<p>My condolences for having to live in Washington. I recently turned down a job there just to stay in Florida. Despite the extra money, we determined that the living conditions weren’t worth it - even as empty nesters.</p>
<p>Since I’ve started posting on this board I’ve witnessed many instances of bias against southern schools that seem inexplicable. I work for a national concern and we have grads from all over and there is no difference as far as I can tell in competence or worth to the organization. Some of the most brilliant employees come from Mississippi or Alabama of all places.</p>
<p>I’m going to assume that you didn’t know that (most) liberal arts colleges do not have graduate programs and give you a pass on your argument, parent2noles, although you seem to have spent quite a bit of time and effort trying to turn the tables. I would have thought that you would have at least done your research on the type of school Middlebury is before you accused it of “exaggerating” its science facilities. I’m not going to sit here and quote Rhodes scholar numbers, SAT scores, or average high school GPAs at you to try and make my school look good–I suppose I am simply not as insecure about it as you are. Feel free to continue to do so with yours.</p>
<p>I have no interest in turning this into a Middlebury vs. FSU contest, although you seem to wish to do so. They are very different schools and I can understand the appeal of each to a different type of person. I have nothing personal against FSU, I simply fail to see why it is underrated. Perhaps you should recognize that, as an FSU parent, your bias has continuously bled into every argument you have made on this thread.</p>
<p>I am biased towards Florida State, no doubt about it. No apologies for my views in this regard. FSU has done well by me and my children, even as a large state university.</p>
<p>Yes, I was poking fun at you as a Middlebury alumni member, parent, advocate or even distinguished faculty member. While I am not a member of academia, I do realize that a LAC likely does not have graduate studies. I was illustrating the absurdity of Middlebury having “world class facilities in the sciences” with a school that actually has such demonstrated capability. Perhaps this post crossed the line, if so please accept my apology.</p>
<p>We’ll just have to agree to disagree about Florida State being underrated. I can almost imagine that if FSU produced all U.S. Rhodes graduates for the next decade the university would still be down rated by such as you as simply having an effective Office of National Fellowships rather than an uptick in overall quality. Such appears to be the nature of competition in academia.</p>
<p>BigP…don’t worry p2N pokes fun at me and my MIT education, too. All in good fun. Still looking forward to the 'nole-beaver matchup on the gridiron. We will convert them to complex coordinates and destroy them in imaginary space!</p>
<p>no apology needed, p2n, I tend to get very argumentative on everything from college to politics–perhaps it is the future lawyer in me shining through.</p>