[2011] How do you choose the right college?

[pranas]

Pitt is a good school as is CM - I think the intended major is the trump card.

If your child wants to go into medicine or medical research I would consider The University of Pennsylvania as it is very highly rated in that area.

University of Pennsylvania also has a highly rated Law school.

Of course if money is no object and he has the grades - Harvard.

I went to a state school because I didn't have the bux for Stanford or the brains for Cal Tech - it worked out OK for me.

University of Pennsylvania is not cheap. It is private ivy league campus just like Harvard.

 

[tombo]

MIT is NOT an Ivy League school .... nor is Stanford an Ivy School.

U of Penn
Princeton
Brown
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Harvard
Yale

are the Ivy League schools.

I was wrong and restate the facts correctly. MIT charges outrageous tuition like the Ivy League schools charge, they feel that they are better than everyone else like Ivy League graduates tend to feel, yet they are not actually an Ivy league school. I now understand everything much better. MIT grads are simply Ivy League wannabes who are jealous of the real Ivy League grads. Thanks for the clarification. I of course do not mean to offend anyone......

 

[vacationhopeful]

MIT charges outrageous tuition like the Ivy League schools charge, they feel that they are better than everyone else like Ivy League graduates tend to feel, yet they are not actually an Ivy league school. I now understand everything much better. MIT grads are simply Ivy League wannabes who are jealous of the real Ivy League grads...

My brother was accepted at both MIT and Princeton, along with everywheres else he applied. He went to and graduated from Princeton; goes to the reunion and marches with his class in the P-parade just about every year at the end of May. He travels from Nebraska and usually bunks at my house.

A very good HS friend did go to MIT. They really have not spoken since they went off to their colleges.

 

[tombo]

My brother was accepted at both MIT and Princeton, along with everywheres else he applied. He went to and graduated from Princeton; goes to the reunion and marches with his class in the P-parade just about every year at the end of May. He travels from Nebraska and usually bunks at my house.

A very good HS friend did go to MIT. They really have not spoken since they went off to their colleges.

Perhaps there are more sinister reasons why they are no longer friends. There might be secret esoteric Ivy League rules forbidding your brother from being friends with non Ivy League commoners both during college and after graduation.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Tombo,
My Princeton graduated brother wanted to go very badly to my little old Southern undergraduate university's School of Law - rated nationally as a top tier trial school. He applied and was NOT accepted. It was his first choice. He attended Nebraska instead and watches more of the games than he gets into from the parking lot.

I asked if he referenced me and my graduation year from my "finishing school" (per his 1st wife's and fellow Princeton alumni nickname) on his application? Why would that have matter? he asked. I reminded him that the South still did not like Yankee carpetbaggers and it would have shown a connection to the school.

I know the Ivy League school's names because of his ex-wife's snobby attitude.

 

[SueDonJ]

Ellen, I agree with all the others who say that the most important thing for you and Zac to be thinking about now is, how do you feel when you step onto a campus for the first time? Don't discount your gut feelings, and don't pressure Zac into considering any school which gives him an immediate negative vibe.

I think it's completely ridiculous how some guidance counselors are advising students to apply to eight, ten, twelve schools to keep their options open. Applications are expensive! It's much better to get out there early like you're doing and narrow your focus prior to the application process to five schools - two local and two away that offer either the major that Zac has chosen or a varied curriculum that will allow him to declare a major midway through sophomore year or later. Make the fifth a safety if the other four are reaches, or a reach if the others are safeties. (I'm risk-aversive so would go with four safeties and a reach.)

I also agree with the others who caution against financing a private school education through student loans. I think it's doable for a graduate to come out with $40K at the most, preferably $20K or less, in loans and then use that debt as a way to build their credit when they first enter the work force. Anything more than that and they run the risk of financial difficulties that keep them living with Mom and Dad beyond the point where they should be - a year or two at home to give them an opportunity to pay down loans and save to move out is okay.

As far as college sports and where they should place in the list of What's Most Important To Consider, IMO they don't even make the list unless you're a player who can take advantage of the ridiculousness that funnels money to athletic scholarships. Sports fans can find ways to feed their habits in any number of ways on campus or off if their college doesn't have a D1 program, and I say that as a sports junkie who goes to games, reads the Sports pages first and listens to Sports TalkRadio all day. If Zac isn't an athletic candidate but wants to be a fan, he'll be able to go to games on whichever campus he chooses without getting all caught up in the "whose is bigger" College Sports juggernaut.

