<p>Let’s hear some positive comments about some more colleges. This is the time of the year when people are making up their application lists.</p>
<p>Well, if we are talking about gut feelings, I would say that I really like Syracuse, University of Maryland, and University of Rochester.</p>
<p>Syracuse is a great school for a well-rounded student. It has very good academics in diverse fields, school spirit, beautiful campus. Lots of what I would call really nice, normal kids. Quite a few kids from my home town near Rochester go there. My brother went there and had a wonderful time. He climbed the light posts on Marshall Street when they won the NCAA basketball championship. He was able to change majors twice with little difficulty, wound up graduating in Biology, and is now working on a PhD at Maryland. Syracuse is not a bad city. I have been to a great Italian restaurant there (Delmonico’s), an excellent Irish Pub/restaurant (Coleman’s), and to their professional theater (Syracuse Stage). Syracuse is private but it is actually the closest school that New York has to a “flagship public”.</p>
<p>Maryland also has a beautiful campus and excellent academics. I think Maryland has improved in stature and quality over the last 20 years. Maryland has some outstanding faculty, including a Nobel Physics winner (affiliated with NASA, teaches at UMD). Very diverse curriculum. Also has a student body of mostly “nice. normal, well-rounded” kids. I went to a football game there and there was great school spirit but also very civilized behavior. Seems to have a loyal alumni base and active Greek scene. The engineering program is now one of the top 15-20 in the nation. College Park is a sort of “urbanized” suburb of Washington DC and there is an ENORMOUS amount of cultural activity within an hour of UMD. Maryland has affiliations with many government agencies because of its location such as NIH and NASA plus many, many others. It is Maryland’s flagship public.</p>
<p>University of Rochester is a real gem. It is a relatively small research university with uniformly strong academics. It is especiially strong in biomedical sciences and physical sciences but has several high-caliber humanities and social science departments. The presence of the Eastman School of Music and Memorial Art Gallery add greatly to the cultural opportunities available to students at U Rochester. It has a nice, compact campus along the Genessee River. The city of Rochester is actually pretty nice with some great restaurants, a professional theater, touring broadway shows, a top-notch orchestra, and so on. I think there are plans to develop a commercial area near campus that would make restaurants and shopping more accessible. Students tend to be brainy, pre-professional types. Many Ivy League cross-applicants. Great relationship with Rochester community. Medical school adjacent to campus. Trying to upgrade engineering with recent addition of biomedical engineering building.</p>
<p>UCLA</p>
<p>One of the sexiest if not the sexiest university in America. It has the most applicants of any college. It is located in Westwood and is near the beach, Hollywood, and many other great attractions LA has to offer. The chicks are hot and smart. The weather there is nice. It’s athletic department is best in the world with the most in NCAA titles and Olympians.</p>
<p>WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY</p>
<p>Small liberal arts college in Salem, Oregon with a sort of hippie/intellectual student body similar to Lewis and Clark College and Whitman College, but slightly less selective. (All three are in the pacific northwest and I don’t know how they compare to each other). I was thinking about WU because I met a graduate earlier today… a really impressive person who received a complete education in all senses of the word.</p>
<p>Willamette might make a terrific safety for a student considering Brown/Wesleyan/Carleton/Vassar/Grinnell/Middlebury and friends.</p>
<p>Another Pacific Northwest school that gets almost no airtime here on CC is University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. It’s unusual for a school of their small size to have both music and business programs.</p>
<p>Thanks for the further posts. I’d be glad to hear positive statements about other colleges people like.</p>
<p>Ah, good ole’ University of Minn… Grew up practically living on campus…</p>
<p>Anyways…</p>
<p>DARTMOUTH
Visited there, and it is absolutely beautiful. Right up there in the Northeast with siptacualr architecture and a great small town campus with a large ivy league school. Great ski team too, most Olympians talk about being on that ski team at one point in their lives.</p>
<p>University of Idaho: Boise
Right in the heart of the west, it is a short drive away from many outdoor activities that I love. Camping, white-water rafting, backpacking, and skiing right all in this town. It is one of the smallest state capitol cities in America. Quaint and great activities.</p>
