<p>“The midwesterners where I lived held their state U’s in considerable esteem, much moreso than the state U’s are esteemed here in the Northeast. Even though, looking at them objectively, there is probably not much difference between them.”</p>
<p>I have to disagree with you here. There are many state universities outside of the northeast that are very good and considerably better than those in that region. That’s why so many come to schools like Michigan and Wisconsin from the northeast.</p>
<p>Hawkette- you’re not in the midwest. I am. I’m sorry, while prestige isn’t the be all and end all, generally speaking Michigan has very strong prestige, followed by Wisconsin, then followed by U of I. Even here in Illinois. I don’t know why you don’t believe it, but it really is extraordinarily well regarded among employers. And I have no dog in any Michigan fight.</p>
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<p>I don’t understand how any school can be over- or under-represented on CC. It’s an open forum and people vote with their keyboards every time they post. Thus every school is “represented” exactly to the degree that CC members, as a group, think is appropriate. If someone posts about the Big Ten and the conversation goes nowhere, well, there’s your answer. If people want to talk about Big Ten schools more, nobody is stopping them.</p>
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Wrong. UNC is a CC Top university with USNWR rank outside the top 25.</p>
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U Illinois and U Wisconsin get frequently overlooked/underappreciated, but they’re top tier national research universities.</p>
<p>Corrected.</p>
<p>p’girl,
IMO, for undergraduate education, the differences between U Michigan and U Illinois and U Wisconsin are small. I think all three are fine colleges and all rank in the tier just below Northwestern. </p>
<p>coureur,
Re the presentation of CC posting activity, I think the data below supports my earlier statement in # 53 that “U Michigan is overrepresented on CC. The other Big Ten colleges are probably underrepresented.”</p>
<p>Michigan 86541
Northwestern 44226
Penn State 16423
Wisconsin 14649
Illinois 13286
Indiana 11421
Ohio State 4696
Purdue 4146
Minnesota 3159
Michigan State 3019
Iowa 221 </p>
<p>I interpret this as too little attention is focused on a lot of good colleges and too much is focused on 1 or 2 good colleges. </p>
<p>ucb,
Thanks for the correction on U North Carolina. I’m disappointed that CC can’t find space for other deserving undergraduate destinations like USC, Tufts, Wake, BC, Tulane, etc. </p>
<p>As for the others, they’re good state Us. My interest is on the education part of a university as, for the vast majority of undergraduates, that is what defines it.</p>
<p>^^^Thanks UCB. Once again “the very good state U” issue with hawkette. It’s a shame we have to constantly correct it.</p>
<p>I know, but Michigan guys - you’re like a dog with a bone sometimes with Hawkette (and she’s guilty of the same). YOU know the great reputation the school has – Hawkette’s a name on a board to you. What do you care if she, personally, doesn’t think it’s the greatest thing from sliced bread? You know the name is impressive to employers.</p>
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<p>I interpret this to mean that CC members are talking about exactly what they want to talk about. CC is not a gatekeeper here. There are no discriminatory quotas or target numbers to hit. If not very many people see things about Iowa or Michigan State that are worth discussing, so be it. That’s their choice. If Michigan State or Iowa partisans want to talk about those schools, let 'em have it. No one is stopping them.</p>
<p>There are few things more pointless on CC than a thread complaining that a school or conference isn’t getting talked about enough. The solution is simple: stop complaining and start posting about that school or conference.</p>
<p>Right. And, you have to take CC for what it is – it’s a group of students / parents who are interested enough to talk about colleges in their spare time, and who tend to have certain demographic and regional skews. It doesn’t fully reflect, say, the world of bright kids from Iowa who are thinking about U of Iowa. That’s ok. It doesn’t have to.</p>
<p>While I agree with what you are saying Pizzagirl there are many young people who come on CC to find out about colleges. It’s not helpful when someone has an agenda and bias against a certain school and is constantly bringing it up. If the Michigan faithful don’t correct these issues as they occur, it might sway new readers into believing the negative statements are true.</p>
<p>While I agree with what you are saying Pizzagirl there are many young people who come on CC to find out about colleges. It’s not helpful when someone has an agenda and bias for a certain school and is constantly bringing it up. If someone without an agenda doesn’t correct these issues as they occur, it might sway new readers into believing the exaggerating statements are true.</p>
<p>^^ OK, hawkette, are you mocking, rjkofnovi??</p>
<p>rjfkofnovi - relax, though. Hawkette’s one person on a board of many. Really, I have very high respect for Michigan myself, but its great name is not going to be besmirched because one poster on a message board has a vendetta against it. And if it does, is that person Michigan material anyway? :-)</p>
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If someone with an obvious agenda but hides their true alliegances doesn’t correct these issues as they occur, it raises questions as to the poster’s motivation.</p>
<p>;)</p>
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Yes, USC, Tufts, Wake, BC, Tulane, etc. are good, regional private universities.</p>
<p>coureur,
I agree and disagree. It’s not required that a conversation go towards a certain school or schools, but that often happens on CC as fans of certain colleges will use a thread as a chance to promote the school. Like it or not, it happens in nearly every thread. </p>
<p>Many people come on here looking for information and ideas. Recommending HYPSM is fine and always acceptable, but many posters often help by expanding people’s awareness of less exposed colleges. Sometimes these suggestions might lead a student to think beyond his/her initial considerations and consider an Emory or a Rhodes or a Rice or an Indiana U or a Bryn Mawr or an Honors college at a State U or….I could go on and on, but I’m sure you get it. There are a lot of very good places around the USA that probably deserve greater attention, including many of the Big Ten State Us. </p>
<p>tenis,
Yes.</p>
<p>p’girl,
Hardly a vendetta…lol…but these guys might drive me to it. I’m sick and tired of being slandered by these people. I feel like I’m in Chicago, what with all of the Chicago-style bullying that I regularly receive from the wolverine pack.</p>
<p>ucb,
Calling those schools good regional privates is probably an accurate description. Like almost all schools, USC, Tufts, Wake, BC, Tulane draw from across the country, but each takes the bulk of their students (50%+) from their home region. But, for the record, they probably take far more from outside of their region than any of the major State Us, Big Ten or otherwise.</p>
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<p>Pot, kettle, black! In discussions of elite schools you are <em>constantly</em> bringing in your pet favorites of Stanford/Duke/Vanderbilt/Notre Dame et al and claiming that their social scenes are more vibrant and therefore better than those of the Ivies et al because <em>your</em> definition of a vibrant social scene includes tailgating and big-time sports and you just can’t understand how anyone wouldn’t find those things fun. You have an incredible bias towards those schools, and bring them up any chance you get.</p>
<p>And in a thread in which I was asking about visiting schools in cold weather, you came on with a gratuitious slam about Philadelphia, which you clearly don’t like and that’s your prerogative, but it was truly out of nowhere and completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand. </p>
<p>You just aren’t one to pretend that other people are biased and you aren’t!</p>
<p>“While I agree with what you are saying Pizzagirl there are many young people who come on CC to find out about colleges. It’s not helpful when someone has an agenda and bias for a certain school and is constantly bringing it up.”</p>
<p>This was my comment to you Pizzagirl. Are you sure you want to direct those comments at me or to someone else?</p>
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I love Chicago. :D</p>
<p>^I thought wolverine usually hunts alone in the wild…different behavior in chicago?</p>
<p>I’ve heard of Chicago-style hot dogs and pizza, but never bullying.</p>