<p>Its mostly a matter of opinion with a question like this. The obvious answers that come to mind are Florida and California with their nice weather and large and well revered schools like Florida and USC. Providing a work/life balance and atmosphere beyond compare.</p>
<p>However, some would feel this is a distraction and no indication of the quality of education or strength of the programs. After all, all of the Ivies are in the northeast with frigid temperatures and limited access to sun and sand.</p>
<p>I would be interested to hear what other students, alumni, and perspective students think. What state provides the best place to go to college?</p>
<p>What do you mean by “best state”? Because so far, it sounds like the only thing you’re really taking into account is weather.</p>
<p>Many would say that somewhere in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic is best because you have pretty easy access to at least one of 3 large cities (Boston, New York, Philly) anywhere you are.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about state universities, then the best state to go to school in is one that isn’t in financial crisis. I’d avoid Calif and other similar states.</p>
<p>State to live in for public education: Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana or Ohio if you are going pre-professional. </p>
<p>State to be from to go OOS: North/South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, any US territory</p>
<p>States that have the best assortment of colleges in general: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia.</p>
<p>The budget crisis certainly doesn’t put the quality of public schools behind Indiana and Ohio. Berkeley and LA have remained the two best public schools in the nation, and schools like UCSD, Davis, SB, and Irvine are ahead of plenty of state flagships.</p>
<p>I think California really is one of the best places to get a college education. It’s almost like a completely separate country from the United States with its vast diversity and breadth of opportunities. You have beaches, snowy mountains, middle-of-nowhere-type places, huge cities, small towns, places brimming with history and culture, amazing shopping, and great weather. It really is an amazing place. Ironically enough though, I am excited to venture out of California and see what another state has to offer for my college experience.</p>
<p>California might be “almost” like a completely separate country from the United States, but Texas actually has the experience of being its own country. It’s also brimming with diversity, history and culture, but they’re a bit better at staying on budget. As a result, UT, with one of the lowest costs to both in and out of state students for having so many top programs, will see a 3% tuition increase to make ends meet compared to the 30+% at UC, which already has some of the most expensive public universities in the US.</p>
<p>I’m surprised one of the best posts yet (OHKID last page) didn’t mention Texas in the publics list, especially for pre-professional. It would fit better than most of the ones he mentioned since its undergrad business, engineering, and architecture schools are all top 10 and it has a bunch of top 5, even some number 1 ranked programs.</p>
<p>Since I’m posting in favor of Texas, I might as well note a couple universities worth looking up:
Rice
University of Texas
Texas A&M
Baylor
SMU
TCU</p>
<p>If you’re looking to weather: California (west of the mountains), Hawaii (though travelling there would suck/be expensive), Arizona, Florida, Texas.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for nature to explore: Colorado</p>
<p>If you’re looking for the “if I got into a random college here I’d end up in a great situation” I’d say Massachusetts (throw a stone and you hit a decent university), Arizona (there’s only 6 or so 4-years here, 3 of which are equally good state universities), New Mexico (again, hardly anything but the public u’s), Colorado, Rhode Island (RISD and Brown, then Providence College, or else URI or Johnson & Wales).</p>
<p>Exactily why I chose not to mention CA. If anyone has been following their state budget crisis, they will realize the state is severely screwed for years to come. Since universities are often considered the “fluff” of a state’s budget, or one of the parts of its budget that is also the easiest to make cuts from, that will mean a severe lack of funding for the UC’s and Cal States. Factor in the fact that almost all of these schools are way too overcompetitive to get into, and you have a recipie for disaster.</p>
<p>So, CA obvioulsly needs two things: more educational space, and more money to provide this and maintain the quality they already have. However, they will likely not get eirther for at least the next decade. So, they can either: </p>
<p>1) Suffer (which appears to be what the Governator would like to have happen) or
2) Severely raise OOS and in-state tuition to levels not ever seen by the general public, while only letting a small handful of Cal States suffer under restricted budgets (the smart option).</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see what happens to this system. At its current state and future, it is way too volatile.</p>
<hr>
<p>EDIT: forgot Texas. My bad, Openedskittles!!!</p>
![http://www.engin.umich.edu/~cre/web_mod/la_basin/smog.jpg]Option](http://www.engin.umich.edu/%7Ecre/web_mod/la_basin/smog.jpg%5DOption){kind=link}
![http://theory.utdallas.edu/ISAAC2009/images/Hawaii1.jpg]Option](http://theory.utdallas.edu/ISAAC2009/images/Hawaii1.jpg%5DOption){kind=link}
