For those in the Bama cult who state rank is not important there sure is a lot of ruckus going on in the thread that is referenced in post #115
The ruckus is that if you look at the level of admitted freshman they are on par with many of the top 30 schools. I personally pointed out that because UA has made a big effort to improve the undergrad ACT/GPA stats over the last 4 or so years that is not reflected yet.
@ssjr16 What are you going to study in college? I suggest that you should not rely solely on the ranking without knowing what the factors are that support the rankings and then determine what is important to you. From there figure out where schools rank on THOSE metrics, i.e. I personally do not care how many papers the faculty has published or awards they have won. Remember the old adage “figures don’t lie but liars figure”.
Have you visited UA SSJR16? Also, so you think the “peer evaluation” part of the USNWR ranking is really legit? You don’t see how that can lead to traditionally elite institutions or non Southern institutions getting an unfair advantage? We have seen how the national media holds UA to a higher standard on diversity than Northern schools with far fewer Black students. So, you might think Mom’s claim is absurd, but its supported by how we have seen UA treated in the national press.
@ssjr16, without a doubt, you’re just too good for UA. Not sure why you continue to ask questions about a school that’s so beneath you. You’ve already established in other threads that cost is not an issue for your single mother because you have a college fund set up. You live in Ohio, where there a plenty of safeties for a student as impressive as you clearly think you are.
A lot of folks have, in good faith, taken time and offered you advice in these threads, and now you’re just being ungrateful and obnoxious. I think it’s time to move on and stop wasting people’s time.
perhaps you suffer from the “I don’t want to join any club that would accept ME” syndrome. Or maybe you equate cost with prestige. Free can’t be good?
You need to visit if you haven’t already. The merit is attractive but it still has to be a good fit. There was a thread earlier about the retention rate of freshman. Alabama comes to our school to recruit but there have been a few instances in the last couple of years where students who graduated from my school went to Alabama and then transferred out after one semester or end the end of the first year.
The OP has already stated that it’s probably not the right fit for her back in #100, so I’m not sure why she cares one way or the other about where UA ranks in USNWR.
Let me know how prestigious that unemployment line is when the most prestigious firms do not offer one a job upon graduation. Have fun paying that debt!
LOL!
Having to laugh. Considering my husband graduated from a Division II school and just recently sold our company to a Fortune 200 company for a nice bundle and fully retired before the age of 50.
In the meantime, my UA kid will graduate with a masters and wil have parents that can fully fund said future UA grad to start up a business in their field and be their own boss. Then, if all goes well for them, a large international company will come knocking on their door with the big bucks to buy them out like they did for dear ol mom & dad with our lowely college degrees from some not so prestigious schools.
I can’t tell you how many doctors and attorneys have told me that no one cares in the slightest where they went to college, just where they went to medical school or law school. If a smart kid works hard at Alabama or any other decent state school, gets good grades, and then scores well on the MCAT, GMAT, or LSAT, he or she will be able to get into any of the top professional schools. One (very wealthy) doctor friend even told his kids that he will only pay for the equivalent of in-state college tuition. He loved his experience at the University of Kansas and has excelled professionally. He said: “I have a Harvard grad working for me.”
Because of ABET accreditation requirements, engineering curricula are pretty much the same everywhere (and the Ivies are nothing special anyway in the engineering rankings). A kid who graduates from no-name “U” with an engineering degree may not have the benefit of big career fairs and super placement offices, but good jobs are still available. I was talking to a dad whose kid graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Northern Arizona University (ranked 63rd in engineering among schools that do not offer PhDs). Flagstaff was a great place for his son to live and go to school, he paid in-state tuition, and his son is now happily employed by Boeing.
Now if your kid is determined to run for President, be a professor of some liberal arts discipline, or is a huge snob, then that Ivy League degree may make a big difference. (Then he can boast: “I haven’t seen rain like this since that big storm in Cambridge back in 2017. I nearly ruined my Farrragamo’s crossing the Yard!”).
Even the NY Times is coming around to the view that public university honors colleges are prudent options:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-a-prudent-college-path.html
We will have three in college next years and we make too much for need-based aid. With retirement on the horizon, we could not afford three Ivy league educations, but I am not sorry at all about my kids’ options. Son number one is a sophomore in the Honors College at Texas A&M, studying Aerospace Engineering. Son number two starts just started in the Miami (Ohio) University Honors Program, studying Mechanical Engineering. Both kids got great merit scholarships. Finally, son number three will be starting college next year, also favoring Mechanical Engineering. Whether he goes to Arizona State (Barrett Honors), Michigan State Honors, or Alabama Honors, I will be relatively financially indifferent. I just care if he will be in the environment that allows him to do his best. Three good options!
