<p>My main concern is: How to compare Master's U with National U and LAC?</p>
<p>I am an int'l student and never visited any of the above. I got admitted by Villanova and Trinity University Texas----both rank #1 in Master's in their own region by USNWR. I have no idea why USNWR put Masters' Universities into seperate regions which make it even harder to compare the two. Besides, I do not know how these 2 institutions compare to the commonly-known national universities and LAC.</p>
<p>I've heard someone mention the peer assessment score to evaluate those above. But I couldn't find the category on US news.....so I'm trapped now. </p>
<p>Financially, I will pay 20k for Trinity, 50k for Nova, 30k for Wheaton, 40k for UNC. and I generally want to study international relations, religion and psychology.</p>
<p>at the moment my family and I generally decide to attend Trinity U, though it’s not so prestigious, I still like the campus. However, I am not sure if it is the right place for my intended majors----Int’l relations, psychology and religion. I know Wheaton is good at them though.<br>
Does anyone know about these departments in any of the institutions above?</p>
<p>UNC is head and shoulders above the others for academics and arguably quality of life as well. </p>
<p>If you’re strapped for cash, however, it may not be worth the cost over Trinity. An extra $80K over four years is not a small amount. How much can your family afford?</p>
<p>UNC is head and shoulders abover the others in college sports, crowded classrooms and banjo music. Other than that they are all peers. I would say to go to Trinity since you will graduate with the least Debt.</p>
In terms of sheer academic heft, Carolina is comparable to Brown or UVA and slightly better than WUStL or Emory (if you care to disagree, glance at the NRC rankings). Carolina is large, so people assume that it provides an inferior education. SAT scores aren’t everything, thankfully. Carolina has produced 43 Rhodes, something only 8 colleges can top. Trinity has produced 1.</p>
<p>Duke and Carolina between them have two of the top 10 religion departments in the country (Duke’s is top 5), Carolina’s Peace/Conflict studies is equally highly regarded, and psychology is one of the top 15 programs in the country. Now, I absolutely HATE graduate rankings and recently wrote a very long post bashing them, but they’re useful for showing what kind of academics we’re dealing with here. You also have to factor in that UNC offers cross-registration with Duke, and Carolina students thus have full access to Duke faculty, courses, libraries, and resources.</p>
<p>I’d put Trinity on par with Elon - a good school with devotion to undergrads but a distinct third fiddle even within its own state. </p>
<p>That said, $80K is a lot of money and Trinity seems more financially prudent. If the OP plans to go on to law/medical/graduate school, as so many do these days, Trinity makes even more sense, and it would serve a student perfectly well for getting into such places.</p>
<p>The only thing that gives me pause is that the OP is an international student. UNC has the best international recognition of the four (though not that great relative to other large research universities), but whether the difference is significant enough to warrant the added expense, I have no idea. It would also depend on whether the OP decided to go back to his/her country after graduation or stay in the US.</p>
<p>Note what I meant by pure academic heft. By that, I mean the breadth and depth of course offerings, the reputation of faculty, and the quality of research output. By all of these measures, Carolina is indeed as strong as Brown. Where Brown wins over Carolina is a much more uniformly selective student body and a much higher degree of faculty/institutional support, which is why Brown will almost always be the school chosen by students given equal costs. </p>
<p>People often underestimate public universities, I think. I certainly have no qualms in admitting that Berkeley absolutely stomps Duke in terms of pure academic heft. I still got a great education there and wouldn’t swap it for anything, so I’m quite comfortable with admitting that other colleges surpass it in some respects.</p>
<p>Lest my main point get lost in this rambling, however, I will emphasize again that I agree with the others - Trinity seems to be the best option. There is a great deal to be said for financial freedom, especially under current conditions. People like gloworm’s daughter are going to do well regardless of which university they choose, and Trinity is an excellent university in a nice city. Add the warm weather, and you have a nice package indeed. ;)</p>
<p>I don’t underestimate large schools. When my son chose UIUC over Hopkins and WUSTL, he had his reasons. When he went for his first job after graduating (it was in Europe), the other finalist was a Duke graduate. Son got the job. Today he lives larger than I.</p>
<p>He had the chance to do a lot in UG because their was no debt to worry about.</p>
<p>Warbler, this is an argument you are not going to win. The question is about where to go for an undergraduate education. Sure, UNC has tons of programs like all big public universities. Going to a school for an undergradute degree doesn’t give you a law degree, a medical degree, an masters in agriculture, etc. Talking about how many programs a college has is irrelevant since a person is only studying a finite amount. </p>
