Battle of the Top Publics

<p>University of California–Berkeley
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
University of California–Los Angeles
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
Univ. of California–San Diego
Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Virginia
College of William and Mary (VA)</p>

<p>Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
UVA</p>

<p>Not really familiar with the others so I can't say.</p>

<p>Just in terms of where I would want to be among the top 6 publics.</p>

<ol>
<li>Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison</li>
<li>University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill</li>
<li>University of Michigan–Ann Arbor</li>
<li>University of Virginia</li>
<li>University of California–Los Angeles</li>
<li>University of California–Berkeley</li>
</ol>

<p>Berkeley
UVA
U Mich
UCLA
UNC-CH
UCSD
W&M
UW-Madison</p>

<p>
[quote]
What's with all the hate on UCs? I get it if you don't like the location, but come on they are all top notch public universities. Too big? UCSD has around 20,000 undergrads, UCB has about 23,000, and UCLA has about 24,000, compared with Michigan which has about 25,000 and Wisconsin which has about 28,000.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Thanks for looking this up for us, vicissitudes. I was going to after seeing the last comments on the first page, but you beat me to it.</p>

<p>futurenyustudent, no response? I'm not asking you to stop hating UCs, just clarification about something and any sort of proof of your claim about ibank recruiting.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I'd be surprised if the IBank recruiting from U Va or U Mich were very different from UC Berkeley or to a slightly lesser extent UCLA, perhaps even UW, but I could be wrong. Any proof of any kind, [futurenyustudent]? UCLA has business economics, and I think Haas allows you to specialize in finance, but I could be wrong. Which 6 are "the 6," futurenyustudent?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>i really dont know how people came up with these lists, or why UT Austin isn't on the list. But if we're going for things like faculty quality, endowment, and academic quality, the list has to go something like this:</p>

<p>UC Berkeley
Michigan
UVA
UCLA
Wisconsin
UNC
W&M
UCSD</p>

<p>UC Berkeley
Michigan
UVA,UCLA
UNC,W&M,
UIUC,Wisconsin,UCSD,</p>

<p>
[quote]
i really dont know how people came up with these lists, or why UT Austin isn't on the list. But if we're going for things like faculty quality, endowment, and academic quality, the list has to go something like this

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The op said: "list the school you would want to go to from first to last"</p>

<ol>
<li>University of Michigan–Ann Arbor</li>
<li>University of California–Berkeley</li>
<li>University of California–Los Angeles</li>
<li>University of Virginia</li>
<li>Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison</li>
<li>University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill</li>
<li>Univ. of California–San Diego</li>
<li>College of William and Mary (VA)</li>
</ol>

<ol>
<li><p>UVa. (Obvi!) Simply the best. Amazing collegiate atmosphere, a gorgeous campus, a great college town, and a history and tradition unmatched by any other university in America.</p></li>
<li><p>Michigan. They bleed maize and blue, the school spirit is unrivaled, and you can't beat Ann Arbor. Plus, I love the four seasons and the snow and the fireflies...just wonderful.</p></li>
<li><p>UNC-Chapel Hill. Tar Heel pride & the sky is Carolina blue. Tough going being right next to Duke, though--might give me a bit of an inferiority complex. :/</p></li>
<li><p>UCLA. Beautiful, historic, and who wouldn't want to go to school in WESTWOOD? A great social as well as academic atmosphere. I never wanted to go to school in a city, though, and LA would be a little overwhelming. I prefer the more traditional collegiate atmosphere at a college in a small town.</p></li>
<li><p>William & Mary. Williamsburg is a little touristy and the student body is a bit less socially adjusted...but a great school with a true sense of tradition, history, and importance. Beautiful campus, too. (Sports leave a little to be desired. :()</p></li>
<li><p>UC - Berkeley. Mismatched, homely campus in an area a little too urban for my tastes. Felt more like a giant public high school than a college to me. Just lacked...something. Didn't feel like home.</p></li>
<li><p>Wiconsin. Never been here, so I don't know much about it. Seems nice enough, great social and academic reputation.</p></li>
<li><p>UCSD. A math and science oriented school when I'm clearly an English/History person just doesn't bode well with me. Plus, the campus is hideous, although the natural beauty is astounding. La Jolla is not a college town.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>DRab, you're right about the ibank recruitment. UCLA and Cal are very strong for west coast investment bank recruitment. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, UBS, Credit Suisse and many more companies recruit at both schools. I am not sure about the University of Wisconsin.</p>

