Hi everyone, I am interested in applying to top public colleges in the US. I want to go to a good public school because I kinda like a larger student body and public schools usually have better athletics and stuff. However, I’m still gonna apply to a few private schools. Anyways, I live in NC so I have a lot of good options here like UNC and NCSU but I was wondering if someone could give me the rankings of top public schools. Like probably top 10-15. I know schools like UNC, Berkeley, UCLA, and UVa will probably be up at the top but could someone give me some ones after that? That’d be awesome, thanks.
Berkeley, UMichigan, UFlorida, GATech, Penn State, UT-Austin- and UWashington come to mind.
Add Wisconsin and Illinois.
Why are you limiting yourself to public schools? They offer little aid to OOS students. As far as public schools are concerned, you have a great group right in your own state (UNC-CH is considered to be an elite public school and NCSU is also considered respectable on its own merit.)
But sense I refuse to be that person who completely avoids the question, I shall answer.
William & Mary is generally considered one of the best public schools in the country. There’s also UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCI, UCD, UWashington, UVA, UWisconsin, UMichigan, UFlorida, UGeorgia, Penn State, Purdue, UTexas, UIllinois, and Ohio State.
Also respectable are UVT, UConn, UMass-Amherst, and Michigan State, though all to a lesser degree than the ones listed above.
It helps to know what your interests are- for example, for engineering Georgia Tech is a great school. Similarly, UVA is a great school but on the whole stronger in liberal arts than in physical sciences. In general, shopping for schools by reputation can be a mistake if you don’t consider the particular programs that matter most to you.
As said earlier, you have the opportunity to go in-state to one of the best public universities in the country, so look hard at Chapel Hill before you cast a wider net.
Thanks everyone! Right now, Chapel Hill is my top choice for schools. Btw, I’m either going to go into CS or business, not sure which one. Luckily, UNC has both good CS and business programs so that’s where I’m mainly looking at. And @minohi , I like the athletics of a public school and a larger student body. Not really into really small liberal arts colleges, but that’s just my preference. To each his own, I guess. And I’m not limiting myself to public schools; I am also gonna apply to Vanderbilt (legacy), Wake Forest, Duke (maybe), and maybe one ivy
Rice and Tulane also have the D-1 sports you expressed interest in.
Also applying to Tulane, forgot to mention that one. @sltxdad
Pitt and Temple are both large, public universities in urban settings, and they have decent merit aid packages available for out-of-state students.
Depends on the criteria, UMich could be on top of the list (at least in one recent report).
@woogzmama I don’t think Temple ever makes any top 10-15 public universities lists, though, which is what the OP was inquiring about. It’s more typically listed outside of the top 50. Pitt, on the other hand, is in the same class as a lot of the other schools mentioned by others in this thread.
You have not said whether cost is a major or minor issue. If it is at all an issue, then I can’t imagine you doing better than UNC (from a cost-value standpoint). As one poster already mentioned, most of the top flagship schools do not discount much, if at all, for OOS students. As for getting reliable rankings of the best public schools, both USNWR and Niche offer their rankings of the top public schools. The posters, however, have pretty much already nailed all of the top public schools. Good luck.
cost is a minor issue. My parents want me to get as much off of my tuition as I can but they want me to go where I want to go. I’m very appreciative of this.