<p>Many "State" schools were once land-grant colleges devoted primarily to agriculture and engineering. Of course, most have long since outgrown that role, but many are still runners-up to their sister flagship state universities.</p>
<p>So, which are the best "State" schools, in particular for study of things other than agriculture and engineering? A few possibilities: Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State? (The last two are possibly misnamed for this thread.)</p>
<p>Penn State :)</p>
<p>NC State...</p>
<p>North Carolina State</p>
<p>"Best" in what way? You can always look at the US News rankings for public universities and pick out the "state" names.</p>
<p>I am partial to Iowa State, but then I went there :) I didn't study either agriculture or engineering, but I thought my education was fine. I had the sort of major one can get anywhere so I didn't see the point of spending more. I went there instead of Iowa because most high school debaters went on to Iowa, but Iowa State had the same debate budget. I knew people with a variety of majors and they all seemed satisfied as well.</p>
<p>I meant best in exactly the way you describe -- better than some might expect from the category and best in that sense vis-a-vis each other.</p>
<p>Some of the State Universities of New York are pretty good, like Binghamton and Stony Brook</p>
<p>NC State has a great engineering school</p>
<p>There might be other threads on this, but what are the best California State Universities, beyond perhaps Cal Poly St. Louis Obispo?</p>
<p>Ball state has the best name;)</p>
<p>eulenspiegel
San Diego State U is the next best csu and chico after that, but both of those are leagues below cal poly. most CSU's aren't amazing schools though and you'd be much better off at a UC</p>
<p>NC State also has a great design school. Very well known for their statistics department as well, both undergraduate and graduate. Outstanding faculty.</p>
<h1>1 Pennsylvania State University-University Park</h1>
<h1>2 Ohio State University-Columbus</h1>
<h1>3 Michigan State University</h1>
<h1>4 North Carolina State University-Raleigh</h1>
<h1>5 Iowa State University and Florida State University</h1>
<p>another vote for NC State which also has one of the top textile schools in the country.</p>
<p>It's also one of the best schools for pre-vet, after Cornell and Penn. :)</p>
<p>Yes, I forgot about NC State's vet school and textile school--agreed, both excellent. And while they are definitely not known for their English department, they have a terrific MFA program in creative writing that's outstanding. Top faculty (well known published writers) and amazing speakers/visitors each year, too.</p>
<p>eulenspiegel,</p>
<p>Are you interested in any particular program at a "state" school? Or are you just curious about them generally?</p>
<p>What do you think of Michigan State? How about their reputation? I am interested in pre-vet/animal science/zoology.</p>
<p>Michigan State is great for pre-vet. They have a vet school, which is always ideal for undergrad because vet schools require a considerable amount of veterinary experience prior to applying. Overall, Michigan State is strong in biology. Its zoology program is quite good (one of the few left, really), and its botany program is one of the top in the nation. If you're in Ohio, I assume you've checked out Miami, which is also very strong in zoology.</p>
<p>Prevet folks do seem to flock to places with vet schools. I remember many at Iowa State -- the most studious folks around. It was always distressing to me that it was (is?) harder to get into vet school than medical school!</p>