College Feedback needed

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi everyone. I am asking for some feedback on this list:</p>

<p>Northeastern
BU
Elon University
UNC Wilmington
East Carolina University
JMU
Marquette University
Whitworth College
Linfield College
Chapman University
University of La Verne
UCSC
UCSB</p>

<p>I really need to shorten this down around 7 or 8, but I would like to explore and learn more about their pros and cons. I narrowed my selection process by having swim team, location (state wise), size (not too big) and major interest (athletic training). I am aware that they might not be top tier or tier 1 schools but I don't choose college by prestige (I learned that now). So far, I'm trying to explore their social and academic life. But can anyone add anything of what they think about any of these colleges? Which one is generous with financial aid and have the great overall feel?</p>

<p>My major interest is Athletic Training and I would like to explore it in college, even get a Bachelor's degree on it. I am aware that Northeastern have a great co-op rotation program that allows me to work with professional teams. Does anyone know how good the program is at the other colleges over my list? Any help would be appreciated guys. Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Thank God that I've finally heard a student on the forum that says he doesn't pick schools by prestige. You are already at least four years more mature than most of your peers.</p>

<p>As to generosity, financial track records indicate the following would be most generous:
Chapman
Boston U
UCSC</p>

<p>You can look up the financial track record info on Collegeboard.com</p>

3

<p>Thank you scottaa, I was afraid that I might cross out Chapman because of its 40k tuition + room cost. Now that you mention it, I was able to reevaluate this college. Thanks!</p>

<p>In addition to my upper questions, does anyone know the colleges from my list that focus on undergrad studies. I mean I want my college life to be worth learning for.</p>

4

<p>I really admire your logic and decisions in the college profit, and that has helped you to arrive at some wonderful options, but some of them I have questions about....</p>

<p>1st) UNC-Wilmington, I don't think there's a need fo ryou to flock across the country to attend an out-of-state public commuter school. There's housing, but overall it's a commuter school, about 3/4 of it...</p>

<p>and after growing up in the Bay Area myself, I would feel out of place. Besides, you havebetter public, glorious publics in California, I would keep Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara and scratch of Wilmington.</p>

<p>2nd) Also, I not saying this because of prestige, but why Linfield? Isn't that that small college up in Oregon? I'd understand if you were looking at it for Business, but if you're just applying to it as a safety, I'd say you don't need it, you already have La Verne, and I think you'll get into enough schools on your list, to the point that you wont need La Verne either, but I'd keep it as your safety for that reason.</p>

<p>3rd) Marquette is a good school but make sure you want to spend your next four years at a large Jesuit school in Milwaukee first. I want to make sure that you're sure where each of these school are not just on a map but what it's like in each place and where you would like to be because you've cited some big transitions with some of the schools on your list.</p>

<p>4th) I've never heard of Whitworth, don't know if that's a bad thing, but I've seem to have heard of every reasonably good school on the West Coast, and never came across that name? How'd you find it? Looks nice...</p>

<p>Otherwise, you're list seems nice, very diverse, but good. One last question though, are you previously from North Carolina because you have an unusually odd number of Carolina schools on that list (3 + neighboring JMU in VA)</p>

5

<p>You're right Creative. I really appreciate your input. I was really afraid on putting UNC Wilmington to my list since I was aware of low chance for OOSers. In addition, the student body consist mostly from east NC,VA and the New England. I didn't know it was a commuter school, but now you have told me about it, I guess I won't be liking it. Although it is a decent school, I'm not much towards commuter schools - i will feels less at home.</p>

<p>During my college search, I thought Linfield is a solid safety that is near california. I wasn't thinking and didn't really know if Chapman or La Verne is a safety. However, you brought up something with Linfield and I can finally see your point. I'm still double thinking about La Verne if its worth being in the list, but I know now for sure that Linfield won't be. After looking on its profile through college board, I don't think I'll be going there - not much of a school where I can thrive for meeting people that is on the same level as me (I'm not saying I'm better than the people there - sorry if it sounds like it). Besides I don't feel like going to a small school and have a high school atmosphere =/.</p>

