Tell me about your instate schools!

College Search & Selection
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<p>I think public schools are great because they offer instate tuition, which is great if you're budget concious. I live in Virginia, which I think is an amazing state for a high school senior: we've got UVA and William and Mary, for the really smart people; James Madison is great for a music major; Christopher Newport is nice if you're looking for a liberal arts college. Plus, we've got schools like Longwood, Radford, and Virginia Commonwealth for those who want to go to college but may not be so competitive. And then there are lots more that I can't even think of at the moment. </p>

<p>But I can't help but wonder what my choices would be if I grew up in another state. I know there must be people from all 50 states on this forum. Tell me about your state's public schools and what's good and bad about them!</p>

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<p>Virginia has an incredible system. I live in Oklahoma where we're not as lucky. We've got our flagship state schools in OU and OSU. They're great schools they're just very similar to each other. Unlike Virginia, where the two most well-known state schools (W&M and UVA) are totally different from each other, students here don't have much to choose from.</p>

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<p>In VA don't forget about VTech, George Mason (I hear it is in a great location), and the University of Mary Washington. What a system VA has!</p>

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<p>NY's got the SUNY system....which I think is amazing as far as state schools go!!</p>

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<p>Oh yeah Virginia Tech....duh! How could I forget about that?</p>

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<p>I've got Ohio State which is an above average state flagship school.</p>

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<p>It's hard to beat California.</p>

<p>Berkeley is berkeley. Huge grad school, but lots of undergrad opportunities. Some people think it's just a factory. I know a lot of people who hated it their first year, but I don't know a single person (out of hundreds) that didn't absolutely love it by their second year.</p>

<p>And I've consistently heard that despite the initial factory feel, you can do anything you want to. If you ask for it, you can get grad school research opportunities as a freshman. Not many other places, Ivies included, can say that.</p>

<p>UC San Diego is underrated. It's the generally agreed upon #3 UC (after berkeley and ucla). But it's sort of got its own residential colleges, it's huge on pre-med, all sciences, and medical school (med school is top ten in the nation, I believe), but has a nice undergrad focus. Really homey. But pretty dry (not in personality, in terms of alcohol) and clean, which some people don't like.</p>

<p>UC Santa Cruz - Beautiful campus, it's literally in a forest. Wonderful for envisci, forestry, or anything related to the earth period, along with countless opportunities to research/get involved on an environmental level. Not well known outside of those topics though. Good surfing.</p>

<p>UC Merced - I have no idea, it's new. Not many people.</p>

<p>UC Davis - Nice campus. It's middle of the road. The people are nice, and somewhat smart, but some people find it boring.</p>

<p>UC Irvine - Despite being somewhat nearby, I know almost nothing about it.</p>

<p>UCLA - The school spirit is insane. But it's extremely competitive, with large classes and a lot of bell curves on grading. Even so, the local prestige is huge, and it's one of the few UCs (plus berkeley) whose name carries over elsewhere in the nation. There are a lot of really, really smart people here, just as with Berkeley, who may have turned down Ivies or only applied instate.</p>

<p>UC Riverside - I don't know much. The city around it is growing rapidly, along with the school itself.</p>

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<p>I agree...it's hard to beat Virginia or California. Most schools have only one decent flagship, but these states have tons of really great publics. </p>

<p>Anyway, mine suck. UNLV is good for career-oriented programs (such as hotel management, hospitality, and communications to an extent), but that's about it. UNR is just...blah. They have an okay journalism school.</p>

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<p>kknight you forgot the csu system: excellent educations on the cheap especially at either of the the Cal Poly campuses</p>

<p>Oh and UCD is not what I would call "middle of the road." It's fantastic! The only remotely negative thing people have to say is that the town of Davis doesn't provide much of night life if clubbing is your thing.</p>

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<p>theres actually a huge post on here with all of this on it, it probably has about every state included somewhere : )</p>

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<p>UNC-CH- The flagship...considered just as good if not better than many private schools, good in almost anything besides engineering lol
NC State- The main engineering school
NCSA- The arts school...nuff said
UNCG and App- Good in music and education
UNCC- Good in engineering i hear
ECU- dubbed "easy U" by some...the party school
UNCW- the other party school</p>

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<p>what apayton was referring to... </p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/132602-post-your-own-state-s-college-reputations.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/132602-post-your-own-state-s-college-reputations.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Oh, if only I lived in CA or NY!</p>

<p>Connecticut has UConn, which is rock solid, and the CT State University system, which is a big producer of teachers. UConn, though, is definitely a good school to consider even from out of staters, especially those who live in Massachusetts, or other states in the New England Regional Student Program.</p>

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<p>My bad, I forgot CSUs.</p>

<p>Extremely affordable, and consistently ranked among the best values.
I should've said more on Davis, too -our school sends a lot. I'm not sure what I meant on middle of the road, the people there I know are happy there. They did mention the nightlife though. A lot want to go back for grad school.</p>

<p>Cal Poly SLO is spectacular. It's got a huge (and prestigious) architecture program, along with high quality in everything else. Some people consider it on an entire different level than CSUs.</p>

<p>Not that the other CSUs are bad. A lot of people end up at CSU Long Beach here, for financial reasons -they don't feel like they're settling for less.</p>

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<p>being from New York I am proud to have a very good public school system. SUNY Binghamton, Geneseo, and ESF are amazing schools.</p>

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<p>And California has a great community college system that educates thousands who never go on to a 4-year college, or gives a second chance for a student that screwed up and still wants into a UC or CSU - all while saving some money.</p>

<p>All this is outlined by the California Master Plan for Higher Education...still the gold standard for public higher education.</p>

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<p>Being form New York , I do agree that California is a state that is envied for its higher education.</p>

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<p>I'm from AZ, where we have the rather excellent U of A and the more party-esque ASU.</p>

<p>"Yay yay U of A. Boo boo, ASU."</p>

<p>U of A has an awesome journalism and pre med program!</p>

19

<p>Wisconsin system sucks.</p>

<p>Madison- Only great school
Milwaukee- underrated school, good for business, engineering, arts and architechture...but still nothing amazing.
La Cross- good for healthcare type of stuff
whitewater-good for business</p>

<p>those are the only notable once...but really..Madison is the only great school</p>

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<p>California knows how to party</p>