<p>As I mentioned on another thread, academia is a competitive field. Just as admitted students may be indistinquisable from those on the wait list at top schools, those in front of the classroom at directional schools may be interchangeable with profs at top private universities.</p>
<p>I can tell you that there can be a lot of enticements to get a professor to move from one university to another. Employment opportunities for spouse. Opportunity to start a new research center. Opportunity to chair and recruit other faculty, etc., etc. (One time the university I worked at wanted to recruit a professor. The spouse was an acrobat. Sadly, there were no circuses in town. )</p>
<p>Something like “Eastern Montana State College”</p>
<p>I work with plenty of amazing professors who may not have won awards but are incredibly knowledgeable and dedicated - giving nights and weekends to support their students. You won’t have heard of them and their research may not be making national headlines, but they’re quietly making a difference in people’s lives.</p>
<p>In Washngton state, we have a flagship school the university of Wa, with about 50,000 students.
We have a large land grant university- Washington State with about 20,000 students. Both schools also offer PhDs.
We also have Central Washington, Eastern Washington, and Western Washington universities. They offer some graduate degrees, but not PhDs and not in all disciplines.</p>
<p>The big schools get written about, often for their sports areas if nothing else ( although the WWU men’s basketball team won the national title in 2012 for their division) but the smaller schools are worth looking at too.</p>
<p>Dietrich has already written several stand alone thrillers and a series sort of like Indiana Jones in the Napoleon’s day. They’re all good but the one that’s based on a “Survivor” type game to the death was his best, IMO. They’re often at the Dearborn Goodwill.</p>
<p>Oh, ok. Now I get it. None of the states I have lived in do the directionals. They have the “University of ___<strong><em>” and the “</em></strong>_State” lower tier. They don’t have the directions in the names, though.</p>
<p>our directional u has amazing professors…per my S2. accessible, welcoming, excellent teachers, that push their students to do well. Although it is a tier one research university…educating the students seems to be top priority (and they are very open to having the undergrads work with them in their research)…classes are taught by the professors, not TA…average class size is 34. student teacher ration of 17:1. had to chuckle at your sports comment emeraldkity… the football team isnt very good at this school as compared to the big name state u’s reps!</p>
<p>Just learned the term “directional” from this forum recently. Not used everywhere. Don’t worry, it is not an official term to my knowledge but rather one used in some areas. btw- a “community college” also has different meanings in different states. In some states, such as Wisconsin, it is generally for terminal AA degrees in mainly technical fields, not a stepping stone to a bachelors degree at a four year college. I believe in California they are different- if I understand correctly only those at a CC can transfer to some of the UC’s such as Berkley. Wierd. I would think someone starting at a 4 year college would be better prepared for the rigors of a state’s top U’s.</p>
<p>That’s not correct for WI. WI has two systems that would be considered community college, the technical college system and the 2 year UW colleges.</p>
<p>The later, while offering AA degrees, is largely used for transfering to 4 year UW schools. The son of a friend of ours was admitted to UW-Madison but can’t afford the cost. So while still a UW-Madison admittee(has a UW-Madison student card and number) will take 2 years of classes at a local 2 year UW college and then attend in Madison(it won’t be a transfer). Many more students do the normal transfer thing after 2 years.</p>
<p>The technical college system, while offering many AA degrees, can also be used for gen ed requirements for transfering to 4 year UW schools, especially in rural areas where there may not be a 2 year UW college within commuting distance.</p>
