<p>My son will be a transfer student next Fall at either our local university, which is mediocre, (too much emphasis on football) or Creighton, my alma mater. He has SATs above 2200.
He attended a very prestigious school abroad but it was, frankly, too hard for him. He has ADD. I want him to have a successful college experience and get a good liberal arts education. The benefits of the state univ. is that he can live at home and have a comfortable quiet environment. But the classes would be better at Creighton as well as his chances of grad school. Maybe we could create somehow a womb of his own in Omaha. He is a late bloomer like me, and I ended up being a Mayo clinic trained doc, so it is worth babying him for awhile as he matures.
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks</p>
<p>We are partial to Creighton. Both of our kids love the school, the campus, the programs, etc. I think that support services on smaller campuses are much better as well. Without knowing what your local U is, though, it’s hard to compare the two…or what he wants to study. I am NOT a fan of college kids living at home personally.</p>
<p>His chances of grad school are likely not any better at Creighton; if the state school you are considering is the flagship. There is no disadvantage to attending a state flagship school for grad school admissions. In fact, in many fields, the preferred choice is the state flagship or provate research U.</p>
<p>My department has about 10 tenured faculty members. 8 are from flagships or private research U’s (1 from UN-L); 2 are from small non-research U’s like Creighton.</p>
<p>^ You’d have to balance that anecdotal information against the number of graduates of each type of school who work in academia in your field to get an idea if those numbers mean anything. It could just be flagship Us graduate that many more people.</p>
<p>Going to Creighton or a state flagship is probably not going to affect the likelihood of getting into grad school much. For a PhD having research experience will matter, and the recommendation letters from someone potential admission committees have heard about. In Creighton there will be less students per faculty, which will make it more likely to have close contact with faculty and work with them. But, faculty there focus more on teaching than on research, which means there are going to be less research opportunities and less top notch researchers. And, professors are going to be less well known by PhD committees. In Creighton you will likely find more quality teaching, but less course options. If the students is interested in the natural and physical sciences, I’d go with the state flagship too because it will have more resources. Social sciences and humanities require less $$$, so it might not make a difference. Again, both options are good but have definitive pros a cons.</p>
<p>But, if by grad school you mean a professional masters (either law school or medical school), admissions depend heavily on the LSAT/MCAT and grades, not so much on recommendation letters and previous research. So going to the place where you could get better grades might be a better idea.</p>
<p>As a note: I am a college professor. Both in grad school (PhD) and where I work it seems to be a 60-40 balance (where 60% come from flagship state schools and other research unis and 40% LACs). In other places I interviewed (hundreds, so I cannot remember each) the balance was close to 70-30. But, things change by field. This is just to say: don’t base your choice on that. His chances of grad school are probably not better at Creighton, I would think he is as likely to go to grad school at either. I would choose by fit (social, academic, etc.), financial aid, etc. instead.</p>
<p>Is there a difference between how many credits will transfer?<br>
How does he feel about living at home after being away?
In many ways, I think he’d have a more nurturing environment at Creighton than at a large state U, if the class sizes are large.</p>
<p>What if that state “flagship” school is the University of Oregon and the students two main areas of interest and talent are in fine art and economics?</p>
<p>If by “grad school” you mean pharmacy, law, dentistry or medical school, those professional graduate programs at Creighton admitted a substantial percentage of Creighton undergrads (many, many years ago when my DH attended pharmacy and medical school there).</p>
<p>I know nothing about the fine arts but for economics…I would give the edge to Oregon. Economics at Oregon is in their college of liberal arts and sciences, where it belongs considering it is a social science.</p>
<p>I believe Creighton has Econ in the school of business. To me, Econ has no place in a college of business.</p>
<p>to eastcoascrazy-by grad school it would be either economics or fine art-like painting or product design-yes-those are his interests and what he is good at!</p>
<p>good point haystack</p>