<p>We are in the early stages of looking at schools for my daughter. She is a very good student but is turned off by competitiveness of peers. I was wondering if anyone knows of schools in the midwest that have a more collaborative, less competitive vibe (the school can be competitive to gain admission, but not much competitiveness among the students). The other constraint is that she is not interested at all in a small LAC and wants a medium or big school. At this point we would consider public or private (we are a full-pay family).</p>
<p>Can you think of any schools that fit these constraints?</p>
<p>She is not sure so would need a school that had many options. Most likely she would not pick the sciences or engineering. At this point she is leaning more towards business/economics but would likely go in “undeclared”.</p>
<p>rural or urban? Look at Drake University in Des Moines and see if it sparks her interest. (I was so impressed by the head of the business/econ program that I wanted to sign up!) We have friends with both daughters at DePauw in Indiana. They love it</p>
<p>At this point we are just trying to figure out if there are any schools that fit this criteria and aren’t as concerned yet whether she would be able to get in or not. Her unweighted GPA is 3.8/weighted over 4.0. She hasn’t taken the ACT/SAT yet (but based on practice should be 30/31). She is active in and out of school but nothing out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>If she wants a big school in the midwest with competitive admissions but not cutthroat students, her search should probably start with the Big Ten schools. What are her stats? Does she want urban or college town? Prospective major?</p>
<p>Wisconsin-Madison sounds like a good fit. Students run to more friendly/cooperative than cutthroat. Great all around school and town. Good match on stats too.</p>
<p>St. Mary’s College (next of U of Notre Dame) might give her the feel of a “big” school, but the nurturing, collaborative environment. If she wasn’t so against small schools, Kenyon, Earlham and DePauw come to mind.</p>
<p>I think it’s difficult to characterize an entire large school as competitive or collaborative. The level of competitiveness often will vary by field of study. Usually, it is science or engineering fields that are described this way (due to grading practices prevalent in those fields, weed-out courses, and competition for professional school slots—think “premed”). I don’t know about business school, which is a field that interests your daughter. I’ve been told that some business schools actually encourage competition as part of the students “real-world” preparation, while others foster a more collaborative, teamwork approach. There are several other ways in which competition can enter into the picture at a large school, too, including admission into the business school itself (if there are no direct admits); competition for the best internships; and, competition for slots in desired courses (the waitlist problem). So, I think once you identify some schools that seem like a good fit, do the homework and ask specifically about the particular programs that interest her in terms of the level of competitiveness. Having said that, you’ll probably find some degree of competition in most places, so you shouldn’t give undue weight to that one factor.</p>
<p>If you’re considering Midwest schools for business, some others to check out include DePaul in Chicago; Kelly at Indiana U; Price at U Oklahoma (on the fringe of the Midwest); Carlson at U Minnesota. DePaul is well-respected in Chicago, has good access internships in a major business and financial city, and a large local alumni base. Kelly has very flexible options for business certificates and minors if she should decide to do economics in the college of arts & sciences. U Oklahoma is smaller than the Big 10 schools, and there is a sense of community at the school. Oklahoma has a strong local/regional economy relative to other parts of the country hit harder by the recession.There also might be more FA available. Minnesota has a lower cost for OSS than many other MW public universities.</p>
<p>Washington University in St. Louis, although it is quite selective. I also second SparkEye’s suggestion… Ohio State is definitely a “school on the rise.”</p>