<p>His is probably better than mine:</p>
<p>I’m not sure if they still do, but Holy Cross’s football helmets used to copy Alabama’s… but were purple instead of Bama’s deep crimson hue.</p>
<p>Only more recently have I learned about HC’s quality (rankings-wise, anyway) and the feud with Boston College as to which is the small Catholic school with the best academics in the Boston DMA.</p>
<p>Holy Cross is a great school. Only you can decide if you want to be at a smaller LAC or a larger school. Both have a lot of pros and cons and which way the scale tips is really a personal choice.</p>
<p>And IMO if you are a residential student at college there is no particular need to be far from home, again unless that is your preference. My S went to college only about a half hour away but he lived at school (which was in a city versus the suburbs at home), only came home for big holidays and he had a fantastic experience. We set some ground rules up front (ex. no parents just stopping by, we did not expect him home for minor things – in essence we treated him like he was hours away). And the added benefit is that he and a lot of his college friends ended up settling in the city so he has a huge group of friends.</p>
<p>@happy1 I think it would be nice to get away for college. One of my fears about HC is that the area (Worcester) will feel familiar. Same weather, same type of people living there ect. I think experiencing a different part of the country would be a refreshing change.</p>
<p>
Yes, PAC-12 schools are worth a look. UCLA is almost as hard to get into as Berkeley, but all of the U.California schools (Davis, San Diego, Irvine, etc…) are excellent. Colorado would be a great place to go to school; Boulder is a wonderful town. I know very little about Arizona, but having lived in Seattle, I can say that the University of Washington is an outstanding college. On par with U.Wisconsin-Madison, for example. University of Oregon and Oregon State are in great locations.</p>
<p>The thing about PAC-12 schools is a lot of them are not particularly interested in giving financial aid to out of state students. If your family can afford the tuition and you can get in, then definitely check out those state schools on the West Coast.</p>
<p>The Pac-12 schools are appealing to many people, but are very different from Holy Cross. The smallest one (Stanford) is more than twice as large as Holy Cross, and the others are significantly larger than that. None is Catholic, and all prominently offer pre-professional majors which a significant number of students choose.</p>
<p>They can also be significantly different from each other, with selectivity levels ranging from extremely high (Stanford) to fairly low (the Arizona and Oregon schools). However, even the less selective of the schools have significant cohorts of high achieving students.</p>
<p>Except for Stanford and USC, the other Pac-12 schools are public schools whose need-based aid will not be good (if any) for out-of-state students. Some may offer merit scholarships for which out-of-state students are eligible.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus @NROTCgrad The fact that the Pac-12 schools are not catholic is not a problem for me and I am ok on the financial aid front. The two most important qualities for me are solid academics and a lively social scene. As of now The University of Colorado at Boulder is my favorite Pac-12 school (its location really helps), but do you think it has these qualities? Also name recognition is big. Could I go to say LA or New York and get a good job or get into a good grad school with a degree from UC boulder?</p>
<p>Boulder is a great social scene, up there with the social scene at great party schools like Wisconsin and WVU. The weather is excellent. People sunbathe even when it snowed the day before. The snow doesn’t hang around long, most of the time. It’s a dry cold, very dry sometimes. Summers are hot and fairly dry. 300 days a year of sunshine is about right. Downtown Boulder is quite hip with its due of seediness. Students do a lot of socializing on The Hill, where there’s a collection of restaurants and dives, and many upperclassmen live off campus. Frats have a role to play, but it’s small for a state flagship. There’s too much else to do in the area besides drink and fraternize. There’s skiing, fishing, hiking, climbing, naked beaches, ultimate, biking, rollerblading, you name it. And there’s legalized marijuana in the state. Its impact on students is yet to be measured.</p>
<p>I got a great education there with terrific professors who were some of the leaders in their fields, but I was a walking sponge ready to soak up whatever any bright professor suggested and run with it. Not all your peers will be so inclined because there are a lot of distractions. I think Wisconsin is a stronger school in many fields but not in all; the socializing instinct is there at Madison, but the outdoors are available fewer days. Nonetheless, I think CU is a great place to get an education in STEM, but, as I said, with a little initiative I got a very good education there in the humanities. My only regret is that I didn’t spend 4 years there instead of transferring in. I still visit every chance I get, and still have friends there from thirty years ago. The only problem with Boulder may be that you’ll have to leave it. </p>
<p>A friend of my D’s just finished her freshman year there and loves the place. From what she says, not a lot has changed except the price. It is now 52K, I think, for out of state students. Their FA to OOS is limited, and the big prizes they have are highly competitive because who wouldn’t want to live there for four years?</p>