Help give me some insight on my college choices...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>This I my first post on CC, hope you guys can help. As you can see from my name I did get denied from my #1 school, USC. It was kind of suprising to me, but oh well I have an appeal lodged that probabaly work work...</p>

<p>Anyways, I'm into a lot of other schools and need some advice. If you guys could rank my lists for:
1. Academics/competition (I want to be a business major)
2. Fun/best experiance
3. Area
4. Reputation
5. Overall top choice
It would help me out a lot. </p>

<ul>
<li>University of Rochester (don't really think I'd want to go there)</li>
<li>Syracuse (accepted to business school plus $6k annual merit)</li>
<li>Lehigh (accepted to business school)</li>
<li>UMiami (accepted to business school plus $20k annual merit)</li>
<li>Tulane ($15k annual merit)</li>
<li>UC Santa Barbara</li>
</ul>

<p>As you can see I kinda lean toward the larger city schools but mostly private.
Thanks for any help.
- Emory (waitlist, but I think I could get off it)</p>

2

<p>An important factor here are the financials. I am figuring from the fact that you would still consider Lehigh even though you didn’t get a scholarship means that money is not an issue. But before commenting further can you confirm or clarify this?</p>

3

<p>Sorry I forgot to mention that. Yes, I am fortunate enough that money is not an issue, bit scholarships are still perks.</p>

4

<p>Yes, they certainly are. OK, so full disclosure I am a Tulane alum and now a Tulane Dad. D is a top Honors Program student that is very happy at Tulane. I have a preference personally for warmer weather places, but let’s put that aside.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The academics won’t be significantly different at any of these schools. To the extent that the strongest academics are where you have the strongest peers, Tulane I think has the highest stats for incoming students of that group of schools. But you will get a great education at any of them in terms of quality of academics, I am sure.</p></li>
<li><p>Fun/best experience is very subjective of course. If you love the beach, then UCSB and Miami move way up the list. If you are talking more about music, then Tulane or Miami. So on and so forth. Really depends on your idea of fun. While Santa Barbara is a gorgeous spot on this earth, it isn’t a city with lots going on for college students. Bethlehem is neither gorgeous not a hot spot for college students. Same for Rochester and Syracuse. Of course there are bars, clubs, whatever that cater to the campus crowd at any of these schools, but I am talking about a more general experience. New Orleans and Miami are unique cities with lots of interesting things to explore.</p></li>
<li><p>I am not sure what you mean by area. Tulane is in a very upscale part of New Orleans, really classic and a gorgeous campus with a fantastic park right across the street. Miami and UCSB are also in really nice areas, Miami actually in Coral Gables, big nice homes in the area just like there are near Tulane. I have never found the Syracuse or Rochester campuses very attractive, and while I have never been to the Lehigh campus, I have been to Bethlehem many times. Not a highlight reel.</p></li>
<li><p>Reputation is very difficult to comment on once you get past the Harvards and Stanfords of this world. It varies considerably by region of the country and the experience and education of the person you are talking to. Tulane has more students from over 500 miles away than any school in the country, with a lot from the northeast/mid-Atlantic area as well as California. Miami is very well known because of its sports teams, but many don’t realize it is as good academically as it is. UCSB is not nearly as famous as UCLA or Berkeley, or even UCSD, and outside of California is not very well known. Rochester, Syracuse and Lehigh are reasonably well known in the northeast, and of course Syracuse has name recognition based on its basketball team and its journalism school.</p></li>
<li><p>Impossible for someone else to answer for you.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I worry about the UC system and cuts for the next few years at least. If that is a concern to you, take UCSB off the list. Otherwise it is a very good school that meets a lot of your requirements. The other downside of UCSB, as I mentioned, is that it is mostly California students, and you might want to go someplace with more students from NYC, Boston, etc.</p>

<p>I really wouldn’t get too hung up on prestige issues and the like. These are reasonably similar schools in terms of academics and ranking factors. It is much more important, since money isn’t an issue, that you choose based on where you think you will fit in best and be the happiest overall.</p>

<p>Academically your top school is Tulane</p>

5

<p>“Academically your top school is Tulane”</p>

<p>In an otherwise reasonable (and generally informative) post, I have to disagree with this one statement. Academically, Rochester is almost certainly the best of this group - it is certainly no less than a peer of Tulane. This stated, if Tulane is a good fit for the OP, it may well be the best choice overall.</p>

6

<p>HST - I don’t disagree, I eliminated Rochester because of his statement that he didn’t want to go there. My apologies, you are absolutely correct that they are peers at least and I should have been clearer.</p>

<p>Would I be correct in saying that Rochester is a bit more technical overall? That it focuses on engineering and the sciences? Or am I confusing it with another school?</p>

7

<p>Fallenchemist, no problem, I made the point simply b/c there may be others viewing this thread who are interested in Rochester. </p>

<p>I have no connection with Rochester, but I do know they are very strong in both economics and political science (not sure about other social sciences or the humanities). My sense is that it is pretty strong across the board.</p>

8

<p>Thanks so much for your comments, very helpful and indepth.
Do you think though that UCSB is at a disadvantage at least it my case bcause of it’s lack of a business program. And neither of your really touched on Emory, unless you believe that on similiar acadaemic level with the others. Thank again for your clear and meanginful replies.</p>