 

[CapriciousC]

I was wrong and restate the facts correctly. MIT charges outrageous tuition like the Ivy League schools charge, they feel that they are better than everyone else like Ivy League graduates tend to feel, yet they are not actually an Ivy league school. I now understand everything much better. MIT grads are simply Ivy League wannabes who are jealous of the real Ivy League grads. Thanks for the clarification. I of course do not mean to offend anyone......

For the record, I was accepted at both Princeton and Cornell, but chose MIT. In answer to your questions, I've never piloted the space shuttle, and I go back to MIT at least twice a year, either to recruit students for my employer or to present at academic conferences/events. I would not have been happy attending your alma mater, and you would not have been happy attending mine. To each their own.

Look, I'm not out to make enemies, but you seem predisposed to take offense. I stated my opinion, based on my experience teaching university, working in industry, and being on the editorial board of peer-reviewed journals in my field. Also for the record, I never stated that I believe your alma mater (or any other SEC school) to be substandard, I relayed that others believe that to be true.

 

[tombo]

I reminded him that the South still did not like Yankee carpetbaggers and it would have shown a connection to the school.

We don't dislike all northerners. We dislike the northerners who feel that they are smarter than us.

We don't dislike all northerners. We dislike northerners who tell us how much better it is up north.

We don't dislike all northerners. We just dislike those who talk down to us.

We don't dislike all northerners. We just dislike the northerners who come down here and want us to do it the way they do it up north. They forget the old saying When in Rome...

The difference in a "Yankee" and a "damn yankee" is that a "yankee" comes down south to visit talking about how backward the south is, how poor the southerners are, how uneducated, citing our lack of culture in the south, bemoaning the lack of the arts. etc, etc, etc . A "Yankee" eventually goes home, A "DAMN YANKEE " STAYS!!!!

 

[vacationhopeful]

:hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical:

 

[Conan]

MIT grads are simply Ivy League wannabes who are jealous of the real Ivy League grads. Thanks for the clarification. I of course do not mean to offend anyone......

That's just silly. MIT certainly isn't everybody's cup of tea, but give it credit (with Caltech) for hardcore science, math and engineering.

If you were an Ivy League wannabe, would you be happy with the regime described below? ["pset" stands for "problem set" which is the standard MIT homework assignment]

Academics:
1) Work on psets with friends, both weaker or stronger in the subject than you are. Either way, you'll benefit from further discussion and peer teaching
2) However, spend some time trying psets on your own before working with friends, going for office hours, etc. It'll force you to think through the questions yourself first
3) Always start on all your work early. That way, you make sure you do the pset well, and don't have to pull all-nighters.
4) MIT does not require you to pull all-nighters weekly.
5) If you always fall asleep reading the text (i.e. not a Math/physics major), then work on problems to internalize the concepts
6) Make all effort to stay awake and participate in class, and if you see yourself falling behind, have the discipline to catch up over the weekend before it's too late.
7) There are a lot of resources to prepare for exams (past year quizzes, ocw, stellar, office hours, review sessions). Make sure you use them!
8) Enjoy your classes. Seriously. If you don't like them and can help it, drop the class.
Balance:
1) Have something to take your mind off work. Ideally it should be a sport, musical activity, etc. It takes your mind off work, and you come back refreshed and energized.
2) Get your 7 hours of sleep. You're not going to get more done in that extra 3 hours you stay up
3) Be focused in whatever you're doing. Pset time doesn't mean 50% facebook.
4) Think about what exactly you want to get out of MIT. 5.0 GPA? Leadership skills? Friendships? Community Service experiences? Once you make that clear to yourself, and have a priority list, you'll know what you should be doing and what you should say no to.
5) Keep busy. MIT has so much to offer, and if you stay busy and focused, you get into the habit of being efficient
Scheduling:
1) Have some form of written record of what needs to be done when. google calendar, outlook, or pure simple paper. Having the written record means you don't have to spend brain power thinking about it. This includes a to-do list and a calendar of activities
2) Either when you wake up or go to bed each night, thinking about the day ahead and have a clear idea of what needs to be done.
3) Compartmentalize your time into hour block chunks, and set mini-targets of what needs to be done by when.
4) Again, start things early.
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/mit_academics

By way of example, here are the Problem Sets for Course 7.014, Introductory Biology, from 2007.
http://mit.edu/7.01x/7.014/ps_exams.html

Or you could work through one of these online courses:
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/most-visited-courses/

 

[SueDonJ]

We don't dislike all northerners. We dislike the northerners who feel that they are smarter than us.