<p>By your argument, Penn State is better than Swarthmore or Amherst. Sure, it has more programs like other state-run mills but that doesn’t mean it provides a better education. Quite the contrary. Trinity (and the others) have students of equal aptitude and intelligence as those at UNC. If they apply themselves, they can get as good an education or better at Trinity. Most people choose state schools to save money not to incur excessive debt.</p>
<p>I’m not doing this to bump, just to say my #12 post above should have “there”, not “their” in the last sentence. Didn’t notice it when I proofread.</p>
<p>Also, I believe the student is Chinese, for someone who asked upthread.</p>
<p>I just want to add my .02 concerning Rhodes Scholars. They are accepted with regional caps. Naturally there are a tremendous amount of applications coming from the N.E. each year due to the plethora of competitive colleges and Universities in that portion of the country.</p>
<p>Therefore, it is easier to be appointed for a Rhodes from the South and Middle States. Not accurate to compare colleges for Rhodes from different regions. Ex. Sewanee has a terrific amount of Rhodes in its history but does not have the same prestige as Lafayette or Bowdoin (less Rhodes).</p>
Considering that neither UNC nor Trinity is in the Northeast, I’m not sure I see your point.</p>
<p>NC competes with SC and GA. UNC (43) thus has competition with Duke (39), Emory (17), Davidson (23), and Wake Forest (13). TX competes only with LA. Trinity (1) therefore competes with UT Austin (27), Rice (10), and Tulane (18). </p>
<p>
Straw man argument, as you know full well. Swarthmore and Amherst are considerably more selective and have better placement records than Penn State. That’s not the case with Trinity vis a vis UNC. My stance is simply that, with student bodies of equal caliber, the edge goes to the school with broader and deeper offerings (in this case, UNC). Disagree if you wish; we certainly all have our own opinions. </p>
<p>Incidentally, I only referred to the quality - not quantity - of programs in my prior posts, specifically addressing the OP’s areas of interest.</p>
<p>
Agreed. My mantra is always go for the money (I did). One of my best friends from high school turned down UNC and Hopkins for a full scholarship at Boston U, got into a top law school, and has had no trouble securing desirable internships. </p>
<p>A poster’s daughter turned down Yale for a less selective LAC - she ended up winning a Goldwater scholarship and getting into Yale Med. Obviously one’s choice of college is a guarantee of neither success nor failure.</p>
<p>
In that case, it becomes a matter of whether the OP plans to stay in China after graduation and how well known each of his options is (or rather, the degree of difference in recognition between them relative to their costs).</p>
<p>Hello everybody, sorry for the late reply. I was in Beijing for a conference last week. (And yeah I’m Chinese)…and I am a girl…so it confused me at first to see the post using “he” referring to OP …
I greatly appreciate everybody’s suggestions and deep analysis. They are all very valuable.</p>
<p>Here comes my final decision: Trinity!</p>
<p>To Warblersrule86: my family are able to pay any of the price above with debt. But they can pay w/out burden for up to $20,000. So TU is therefore the most rational choice. And I strongly agree with your opinion on UNC. It IS a fabulous school, but considering how expensive it is, I believe I could save that amount of money and work hard at TU and get to a great graduate school for masters degree. Plus TU is also envionmentally friendly to int’l students. And I am in a Chinese high school now and never thought about staying in China for college(gotta get a different cutrual experience). My original choices were UK and US. </p>
<p>To SJUHawk: I agree with you. i don’t want my parents be in debt that lot. Actually they won’t get any if I attend TU. Salaries and saving should be sufficient.</p>
<p>To ctyankee: good to know TU is a school with fine reputation. At first I did worry about the reputation thing a lot cuz most people around me only know the top 30 National universities.</p>
<p>To familyKCT: add my .02 concern too: about Rhodes Scholars, what I am thinking is though UNC did have more RS than others, it doesn’t mean I could be one, nor it shows the certain possibility that I could have the same great professors or opportunities they got as in an elite group. This happens in my high school: it is the greatest one in our nation with huge amounts of “best scholars” every graduating year, however when I actually went there, I realized that the teachers only cared about the “protentially-best students”, and make the best effort to educate the top-tiers while ignoring the commonplaces. I was lucky to be chosen in the so-called “elite group” and got the “good education” which school claims to the public. But I saw how MOST students ended up with nothing worth. the high school is still the top ones for 100 years and in the future just because of the small amount of flaring stars. people here are always caring more about how good a few students become than how most students work. parents keep sending kids in as they just belive that their kids are born to be the ones on school’s “Hall of Honor”. Most ended up regretting though…</p>
<p>Sorry for nagging that lot. I think the situation in the US is better, but as I say, I could not guarantee to become a president if I go to Yale, nor another Bill Gates for Harvard. Some colleges do tend to have more people with great achievements, but not everyone. And no doubtly, I will achieve the same with hard work at other places.</p>
<p>correct a vague:
my high school has “huge amounts of national scholars” compared to other high schools. But “hugh” counts less than 10% regard to the overall amount of students in the school.</p>