Opinions of each (SMU, Ohio State, Iowa, Alabama, Baylor)

<p>I live in Iowa City, the home of the University of Iowa. Its not the middle of nowhere, not is it anything like the rest of Iowa. Its a liberal town, with decent restaurants, diversity and a pretty active social scene. </p>

<p>The school awesome … Its on my daughter’s list. Its especially good if you are looking into anything to do with the medical field, or writing. </p>

<p>Good luck with your search. </p>

<p>Sent from my EVO using CC</p>

<p>I’m in the Northeast…Ohio State is fairly well respected here. As for the others? Not so much. </p>

<p>IMO Ohio State is the most well thought of school on your list. SMU, Baylor, and Iowa are not more prestigious than tOSU. And are people on here really arguing that Bama is as or more prestigious? </p>

<p>Btw I visited Ohio State and I enjoyed my stay. Great facilities. Really awesome food as well. The campus is huge, so make sure you’re good with that. But otherwise, it really is an awesome school</p>

<p>Mmmm…can you substantiate your statement re: UA?</p>

<p>substantiate what statement?</p>

<p>thanks for the replies! I didnt expect to get this many lol! you guys are awesome</p>

<p>kbronx, how well is tOSU thought of in the Northeast? What would be a comparable state school?</p>

<p>and does anyone have any other input on the visual appeal of any of the campuses?</p>

<p>You want info about the visual appeal? Bama is frequently ranked as one of the most beautiful campuses in the US. It is drop dead gorgeous. It is immaculately maintained. </p>

<p>Older buildings are remodeled/refurbished and newer buildings are styled to fit in with the older buildings. Landscaping is well maintained. Seasonal flowers are planted. Hardwood trees everywhere that bloom and change colors with the seasons.</p>

<p>There was a well executed master plan that coordinated signage, lighting, colors, etc throughout the campus and surrounding areas.</p>

<p>Most days have sunny blue skies with white fluffy clouds.</p>

<p>this video is of the College of Arts and Sciences, but gives a good view of the campus…and shows Phase I of the new Science and Engineering Comples (shelby hall). there are 4 phases…the 4th phase completes this summer…it is huge.
<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;

<p>If you go to this link and click on “life at UA” and “visiting campus” you’ll see some of the campus.</p>

<p>tOSU is not particularly well thought of by those of us in the northeast, but it isn’t considered a bad school either. It’s just another large state school. If you want to end up in the northeast, you’d be advised not to attend a state school in the midwest. That being said, it depends what you want to do for work.</p>

<p>“If you want to end up in the northeast, you’d be advised not to attend a state school in the midwest.”</p>

<p>Please do not listen to informative’s nonsense. He just assumes that all public universities are as mediocre as the one’s in his neck of the woods.</p>

<p>awesome video moms2!</p>

<p>and thanks informative, I didnt know that attending Ohio State would hinder my chances of finding work in the northeast</p>

<p>Although US News classifies all these schools as “national” universities, each draws students heavily from its home state.</p>

<p>Iowa [Where</a> Does Your Freshman Class Come From?](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=153658]Where”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=153658)
TOSU [Where</a> Does Your Freshman Class Come From?](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=204796]Where”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=204796)
Baylor [Where</a> Does Your Freshman Class Come From?](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=223232]Where”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=223232)
Alabama [Where</a> Does Your Freshman Class Come From?](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=100751]Where”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=100751)
SMU [Where</a> Does Your Freshman Class Come From?](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=228246]Where”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=228246)</p>

<p>I would expect student origins to affect recruitment and hiring patterns, as well as local reputations. So consider where you might like to live and work after graduation.</p>

<p>“I would expect student origins to affect recruitment and hiring patterns, as well as local reputations. So consider where you might like to live and work after graduation.”</p>

<p>That is a reasonable statement. Saying that ALL state universities in the midwest are strictly regional, is not.</p>

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<p>Nonetheless, tOSU student body is still the most racially, ethnically, culturally, and geographically diverse of them all.</p>

<p>Geographic diversity (autumn 2012)
Ohio State enrolls students from every state and territory. States with the highest enrollment:</p>

<p>500+: Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, New York, Michigan
300 – 499: New Jersey, Texas, Maryland, Virginia
100 – 299: Florida, Indiana, Georgia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Kentucky, Connecticut, Minnesota, Tennessee, Washington, Missouri, Utah, Arizona
50 – 99: Colorado, West Virginia, South Carolina</p>

<p>This is Ohio State
[This</a> is Ohio State - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNTR4UuH0OA&feature=relmfu]This”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNTR4UuH0OA&feature=relmfu)</p>

