<p>We are thinking of a few colleges for my son and would like some reviews from anyone who could help, if your son or daughter attend, or if you attend we would appreciate the input.</p>
<p>University of Kentucky
University of New mexico
Indiana state University
SE Missouri state
Truman college
University of Mississippi
University of Iowa
University of Missouri
University of Alabama
LSU (Louisiana state University)
Eastern Illinois University
Illinois state University</p>
<p>Any information you could give would help with our decision. Thanks</p>
<p>The only school on your list that I visited with my D this last year was The University of Iowa. She was accepted at 5 similarly ranked schools. She really liked everything about the school when she visited, and she will be starting there in August. </p>
<p>I was likewise very impressed and pleased that she selected Iowa. Beautiful campus, very friendly people, seems to be well-run, strong academics, great atmosphere, strong school spirit, easy to fly to nearby Cedar Rapids (we’re very OOS). </p>
<p>Check out the video’s/photo’s on the web site, and please let me know if I can answer any questions. What is your son’s major and what is he looking for?</p>
<p>Other schools she considered that are worth checking that seem to match the profile of schools on your list include Indiana and Kansas. I was also impressed by these schools. For my D, they were not as good a fit as Iowa, but these things are very personal.</p>
<p>Is money an issue?
You generally get a much better value from your own state’s public institutions, or in some cases even from private schools, than from out of state public schools. In my opinion, it usually does not make sense to choose an OOS public school unless it has a program you cannot get in state or it is one of a handful of states that does not charge much of a premium for OOS students. But maybe I’m missing something unusual about your situation or you just have strong personal preferences for certain schools.</p>
<p>look at Fiske’s Guide To Colleges or The Princeton Review Best 368 Colleges (or whatever the 2010 edition is) for some college reviews!</p>
<p>also check out Students Review and College ******* (google for the link since CC won’t let me post it here)</p>
<p>Regarding the question of money, some OOS public’s cost much more than others. It is not one-size-fits-all. </p>
<p>For example, Michigan tuition and fees are in the upper $30’s, while Iowa is in the mid-$20s. Kansas was similar to Iowa. UConn and Indiana, as examples, are in the upper $20s. </p>
<p>In addition, some state schools are much better than others with OOS merit aid. Iowa is an example of a school that is fairly generous with OOS merit aid. </p>
<p>One word of advice - apply very early for the best shot at merit aid!!!</p>
<p>There are several good universities in this list. My personal favorite would be Iowa. Academically, it is the strongest and Iowa City is a funky and fun college town.</p>
<p>Missouri would be my second choice.</p>
<p>These are most of the reasons for our choices give or take a few, i’m hoping to get info on each one by parents or students that attend.
Info such as,
Campus dorms
food
size
teachers/profesors
merit aid
likes/dislikes</p>
<p>University of Kentucky: 1st choice many reasons
University of New mexico: monetary
Indiana state University: Monetary/Close to home
SE Missouri state: for merit aid
Truman college:cost/quality combined
University of Mississippi:Merit aid/weather
University of Iowa:quality of education/distance from home
University of Missouri:tuition/ not to far from home
University of Alabama:quality/weather/tuition/merit aid
LSU (Louisiana state University) :cost/weather
Eastern Illinois University:cost /close to home
Illinois state University:cost/close to home/</p>
<p>I have two sons at Alabama. One is majoring in Math and the other one is majoring in Chemical Engineering and is also following the pre-med curriculum. </p>
<p>Both are in the Honors College. One is in the Computer-Based Honors Program.</p>
<p>Both really like the school. They are getting a very good education. They love the campus (gorgeous), they like the rec center, love their dorms, and they enjoy the extra-curriculars (clubs and watching football). Both got great scholarships to go there. </p>
<p>The Honors College is very well developed. The courses are very LAC-like. The University Honors courses are limited to 15 students each and are very discussion-based.</p>
<p>The school doesn’t have the money problems that many other schools are facing.</p>
<p>It is currently building its 3rd phase of its extensive Shelby Science and Engineering Complex. <a href=“http://www.dadot.com/project/education_college_university/science_and_engineering_complex.aspx[/url]”>http://www.dadot.com/project/education_college_university/science_and_engineering_complex.aspx</a> The 3rd phase is being built to the right of Phase 1 and 2…across from the new science quad.</p>
<p>Based on your criteria, I would add good merit aid and a nice size (smallest Big Ten School - 20,000 undergrads, with a nicely situated, scenic campus) as positives for Iowa (unless you are looking for a smaller or “ginormous” campus). I also think the dorms are better than many state schools.</p>