<p>tell me wut u think r the best</p>
<p>1 Berkeley
2 UT austin
3 UCLA
4 UCSD
5 UVa</p>
<p>yep highly subjective</p>
<p>UT Austin and UCSD over UNC, Michigan, W&M, Wisconsin or Illinois?</p>
<p>I'm not too sure if I agree with that...</p>
<p>berk
mich
unc
uva
ut austin
ucla</p>
<p>Are you talking about ranking them? if so, then I'd say:</p>
<p>Berkeley, UVa, Michigan, W&M, UCLA, UNC, Wisconsin...then it doesn't really matter. I'm going to UVA, btw.</p>
<p>Interesting. </p>
<p>If we're talking specifically about the undergraduate educational experience, I'd say: </p>
<p>UVA, William & Mary, St. Mary's College of Maryland, Evergreen State, UNC, UT Austin. UMich, UWisconsin, but I'd also give some applause to Miami University of Ohio, the University of Florida, Georgia Tech, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Binghamton, the University of Oregon, UCSD, UC Davis, U of Maryland, and the University of Washington.</p>
<p>If we're talking about national reputation overall, I'd say UCB, UCLA, UVA, UMichigan, UWisconsin. Note, these are two different things.</p>
<p>My mom went to Indiana University--Bloomington and insists that it's an awesome school.</p>
<p>Your mom is correct.</p>
<p>Berk, Mich, UVA........</p>
<p>UVA tied w/ berkeley tied w/ michigan</p>
<p>Carolyn, not to cast a shadow on your sage knowledge of how good or bad the "educational experience" at every public school in the country, but do you mind if I ask where you came up with your little list? It seems a little loony to me, but then again I'm not arrogant enough to think I know everything about every school. Ranking prestige is fine because its completely up to you how you view the reputation of a school, but when you start ranking actual quality you open yourself up to criticism.</p>
<p>[ol]
[<em>]UCB
[</em>]Michigan
[<em>]UCLA
[</em>]Virginia
[li]UNC-Chapel Hill[/li][/ol]</p>
<ol>
<li>UCB</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>UMich</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>UNC</li>
<li>Wisconsin</li>
<li>William and Mary</li>
<li>UT-Austin</li>
</ol>
<p>Other liberal arts focused public colleges that don't get much press, but are excellent at what they do are Truman State University in Missouri and New College in Florida.</p>
<p>Gentleman&Scholar, </p>
<p>I'm surmising that Carolyn is basing her list on the overall collegiate experience both in & out of the classroom: stellar academics, strong collegiate community, professors that love to teach and engage their students instead of just caring about their research, a special sense of place (UVa: founded by Jefferson along w/ Madison & Monroe; W&M: alma mater of Jefferson, Washington, Monroe, etc.), plethora of school activities (i.e. clubs, secret societies in the case of UVa & W&M, etc.); and for some of the schools, research opportunities for undergraduates. </p>
<p>A good indicator of the happiness of students and alums is the alumni giving rate. The typical public school's giving rate is in the teens or even lower. (Even most elite public schools have dismal giving rates.) UVa's is 29% and W&M's is 28%.</p>
<p>most of the state flagship schools offer wonderful opportunities for undergraduate education and for getting your feet wet in the real world. Of course, they're not for everyone...it takes a dynamic student willing to try new things who is not uncomfortable around a diverse group of people...I think one of the best experiences a high school student can have is going to a flagship state university outside of their own state (I have many friends from FL who went to UC Berkeley, friends from CA who went to Washington, UTexas and UMich etc.). I personally went from Cali to Cornell which I feel has more in common with schools like Berkeley and Michigan than it does to HPY, and while it took me a bit of time to adjust, it ended up being a wonderful experience.</p>
<p>For once, I think USNWR is spot on when it comes to its ranking of public schools.</p>
<p>Globalist,</p>
<p>I don't know about that. Even if she knew what each of those schools had to offer in those areas, which I don't see how she could, the list still makes little sense. Are the academics more stellar at Universtiy of Florida or UCLA? Does UC Davis have more of sense of place and history than Berkeley? Are there more research opportunities at Evergreen state or Berkeley? I don't know how you could make an argument for any of those.</p>
<p>Carolyn, please elaborate on lauding the undergradate educational experience at UCSD. Being from San Diego, I know many, many students who attend UCSD who complain about the paultry amount of things to do, the lack of campus pride, hardly any sports, weak social scene, etc. Sure, great for academics, but for the all around undergrad experience?</p>
<p>And at UVa there are few of those pesky poor people to get in the way at Foxwood.</p>
<p>University of California-Berkeley and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. I would also include the University of Virginia, the University of California-Los Angeles, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.</p>