<p>this is a good thread. I’d like to hear more.</p>
<p>The University of Idaho is not in Boise. It’s in Moscow, Idaho. Boise is home to… Boise State University.</p>
<p>CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY in Orange, California</p>
<p>To be a private college in California charging $40K+ can’t be easy, surrounded by a high quality state university system with amazing in-state tuition rates and legitimately outranked by academic powerhouses such as Stanford and the Pomonas. And yet…</p>
<p>Chapman knows its business. Led by a charismatic president (Jim Doti) who knows how to spearhead change and raise money, Chapman picks departments and raises them to national stature with very bold moves. For example, the film school skyrocketed with the opening of Knott Studios, first college facility nationally to embrace digital technology completely, thereby attracting film majors wishing cutting-edge opportunities. FIVE new Physics professors were all hired at once because they worked as a team elsewhere. Performing Arts was consolidated as a consortium to promote interaction among Art, Dance and Theater. The campus was excited this year cheering a student on the TV show, “Dancing With the Stars.” Chapman’s very bold atmosphere embraces well-researched change, a message not lost on its students who seem to be always in motion and very active on projects. </p>
<p>A “National Masters” University (USNWR “Best in the West”) means Chapman offers some graduate programs with terminal Masters degrees, but no Ph.D programs. What does this mean to an undergraduate? Older students are on campus, at Law School, or going for an M.B.A. in Business, Psychology or Fine Arts, and undergrads can attend public campus events from those departments. But there won’t be Ph.D candidates teaching undergraduate course sections, or competing for professor attention over research grants. This plays well for undergrads, and their professors are quite oriented to teaching them. </p>
<p>Located in Southern California, the historic Town of Orange is 15 minutes from the Pacific Ocean, 5 minutes from Disneyland (Orange neighbors Anaheim, CA), home to Angels Stadium for pro baseball, and has a huge mall. These features somewhat redeem the Los Angeles area traffic. </p>
<p>Campus facilities are attractive, clean and new. Founded mid-l9th century, its progressive religious roots are expressed by a sparkling new Fish Interfaith Center, which has all the traditional chapels framed by contemporary architecture, plus a Zen Buddhist garden for meditation. Something for everyone.</p>
<p>RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEW BRUNSWICK
A pretty good academic college with four different campuses in New Brunswick New Jersey. Each different campus is a short bus ride or in some cases walk away, and each campus has a different feel. Very strong in some fields and overall a strong state school. Big classes are the norm for lower-level classes but that changes as you go deeper into your major. The social life is very good, although at times a little overwhelming. Overall, a B C+ school compared to your elite schools, not bad, not bad at all.</p>
<p>SWARTHMORE
Arguably the best undergraduate school in the country. Many of your HYP students won’t even get into Swarthmore. A small beautiful campus, Swarthmore is the perfect place for a top academic student who wishes to surround him/herself with other extremely intelligent people who genuinely care about the world surrounding them. Great in the social sciences, Swarthmore sends more students to receive a Phd than most other schools in the country. And, the social life is pretty good at Swarthmore, can have a beer right in front of the admissions building at it’s no big deal. Very laid back!</p>
<p>UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
Truly a rising star in the UC system, right behind UC’s top two schools Berkeley and LA. Definitely one of the best colleges a student interested in science can study at. With top programs in all the hard sciences, many students are applying there for pre-med or engineering programs. The party scene is definitely less intense due to fewer athletics and no frats, but only a few miles away from Mexico (where the drinking age is 18), students don’t have trouble finding a place to relax. San Diego is also a beautiful area with great beaches and a lot of sun!</p>
<p>UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
*“Outdoorsy” City (tons of lakes and bike trails in a huge metro area!)
*Campus within a city (unlike NYU where the campus is the city)
*Oppurtunity for great internships(Best Buy and Target are both headquartered in the Twin Cities
*IT’S BIG!
*Minnesota=4 Seasons (Don’t let winter scare you)
*I feel it’s a very underated uni
*Out of state tuition is only $4000 above IS (even though I will get IS because of reciprocity)
*Redstone buildings are amazing.
