<p>the most school spirit, a student body that loves its sports teams and decent academics? Which schools have great college towns?</p>
<p>And Northwestern, Michigan and Wisconsin don't count.</p>
<p>So I am looking at Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, Purdue, Penn State, Ohio State and I think I am missing a couple.</p>
<p>Indiana has the Kelley business school, but the football team stinks.</p>
<p>You have nixed the great college towns. I would say Illinois for overall academics and they love their basketball team. Penn State or Ohio State for football and incredible school spirit. All the Big Ten schools have decent acdemics. You are missing Minnesota and Iowa, the outliers (along with Penn State).</p>
<p>"Which schools have great college towns" as well as great academics....? </p>
<p>Don't forget UNC-Chapel Hill and UVA...</p>
<p>UT Austin :)</p>
<p>Nobody gets into Texas from my kid's high school. (California)</p>
<p>Ok, now I see what's in the BigTen. Thanks.</p>
<p>My kid can't get into NW or Mich and Wisconsin is iffy.</p>
<p>If he goes the Big Ten route, it will probably come down to Ohio State, Penn State, or Indiana.</p>
<p>Yes, there's nothing AROUND Penn State. But... we visited for the first time last year and we were pleasantly surprised with what was available on campus. It's like a small city - but very green and pretty. Looked to me like the classic college campus. Plus lots of stores, restaurants (and bars) in walking distance. Great facilities for shows and concerts. The school spiit seemed amazing (losts of kids wearing school gear and shouting out "We are...".) Anyone I know who has gone there loves it. It seems like a pretty special place. Hope so - my son has decided to go there this fall.</p>
<p>I have always wanted to hang out at Penn State. It strikes me much the same fervor as OSU, but without the a-hole President and insane tailgating and ticket policies.</p>
<p>The nothing around Penn State bothers me, but the school spirit, and love of the football team sound great.</p>
<p>"I have always wanted to hang out at Penn State. It strikes me much the same fervor as OSU, but without the a-hole President and insane tailgating and ticket policies."</p>
<p>Well, my kid won't have a car. :)</p>
<p>If you're looking for business Smeal College at PSU is well regarded and was named the hottest school for entrepreneurs by Kaplan and Newsweek's "America's Hottest Colleges."</p>
<p>UNC, UVA, UT? They're not Big 10. What does your son want to study? Like you mentioned, Kelley is excellent for biz. That may help you zero in as well.</p>
<p>(Aside: funny to see this thread today. Last week we attended a local info session for Purdue, and the presenter from Admissions referred multiple times to it being a "Big 10" school. Neither my S nor I had any idea what he meant, although we assumed it had something to do with sports. Does this mean my S wouldn't like Purdue if he doesn't care one whit about sports like football, basketball, etc.?)</p>
<p>Mootmom, In the old days the Pac 10 (surely you've heard of that ;)) champ played the Big 10 champ every year in the Rose Bowl. I've never been to West Lafeyette, bit I have a feeling there's not too much else going on.</p>
<p>The Big Ten is partly/mostly about sports, but it like the Ivy League, which is also a sports conference, is very self-consciously about academics. </p>
<p>See <a href="http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/</a>. This is the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which is composed of the Big Ten Schools and the University of Chicago which was decades ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a member of the Big Ten.</p>
<p>I can't speak to Purdue, but here at Wisconsin any student would be more than happy with the school without ever going to a football, bb, or a hockey game. Sports is a little extra add-on to the quality of campus life.</p>
<p>Well, I have been to West Lafayette...visited Purdue. Let's just put it this way...dstark asked about great college towns. W.L. is not.</p>
<p>My kid might major in business, math, biochemistry, biotechnolgy, who knows, definitely not art. :)</p>
<p>The social aspect of the school and how good the football team is probably trumps everything else.</p>
<p>Mootmom, as you know, I want my kid to consider Cal Poly. I did ask him about Cal Poly and he said the football team is awful, and he could start on the basketball team (which isn't a good thing). However, I'm not done with my persuading, yet. :)</p>
<p>A friend of his sister's is visiting from Mich and as soon as the conversation turns to Big Ten football, my son gets very happy. :)</p>
<p>It's not going to be Purdue.</p>
<p>Illinois is reputed to have the best accounting program inside the business school in the country. I have been to Urbana-Champaign in 30 years, so I can't comment. But I would also like to hear what folks think of the town these days. (Its got good women's gymnastics, and excellent accounting, two of the three things D2 is lookin for.)</p>
<p>Mini, is your daughter a sophomore or a junior?</p>
<p>In her field, how much is she going to get to choose the school vs. how much the schools want her?</p>
<p>Are you going to want to watch her perform in college?</p>
<p>Oh yeah. What's the third thing?</p>
<p>I have not been to Illinois in twenty years, but my brother-in-law got his PhD there (EE) about ten years ago. Since then, he has worked in Boston (MIT), Ithaca and is now at Berkeley lab. Given the opportunity, he would return to Champaign. He seems like a reasonable guy . . .</p>
<p>I pass thru Urbana-Champaign on the way between Madison and NoVA. The drive through the place goes very quickly.</p>
<p>Dstark--add Iowa. A good education can be had at any Big Ten school, outstanding at some of them. I believe all the schools belong to the Association of American Universities, which consists of the major research institutions in the country.</p>
<p>"He seems like a reasonable guy . . ."</p>
<p>That's not a raging endorsement. :)</p>