<p>This should be the ranking of best overall state university systems:</p>
<ol>
<li>California (despite serious budget issues, it’s still among the best)</li>
<li>North Carolina</li>
<li>New York</li>
<li>Michigan (besides U-M and MSU, Wayne State, Western Michigan, MI Tech and Grand Valley are good)</li>
<li>Texas</li>
<li>Indiana</li>
<li>Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Ohio</li>
<li>Georgia</li>
<li>Florida</li>
</ol>
<p>PA should be ahead of IN.</p>
<p>tenisghs. You forgot to include VA.</p>
<p>I agree with tenisghs. It’s important, I think, to realize that NY actually has one of the best systems even if it doesn’t have a stand out school like Cal, UCLA, UMich, UVA, UN-CH, UIUC, etc. There are so many very decent schools serving so many students, and quite a high quality of individual programs across at least three of the four main campuses (Binghamton, UBuff, and Stony Brook). I understand why the system gets no love on here and I often lament our inability to form a true flagship for various reasons, however, our system is quite strong.</p>
<p>Oops, I would add Virginia after Georgia and remove Florida from the top ten.</p>
<p>Yes, Virginia has UVa, Virginia Tech, W&M, James Madison, and VCU but the state doesn’t really offer a wide range of programs and fields. I know some students complain that they have to attend universities out-of-state because the local colleges don’t offer it. For example, the state of Virginia doesn’t offer a single library science school. Students have to attend out-of-state to receive an accredited degree. Yet Michigan, California, and Pennsylvania have at least 2 library science schools in their states…</p>
<p>Pretty good assesment, osucowboys. </p>
<p>Alabama is probably underrated a little, but there are a couple con’s. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>It’s easy to get into UA and Auburn (if you want to consider that a con… just a lower quality student body)</p></li>
<li><p>It’s Alabama.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>nevermind ~</p>
<p>I’m surprised to see that Oregon’s not on anybody’s list. It doesn’t have the same powerhouse institutions as some other states, but I think the system as a whole is quite solid.</p>
<p>I think PA is being underrated. They have two very good universities in Penn State and Pitt. They have a decent third place school in Temple and there are a lot of other state universities in Pennsylvania that have one or two very good programs like teaching or meteorology.</p>
<p>No Cons for Colorado? Are you kidding me? How about the incredibly low spending on higher ed by the state? The voucher system?</p>
<p>As for Michigan, I am not sure the “serious bias” against nonresidents distinguishes Michigan. If anything, it’s the other way around. You’d be hard-pressed to identify another top public who allows such a large part of its freshman class to be taken up by nonresidents. Now, it might be true that the admissions situation is somewhat competitive, but that’s not due to “serious bias” – more like high demand.</p>
<p>^^^ I believe the author of the article was stating that besides U-M, most of Michigan’s public universities admit 80-90% MI residents and the OOS tuition is very expensive.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned New Jersey’s publics. They are not strong at all; plus there is a pretty negative in-state reputation.</p>
<p>
You can say the same about California. UCB and UCLA admit about 10% OOS and the rest of the UC’s range from 0-5%. Btw, most non-flagship state universities have less than 10% OOS so why is it unique for Michigan.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We’re better than decent, thank you very much…</p>
<p>Anyone from Jersey—
I’ve never understood why Rutgers is not better known and why it doesn’t have a stronger reputation in-state and out-of-state. It’s one of the oldest schools in the country. Over the years, NJ would seem to have had sufficient resources relative to poorer and “less-educated” states. It has a full range of undergraduate and graduate programs. It has a number of graduate programs that are well-respected. What is it about how Rutgers developed or how the state supported it that NJ’s flagship isn’t seen as stronger? Is it due to the bias toward private institutions that exists in some parts of the Northeast? I really don’t understand why New Jersey never sought to build one of the top public unis in the country.
Can anyone shed any light on this?</p>
<p>I was debating between saying good and decent, but I went with decent because it seemed like everyone from my school that applied there got in. A lot of people from my school are going there because they didn’t get into Penn State-Main or Pitt (yes I know that some people just want to go there but out of the 11 friends I have going to Temple next year all of them tried to get into PSU or Pitt as their first or second choices, but go rejected.)</p>
<p>Overall, a pretty good assessment, osucowboys. Here’s my plug for Kansas. KU and K-State, the flagship universities, are indeed good. K-State is ranked first among ALL public universities in its total of Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater and Udall scholars produced in the last 25 years, and has great programs in agriculture, architecture, engineering and veterinary medicine, to name just a few. KU has many great programs in the arts and sciences and is well known for its schools of journalism and medicine. Both schools have great sports and greek life and their locations (Manhattan, for K-State, and Lawrence, for KU) are classic college towns. </p>
<p>Cons: </p>
<ol>
<li> Very liberal admissions policies tend to produce a high freshman attrition rate.</li>
<li> Financial aid (as osucowboys noted) is not generous, but the cost of attendance, even for out of staters, is quite low. That being said, K-State does offer very generous merit scholarships for both residents and non-residents who are high achievers.<br></li>
<li> At times, very scary weather.</li>
</ol>
<p>In response to OP, I would rank as:</p>
<p>Ohio
Michigan
Indiana
Florida
Iowa, Arizona
Pennlsyvania, Texas
Colorado, Washington, California
North Carolina, Georgia</p>
<p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>The problem with giving kudos for offering generous merit scholarships for the highest achievers is that some of these high achievers such as myself are the kind of students that only go to schools that offer them a full ride, and “very generous” is relative. The Kansas schools, which are just as good as any flagships, still fall flat on their face when it comes to financial aid because it’s relative when you can barely get in versus someone who got in at Dartmouth but is looking for something different.</p>
<p>K-State is a lot better than KU in finaid, because K-State doesn’t completely suck. I would have gone to KU (because Lawrence is exactly the kind of place I want to be) but how much sense does that make for a student that was offered a full ride at SMU and OSU? So that is definitely the biggest problem with the Kansas schools, and undoubtedly, one that can be attributed to Republicans who typically oppose government programs to help students go to college, or in some cases, help convince students to come to their college.</p>
<p>And about the weather, yeah you could wind up in Oz at any time. lol</p>
<p>P.S. This entire thread wreaks of prejudice against states like Iowa, mainly. People need to get over that flyover country bias.</p>
<p>I would agree that Georgia has one of the best public school systems in the country. Both Tech and UGA, especially with UGA’s Honors College, are amazing opportunities for in-state students.</p>