<p>OK. So I am a student living in Georgia. Ever since 10th grade Ive wanted to go to CLemson. i didnt really know why other than it had a nice campus and was a decent school. I got into Clemson and was happy, until I learned they had a pretty modest and mediocre business program (Number 87 or so on US NEws). So I considered my other options; i.e. FSU (#41). It was an OK school, but had a pretty good business school, better than any other school I got into (Denied from UT Austin :-(
So, should I go to the good school with the OK undergrad business (Clemson) or the OK school with the really good undergrad business program (FSU).</p>
<p>What ratings are you looking at to make such a comparison?</p>
<p>When in doubt, go with the school you want, not the department.</p>
<p>It it is often said on CC that college is what you make of it and this is true. If Clemson is where you have always wanted to go, don't second guess yourself now.
We have a friend who went to Clemson and majored in Finance and has been very successful (in the financial sense if that is what you are interested in),lives in country club neighborhood, owns 2 vacation houses,etc. Another friend did engineering there and has done very well. In short, just about everyone I know who went to Clemson loved it. Follow your heart.</p>
<p>Go to the school where you are most likely to be happy and leave you with the least amount of debt.</p>
<p>The ratings that are commonly employed change from year to year and in most cases are superficial at best. For example, FSU rated something like 64 in the US News national universities category in 2002. In 2004 FSU was rated 112 in the same list. </p>
<p>I know FSU pretty well and can assure you that half of the university did not burn down, nor did half of all professors get dragged off to an academic gulag in Gainesville.</p>
<p>The ratings are influenced by events and opinions that are political in nature; consequently they should not have much influence on real decisions that affect your life. I assure you that once you get out of school no one will care where you went to school - as long as you do the job you are paid to do, and do it well. This applies especially to the so-called Ivy League schools, since expectations will be probably much higher than the reality such graduates are able to present. </p>
<p>These ratings sell a lot of magazines to hyperactive parents and worried kids. The publishing company owners just smile on their way to the bank, and think up new ways to create artificial concerns that keep money flowing in to them. They have car payments, too you know. </p>
<p>Be a radical; make your own decisions and don't follow the crowd. Read all the literature you can find about your schools of interest then check the real data state schools are forced by law to produce. Do lots of research. Try to stay out of debt. Work harder than you ever thought you could, but have as much fun (forget drugs, sex or booze) as possible.</p>