<p>I've spent several months lurking on these forums and I've come to notice that colleges that are classified by US News as Master's Universities tend to be viewed with less prestige than those that are classified as National Universities. For example, Rollins College, ranked as the best Master's University in the South, is seen by many here as being less prestigious than FU, UMiami, and FSU, which are ranked 50th, 55th, and 109th respectively on the list of National Universities. Does this mean that the top schools on the list of Master's Universities are about as prestigious as those that are ranked as 3rd and 4th tier schools on the list of National Universities? Or am I wrong in assuming this? I would greatly appreciate it if somebody would straighten this out for me so that I can have a good idea of the prestige of the different schools that I'm looking at. Thanks.</p>
<p>you can't really judge them like that. those schools have much more regional appeal than the national university rankings. for example, villanova in the north is looked at as a muvh better school than fu, miami, and fsu, while maybe in arizona people only know villanova as a school that historically has a decent basketball team.</p>
<p>The top schools in masters are almost always (99.9%) better than 3rd and 4th tiers National universities.</p>
<p>Personally I just think US News is bogus, but w/e, b/c I feel like numbers cannot describe the atmosphere and the personal experiences you can have there, so really a top school rankings wise is not necessarily a top choice for yourself, but hmmm.</p>
<p>The reason why I ask this is because I'm an HS student in the midwest (Missouri, to be precise) with outstanding academic stats and I want to get a full ride to a school with a fairly decent academic reputation (I know the Ivys and their equals don't offer full rides). I'm just wondering if I should even bother applying to top Master's schools outside of the midwest if their reputations aren't that stellar or if I should just stick with mid-level nationals (ranked 20-100) and a few regional safeties.</p>
<p>If you are looking for schools with good merit aids, go to the Parents Forum and look up these threads:</p>
<ul>
<li>Schools known for good merit aid</li>
<li>US News Top 100 Liberal Arts Colleges - Merit vs Need Only</li>
<li>US News Top 100 Doctoral Colleges - Merit vs Need Only</li>
</ul>
<p>SAT 25th-75th percentile is a way to place all schools on a common scale. But the National Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges are more highly regarded that the Masters category schools. If you have great stats, I would maybe apply to one or two financial safeties if money is a concern and then simply apply to mostly reach schools and a few matches. See what the financial aid offers are in April and compare. You can take out loans, you know.</p>
<p>The Master's Universities have less competition on the the Master's Universities list than schools on the National Universities or Liberal Arts Colleges list. </p>
<p>For example, if you take Villanova University which is #1 for Master's Universities North and place it in reference to the national universities it is no better than schools ranked in the mid 50's- 60's. </p>
<p>Villanova's competition for the Master's Universities list consists of Providence College, College of New Jersey, Fairfield University and RIT to name a few. </p>
<p>Also, Master's Universities are smaller and more regionally known. </p>
<p>Look at University of Richmond, which was the #1 ranked Master's University in the South region for I think almost 10 straight years. It switched to Liberal Arts Colleges and is now ranked only #34 on that list.</p>
<p>BU says if you're in the top 10% of those admitted you're offered a full scholarship automatically.</p>
<p>Well I THINK that's what they said....</p>
<p>I don't plan on applying to BU due to its notoriety for grade deflation. It would be a bummer to not be able to get into a good graduate school because of a low undergrad GPA. But thanks for the suggestion. I think I've gotten all the advice that I need. Thanks to everyone who replied.</p>