philosophy - Pitt, FSU, UofSC, Bama, Temple are the top contenders.
eta - I know Pitt is “highly rated,” but upon looking further, it’s highly rated for grad school, so not really a useful data point.
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Hmm… I am drawing a blank. At the risk of being criticized here on CC, I would start with the general USNWR ranking, simply because it is a rough proxy for peer quality. I would guess Pitt and UofSC should be serious contenders. And if the grad department is strong, you can always go and bother some prof, and they will be receptive to bright, young, motivated undergrads.
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What does he want to do? I think those schools are interchangeable.
Some express concern with the area around Temple…including alums.
The schools themselves are vastly different - and I’m guessing you have great merit. Are you in Honors at any?
Pitt and U of SC are in the city. FSU too - but a much smaller city…not a downtown. And Bama is suburban…in a small city.
I’m sure you can get a solid education at all.
I wouldn’t say Pitt is the highest ranked - but it depends. Overall, FSU is ranked higher than PItt…but what does that even mean?
For philosphy, what is the goal - law school or something else?
Niche rates Philosophy - FSU #69, Pitt at #75, Temple #142, U of SC unranked as is Bama. You know what - it’s all meaningless. All are fine, interchangeable schools…but different.
Pick what you can afford and the environment he prefers best (amongst the affordable ones).
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This is probably what @Gatormama means:
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@Gatormama when D20 was looking at programs, she contacted professors in the departments she was interested in directly…or by using her admission officer as a conduit.
She was able to have discussions with professors at each school she was seriously interested in and got a much better idea of where she felt she clicked with the professors and where she felt she didn’t. She also was given a much better idea of how individual departments worked, as well as some ‘inside baseball’ tips from the professors she spoke with.
At some schools, the professors will very willing to discuss what a path in their department would look like, and at other schools, it was much more surface level. That level of interaction helped her figure out which schools were better matches, and she came to have a clear favorite.
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I was thinking humanities so I went back and redid - philosophy. They are large publics - if you want to be in a big city, Pitt is great. If you want to be in a smaller downtown - than U of SC. Tallahassee is even smaller - no skyline…or little. And Bama small city.
But these schools are all interchangeable.
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For philosophy? From my experience as an undergraduate, I think the strength of the graduate program does matter to the undergraduate experience, so a strong grad school ranking would be meaningful to me. I briefly looked over the faculty lists for Pitt and U of SC and their publications since I was curious, and Pitt did look relatively strong, consistent with its ranking in the QS world list above (disclaimer, I haven’t studied philosophy since undergraduate school). I was also interested to see that several of the U of SC faculty members were educated at Pitt.
If your S is attracted to philosophy, he probably has specific topics that he’s interested in (for example I really liked formal logic and semantics). Whatever topics he is attracted to, some schools will have relative strength in those areas; he can ask around.
(Edited, you said S and not D… sorry)
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The department may matter to this particular student. Who are we to say otherwise 
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I don’t think schools are interchangeable at all. A student may be able to make any school work out perfectly well for them, but that isn’t the same thing.
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They may - but most schools are going to offer solid offerings in philosophy.
And it gets deeper - for example, and I just looked at Bama…they have focus areas in Jurisprudence, Mind-Brain, Philosophy and Medicine, and Ethical and Medical Studies - and then an Ethics and Medical Ethics minor.
I’m sure the other schools have different focus areas.
I didn’t look at faculty listings - but perhaps the curriculums would be good to look at.
I don’t know much about Temple but I’d likely eliminate it - because when alums are saying the area is too dangerous - well then it’s too dangerous!!!
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That’s fair - but I guess I meant - we’re not talking about UNC vs. Western Illinois. They’re all solid large publics with fine national reputations.
Many of these cross shop - Bama and FSU for geography, Bama and U of SC for the SEC, Temple and Pitt as in PA - and then so many on the CC apply to a similar group of schools which often include U of SC, Pitt, and Bama…that’s all I meant by interchangeable.
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Different thread - but @merc81 just posted this about neuro - so I’ll take that @merc81 knows specifically about Pitt.
As an opinion, the University of Pittsburgh may represent the stronger choice for neuroscience. For one reason why this might be the case, the study of neuroscience includes the interrelationships between the basic sciences and concepts from philosophy. And Pitt has a very strong philosophy department.
It’s interesting to me though - I looked at College Factual - they rate FSU - but Pitt is not listed in PA - they only list Penn and Scranton. One just never knows!!!
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Have you seen this resource? The American Philosophical Association, at University of Delaware?
https://www.apaonline.org/page/undergraduates
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I always thought that CMU was highly rated in Philosophy, and as a Pitt student, you can take classes at CMU. Every summer, the Philosophy Department at CMU has the Summer School in Logic and Formal Epistemology - my 2020 Pitt grad went one summer, and it was great.
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Perhaps the discussion about schools that are best for philosophy majors should have its own thread, so we can get back on-topic?
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Please move on from the philosophy specific discussion or start a new thread. Thank you.
Sorry, everyone, I really had not expected to get a raft of amazing & thoughtful replies to my post - I was just adding my experience of how difficult it was for me to assess rigor in a subject. I’ve gotten some great ideas and will take this to PM or elsewhere. Thank you everyone!
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In my classes that use traditional-style exams, I consistently make them open-book/open-notes. I’ve even started allowing google searches during the exams, if the students want to go that route.
Most of my students rejoice at this fact, because it means they have easy access to all the information they might need.
The smart students, though, find the news scary because they realize the level of analysis and synthesis it means they’re going to be asked to produce.
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Curious what subject you teach
Even limiting this to large colleges (most of what was discussed earlier in the subthread) might I suggest that this is true, but also only kindasorta true?
Yes, most large colleges will have solid offerings in philosophy, but only in the core, and not at the level of the details of the field—and for applicants who are already really, deeply interested in a subject, the details are important.
My C25 is seriously interested in majoring in philosophy (as one of a small handful of related possible majors). But philosophy has been on my kid’s radar since 3rd(!) grade, and so they have strong opinions on what in philosophy interests them—and what they’re really most deeply interested in is the historical development of philosophical traditions.
And yeah, they can (and will!) get the basics of that from any philosophy major anywhere. But as for being able to really delve into it as an undergrad, and especially being able to get into it in a way that includes philosophy outside of the Western tradition? Yeah, suddenly undergrad philosophy programs aren’t even remotely interchangeable at all.
(ETA: Using philosophy as an example here, but it’s the case for nearly any subject out there, and not just in the humanities.)
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