<p>1) California (you can't beat the UC system)
2) Virginia (UVa and William & Mary are basically elite private school with a public price)
3) Michigan (University of Michigan- top notch education in many fields of study)
4) New York (SUNY-it doesn't exactly awe you with big-name schools, but it's got an eclectic mix of great research universities and intellecual LACs)
5) Pennsylvania (Penn State- it's know for its sports, but those athletics attract many, many smart students) </p>
<p>I just did that with my extremely limited knowledge of national public universities...any input?</p>
<p>California is definitely #1, in terms of both quality AND quantity.</p>
<p>Most states only offer one or two strong publics. </p>
<p>California ofters TONS of top-notch publics. Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UC Davis, Cal Poly, San Diego State, etc. Plus some of the best community colleges in the country.</p>
<p>Then VA would probably get second place. UVA and CWM are top-of-the-line, and JMU/UMW are pretty solid as well.</p>
<p>1) California. 8 Top 100 publics, of those 6 in the top 50 (UCD, UCI, UCSD, UCSB, UCB, UCLA). Well respected Cal States, such as Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona</p>
<p>GIANT GAP</p>
<p>2) Virginia, UVA and W&M
3) Michigan Umich, MSU is respectable.
4) Mass??? I don't know</p>
<p>binghamtonrocks, you have a huge oversight in not mentioning Michigan State University. The reason why Michigan ranks near the top (some say at the top) is because of U-M AND MSU.</p>
<ol>
<li>California- UC's, Cal States (similar to the SUNY's)</li>
<li>Virginia- UVa, W&M, Virginia Tech</li>
<li>Michigan- Umich, Michigan State</li>
<li>Georgia- UGA, Georgia Tech (Tech is probably more prestigious)
Maybe??</li>
<li>Indiana- IU, Purdue
or
Ohio- Ohio State, Ohio University, Miami Ohio (despite not being the flagship, probably the best school academically), Cincinnati</li>
</ol>
<p>If you consider Kiplinger's list of top 100 publics which makes an attempt to rank in accordance to both academic quality AND costs --both important factors -- NY actually has the greatest number of schools followed by CA, VA, FL and NC. </p>
<p>Among those, VA has the smallest population, and on a per capita basis, the greatest number of schools in the top 100. FL, NC, and NY also beats CA on that same measure. </p>
<p>So I guess it depends on how you choose to look at it, but I wouldn't automatically say CA is #1 without taking into account any mitigating factors such as scale.</p>
<p>The California system is getting a lot of credit here, and justifiably so. But I'd probably pick Virginia at the top, not because its universities are superior to California's, but because it offers its residents such a variety of types of public campuses, all of which are excellent in their own genre. For example, U.Va. is an elite medium-sized residential university with a national student body and a rich history and tradition - more similar to, say, Vanderbilt than to most other state flagships. Virginia Tech is a huge science and technology university with 22,000 undergrads - a more typical big state U. and a good one. William & Mary is a completely unique entity as a public school - kind of like a public, 17th-century Dartmouth. Mary Washington is a public liberal arts college, an alternative in a genre in which 90% of comparable schools are private. Californians have wonderful choices for public higher education - as long as they're looking for a giant, state-dominated campus. Virginians can find an elite school at a public price for just about whatever type of college experience they're seeking.</p>
<p>Florida only really has two well-known publics (UF and FSU - the others still don't get much respect). Same with Michigan...good quality, but low quantity...only two of the schools are well-known (UM and MSU).</p>
<p>I think that when ranking the states as a whole, quantity of good schools is almost as important as quality (after all, living in a state with a strong flagship isn't going to be worth much if you get rejected and all the other schools in the state are bottom-tier).</p>
<p>So, after CA and VA, I'd actually say that the next best state would be Texas (UT is top-of-the-line. A&M is solid. Even the smaller regional campuses, such as UTD and UH, have considerably stronger reputations than what you'd find in other states.).</p>
<p>After Texas, I'd say Ohio. OH can boast a relatively large handful of good state schools. OSU, OU, MU, Cincy, Dayton.</p>
<p>The FL flagships are literally bursting at the seams right now while the legislature is simultaneously cutting their budgets by millions. Not a good recipe IMO. </p>
<p>I also disagree that CA wins any prestige contests -- depends on where you live. East of the Mississippi the UC system is something less than a househould name in terms of prestige. I suspect it works that way in reverse also. Thus, as I said, the prestige factor depends on where you live.</p>
<p>^what other university systems do you think have greater prestige than the UC system with Berkeley and UCLA. Those two schools are much more than a household name east of the Mississippi. I really don't see any other system that can compare to CA. Florida's system is a joke......UF is the top public school in Fl but it is equivalent to mid UCs in most rankings. Also Fl schools aren't well funded and can't even compare to the UCs in research. This is why Florida's economy is nothing but low paying tourist jobs. Florida has spent billions into generating a biotech industry but as long as Florida doesn't put money into its universities it will never attract the very top minds to help spur new industry.</p>
<p>I didn't say UC schools weren't prestigious. People who need to know understand what they are. But except for Berkeley and maybe UCLA, they are not as well regarded on the east coast as many people on the west coast seem to think they are. It's not a matter of quality, USNWR rankings, or any other supporting information anyone cares to spout about it, it's simply a lack of familiarity with those schools. The broad assumption that the UC system is universally recognized is a faulty one.</p>