<p>I thought i'd throw this out there as its what i'm going through now and i'm sure others are(to some degree or level), and i think it should be discussed as its very relavant to everyone.
When choosing an undergrad, should one go with quality of education, or the name of the school.
I know almost every college counselor will tell you to go where you think you'll learn best, but in reality we all know this isn't the absolute best solution to everyones choice as grad school is becomming less and less of an 'optional' thing and your undergrad institution's name is going to carry some weight.</p>
<p>So, what are everyones thoughts on this?</p>
<p>Personally i'm pretty much down to Trinity University and Southern Methodist University. Trinity, obviously offering the better education, and SMU for w/e reason has the reputation, money and legacy behind it(and i'm in no way saying there aren't excellent students that attend there). Both have offered nice scholarship and SMU has offered me their "honors program." So as it stands i can either have</p>
<p>Honors Program Status at a well known, well thought of, but truly mediocre university
Normal status at a not well know university with excelent academics</p>
<p>Who else is going through/has gone though something similar and how did you make your decision?</p>
<p>Hmm... I've heard of Trinity but I haven't heard of the other school you mentioned. </p>
<p>My choice was between UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison. Prestige was definitely not a very big concern among the other things I had to take into account. But this is how I weighed the prestige factor...</p>
<p>There is a slight chance that I'll go out of state for grad. Outside Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee is mostly just seen as another public university, whereas UW-Madison is known as a challenging school that attracts a lot of excellent students. So by going to the school that has a reputation outside wisconsin for being a challenging school, my prospective grad school will better know how to judge my undergrad grades.</p>
<p>The again, if I absolutely knew I was staying in Wisconsin for grad, it would be less of an issue. Wisconsinnites are familiar with UW-Milwaukee and know what kind of education is offered there. In fact, Milwaukee's nursing program (my major) is viewed as comparable to Madison's. So, in that case, prestige really wouldn't have mattered.</p>
<p>But, again, there were a lot of other factors I considered. Madison gave me a scholarship, Milwaukee did not. Milwaukee, too, kinda scared me... there's graffetti in the some of the less-commuted halls. I couldn't imagine walking through those halls in the evening. <em>shudders</em></p>
<p>I agree that to some extent it depends on what you want to do in the future. USoCal, for example is well-known & regarded in the West Coast & HI but perhaps not as highly regarded in say the Midwest ore East Coast.<br>
Some of the state Us are well-known in their state or region but not as well-known or regarded further afield. Even some ivies & highly ranked schools are not all that well-known further west, like Brown, Rice, Swathmore, Bates, and others.
In reality, there are a host of factors ending up in the final college choice, including out-of-pocket cost to the family, how many years to graduate, strength of particular programs, additional services available at the school.</p>
<p>The poster is unsure because the poster hasn't narrowed his/her focus. I.e. the poster hasn't asked himself/herself, 'what do I like about xyz college?'</p>