<p>Yeah, I know none of them are anything to brag about, but which ones would you consider to at least have somewhat ‘good names’?</p>
<p>James Madison University
North Carolina State University
SUNY Plattsburgh
Ohio University
University of Minnesota: Twin Cities
University of North Carolina: Asheville
University of North Carolina: Wilmington
West Virginia University
SUNY Geneseo
University of Vermont</p>
<p>JMU, NC State, and Twin Cities stand out; they’re very good schools.</p>
<ol>
<li>Minnesota</li>
<li>NC State</li>
<li>James Madison</li>
</ol>
<p>My opinion is that while the three listed above may be best, they still have mostly regional appeal. If you want to live in a certain area of the country after graduating, you might do best to pick the college from this list that is in that region. People from outside the region either will not have heard of them, or will have no opinion one way or another.</p>
<p>Aren’t most non-brand name schools regionally good- like, where I live Rutgers is seen as a good school, but would anyone in Nevada care about it?</p>
<p>SUNY Geneseo is an excellent school but doesn’t have that outside-the-area name recognition as some of the others do. I certainly think it’s better than SUNY Binghamton for some things, like liberal arts.</p>
<ol>
<li>Minnesota</li>
<li>NC State</li>
<li>Vermont</li>
</ol>
<p>I’m pretty familiar with NC State, UNCA, and UNCW. All three are roughly equal in selectivity, and they’re all good schools. I wouldn’t choose between them based on prestige. </p>
<p>NC State is the most typical public university of the three. It’s fairly big (25,000 undergrads) and urban, and athletics (esp. basketball and football) are popular. The campus is somewhat ugly due to its enormous amounts of brick, but it’s a large campus with a fair amount of green space. Most people know it for engineering, but it also has top-notch programs in other areas, including zoology, textiles, natural resources, and architecture. The liberal arts aren’t as strong, but it nevertheless has some strong programs, including things like creative writing, applied anthropology, public history, etc. NC State has traditionally been noticeably more conservative than nearby UNC Chapel Hill, but it certainly has plenty of liberal students. NCSU is slightly more popular with guys and tends to be about 55-60% male. </p>
<p>UNC Asheville is one of the few public LACs in the country. It’s fairly small (~3500 students) and located in the mountains of NC. If you’re into outdoorsy activities, it’s a great location. Asheville is a small but hip and quirky town; it’s very LGB (especially L) friendly. UNCA isn’t quite as hippie-ish as the town of Asheville itself or nearby Warren Wilson, but it’s the most liberal of the NC public universities aside from Chapel Hill. Most of the liberal arts subjects are reasonably strong, with special strength in English, classics, communication, atmospheric science, and environmental studies. The campus is hilly and nicely landscaped, and the buildings are a bit old but maintained well. (The student center and gym/athletic facilities are new and extremely nice, however.) UNCA has the strictest curriculum requirements of any college I’ve seen (yes, even the elite ones), which can make it difficult for people to get out in four years if they’re picking up a minor or second major. UNCA is more popular with women and hovers in the 55-60% female range. My sister chose UNCA over UNC Chapel Hill because she wanted a LAC and has been extremely satisfied with her experience so far. </p>
<p>UNCW falls between the two in size, with about 12,000 undergrads. It’s located along the NC coast, and Wilmington has a lot to offer in terms of shopping, arts festivals, music, etc. Due to its coastal location, it tends to have fairly mild weather and lacks the snow and cold weather UNCA gets in the winter and the humidity NCSU gets in the summer. UNCW is particularly known for its marine biology program, but due to the large number of film crews filming in the Wilmington area and elsewhere in NC, its film program is also becoming quite popular. Psychology, education, and business are also popular. It’s the most laidback of the three colleges and has the reputation for the best social life, though I wouldn’t call it a party school. Like UNCA, it’s more popular with women and is about 60% female.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Do you mean the breadth requirements?
[Integrative</a> Liberal Studies Program | Office of the Registrar](<a href=“http://registrar.unca.edu/integrative-liberal-studies-program]Integrative”>http://registrar.unca.edu/integrative-liberal-studies-program)
Looks like 42-51 semester credit units, or 35-42% of one’s total.</p>
<p>Not sure if this would qualify as the heaviest breadth requirements, as MIT’s General Institute Requirements are about half of one’s total courses (8 science and math courses, 8 humanities, arts and social studies courses).
[MIT</a> Course Catalog: Undergraduate General Institute Requirements](<a href=“Welcome! < MIT”>Welcome! < MIT)</p>
<p>Also, at St. John’s College, the entire curriculum is specified.</p>
<p>UNC-A appears to dislike dawdling students.</p>
<p>[Graduation</a> Requirements | Office of the Registrar](<a href=“http://registrar.unca.edu/graduation-requirements]Graduation”>Graduation Requirements - Office of the Registrar)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
You are fond of mentioning that MIT has an unusually extensive set of graduation requirements, so I think UNCA does quite well to have a ~43% figure. Mentioning colleges like St. John’s is entirely unhelpful within the context of this thread, as it is obviously radically different from a typical LAC, as are the many other unique institutions like Juilliard and Webb. </p>
<p>Let’s not pick nits. My point was simply that UNCA has rather extensive requirements, and since it contains things like themed clusters and a year long humanities core, students are more limited than at colleges with open distribution requirements (i.e. any 2 humanities courses, any 2 social science courses, etc.). Indicating that there are other universities with rigorous requirements - including some possibly a little more so - doesn’t really detract from this point and simply reveals that (shockingly) I am not conversant with the requirements of every college in the US. </p>
<p>
No, UNCA doesn’t like students who take too many courses – or, if you prefer a cynical perspective, perhaps it does since they pay more money. That rule charges students an additional fee for exceeding the traditional graduation limit (120 credits) and has little to do with how long a student takes to graduate, except in the sense that students taking more than four years sometimes (but not always) take more courses than those who graduate within four years. </p>
<p>Many colleges have such fees. For example, overloading at Chicago increases your tuition by $4000 per quarter. Colleges that have these policies include private universities (e.g. BU), private LACs (e.g. Lawrence and Pitzer), and public universities (e.g. Wisconsin and Alabama).</p>
<p>On top of warblesrule wrote, MIT’s requirements aren’t as extensive as they sound when you consider that almost all engineering/sciences students in other schools need to take at least a year of math, physics, and chemistry anyway. Most BS-degree seeking students at MIT are engineering/science majors. So the only thing unusual about the science requirements is the bio requirement.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, the policy makes perfect sense for a public school. “Excess” semesters or courses at a public school cost additional state subsidy money for the majority of students who are in-state, so the motivation for the school is to get students to graduate as quickly as possible. This may also be the motivation for public schools being usually more generous with credit units for AP scores.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota: Twin Cities</p>
<p>Actually, University of Vermont was one of the original 8 “Public Ivies.”</p>
<p>^LOL!!! Post of the year.</p>
<p>U of M twin Cities
UNCW
NC State</p>
<p>Alot of this will vary based upon region, but if I had to make this choice I would say James Madison is the strongest overall.</p>
<p>I’d say SUNY-Geneseo probably has the strongest student body statistics wise (its one of the strongest SUNYs - along with Binghamton) but outside of NY the school likely holds less weight.</p>
<p>Minnesota and Vermont are the state flagships; NC State is probably equally strong as these however.</p>
<p>I would pick among these five (finances considered equal).</p>