<p>UVA - C’ville’s pretty awesome, has e-school, D1 athletics, actually one of the top 10 sports programs, bit of a reach for you though</p>
<p>UIUC meets your needs too, and Indiana but I’m not so sure about the strength of their engineering</p>
<p>Does the team actually have to be good or do you just want good football schools</p>
<p>Also, lots of SEC schools, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Ole MIss, the works</p>
<p>Again, thanks for the recommendations.</p>
<p>UIUC: Not really thrilled about the weather, but it has a superb civil engineering program.
Iowa: Considered it, but is it full of farm boys?
Georgia Tech: I’ve heard that it is really dorky and that there is no social life there. Plus it is in Atlanta. </p>
<p>Jimgotkp: It would just be tough for me being a die hard ND fan at Purdue. However, Purdue’s civil engineering department has a strong pull for me. I see that you’re at Purdue and I was wondering how does the weather compare to South Bend and how do you like the school?</p>
<p>WolverineWhiz: I could never go to Meeeeeechigan because I despise the Wolverines so much. Next to USC, they are my most hated college team. Now if I wasn’t a ND fan, it would be one of my top choices because of Ann Arbor, academics, and athletic program (even though the football team has been in the dumps during the Rich Rod era and btw you guys should have hired a Michigan Man for that job).</p>
<p>Boiledegg: I have heard that each SEC school in unique in its own way. I absolutely love the atmosphere of SEC football. I remember watching LSU-Auburn when I was 9 years old. It was a top 10 matchup the game ended up being something like 10-9. Ever since then, I have been hooked. The passion of the fans is incredible and the athletes are the best in the country. As a matter of fact, attending a SEC football game (top choice is a LSU home game for the tailgating) is on my bucket list.</p>
<p>True, Wisconsin can get fairly cold in the winter, but with a coat it’s honestly not that bad. Plus, how much time are you truly going to be spending outside during the winter anyways?</p>
<p>I’m going to recommend Washington State again. Yeah, Pullman is a small town, but it’s definitely a college town. The civil engineering program is strong and it wouldn’t be a reach.</p>
<p>m4dskillz- I’m fine with a school as long as the team is half-way decent and has strong fan support and is in a BCS conference (Big 10, Big 12, Big East, SEC, Pac 10, ACC). If the team is non-BCS (like a Boise State) I would prefer that they are very competitive and in position to reach a BCS bowl game (e.g. TCU and Utah). </p>
<p>Cuse- UNC is one of my top choices for Business, but it has a reputation of being near impossible to be accepted OOS. Also, UNC will have the best defense in college football this year led by Quan Sturdivant and Marvin Austin and they should emerge as a dark horse ACC contender if they get more consistent QB play.</p>
<p>Ryan: Thanks for the input. I feel that being from Southern California I would experience major culture shock if I went to a stereotypical southern school. It’s nice to know that UF seems a little bit more like schools in the rest of the country. </p>
<p>Oh yeah, when listing my stats and ec’s, I failed to mention that I am Hispanic. So maybe some of the upper tier schools that were suggested (like UNC which has a very low Hispanic student population) will take this into consideration.</p>
<p>UIUC – Reason I suggested it – I studied engineering there in the 80s – tough to beat the combination of great engineering and business schools, plus usually competitive basketball and football – had a great time there!</p>
<p>Iowa – no, totally false stereotype about farm boys – lots of Chicago students and smaller town Iowa students – very friendly, liberal, scenic campus. Engineering not as strong as Illinois</p>
<p>Someone else mentioned Indiana – they do not have any engineering or strong football, although strong business, and a great campus.</p>
<p>I second (or third) University of Iowa. Great school, great football, great college town in Iowa City. Plenty of farm boys (and girls) for sure, but student body is much more hip and geographically diverse than you might expect. More than a third come from out of state. Go Hawks!</p>
<p>*I think my family can afford almost all state schools if I am able to gain residency, but if I don’t receive financial aid at privates, they will probably be out of reach. *</p>
<p>You need another strategy. You will not be able to gain residency in another state if your parents don’t move there. Your state of residency will be based on where YOUR PARENTS live. OOS of state publics aren’t going to give you financial aid to make the OOS costs affordable. If you have high stats, you might be able to get a scholarship. </p>
<p>Don’t set yourself up for a big disappointment by applying to a bunch of schools that you can’t afford. </p>
<p>What are your stats? You might be able to get a scholarship to a Div I school if your stats are high enough. </p>
<p>And, get over your naive attitude about the South. I’m from Southern California and you have no idea what the South is like. Both of my kids go to Alabama and LOVE it.</p>
<p>In the meantime, ask your parents exactly how much they will spend each year on your education. That will most likely determine where you can go to college.</p>
<p>SOC2015, I understand with the sports. To be honest, I’m not sure how different the weather is from West Lafayette to South Bend but it probably will be the similiar. In terms of how much I like the school, I LOVE IT. I’m putting myself in debt of over $100k and that should answer your question on how much I like it.</p>
<p>Aside from the OOS tuition matter, which is a significant issue, I’d recommend (as a die-hard sports fan myself) that you put your team allegiances on the shelf during your college search. As emotionally connected as we get toward certain teams, our team loyalties in all honesty are completely arbitrary. I can assure you that Donovan McNabb is having no trouble whatsoever becoming a Redskin after playing 11 years for a rival. You can develop a loyalty for whatever team you like, whenever you like, but this is your life and your future we’re talking about here. If your best college option would be at the school that’s a rival of ND, then so be it.</p>
