I don’t think this is completely true. There are definitely some commuter students, but through our tour and people we know who have attended, the information I have is that there are quite a few people who live on or immediately around campus and participate in many campus activities.
Our tour guide talked about the incentives the school gives for attending sporting and cultural events. You have an app, and if you attend the events you get certain points, and at the end of each semester, you can exchange those points for a variety of fun prizes. So that definitely implies they are trying to incentivize people to attend the events. But also, she said many, many students go to the events, because they are free, and they are something to do, and they get rewarded for doing it. And she acted like it’s a fun socialization opportunity.
I’m sure it is less of a rah-rah campus atmosphere than a place like K-State or KU, or the Iowa schools, but it is not completely flat either.
UCDublin will be very very different from the other schools. My D22 was very interested in UK and Irish schools when we first started looking at colleges, but ultimately decided to stay in the US. The structure of the education is just vastly different from the American system. You usually don’t have a bunch of gen ed classes (which initially appealed to her) and you are straight into your major, but you are usually not allowed to take classes outside of that proscribed path.
And the teaching style is what is really different. They have lectures and readings you are supposed to do and then no assignments until the final exam. It all comes down to that and if you blow it, oh well, too bad, so sad.
I liked Dublin (just went for the first time in October). We had UCD on our list, but ultimately she decided that wasn’t the college experience she wanted.
Also, there is no football or basketball team to cheer for. All sports are just like intramural teams students can join.
In Dublin there will be a huge amount of drinking too. I have a friend that teaches part time at another university in Ireland (takes students over from the US) and he always has to advise them to not do what the Irish kids do (both in terms of studying and drinking) because they are not used to it. He said this past term when he was taking a group over for a semester a bunch of his US students dropped out and flew home before the semester was over, which just seemed crazy to me since it was only a semester and you were there with a bunch of friends and your professor from your home college, but I guess it was just too much change. Also rains a LOT.
I don’t know how St Louis U Madrid would be, but I imagine sunnier, and could very well be a more American structure, but probably no football team to cheer for.
In my limited experience, international schools don’t offer career support in the US, and graduates I’ve known have struggled to find good jobs on their own.
This is a great comment. If you go to schools outside of the US, unless it’s St. Andrews, Cambridge, Oxford or something similar, you better make sure how the degree translates into the US.
I have just scheduled a visit to go look at Lowell. I already visited UMass Dartmouth and I liked it. Would you say that UML is equal or even better than UMD?
As far as the campus, I can’t say because we have not visited UMass Dartmouth. I would not say the Lowell campus was impressive, but it was fine. I thought the facilities & programs were excellent, and the people seemed nice. The campus neighborhood was below average for us; it was a very gritty, urban feel. I have gotten the impression that Dartmouth is more of a suburban type campus but, as we haven’t visited, I couldn’t compare the two.
For academics, I know Lowell is strong in technical and music fields. I am not sure how it is for international relations, however.
And even if it’s well regarded, US employers are not visiting the schools to interview for jobs in the US, the alumni network is much weaker, the career office will have no knowledge of the US job scene etc.
The most recent grad I know who really struggled graduated with a good degree from the University of Edinburgh 2 or 3 years ago. He’s ended up getting an (expensive) master’s degree at Columbia to help get a job in the field he wants (real estate finance).
Penn State Altoona ($39,354) (2+2 Program)
University of Iowa ($43,792)
Iowa State ($39,956)
Westfield State ($26,978)
UMass Lowell ($30,112)
Kansas State ($38,045)
Narrowed it down for now, still waiting for some decisions that are coming in the coming spring. Let me know if I should bring any back or remove any.
I would think that KU would be a better fit for International Relations and Lawrence KS is much less rural than Manhattan KS. KState is traditionally the agricultural college and is in a very rural area of the state. I’m sure they have other good programs too, but it is usually thought of as more rural leaning fields. KU is traditionally the more “academic” of the 2 schools. I know it has a good political science department, and it is closer to the state capital and closer to a city.
There certainly might be something that makes KState a better fit for you, but my guess is KU would be the better fit.
I think Kansas too instead of Kansas State, but I’m no expert on those schools. Have a neighbor who waves a Jayhawks flag, though. Big school spirit there.
You’re right, I’m gonna take off K State and include Kansas. My reasoning for the rest goes as:
Penn State Altoona: 2+2 Program gets me to UP in 2 years and allows for a smoother transition than it would be transferring to an unrelated school from another school.
UIowa: Good school spirit, college town, campus looks nice
I might remove Iowa State for the same reason that it is more of a STEM school like how K State is an agricultural school.
Westfield & Lowell: Both in state tuition, Westfield looks nicer but less rigorous than Lowell
If you do well academically, you might be able to transfer to UMass Amherst after one year. Same price as Lowell, more selective, student spirit, virtually no commuters.
I think at the end of the day, you will have to be the one bringing back or removing any from your list. It’s your decision and you are the one who knows which factors weigh more than the others.
I suggest since you want to have U of Iowa, keep Iowa State on your list and you can visit those and see the difference.
Your info is supported by the CDS: 61% of freshmen and 35% of all UML undergrads live on campus or in university-affiliated housing. To put that in perspective, at UMass-Boston, 9% of undergrads live on campus.
UML has a lot of commuters, but I wouldn’t consider it a commuter school.
just because I’ve been in these towns in the last year with tours at these all, des moines metro area is 700K (near ames); KC is 2.4 million (near lawerence); and Omaha is 1 million (creighton). KState in manhattan is really rural, and hard to get to in our opinion. And of these 4 schools we toured, our daughter applied to only 1 - Kansas. That school is great!