I’ll quit here, I could go on for quite a while.</p>
<p>SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY</p>
<ul>
<li>Beautiful campus, all buildings save one in the Spanish mission style architecture</li>
<li>The weather is great (it was about 60 when I visited in mid-December)</li>
<li>Easy CalTrain/BART ride into San Francisco, shuttles to Santa Cruz, great biking and hiking within a manageable distance</li>
<li>Right across the freeway from the San Jose Airport (easy to get home)</li>
<li>Amazing fitness center</li>
<li>Top 50 programs in both engineering and business</li>
<li>60% of students study abroad their junior year, including the majority of engineering students, all tuition for the term goes towards the program and travel expenses</li>
<li>Silicon Valley = sooo many internships in high-tech and business</li>
<li>The student body is not simply obligated, but motivated to do well</li>
<li>D1 athletics, excellent soccer, volleyball and basketball programs</li>
</ul>
<p>I could keep going on and on and on. But I won’t.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Now that a lot of students have admission letters in hand or coming soon, this is a good time to hear about more colleges to help the seniors deciding where to enroll.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins University!!!–the first and #1 Grant-Funded Research University in the United States of America!</p>
<p>A Beautiful and Cohesive Red-Brick and Marble campus located in Baltimore that gives you the feeling of rustic and well-choreographed beauty in an urban setting. The school is renowned as one of the most challenging academic experiences in the country and is well respected, as a result, by the top graduate and professional schools, as well as by employers throughout the country. This school, to be frankly honest, is not for the faint of heart and not “anyone” can just go there and expect to excel. Hopkins pushes students to do their best and truly treats undergraduates with the same expectations they have come to expect of their graduate students. Despite its global recognition for excellence in the medical and science fields, Hopkins has the top programs in the country for: Writing Seminars (Creative Writing), International Studies (SAIS: Regularly placed in at least equal or higher regard than Georgetown, Princeton, Columbia, Tufts, etc), Public Health (With the most research grants in Public Health of ANY institution in the nation), Physics (Top 3, with one of the discovers/termers of “dark energy” teaching Physics at Hopkins to undergrads as well!), Art History (With its OWN Nationally Recognized Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, basically ON campus), Music (Peabody Conservatory is one of the most prestigious Music schools in the country after Julliard and Curtis, and Hopkins took it over!–and offers amazing double degree programs, free concerts, lessons with Peabody professors, etc), French (One of Four Accredited in the COUNTRY by the French National Government!), German, Biomedical Engingeering(#1!!), Egyptology and a LOT more! Also, Hopkins has TOP 10 and TOP 20 programs in English, History, Math, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Neuroscience, Civil Engineering, and other Engineering…lol and obviously, ALL of the hard-core sciences, etc!
The school is also a convenient 45 minute and/or $7 MARC train ride away from Washington D.C. with a plethora of internships to be had there and in Baltimore if one is looking at politics, non-profit, etc. The school also has some of the top pre-advising programs in the country with 90%+ of pre-med applicants in at Medical Schools and around 92-95% (fluctuates) of pre-law applicants in at Law School.
JHU is also home to, probably, the most decorated history in Division I Lacrosse in the country, with the Blue Jays regularly dominating and beating out rivals each year. 
around 70%+ of all Hopkins undergrads do some forms of research or internships with either the school’s Medical School/Hospital, D.C., Bloomberg School of Public Health, or the variety of opportunities offered by the urban area.
The school, also, recently completed a $3.74 Billion Fundraising Campaign, the second highest achieving campaign in Higher Education EVER, which will go towards shoring up the school and building and/or remodeling the Homewood campus, including creation of a new multi-million dollar library that will extend from the current one through underground connection ;).
The student body is extremely diverse and, despite rumors, work very well together to get through the tough academics at Hopkins!
It has the feel of a liberal arts school and a research school because the school is so small (undegrad pop. is under 5,000), but so cutting edge in technology and capabilities.
There’s something for everyone at Hopkins, and there’s so much more to say, but I guess I will leave it at this :D</p>
<p>NEW YORK UNIVERSITY</p>
<p>What more can I say about the high class programs with Tisch, Stern, Gallatin, Steinhardt, as well as the top-10 disciplines at the CAS. </p>
<p>According to the 2009 world rankings, NYU was 40 in the WHOLE WORLD, beating other US colleges like Dartmouth (54), WashU (60), Emory (62), Rice (78), Virginia (96), UNC (102), Georgetown (110), Notre Dame (168)</p>
<p>[World’s</a> Best Colleges and Universities: Top 200 - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/worlds-best-colleges/2008/11/20/worlds-best-colleges-and-universities-top-200.html]World’s”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/worlds-best-colleges/2008/11/20/worlds-best-colleges-and-universities-top-200.html)</p>
<p>And 25% acceptance rate for class of 2012, surely going down this year for 2013.</p>
<p>really random, but this thread is awesome, so BUMP!</p>
<p>Thanks for the thread revival. I would indeed like to hear positive information about some college that you (any of you readers) know well.</p>
<p>University of Chicago</p>
<p>I want to become a History Professor so going here will help a lot with my acadmic goals. Its in a great city and has amazing graduate schools. They even let the undergraduates take courses from the grad schools. All the students are really into the classes they take and actually like school so I’d fit right in. Top 10 history doctoral program, best buisness school in the country, top 10 univ in America.</p>
<p>University of Denver
A lot of people don’t know about this one–it’s an undiscovered gem. S@ is a rising junior there and has had an exceptional experience.</p>
<p>Facilities and faculty are all top-knotch. Classes are small. The city is amazing and has limitless opportunities, both for careers and entertainment.</p>
<p>if the center of the country was not so overlooked, and the University of Denver was located on either coast, it would be a very hot school. Because it’s not, it’s not as competitive to get in .</p>
<p>Very good merit money opportunities.</p>
<p>Fabulous study abroad program</p>