We don't dislike all northerners. We dislike northerners who tell us how much better it is up north.

We don't dislike all northerners. We just dislike those who talk down to us.

We don't hate all northerners. We just hate the northerners who come down here and wat us to do it the way they do it up north. They forget the old saying When in Rome...

The difference in a "Yankee" and a "damn yankee" is that a "yankee" comes down south to visit talking about how backward the south is, how poor the souterners are, how uneducated, lack of culture in the south, bemoaning the lack of the arts. etc, etc, etc . A "Yankee" eventually goes home, A "DAMN YANKEE " STAYS!!!!

We northerners don't dislike all southerners. We just dislike the ones who refer to all of us as Yankees, when everybody knows the Yankees are a particular AL East cross to bear.

 

[tombo]

For the record, I was accepted at both Princeton and Cornell, but chose MIT. In answer to your questions, I've never piloted the space shuttle, and I go back to MIT at least twice a year, either to recruit students for my employer or to present at academic conferences/events. I would not have been happy attending your alma mater, and you would not have been happy attending mine. To each their own.

Look, I'm not out to make enemies, but you seem predisposed to take offense. I stated my opinion, based on my experience teaching university, working in industry, and being on the editorial board of peer-reviewed journals in my field. Also for the record, I never stated that I believe your alma mater (or any other SEC school) to be substandard, I relayed that others believe that to be true.

Here is what you said. You said that the big football schools in the south are not regarded well academically outside of the south. That is sooo elitist. I am not pre-disposed to take offense, that is a blatently offensive statement covering a dozen universities that are highly ranked nationwide including my alma mater. You could have simply stated some great things about MIT like we stated about our schools. You instead had to warn others against the SEC schools which you have never attended. BTW the only negative stated about the top private schools prior to you maligning all SEC schools was the cost to attend.

I would, however, add the caution that the big football schools in the south tend to not be as well regarded academically outside of the south. Here in Georgia people tend to think you can't do much better than UGA or Georgia Tech - in New York, Boston, Chicago, etc. the attitude is not the same.

You live in the south, you work in the south, yet you still feel the New york, Boston, Chicago attitude is correct. You did not say after living down south I have found the schools to be equal to others, I have changed my opinion and embrace them, I love my neighbors and co-workers and feel they are as educated and talented as any anywhere. Nope when we said look at the SEC you said look elsewhere for a respected education. Read my above post 58 because you madam are not a "Yankee", according to my definition you are a "damn Yankee". The interstate that brought you to Georgia also has north bound lanes. Map quest can get you back to the promised land if you can't remember which road heads north. In fact if you tell your southern neighbors how little you and your MIT alumni think of their southern degrees I bet they will help you pack.

 

[BocaBum99]

I'm not being a hater, and I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. As you can see, I live in Georgia. However, I've lived a lot of other places before I lived here (including Europe). Your initial comment quoted above is correct - people assume that academic institutions in the southern US are substandard. Whether that assumption is right or wrong is somewhat irrelevant - it IS the assumption of a lot of people. I just think it's something to factor in when considering a university. When it comes time for our daughter to choose a school, my husband and I have every intention of encouraging her to look outside of the southeast, simply because of the above-mentioned prejudices/assumptions about schools in the south. Whatever US News says, people are going to believe what they're going to believe.

My husband attended (and played football for) the University of Southern California. He is the first to admit that it's a great football school, but not necessarily the best academic school for all given majors. We both work in aerospace, and I can tell you that in our field, people don't give a damn how good your school's football team was, they care about the quality of education you received. However well the Bulldogs may be doing, a Georgia Tech grad is going to be better respected in our field because their engineering program is superior.

I went to MIT. We were certainly not known for athletics, but the school doesn't suffer in terms of alumni involvement and/or financial contributions, by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm glad that you're happy with your alma mater, as I am with mine. I'm just trying to put out a differing viewpoint. As a former college professor, I honestly wish schools would focus more on academics and less on athletics, but yes, that's just my opinion.

Hey, USC has the best of both worlds. Great Sports Programs. Great Engineering Program (especially graduate). Top 25 National University and rising. Fantastic weather.

 

[Serina]

As the parent of a DS that hopes to play ball in college and beyond, I feel it's in his best interest to remind him that he is a STUDENT athlete...with the emphasis on student.

