<p>Penn State is a blast, and they have a great honors program. According to their brochure, the SAT averages for their honors college are higher than some Ivies--including Penn!</p>
<p>kknight,</p>
<p>I agree with you 100% about the UC's. You did forget UC Santa Barbara though, great math and science, social scene, right on the beach- literally.Oh and soccer team is great.</p>
<p>Also, CSU's to consider</p>
<p>CSU Chico- total college town (live right near it). Great downtown right near campus, fun loving, health conscience place. WOnderful!</p>
<p>CSU San Diego- party school, good programs, has decent sports teams</p>
<p>The State of Michigan has quite a few state schools. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.</p>
<p>University of Michigan</p>
<p>Michigan State University</p>
<p>The "directional schools" - Western Michigan University, Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University and Northern Michigan University.</p>
<p>Others - Michigan Technological University, Grand Valley State University, Saginaw Valley State University and Oakland University.</p>
<p>I am probably missing some as well.</p>
<p>Kknight -- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has student scoring in the middle of the UC range... about the same as Santa Barbara and higher than Davis and Santa Cruz. I consider it on par with those Santa Barbara in terms of student quality, and far separated from the otherwise best Cal State which is San Diego State.</p>
<p>We are lucky in CA... but some people don't realize that attending a UC is not "free". It costs $22,000 not counting books, incidentals ($8,500 reg fees, $13,500 room/board at Berkeley/UCLA).</p>
<p>Maryland: UMD-College Park has turned into a great state school, UMBC is decent, and there are several smaller schools to choose from like St. Mary's, Johns Hopkins, and Hood College (just going by a college guide book, not sure what else there is). Plus it's got close proximity to some great DC and VA schools.</p>
<p>yeah i went to high school in MD, and UMD has a special program called Gemstones which is its rendition of an ivy education. i don't doubt its caliber, but alas, you do have to make your way through the 50000 state student mobs for four years to get it. </p>
<p>and Viz ilovebagels comment, my math teacher in hs who went to penn state said both his roommates frosh year had 1400+/1600 scores, but almost failed out because they were too lazy to go to class,etc. such shows the shortcomings of using only scores to judge intelligence and ability.</p>
<p>Hurrah for Arkansas......
I think U of A is actually ranked dead last in second tier this year. Hurrah for improvement from third tier last year.</p>
<p>Only two real colleges in Arkansas: Hendrix and U of A Fayetteville Honors.</p>
<p>Lets see, you forgot
UNCA- our liberal arts ALTERNATIVE to UNC-CH
Western
UNCP
Winston Salem State</p>
<p>Our HBCs:
Elizabeth City State U.
Fayetteville State U.
NC A&T State U.
NC Central U.</p>
<p>Wish I had applied to UCSD. I was too lazy to figure out which college at UCSD to apply to. I regret not applying to Cal Poly SLO - heard it is a great school.</p>
<p>This thread has a lot to offer.</p>
<p>collegebound13</p>
<p>I know what you mean about applying to UCSD being confusing. I don't think their website explains it very well at all. Where did you end up applying?</p>