<p>I noticed a lot of talk about Case Western and College of Wooster. Are they actually well respected outside of the state of Ohio? Is Ohio Wesleyan? Someone mentioned that one too.</p>
<p>People mentioned
University of Washinton<br>
how about
Washington State University
how does that stack up?</p>
<p>I know its not a horrible state U.</p>
<p>Hello. Im a senior student trying to apply to college. Tomorrow is the deadline for most colleges. But idk where apply.
I came from Cuba at the end of 9th grade and i was placed in ESL ( English Second Language classes until 11 grade.
Right now I have 4.0 ( unweighted GPA) AND 5.0 ( Weighted gpa)
My SAT scores are not that high. just 1760
M 620
R 530
W 610
Im first generation going to college and my family has a low income
I was an actress in Cuba and i have 400 community hours.
I had also won a lot of awards.
I am a resident in Florida and i want to apply to private outstate universities.
WHERE SHOULD I APPLY?
I want to major in biology</p>
<p>Response to RachPlaysDrums:</p>
<p>From New England: Case Western, yes. College of Wooster - not well known. Ohio Wesleyan - âisnât Wesleyan in Connecticut?â</p>
<p>
You give too much credit to Wesleyanâs reputation (regrettably). Most people respond with âHey, isnât that a girlsâ school?â when they hear Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Illinois Institute of Technology</p>
<p>Case Western is well-respected nationally for science and engineering; a lot of students from my school (math/science focus) apply there as a safety and are willing to attend. College of Wooster got a boost from CTCL, but it does have an obscure national reputation (read: only among LAC experts) for its independent study capstone, unusual for a school of that academic caliber in student stats. Ohio Wesleyan is still a regional school, IMHO.</p>
<p>TK, I think the percentage of alumni making contributions may be as relevant as the size of the endowment. It is obviously not a bad sign when one donor gives a school a lot of money, but I would do not find 1 personâs donation decision a very persuasive indication of quality beyond that personâs view (especially if they are an alum). Sometimes, people give large donations for the prestige of having something named for them or to local institutions for publicity (it is a traditional means of the newly rich gaining acceptance from the more established rich). Boone Pickens gave millions to Oklahoma State, but I would not see that as relevant to choosing between OSU and OU unless the money was used to fund a special program benefiting my child.</p>
<p>The Miami school I think attracts students from far away because of its location is the U. of Miami. Yes, places like Amherst or Willliams attract students to isolated locations; but the point was not that rural schools cannot attract distant students, it was that schools in glamorous locations can can more easily attract students. It is not a knock on U. Miami, Boston U, NYU, George Washington, or Pepperdine to say that they would attract fewer distant students if they were in rural areas.</p>
<p>Yes, many parents conduct national searches for colleges, but statistics show that most do not, whether for financial reasons, ease of transportation, lack of familiarity or the simple difficulty of visiting distant schools during a search. Of course, much depends on where you live and what you seekâthe Buffalo kid who wants a beach; the Oklahoma kid who wants the Ivy League; the New Hampshire kid who wants to go to games covered on ESPN; and the North Dakota kid who wants a big city all have few options in driving distance.</p>
<p>As for what are good indicators of reputation other than the easily manipulated US News, etc rankings, I think it is a matter of assembling lots of pieces of data and looking at each of them carefully. Selectivity certainly is relevant (in particular, why look at schools highly unlikely to accept you), but, as others have said, there are schools which have misleadingly high percentages of admits because many kids shy away from all-girls schools; schools known to be extremely hardworking; or schools in remote areas, as well as the UNC in-state vs. OOS issue. Some look for schools whose professors have published a great dealâbut that hurts schools where professors are expected to consider teaching undergrad as their top priority. Others look to graduate school placement rates; famous graduates; or Google hits.</p>
<p>In the end, I think parents and kids need to focus less on reputation and more on fit. At my Ivy law school, there were dozens of kids from colleges with minimal national reputations, whose undergrad educations prepared them at least as well as my Ivy college did, if not better.</p>
<p>^ So maybe a better strategy is to look for less selective schools, with national student bodies, in crappy locations.</p>
<p>Iâve never visited Lafayette College, but I suspect Easton PA is a whole lot crappier than Miami. So hey, for a small school in such a place to attract students from 33 states and >75 foreign countries, it must be pretty good.</p>
<p>
Best idea thatâs come out of this thread yet!</p>
<p>TK, I think you have a winning formula there. Easton is a small, mostly working class city and the top 25% of Lafayette freshman scored 2000 or better on the SATs and had GPAs above 3.5, so you know they had good options. Easton is similar to the towns where Union, Lehigh, Muhlenberg, Bucknell and Mt. Holyoke are and all are well respected in Eastern academic circles. And, on the same lines, Williams and Wesleyan are in significantly smaller and more rural towns; even more selective; and even more respected. You could add that none of these schools have major sports and all are very expensive.
I think this system works more reliably than the US News (where Clemson admitted giving poor rankings to every school which finished ahead of it the prior year) or Washington Monthly systems.</p>
<p>Didnât read the whole thread, but was University of Washington at Seattle mentioned? Excellent campus and resources, especially for those wanting to do engineering, biomedical science, or business. Iâm an out of stater, but I view UW as an great deal for in state students.</p>
<p>BYU definitely, but nobody would want to go there unless theyâre Mormon. The acceptance rate is like 70%.</p>
<p>UNC is easier for in state but you still need to be a solid student, same applies for the other good public schools. Michigan, Texas, and the California system.</p>
<p>Lafalum - when I tell people that my D is at Wooster, they say âWooster - thatâs in Massachusetts, right?â</p>
<p>As for the alma mater (Lafayette) - despite the campus being in Easton (which has improved quite a bit since I was on campus), I think the big draw for those in other areas is the proximity of the campus to both NY and Philadelphia. I would say the same for Franklin & Marshall and Lancaster, but close to Philly and DC in that caseâŠ</p>
<p>Union College definitely. I would not count Lehigh as much, I mean they have a 27% acceptance right, which is pretty low for selectively rates.</p>
<p>Hello. Im a senior student trying to apply to college. Tomorrow is the deadline for most colleges. But idk where apply.
I came from Cuba at the end of 9th grade and i was placed in ESL ( English Second Language classes until 11 grade.
Right now I have 4.0 ( unweighted GPA) AND 5.0 ( Weighted gpa)
My SAT scores are not that high. just 1760
M 620
R 530
W 610
Im first generation going to college and my family has a low income
I was an actress in Cuba and i have 400 community hours.
I had also won a lot of awards.
I am a resident in Florida and i want to apply to private outstate universities.
WHERE SHOULD I APPLY?
I want to major in biology</p>
<p>Gretchen, a few points to consider:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Going to private out of state schools will be very expensiveâeven out of state public schools can be very expensive. You say your family has a low income; how will you afford expensive schools? Getting a full scholarship is very, very difficult. Is there a particular reason you do not want to go to a much less costly Florida public university?</p></li>
<li><p>Have you met with your schoolâs guidance department for advice?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you have a particular region of the country in mind, or size or school, or any aspect other than biology?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree. And Seattle is a very nice place to liveâŠ</p>
<p>UCSD, especially for the biological sciencesâŠ</p>
<p>Georgia Tech (world class engineering)</p>