<p>UC Berkeley is no different than Michigan or UVa. None of the three schools offer majors in finance. They all have business majors with concentrations in finance.</p>

<p>uiuc's campus is one of the most beautiful campuses in the country,its library is the third largest university library after harvard and yale, its engineering, science,math, computer science and business programs are also top-notch, if not in the top five.
It's one of the biggest fund recipients among research institutions listed at Department of Defense. The number of Nobel Prize winners affilliated with the school is one of the largest in the country as well, right behind Berkely, Michigan among public universities, leaving UVA, Wisconsin,UNC,UCSD...in the dust. BEAT THAT.
UIUC's worldwide recognition is also tremondous, it's ranked in the top 20's by Academic Ranking of World Universities...(not to mention 20 years ago, UIUC was ranked the 8th among national universities in the first issue of USNEWS' college ranking)</p>

<p>Ang lee graduated from UIUC, Bill Gates' successor graduated from UIUC, Internet Explorer is invented at UIUC........</p>

<p>The current subpar ranking of the school largely stems from its hesitance to toughen up its admission standards, unfortunately due to the enormous pressure given by the in-state parents and high school college counselors. </p>

<p>No matter what, UIUC is very very underrated. It should be in the top 10 publics EASILY.</p>

<p>"It's one of the biggest fund recipients among research institutions listed at Department of Defense. The number of Nobel Prize winners affilliated with the school is one of the largest in the country as well, right behind Berkely, Michigan among public universities, leaving UVA, Wisconsin,UNC,UCSD...in the dust. BEAT THAT."</p>

<p>-haha i dont even know where to start with that. i have nothing against uiuc, but come on man. berkeley has 8 nobel laureates presently at its campus, ucsd has 10. uiuc is a wonderfull school, but it cannot compare to virginia, ucsd, and wisconsin. its deffiantly a step behind, and the current rankings prove that. i know berkeley and ucsd both have gpa's well above 4.0 and single sitting sat's above 1300. furthermore, virginia is the second most prestigious public university in the country. no offense to uiuc, its engineering dept is amongst the best in the world, but as an overall university it cannot touch berkeley, wisconsin, ucsd, virginia, ect. stop being so narrow minded regarding the university you attend. uiuc wasnt even on this post.</p>

<p>"UIUC's worldwide recognition is also tremondous, it's ranked in the top 20's by Academic Ranking of World Universities...(not to mention 20 years ago, UIUC was ranked the 8th among national universities in the first issue of USNEWS' college ranking)"</p>

<p>-Berkeley and ucsd are both in the academic world ranking of universities, and i believe higher than uiuc. quoting a schools high ranking in us news 20 years ago doesnt say a lot now, remember indiana was ranked in the top 10 i believe too back then.</p>

<p>"The current subpar ranking of the school largely stems from its hesitance to toughen up its admission standards, unfortunately due to the enormous pressure given by the in-state parents and high school college counselors."</p>

<p>-Almost all public schools have to deal with this. berkeley, ucla, ucsd all have this issue. plus tons of california cc students transfer in. that problem does not only exist at uiuc.</p>

<p>"Ang lee graduated from UIUC, Bill Gates' successor graduated from UIUC, Internet Explorer is invented at UIUC........"</p>

<p>-name dropping a couple of famous individuals who graduated from uiuc is not going to impress anyone in regards to rankings and quality of school. im sure the lists of former uc berkeley, ucla, ucsd graduates are equally impressive if not more so. uiuc has nothing to do with this post, so again why are you using it to try to take focus off the main point of the thread to start an argument about uiuc? clearly your combatant tone and post was only intended to start an argument.</p>