<p>The Ohio State University: A Grand Institution
[The</a> Ohio State University: A Grand Institution - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-4KpfAHlz0]The”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-4KpfAHlz0)</p>

<p>Oxley Thompson Library Grand Reading Room
<a href=“http://www.bfhstudios.com/slideshowpro/albums/album-12/lg/reading_room_Panorama1.jpg[/url]”>http://www.bfhstudios.com/slideshowpro/albums/album-12/lg/reading_room_Panorama1.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Best of Luck & Go Bucks!! :)</p>

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<p>According to the Chronicle map I cited above, in the referenced year TOSU did not draw any freshmen from SD, Wyoming, Montana, Mississippi, or Alaska. It drew less than 10 students each from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevado, Utah, NM, OK, Kansas, Nebraska, ND, Iowa, Arkansas, LA, Alabama, SC, Delaware, NH, VT, and Maine. From many of these, it drew only 1-5 freshmen. </p>

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<p>According to the same Chronicle data, the number of freshmen from Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, New York, and Michigan ranged from 46 (MI) to 123 (Illinois). For the total student numbers to be as high as 500+ for any of these states, either the OOS enrollments must be fluctuating greatly (and Chronicle happened to pick a down year), or the numbers include many graduate students. </p>

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<p>According to the 2011-12 Common Data Sets, section B, Iowa enrolled 305 Hispanic freshmen, 119 AA freshmen, and 3283 whites. In the same year, TOSU enrolled 273 Hispanic freshmen, 379 AA freshmen, and 5361 white freshmen. So the percentage of black and Hispanic freshmen at both schools was slightly higher at Iowa (12.9% at Iowa, 12.2% at TOSU). </p>

<p>I don’t have the 2011-12 CDS figures for Alabama. In 2010-11, Hispanics and African Americans comprised nearly 20% of the freshman class.</p>

<p>As for comparative geographic diversity, have another look at these two maps:
TOSU … <a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=204796[/url]”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=204796&lt;/a&gt;
SMU … <a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=228246[/url]”>http://chronicle.com/article/Interactive-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=228246&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The data “where your freshman class come from” is two years old. While that may not make much difference for some schools, it does for Alabama. </p>

<p>This last fall’s frosh class is 55% OOS…the numbers from states like Calif, NY, Conn, IL, NJ went up significantly. Calif is now ranked #5 in sending kids to Bama.</p>

<p>what do you guys think about Tulane? I just got accepted there as well…</p>

<p>same type of bad rep as SMU and Baylor?</p>

<p>I just realized that one of my posts upthread mentions a link, but I forgot to post the link…here it is…</p>

<p>[UA</a> Viewbook - Undergraduate Admissions - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://viewbook.ua.edu/]UA”>http://viewbook.ua.edu/)</p>

<p>With over 50,000 students, of course Ohio State will be diverse. With that large a crowd, it’s easy to check all the boxes.</p>

<p>Man, that’s a big school.</p>

<p>Why would you think Tulane has a bad rep?</p>

<p>Tulane doesn’t have a bad rep. However, it suffered a LOT after Katrina and it had to eliminate much of its engineering dept. Don’t know how other depts fared.</p>

<p>

Great school with strengths in a wide array of fields like architecture, anthropology, classics, (tropical) medicine and public health, etc. New Orleans is awesome and probably the most distinctive city in the country. It’s not quite at the Emory/Vandy level, but it’s up there with Miami in the next rung. If financially feasible, I’d personally prefer it over any other school in this thread.</p>

<p>Tulane is usually pretty generous with merit aid, but I’m not sure that applies to transfer students.</p>

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Agreed, Ohio State is the strongest and most reputable. That said, OSU is distinctive among the three by being urban and unusually large even for a public university. If you want a smaller school or more of a college town, Iowa or Alabama is a better bet.</p>

<p>Alabama normally wins for an OOS student because it’s been taking the USC approach of buying students and thereby moving from a decent but unremarkable university to a good one, but my impression is that the money pool for transfer students is considerably smaller.</p>

<p>of the schools you listed, Tulane is probably the highest ranked with Ohio State and SMU neck and neck right behind. Iowa is another state school and Baylor is much lower.</p>

<p>SMU and Tulane are basically the same school except SMU is located in a nice part of Dallas and Tulane is located in a nice part of NOLA. SMU student body is probably more Texas and Southwest, with Tulane more East Coast and Southeast.</p>

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<p>USNWR Undergraduate Academic Reputation Index</p>

<p>TOSU 77
Tulane 74
Iowa 73
Baylor 68
SMU 67
Alabama 66</p>

<p>Top universities by reputation 2012</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012/reputation-ranking/range/51-60[/url]”>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012/reputation-ranking/range/51-60&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;