work and making the most of your choices, than luck.
:)</p>
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<p>Didn’t some in a recent thread tried to convince us that such cases did not exist? ;)</p>
<p>Go WWU Vikings! Best Volcanology Department in the PNW! BOOM!</p>
<p>Where do students from directional universities go after graduation? How about to work, as my newly graduated S1 hopes to?</p>