 

[BocaBum99]

As an MIT grad, I agree with this. It's been 20 years since I finished my undergrad there, and it still carries a cache that hasn't worn off.

Seriously, though - I agree to look at what your son wants to major in, and also what he wants to do with that degree when he finishes. Is he interested in grad school? Does he want to work in the private sector or academia? Does he want to stay in the local area or have the ability to move around the country (and potentially the world) and have people recognize the name of the school he attended?

I think that going to a big name school is more important at the graduate level than at the undergraduate level. The connections you make can serve you throughout your career.

If he has a reasonable idea of what he wants to do, try to find someone who currently does that job for a living and ask them what they think, what they think worked for them and what didn't, what they would have done differently, etc.

My son has interest in MIT and he has a chance of getting in. We will be visiting the University next month. My biggest fear of MIT is that it is so far away with harsh winters and it has a terrible reputation for suicide attempts. Is that something to be concerned about? Or, is the concern overblown?

 

[heathpack]

Aw, shucks Tombo, now you are making Southerners seem a little ungracious, which is absolutely incorrect.

As I said before, I grew up in NY. I though my world was big because I was in the NYC metro area, but in reality my world perspective was quite small, I was young and didn't know much.

The south was not a place on my radar to go to college, but I got a full academic scholarship to University of NC, so thats where I went. It was an awesome education and a totally transformative experience, gave me a much better understanding of the American culture that I was a part of.

When it was time to go to veterinary school, I turned down Ivy League Cornell in favor of NC State (both were top 5 vet schools) because NC State was 1/4 the tution cost.

Then I spend 4 more years in post graduate training, Auburn and University of Georgia.

Then when it came time to join the faculty somewhere, I accepted my lowest paid option, NC State instead of better financial offers at Michigan State, University of Missouri and Texas A&M.

I totally love North Carolina, it is more my home now than NY is. The quality of the education in the South is excellent, and I did not recognize this when I was a New Yorker. In my field, the most important thing is where I went to vet school, it is a very small world and everyone knows I got a cream of the crop education at NC State.

However, what Capricious says is true. If you wanted to become a Wall Street type, you'd be better off going to a Northeast Ivy League. If you want to go to film school, you are probably better off going to UCLA. If you want to become a pastry chef, consider the Sorbonne. There are still important regional differences based on ultimate career.

If you want to get a great education that is a great value, the University of NC should be on your list IMO.

S

 

[Conan]

My son has interest in MIT and he has a chance of getting in. We will be visiting the University next month. My biggest fear of MIT is that it is so far away with harsh winters and it has a terrible reputation for suicide attempts. Is that something to be concerned about? Or, is the concern overblown?

Weather shouldn't be a problem - - the campus is compact and connected, and Cambridge/Boston has extensive bus and MTA (subway) lines.

I haven't seen statistics on suicide but I wouldn't choose for or against a school on that. Suicide is almost always a product of depression and/or drug issues (usually prescription drugs); your child isn't going to be a different person than they are now wherever they go.

MIT is no party school. The usual description of study at MIT is that it's like trying to drink from a firehose. I would only recommend MIT to somebody who actually enjoys hands-on tech. A typical MIT student, when they were in high school, enjoyed some hands-on math or science work along the lines of maybe learning and applying an advanced computer language, or designing/building their own robot, or tube amplifier, or medical device, etc., etc., etc.

 

[glypnirsgirl]

And this thread really illustrates the importance of a good fit.

My bonus daughter attended and graduated from UVA law school.

She toured, but did not apply for Yale. The campus was too derelict. A bad neighborhood, somewhat isolated.

She toured, applied for Harvard, and was accepted. She chose not to go because of the cut-throat atmosphere at the law school. (Ian paid that application fee and he kept the acceptance letter).

She found UVA to be collegial and sufficiently elite (despite that it is in the South). She is now a "high stakes corporate litigator*." We are proud of her.

And, for her, she chose well. Laura is very sociable. She is extremely intelligent. She had been participating in mock trial since she was in high school. She went to MacAlester College in Minneapolis because it has a highly regarded mock trial team. She won 6 all american mock trial awards in undergraduate school. So, her small liberal arts college was the perfect place for her. And she still got into very prestigious law schools because she did so well in undergrad.

I think that those students that have laser like focus on what they want to accomplish need to choose towards their ultimate goal. Those students that are still uncertain, need to go someplace that will give them great building blocks for whatever they may ultimately settle upon.

