State pride: which is the "best" State for higher education, and why?

College Search & Selection
61

<p>California -
PUBLIC -
Community College: under $30 per credit hour at the community college plus the opportunity to transfer into a UC. Excellent opportunities for working people to continue to learn.</p>

<p>State colleges - opportunities to earn up to a masters and even Doctorates (with agreements from UCs) within a 20 minute drive of most of the population.</p>

<p>UCs. While we often focus on CAL (Berkely) and UCLA, it should be noted that there are a number of other UCs scattered from San Diego as far north as Davis and that you will find them on top 50 university lists, almost always above New York's Publics. Our local UC Davis, has a Vet School, Medical School and a Law school. Poster X I think we have as more UCs than all the Public Universities in New England. </p>

<p>Privates: Stanford for people smart enough to go to Harvard but also smart enough to pick a beautiful climate and location. </p>

<p>USC, Caltech, the Clairmonts, and a host of other great LACs. </p>

<p>Second Place goes to New York - simply for having public colleges at Cornell University- what a brilliant idea!</p>

62

<p>I'm going to go out on a limb and say that California really isn't very good at all.</p>

<p>The UC system, while being well-respected, is really overrated. Undergraduates get completely lost in the crowd. Classes are overcrowded, there isn't enough housing, tuition is expensive by state standards, TAs teach all the classes, and it's impossible to graduate in 4 years. Yes, they have highly ranked graduate programs--but who cares when you're an undergrad? I'd say get out of CA for your undergrad education and come back to get a taste of those top 5 graduate programs when they'll actually matter to you.</p>

<p>California private universities just don't carry the history, prestige, or typically collegiate feel of those in the East and MidAtlantic. Stanford is the only true bastion of private education in CA, and even it looks like a giant Taco Bell. USC is probably the most recognizable name to the general public, but its reputation is shaky at best and Californians either love it or hate it. </p>

<p>I think the answer is obviously Massachusettes (Harvard, Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, MIT, Mount Holyoke, etc.), followed by Pennsylvania (Haverford, UPenn, Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Penn State, etc.).</p>

<p>As for public state schools, I think Virginia wins hands down with large rah-rah schools (UVA, VA Tech), medium-sized universities (JMU, GMU), and LAC-type schools (William & Mary, Mary Washington) all within its public school system.</p>

63

<p>
[quote]
California private universities just don't carry the history, prestige, or typically collegiate feel of those in the East and MidAtlantic. Stanford is the only true bastion of private education in CA, and even it looks like a giant Taco Bell. USC is probably the most recognizable name to the general public, but its reputation is shaky at best and Californians either love it or hate it.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Are you kiddin' me? Stanford is slightly less prestigious than Harvard based on history/background, but it's every bit as good as, if not better than Harvard academically. Caltech is just like MIT minus its social depts. The rest that matters is Berkeley. Well, even though getting into Cal is easier than let's say Amherst, their curricula are on par, if not better. And within academic circle (esp. grad schools), well, nothing beats Berkeley.</p>

64

<p>I don't know if you are speaking from experience or based on informal gripe sessions, because I know that that was a concern I had regarding UCs. However, my D just finished her first quarter at UC Davis, each class and discussion section taught by a professor (all accessible). TA's were available to help pre-read papers and to offer advice. Largest class was about 100 but most were under or around 30. Biggest problem relating to over crowding was being shut out of classes that are pre-requisites for her intended major - result - she took classes in areas she might not have and found them interesting. I am hoping that she will be able to register a little earlier next quarter since she has enough credits to be a sophmore. </p>

<p>While I am impressed by Mass. I would still rank it third after NY. (Have you seen law school rankings..Columbia, Cornell, NYU, Fordham... (by the way Ca has 5 out of the top 40 & 3 out of the top 15 Law schools With Stanford and Cal near the top.)</p>

<p>A partial list of unmentioned LACs in NY: Skidmore, Union, Colgate, William and Smith, Hamilton, Vasser, and Universities: Syracuse, Rochester and the entire SUNY and CUNY systems. Thats a lot of education!</p>

65

<p>
[quote]
The UC system, while being well-respected, is really overrated. Undergraduates get completely lost in the crowd. Classes are overcrowded, there isn't enough housing, tuition is expensive by state standards, TAs teach all the classes, and it's impossible to graduate in 4 years. Yes, they have highly ranked graduate programs--but who cares when you're an undergrad? I'd say get out of CA for your undergrad education and come back to get a taste of those top 5 graduate programs when they'll actually matter to you.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Where are you getting your information from? I'm a third year at UCLA and I WILL be graduating next year. There is enough on-campus and off-campus housing to fit everyone’s' needs. TAs do not teach any classes, professors teach classes while TAs lead 10 person discussions. Fees are less than 7000 a year; that's not expensive.</p>

66

<p>Massachusetts has more top private schools-Harvard,MIT, Amherst,Williams,Wellesley,Holy Cross, Brandeis, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Tufts-all top 25-30, while California has the best public network with mostly large UC schools.</p>

67

<p>
[quote]
TAs teach all the classes

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The only times I saw my TA's were in discussions and during finals/midterms when they were helping pass out papers.</p>

<p>;)</p>

68

<p>I only know of the UC system from what my mom, a UCLA graduate, has told me. Perhaps it's outdated?</p>