<p>UCChris, I don't agree with you. UCSD is not better than UIUC. UIUC is on par with UTA and Wisconsin. It is not quite as good as UCLA and UVA, but it is still a top 10 public university.</p>

<p>i beg to differ with you alexandre... how did you come to that conclusion? every ranking i have encountered plus the quality of entering student would seem to point in a clear direction... UCSD, Wisconsin>>> UIUC. i agree uiuc should be a top 10 university, and is deffiantly equal to schools like texas, if not better than, but deff a step below schools like ucsd and wisconsin. i believe most people feel this is generally accepted. if you dont agree, that is your view. im just not sure how you back up that claim. unless that is just your opinion? general information, numbers, and knowledge would refute your claim. furthermore alexandre, im surprised you are attacking my statements which i feel are generally accpeted and you fail to even comment on the other posters ridiculous comments.</p>

<p>I disagree that she's attacking your comments, I believe she's giving you her opinion. Note the 'I don't agree with you'. Her tone's not combative either, and some of us don't want to add to an already long (but good) post you made about the other poster. =)</p>

<p>Although UIUC is a great school, from the impression I have at my high school and the fact that it's everyone's safety school here, I wouldn't agree that it belongs in the top 10. =S Sorry, I know it sucks to have your school knocked about.</p>

<p>i didnt say alexandre was being combative, i said that about the first poster, and his comments about uiuc being better than wisconsin, ucsd, and virginia. i did say that she was attacking my post because she failed to say one thing about the ridiculous comments the first poster made, and yet managed to argue about my response to the first poster and i found it interesting.</p>

<p>Back to the original question, I went to W&M 25 years ago, so things may not be the same anymore, but...one thing that differentiates W&M from the others on the list (not necessarily making it better than the others), is that all undergrad classes are taught by professors. My largest classes freshman year were econ and psych, and they had about 200 students. I also had US History and Spanish classes with 25 students in my freshman year. </p>

<p>One anecdote I will share: between my sophomore and junior years, I attended summer school. I took a philosophy class with 3 other students, and it was taught by the chairman of the department. He told us that he went to Yale, and that W&M gave one a better undergrad education than Yale, but that Yale and the other Ivies were better for grad school.</p>

<p>Just wanted to throw a couple of things out that make W&M unique in comparison to the rest of the list the OP contained. I am not trying to say it is the best of the top 10, only that it is a different type of school. The others are large research universities. In fact, I have wondered why W&M is included in the rankings with theses much larger schools. I guess it's because it doesn't really fit well in any category in the USNWR rankings.</p>

<p>UCChris, let me start by saying that I am not a "she"! I happen to be a he! hehe! </p>

<p>Secondly, I was not attacking you at all. But you clearly have a bias in favor of UCSD. UCSD is a fine university, but it is not better than UIUC. And many of the rankings out there support my stance. </p>

<p>Edward Fiske, one of the most respected university analysts, bestows a ***** academic ranking upon UIUC, one of just 7 state universities to get the perfect score. The other 6 that get the ***** academic ranking are Cal, Michigan, UCLA, UNC, UTA and UVA. </p>

<p>The USNWR may rank UCSD slightly higher in the overall ranking (32 vs 42), but UIUC gets a slightly higher peer assessment score (4.0 vs 3.9). Overall, I'd say they are comprable academically. </p>

<p>In terms of individual departments, both are exceptionally strong accross multiple disciplines. UIUC is strong in Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Computer Science and Psychology. UCSD is strong in the Biological and Life Sciences, Economics and Political Science. All in all, both are academic powerhouses. </p>

<p>Overall, UIUC, being a flagship institution, benefits from a significantly larger endowment ($1,200,000,000 vs UCSDs $350,000,000) and its campus feels more collegiate thanks to a more cohesive undergraduate culture and Division I sports.</p>

<p>my public school ranking</p>

<ol>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Michigan (Ann Arbor)</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Illinois(Urbana champagne)/Wisconsin (Madison)</li>
</ol>