I was a dilettante. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew some of the things that I did not want to do: engineering, music, art, theatre, biology, English, history, political science and psychology.

Possibilities for me: architecture, chemistry, math, accounting, finance, sociology, economics. By the time that I graduated, I knew that what I wanted to be was a financial analyst. I wanted to work on a MBA in finance.

So, even if your son does not know what he wants to do, he may know what he does NOT want to do.

He may have a feel for whether or not he needs a campus with a well integrated social life. Or he may want a stimulating academic environment. Or a football team or basketball team to root for.

He may want to get lost in the enormity of a state school. If he has interests that are uncommon, he may need not only the enormity, but the diversity, of a large campus.

Or he may want his professors to be able to recognize him and say, "Hey, I missed you in class today." Or do what one of my economics professors did to me and call me at my boyfriend's apartment because i did not make a perfect score on one of my tests (for 5 semesters, I had not missed even one question) -- he called to tell me to get back to the dorm and study. But that feeling of being cared about was critical to my success in school. I knew that I was being carefully watched - the benefit of having an average class size of less than 20 students - and I didn't want to let anyone down.

I hope you have fun with this. College touring can be a blast. And it is a great bonding experience. Good luck!

elaine

 

[tombo]

Heathpack I am not ungracious, I am mad. To disparage an entire region of the US is uncalled for. If she had simply praised her school and pointed out it's advantages there would have been no problem.

To tell others to look elswhere unless they are going to work in the south after graduation is ridiculous. How about if we said she couldn't get hired in the south with a degree from the north east and her husband couldn't get hired in the southeast with a degree from the west coast because southerners only value SEC degrees? How about disparaging USC as a football school implying her husband has a sub par education and probably should not be respected in the aerospace industry? Well they both work in the south without graduating from here so we must be more gracious and willing to accept degrees from other regions than they are.

You very eloquently pointed to reasons why you went where you did and why you felt it was a good deal. If everyone would point out the reasons they like their schools rather than demeaning other schools, this would be a more gracious place. If my family, my school, or my religion are disparaged I will defend them because I am proud of all of them. To let the comments go without responding is not in my nature.

 

[BocaBum99]

Look at the top 25 football rankings. Like Coach Bryant said: it is great to have a distinguished math department but you can never get the alumni to rally around the math team (paraphrased).

You mention Penn State. We beat them last year and will play at Penn State this year. If we win 2 in a row you have to rule Penn State out and choose Bama.

The reality is that Bama's out of state tutition is often cheaper than in state at many northern Universities. One of my best friends was from Michigan and his father was a VP worldwide of a Ford division, and he came to Bama for the football (spectator not player) and said it was cheaper than in state at Michigan State.

All kidding aside unless you are wealthy OR POOR, Ivy League schools are unaffordable. The poor go there for free subsidised byt the wealthy, the government, and the working stiffs who go too far in debt for a 4 year degree IMO. At about $60,000 to $70,000 a year a 4 year Ivy degree will cost $200,000 or more compared to around $50,000 for a public school. The connections and jobs will undoubtably be better at the Ivy league schools, but if you have 2 kids a $400,000 outlay over an 8 year period is just not feasible for most.

Look at their desired degree and search for the best public schools on the net. My school is ranked 34th on the 2011 USA Today's top 107.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandr...ges/rankings/national-universities/top-public

Sela Ward who went to Alabama and is an Emmy award winning actress. I know a space shuttle atsronaut who piloted 4 shuttle missions and went on several others as a crew member who received his engineering degree from Bama. I know a lawyer (Bama's law school is one of the top ranked in the whole USA) who is on CNN and FOX news discussing current cases often, He owns a 15 million dollar summer home in south Florida, a maryland Home woth millions, and a 2 bed room condo with a rooftop balcony a few blocks from the capital worth millions. 3 examples of what can be done with a degree from a public university. If they were Ivy graduates they would be shown as what you can do with an Ivy league dgree. They are however simply Bama graduatesthat dunn good.

You are bragging about being number 34 in the ranking of Public Universities? LOL. It's actual ranking is number 79 in national Universities.

Saying SEC schools (aside from Vanderbilt) are anywhere close to any of the top 20 Private Universities in the Country is like saying Alabama is close to San Jose State in football. It just isn't true no matter how you spin it.