<p>Either way, the true strength of the UC system lies in the graduate schools--I don't think anyone's going to dispute that. The pure HUGENESS of the UCs is intimidating and overwhelming if you aren't the typically driven, overachieving CC member willing to make the effort to stand out in the (massive) crowd.</p>

69

<p>Likely. I think UC has started to make [and has made] great strides to have professors actually teach. Plenty of accountability, for example at UCSD the school sponsors surveys that every student fills out about the teachers - similar to student review sites (ratemyprof, etc), but it's run by and reviewed by the University. Not sure if other schools od it, but I can't help but think it's had some sort of positive impact on the quality of teaching, considering what I've heard compared to what I've experienced.</p>

<p>:)</p>

70

<p>Not that many people are talking about pepperdine, hastings school of law ucsf, apu, art center college of design, both cal poly's (hands on teaching), loyola marymount, chapman is comming up, occidental, otis college of art and design</p>

<p>people talk about the claremont colleges, but not all of them
pomona
claremont mckenna
claremont graduate
harvey mudd
pitzer and keck grad</p>

71

<p>I think we all can admit that CA and MA are the tops. CA for public (UCs) and MA for private. Boston is known as the best college town in the world, and you have tons of top Lib. Arts schools in rural MA.</p>

72

<p>Im say California. There are some strong states like Virginia and maybe a few others, but california is best hands down.</p>

<p>We've go Stanford, Cal, USC,UCLA,Pomona,Harvey Mudd, Caltech, UCSD, pepperdine, Davis, Irvine, Santa barbara, claremony Mckenna</p>

73

<p>Pennsylvania-great state, great schools...enough said.</p>

74

<p>Hmm, I graduated in 5 semesters in an impacted major at Berkeley, maybe you mean impossible to graduate in 4 years because it's so easy to graduate faster?</p>

75

<p>I have to admit that my state's schools (New York) aren't that great in comparison to our HS system... :( a few exceptions are NYU, Columbia...</p>

76

<p>My rankings:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>California: Best public school system and some very good private schools, including Stanford, USC, the Claremont consortium, and even Pepperdine (though that's a big step down from the others)</p></li>
<li><p>Mass: Harvard, MIT, etc. Unfortunately, the public school system there isn't so hot.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>After that, it gets iffier, but I'll try.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Virginia: Publics like UVA, W&M, VT, James Madison, Mary Washington and privates like Washington and Lee give this state the public/private variety most states don't approach.</p></li>
<li><p>North Carolina: Duke, Wake, UNC, NC State, and Davidson are all impressive, but there is a substantial drop off after that. Very, very close call between Virginia and North Carolina, but I give the nod to Virginia because of its depth of LACs.</p></li>
<li><p>New York: Cornell, Columbia, Vassar and NYU are all good private schools, but the SUNYs, while good for a public system, just don't match up well with VA and NC.</p></li>
<li><p>Pennsylvania: Penn, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore are all top-notch private schools. Dickinson and Gettysburg provide quality depth of LACs. But the public school system, while providing super-large research institutions, don't compare favorably with the other states. But a close call between PA and NY.</p></li>
</ol>

77

<p>Lets stop complicating the matter.
Cali and Mass are both tops. Cali has hands down, the better public education (Berkeley and UCLA are tops in the nation) and Mass has the better private, both reaserch (Harvard, MIT) and LAC (Amherst, Williams). Lets look at overall rankings. Harvard=Stanford, MIT=CalTech, Berkeley=???, Amherst=???. Well Pomona is closer to Amherst than UMASS is to Berkeley, so I say that if we look at the variety of college types, CALIFORNIA prevails.</p>

78

<ol>
<li> MA: MIT, Harvard, Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, Tufts, BC, Brandeis, BU....</li>
<li> CA: Stanford, Caltech, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, CMC, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD...</li>
<li> PA: Penn, Haverford, Byrn Mawr, CMU, Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Villanova, PSU</li>
<li> NY: Columbia, Cornell, Colgate, NYU, Vassar, Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton</li>
<li> NC: Duke, Wake Forest, UNC, Davidson</li>
<li> VA: UVA, W&M, W&L, VT</li>
</ol>

79

<p>I'd have to say definitely California is by far the best, with Massachusetts at second place. Sure, the latter has Harvard and MIT, both of which are world-class research institutions. But we've got Cal Tech and Stanford (the counterparts to MIT and Harvard), along with Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, USC, 7 other UC campuses and the huge network of 23 campuses that encompasses the California State University (and its over 400,000 students). No other state can match this sheer number and quality that California possesses.</p>

80

<p>
[quote]
Lets look at overall rankings. Harvard=Stanford, MIT=CalTech, Berkeley=???, Amherst=???. Well Pomona is closer to Amherst than UMASS is to Berkeley, so I say that if we look at the variety of college types, CALIFORNIA prevails.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Pomona, Amherst, and Williams are all essentially equal and pretty similar. Mudd is also on the same level, but I would say that it's more the west coast Olin. So you have...</p>

<p>Stanford = Harvard
Caltech = MIT
Pomona = Amherst
Mudd = Olin
CMC < Williams by a tad</p>

<p>But then after that California just slaughters Massachusetts. Berkeley, UCLA, Deep Springs, UCSD, USC, it goes on and on...</p>