9

<p>Didn’t touch on Emory because you are waitlisted, and it looks like few will get in off the waitlist this year from what I hear. But Emory is actually the academically strongest of the whole group (yes HST, stronger than Rochester I am afraid, lol). Emory is a pretty strong school and has great facilities. As I said on another thread, the best Coca-Cola can buy. I would still put Tulane and Miami ahead on location though, even though I really like Atlanta. Lived there 3 years, and I would pick Atlanta as a place to live over either New Orleans or Miami for settling down to raise a family etc. But as a college student? NOLA or Miami.</p>

<p>I am the wrong guy to ask about an undergrad business major, probably, because I tend to think people should major in a subject as an undergrad, then if they want to get into the business side of things they can get an MBA. It is a minority opinion, but there are undergraduate institutions that actually agree with me on this. So I personally would not rule out UCSB on that basis, but if you are set on majoring in business, then you would have to rule it out. Certainly along with the California budget issues, it makes UCSB less attractive for you. It is a lovely place, though.</p>

10

<p>Decades ago, Robert Woodruff, chairman of The Coca-Cola Company donated $100MM worth of Coca-Cola stock to Emory when it was a little known Southern school. The stock grew exponentially for many years, building an endowment for Emory. Even though Coca-Cola stock has languished for the past two decades, Emory was well served by that huge infusion of cash–in the early 1970’s I think.</p>

11

<p>what’s up with these enrollment yields?</p>

<p>Tulane - 14%</p>

<p>Univ. of Rochester - 23%</p>

<p>both considerably lower than Lehigh’s 33%</p>

12

<p>Different admission strategies. In the end it all works out, at least for Tulane. I assume for the other two as well but I don’t follow them. Tulane has the target capacity to enroll about 1500 students each class. They can probably handle up to about 1600, but that is really stretching their infrastructure. The last three years they have enrolled 1500-1550 students and each one of these classes has been much stronger academically than classes entering prior to these three.</p>

<p>Tulane knows with their aggressive marketing they will get a lot of students that will apply (and would not have sans marketing) and get accepted yet still choose other schools, especially common cross-admits like Wash U, Duke, Vandy, etc. But the results show they are also convincing some number of students to attend Tulane instead. I would point out that Tulane also has an admissions rate of about 25% prior to this year, and they say it will be closer to 20% this year. So they are turning down a huge percentage of applicants.</p>

<p>Yield doesn’t show quality or anything else these days, because universities use very different techniques to attract applications, or not do much to attract them as the case may be. Depending on what strategy is used, the admit rate and yields can look very different and yet the end results can still be very similar.</p>

13

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<p>Please, please change your screen name. Makes me cringe. Bad for collective morale. Ew! </p>

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<p>Strongly agree. Major businesses are increasingly international in scope. They are increasingly affected by technical, legal, cultural, and political issues. So a broad education in the arts and sciences, including some technical background, would be a good thing.</p>

14

<p>I would say out of your acceptances, either U of Rochester or Tulane… but if you can get of Emory’s waitlist, you are always welcome here :slight_smile: The above posters have done a good job focusing on most schools… so I will just focus on Emory.

  1. Academics/competition (I want to be a business major)
    Emory undergraduate business is AMAZING! In the past 5 years, it has been ranked as high as 4th in the country… this year it is ranked 6th or 7th I believe… higher than NYU Stern etc.
  2. Fun/best experiance
    Come on, its Atlanta. Need I say more? You’ll have to work hard… but will have a great time as well.
  3. Area
    Located in a suburban area… surrounded by a nice greenish residential neighbourhood… very pretty. When I visited, I loved it.
  4. Reputation
    Reputation is top-notch as well. The best out of the schools you have listed. International reputation has been rapidly rising as well. A lot of my friends (here in Canada) had heard of it even before I said I was going there.
  5. Overall top choice
    Emory, then Rochester/Tulane, Lehigh…</p>

<p>Hope that clears some things up. Good luck! Hopefully see you on campus next year!</p>

15

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<p>Yields aren’t anything meaningful from the applicant point of view, since they are based on the collective decisions of what others do. It’s only meaningful if you’re the kind of lemming who assumes that if other people choose X over Y, you should do it too. </p>

<p>Now, from a college point of view, they may be very significant. But that’s the college’s problem, not the applicant’s.</p>

16

<p>Well put, Pizzagirl.</p>

17

<p>Thanks so much for your responses, very helpful. It’s a hard decision to make, as my choices are litterally around the country, and all the schools differ a lot. I wish lehigh was a little closer to Philly, because I am drawn to city life, but at the same time it’s hard to give up such a strong business program. I just visited ucsb and although it was absolutely beautiful, I think I have to take it off my list for lack of business and just ok academics. I think I’ll end up choosing between tulane and umiami, barring anything amazing happening in my USC appeal or Emory waitlist. But lehigh and Syracuse linger in the back of my head…</p>

18

<p>The choice here is easy:</p>

<p>Lehigh</p>

19

<p>LOL, we can always count on John for an insightful analysis.</p>

<p>USCreject - are you leaning towards any particular area of business school? Finance perhaps? That might help.</p>

20

<p>I would say that unless you get off Emory’s wait list, or your gut is really telling you which place you want to go (which I kind of doubt, because your asking for help on college forums), then I would say Tulane would probably be your top choice (because you didn’t seem to like U of Rochester, and if you don’t like it, don’t go). Tulane has the best academics of the rest that you are looking at, and has an amazing location. You would certainly be able to have a lot of fun in a big city, without sacrificing academics. Miami should also be considered, because its feel is very similar to tulane, if slightly lower academically. The fact that Miami and Tulane gave you quite a bit of money to go should definitely be seen as a major perk. But really, this decision is up to you. This is you college experience, don’t look to others to tell you what is best for you.</p>