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Miami University Oxford engineering program ranks #149 in USA
^^ I think the point is that you can get a very good education, and launch a successful career, from the 149th ranked engineering program in the US.
Yes. that’t the point. And Miami is ranked 82nd overall by USNews, 33rd in engineering (where the highest degree offered is not a PhD), and 5th overall in undergraduate teaching. And after my son’s first job, it won’t make any difference at all where he got his engineering degree. Miami’s Career Services Office is already helping him with his resume, LinkedIn profile, and interviewing skills. He’s already thinking about dual majors in Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering.
@ssjr16 I personally do not care what the ranking is for Miami Oxford. My experience with graduates from that school is VERY positive. There would be no hesitation on my part to hire an engineer from that school, believe me on that one!
One other thing is that when a student is smart enough to understand the value of $$$$ by going to a more economical school for engineering, they most likely will be a better engineer because they understand that COST is a driving factor in a good design. Otherwise, we would all have stainless steel auto bodies, ala a DeLorean!
When an engineering school is ABET accredited, the lower $$$ schools obviously are teaching the same fundamentals, i.e. physics, Chem, Calc, etc, the same as the big $$$ schools. Engineering is not an opinion based field of study as the natural laws of physics and chemistry do not change due to location.
Business, i.e. Marketing, Strategic Planning, Org Behavior, are opinion based which could cause one school to be better recognized than others because more papers published, noble prizes won, etc. Maybe that is why U of C does not have a UG business school? They have a bunch of Nobel prize winners in economics.
Are you planning a career in something philosophical or something fact based like engineering?
@ssjr16 One other comment I forgot, I was just talking with one of our engineers the other day about after treatment devices for diesel engines we put on trucks. Think combination mechanics and chemistry. He is a very sharp guy and I asked off handedly where he went to UG for engineering. He went to Northern Illinois University!
Wow, I am amazed we did not fire him on the spot because he did not go to a “prestigious” school. Luckily our trucks are still passing the emissions standards even though we had such a low level engineer on them!
^ guess they’re not Volkswagen trucks
@Chardo It took an engineering professor from West Virginia University (175th overall, 108th in engineering) to expose VW’s shenanigans. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/24/us-usa-volkswagen-researchers-idUSKCN0RM2D720150924
@beaudreau VW was just a function of not wanting to add a separate tank for Ad Blue so they could tell the customer he only had to fill the car with diesel. No other fluids needed. All about marketing.
Not surprised CARB (California Air Research Board) is in the middle of this. They are the REAL EPA. What happens in CA gets exported to the rest of the country eventually regarding emissions regulations.
I came across these Economic Success Metrics databases http://collegemeasures.org/esm/ while following a link on another thread. They contain the most comprehensive data I have yet seen on graduate salaries in Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, and Virginia. When you dig into the data and compare salaries for a given major it quickly becomes apparent that what major you choose, the level that you attain (i.e. masters vs bachelors), the location of the university, and the reputation of the individual program has a much greater impact on salary than the prestige of the institution. For example, if you study Mechanical Engineering in TX graduates from Lamar University and the University of Houston get the highest pay. Additionally, the pay for graduates from Texas A&M in this field is higher than the pay offered to graduates of UT Austin.
http://esm.collegemeasures.org/esm/texas/area-of-study/profile/Mechanical-Engineering-141901
I’m hoping that the Lumina Foundation will add more states to their website as the information is extremely useful. I think a lot of what people assume in terms of prestige/pay turns out to be misguided when you look closely at the actual outcomes.
@AlbionGirl - Good stuff; I can kill most of the afternoon looking at this type of data!
I struggled a bit with the prestige issue. I did, not sure my son really did. My wife and I both attended an Ivy league school. Both of my wife’s parents attended and Ivy league school. I am thrilled my son is at Alabama.
My son is getting amazing opportunities I never received. He is a Chem E major. He has already attended the Career Fair and talked to folks about internships. He made a resume. He has joined several clubs. He has met many liked minded people. He said the football games are amazing. He also started attending a church and has found that to be a a great experience.
My brother decided to pull his daughter out of the Honors College at U Mass Amherst because they just could not deal with the prestige issue. She now attends Brown.
I wrote a check for $5300 for the first semester. My brother borrowed money and wrote a check for $32,000.
I am pretty much over the prestige issue. I know my son is.