<p>A word about the South. Consider that the academic year runs fall through spring; you’re out of school during the summer. Northern winters are not only cold and snowy, they’re often overcast and gray. Here in Georgia (same for northern Florida and Alabama), a typical late fall or winter day might be 50 degrees, sunny and cloudless, with a sky so brilliantly blue that it often seems artificially color-enhanced. Such days often hit on Saturdays in November, too! :)</p>
<p>Westwood is hardly a “college town”. </p>
<p>But if you’re gonna apply for UCLA, might as well check off Berkeley and pay the additional application fee. Berkeley has the best civil engineering program in the nation as well as one of the best undergraduate business programs; college football is played on campus, and Berkeley is an actual college town…You can access Bay Area airports and SF via BART…no need for a car.</p>
<p>I have traveled the east coast going to college football games over the past 10+ years. I try to do a minimum of 1-2 trips per year to see different stadiums. Clemson, Auburn and South Carolina have impressive game days. Didn’t care as much for GA, GTech or FSU. Florida is OK, but over the past few years because of their success every home game seems to have turned into a circus with 200k people tailgating. Probably great for students, not as great for the casual fan.</p>
<p>I would guess any of the SEC schools would be as good as most schools in the country for a good game day environment.</p>
<p>
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<p>Agree with this. For what it is worth, some publication (can’t remember which one at the moment) ranked Ole Miss as the #1 spot for tailgating in the country. Given what my friends have said about the school, I’m not surprised in the least.</p>
<p>South Carolina also has great tailgating. I haven’t been to UGA yet, but I hear that Saturdays in Athens are legendary.</p>
<p>SOC2015: What’s your class rank? Based on the stats you’ve posted so far, I’d say you’re not a match at all for UT-Austin, but rather a definite reach–in particular, OOS admissions there are highly competitive. Also, be aware that UT’s campus is near downtown and the area around the campus is very urban, and calling it a “college town” (with 1.7 million people) is perhaps a stretch. That being said, Austin is an awesome city and I’m sure you’d enjoy it if you can get in.</p>
<p>I go to Clemson and last year our town-university relations got a #1 ranking from the Princeton Review as well as #3 for happiest students and #10 for best quality of life. Our football team went to the ACC championship game last year and is in the top 25 every year. Academically, our civil engineering program was ranked in the top 20 by US News last year and our business program was ranked 27th among public schools by BusinessWeek last year (2009).</p>
<p>I’m going to Clemson and love it here. I’m majoring in civil engineering so if you have any questions about Clemson or CE, let me know! I think you should check Clemson out :)</p>
<p>Here are the civil engineering US News rankings if you haven’t seen them yet:
Undergraduate Engineering Specialties: Civil
1 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA
2 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
3 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA
4 University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
5 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN
7 Stanford University Stanford, CA
8 Cornell University Ithaca, NY
9 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
10 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
11 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA
12 Texas A&M University–College Station College Station, TX
13 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI
14 Northwestern University Evanston, IL
15 North Carolina State University–Raleigh Raleigh, NC
16 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA
17 Princeton University Princeton, NJ
18 Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA
18 University of Florida Gainesville, FL
20 Clemson University Clemson, SC
20 Iowa State University Ames, IA</p>
<p>“P.S. I have absolutely no interest in attending Michigan or Penn State because I am a Notre Dame fan and have an eternal hatred for those schools.”</p>
<p>Only Notre Dame does not meet one of your criteria: Great college town. South Bend is a relatively unpleasant city.</p>
<p>Schools that fit your interests:</p>
<p>University of Colorado-Boulder
University of Florida
University of Georgia
University of Texas-Austin
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>UCBChemEgrad: I sincerely doubt that I will get into Cal. Plus, I’ve heard stories about students sabotaging other students’ labs in order to get a better grade. I wouldn’t want to study in a cut throat environment like that.</p>
<p>jr: My class rank will be top 20%. I’ve heard that Austin is beautiful and a great place to live, so I’ll just have to see how much I like it when I go to visit this summer. </p>
<p>“Only Notre Dame does not meet one of your criteria: Great college town. South Bend is a relatively unpleasant city.”</p>
<p>Yeah South Bend is kind of a gross town but ND is in what is referred to as the Notre Dame Bubble. The campus is in its own little world and isolated from downtown South Bend. So ND is kind of in its own little college town. The area that the campus is located in is actually pretty nice. Also, if you go north from the campus towards the 80 toll road (in Roseland), the area seems to get a lot nicer. The city only gets dumpy when you cross south over the St. Joseph’s river.</p>
<p>I’ve done some research on all of the suggested schools and Clemson, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Purdue Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, and Wisconsin seem very appealing to me. Thanks for the help guys!</p>
<p>I am still welcoming any other suggestions.</p>
<p>Looks like a great list – curious why you eliminated UIUC given the competitive football/basketball teams and very highly ranked business and civil engineering programs. CU may not be quite as nice as Iowa City, Madison, etc., but still a nice college town and a very diverse campus with a lot happening.</p>