<p>I did not notice that Marquette has a jesuit feel. I really hope not since I'm not really into religious school. I just thought it was a jesuit affiliated school, but if it does involve religious practices on their academic and social life, I don't think I'll be going there. Does Marquette involves religion in their college or is being Jesuit part of their history? Just need some clarification, thanks!</p>

<p>I've heard about Whitworth being a good school in Washington. Ideal location where you can bike, hike, snowboard etc. I heard that Spokane is really a beautiful town. Besides it's quite small like Linfield, but what seperates it from linfield is that I feel like I can be an individual there and meet people that I can relate to. Not sure about the weather, but I'm hoping it'll be cold, but not raining all the time. I found it in the past when I was looking with Puget Sound and Whitman. I found Whitworth to stand out, so I put it in the "back seat" and dig through it some more later on. Now I found that it made my list and would like to explore it more. Anyone who have information on Whitworth is very appreciated, thank you :).</p>

<p>As for your last question, Creative - no I'm not from NC. I find it odd too that I have a lot of NC schools since NC is not really my ideal state to study in the past. But suddenly, I am starting to like both Elon and JMU. I'm really not sure about East Carolina since I feel like it's like an ordinary public school in NC. Any info on East Carolina will help.</p>

<p>Truthfully, I feel indifferent with Chapman or La Verne. I don't know if I will like it there or not. Since Chapman, as mentioned above have a great financial aid, I can probably get a full ride and maybe be happy there. Not sure about La Verne (my instinct tells me there's no school spirit there because of the name - on the other hand, I might be wrong). So any information on these colleges would also help.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone and happy holidays!</p>

6

<p>Well then I'd say, decide between Linfield and La Verne as your safety, La Verne is in LA, which I think is more happenin than Oregon, but in terms of school spirit and community, I would choose Linfield. You have to decide which you would feel happiest at if none of the others schools come through (which I doubt will happen), but if you had only one school to choose from, which school do you want to attend, Linfied or La Verne, that's important, because the worst case scenario does happen sometimes, but I seriously doubt it will happen to you.</p>

<p>I'm not familiar with Whitworth, but if you enjoyed it and are hooked, that's all that matters (If it's prettier than Puget, then it must be nice ;)) I would just say, re-evaluate any school that you are iffy or unsure about, that's the easiest way identify which schools need to go.</p>

<p>Good luck, and if you have any more questions, I'll be around...</p>

7

<p>I've had a number of clients of mine visit and attend Marquette. None of them have made any comments about the school feeling "religious". In general, most schools that started with religious roots have very little of that influence left.</p>

<p>Funny thing about Marquette, students either love it or hate it. There never seems to be any in between. I think it has more to do with Milwaukee. Some students don't care for a larger city or the cold winter.</p>

8

<p>Elon does not have a swim team per say. They only have club swimming</p>

9

<p>Thank you everyone for the input. I don't think I'll be happy at Linfield. It is in a small town that has a tight community and no night life (have a few bars though). I could always go to Salem or Portland with a car, but seeing that I will be going OOS, I don't think I'll be able to get a car sometime soon. I do think that La Verne will have the upper hand in terms of city access. I'm still exploring my list of colleges' pros and cons, so anyone with information will be helpful. Gamom, yep I'm aware that Elon have a swim club. Since I'll be meaning to pursue Athletic Training, I assume that I will not have practice time with a college division swim team due to Athletic Training clinical rotations that is happening at the same time. I can always lean back on a club team if I have time =). Thanks ma'am.</p>

10

<p>Whitworth is a Christian school, so if you're "not really into religious schools" then maybe cross it off your list. I'm not sure how strong it is academically, though. My friend visited a few months ago and loved the campus but wasn't sure the program she was interested in (nursing) was all that great.</p>