 

[SueDonJ]

My son has interest in MIT and he has a chance of getting in. We will be visiting the University next month. My biggest fear of MIT is that it is so far away with harsh winters and it has a terrible reputation for suicide attempts. Is that something to be concerned about? Or, is the concern overblown?

I think both are something to be concerned about, sure. The Boston Globe has had a few very-well-researched articles about MIT's higher suicide rate and generally the student population does acknowledge that what's expected of them does cause high stress levels, and that the competition among students is very high. When you consider that MIT has a large number of students who were probably standouts in their high schools, it stands to reason that for most of them it may be the first experience they'll have interacting with others who are very similar to them. It must be harder to cope when you're used to being the best and you become only the average. But, I think it's the graduate program more than the undergrad which suffers the distinctive suicide rate. At any rate, if I were you I would be looking for MIT to at least address the issue during an orientation visit. If it's not on the official program, I would ask questions about it and worry if there seems to be an attitude of belittling your concern.

But you also bring up distance and I think that's a major concern with any college freshman. During one of the college prep assemblies at our high school the counselor told the students to consider honestly how many times they would want to be coming home for a visit and/or how prone they may be to bouts of homesickness. He gave the perfect scenario - Thanksgiving weekend is a HUGE homecoming deal for college freshmen. He asked them, "if your parents cannot afford or are not willing to fly you home anytime other than the winter break, how upset are you going to be when you're on campus with only a few others during Thanksgiving and you know that most of your old crowd are living it up back home at the Homecoming Game and all the meet-and-greets that are scheduled that weekend?" Our Eileen thought that she wanted to go far away to school but that question brought her back around. When we said that as far as we were concerned she could go fifteen minutes down Route 24 to Stonehill with her brother and still be out of our reach, her decision switched to consider local schools. (She ultimately chose UMass Amherst thinking that she'd do two years there to determine her major and finish somewhere else, but in the end she loved it there, thrived, and proudly graduated in four years. She's now doing an online grad program and will earn her master's next February. )

 

[LisaH]

Saying SEC schools (aside from Vanderbilt) are anywhere close to any of the top 20 Private Universities in the Country is like saying Alabama is close to San Jose State in football. It just isn't true no matter how you spin it.

Hay be nice here. I live near San Jose (although I don't even know there is a football team at SJSU)...

 

[BocaBum99]

Hay be nice here. I live near San Jose (although I don't even know there is a football team at SJSU)...

Alabama is one of the best football programs in the history of college football. San Jose State doesn't have such history in football. I just used an analogy that would resonate with Tombo.

As I said before, it doesn't matter where you go. The only thing that matters is if the place inspires you to do your best. That's really all that matters. Going to a great football or sports school definitely inspires passion.

I went to USC for undergrad. Columbia for graduate school. And Stanford for executive management. Despite the high rankings of the other schools, I will always be a Trojan first. I am who I am today in large part because of who I became when I was there.

 

[BocaBum99]

Aw, shucks Tombo, now you are making Southerners seem a little ungracious, which is absolutely incorrect.

As I said before, I grew up in NY. I though my world was big because I was in the NYC metro area, but in reality my world perspective was quite small, I was young and didn't know much.

The south was not a place on my radar to go to college, but I got a full academic scholarship to University of NC, so thats where I went. It was an awesome education and a totally transformative experience, gave me a much better understanding of the American culture that I was a part of.

When it was time to go to veterinary school, I turned down Ivy League Cornell in favor of NC State (both were top 5 vet schools) because NC State was 1/4 the tution cost.

Then I spend 4 more years in post graduate training, Auburn and University of Georgia.

Then when it came time to join the faculty somewhere, I accepted my lowest paid option, NC State instead of better financial offers at Michigan State, University of Missouri and Texas A&M.

I totally love North Carolina, it is more my home now than NY is. The quality of the education in the South is excellent, and I did not recognize this when I was a New Yorker. In my field, the most important thing is where I went to vet school, it is a very small world and everyone knows I got a cream of the crop education at NC State.

However, what Capricious says is true. If you wanted to become a Wall Street type, you'd be better off going to a Northeast Ivy League. If you want to go to film school, you are probably better off going to UCLA. If you want to become a pastry chef, consider the Sorbonne. There are still important regional differences based on ultimate career.

If you want to get a great education that is a great value, the University of NC should be on your list IMO.

S

I really like your post. However, USC is the place to go to Film school. LOL.

 

[Luanne]

I really like your post. However, USC is the place to go to Film school. LOL.

Tell that to those who went to UCLA.