11

<p><<<begin quote<<<
Whitworth is a Christian school, so if you're "not really into religious schools" then maybe cross it off your list. I'm not sure how strong it is academically, though. My friend visited a few months ago and loved the campus but wasn't sure the program she was interested in (nursing) was all that great.</p>

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<p>Thank you for bringing that up. I guess I was misinformed about the not-so Christian feel of the school. Digging through the interenet, I find that it is a "school looking at learning about the Christian heritage and those interested in attending a Bible school". I found out that there are also tendencies to hold the non-Christians that attend the school to standards that only apply to Christians. This really turned me off and thank you, luckycharms, for letting me know.</p>

<p>Currently I'm looking over at ECU (East Carolina University). With 18000 students, it doesn't feel like very overwhelming. But what stumps me the most is that I heard this is a party school. I am aware that any school can be a party school, but it seems that partying is major here. Also unless you're majoring in teaching or nursing degree, I have heard it is pretty much useless with an ECU degree. Can anyone clarrify this pls. On the brighter side, football is big here with loyal fans. I can feel a great school spirit and ECU have an area where nightlife is available. <--- it seems that this I can get at California. Going to ECU might be a waste of time when at the same time, I can get the same college atmosphere at CA (?). Anyone actually has an idea of what ECU has to offer, I would really like to explore this more. Thanks!!</p>

12

<p>weeding, I wouldn't say that ECU is "worthless" unless you study nursing or teaching. It does have an affiliated med school that looks kindly on ECU graduates. And in its region, most of the ECU programs are okay. Buy yes, it is a party school, and I don't think it really adds anything to some of the other schools on your list. For example, JMU also has a reputation as somewhat of a party school -- but it also has a better academic rep than ECU.</p>

13

<p>weedingout:</p>

<p>Why are you considering UCSB and UCSC but not some of the better UCs from out-of-state? I don't recall any exceptional "Athletic Training" major specialties at any UC schools, for that matter... :rolleyes:</p>

14

<p>He's from California, and none of the UCs have Athletic Training, only the State Colleges...</p>

<p>A few public universities, including UCLA, I believe, offer some collaborative program with biology departments where you can fufill the requirements to become an athletic trainer and do your rotations. Santa Cruz's Biology Department does coordinate this too, but I think e's looking at those schools for business.</p>

15

<p>UCSB has a few Exercise & Sports Studies minors but I'm not sure if that's exactly what you're looking for:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.recreation.ucsb.edu/ess/minors.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.recreation.ucsb.edu/ess/minors.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

16

<p>To answer why UC is in my list is because I want something that I would like to fall back on if going OOS is barred from my options. I am also aware that it have no athletic training major whatsoever. That doesn't really stop me from exploring really. Particularly, there's UCSB, and rc251 is right about the Sport Studies minor at this university. Currently, I thought it is a good exposure to this field IF somehow UCs are the only options for me. There's also UCSC since it's close to my home (SF) and it is already a given for me (I personally liked my visit and got a laid back wonderful and a moderate atmosphere school! ^_^). Honestly, I have not heard about these collaborative program with the biology department to complete athletic training rotation/requirements. Though thank you Cre8tive1 for bringing it up, I would really like to ask that when a UC rep will go to my school in two weeks.</p>

<p>So far I've made another basic standard list: UCSC,UCSB, Northeastern, BU, Elon, JMU</p>

17

<p>Weedingout, no Chapman? No La Verne? SouthernCal I guess is out now.</p>

<p>I'm glad you love UC Santa Cruz, always loved that school. So calm, layed back, and good academic programs. I miss the Bay Area, I wish we had one good state school up here. I'll find my way back to California someday...shoot, I said that I was going back home to my place of birth, Stanford. couldn't have been more wrong, I just made my deposit for Amherst College Class of 2010, LOL! I'll find my way back to the bay some day.</p>

<p>good luck, with the rest of the process, and remember, I'll be around to give any other help.</p>