<p>It’s a relief to know that people at Georgia Tech, like BanjoHitter, have so much free time on their hands…especially to engage in an activity that doesn’t <em>directly</em> benefit them. My friend can now go to Georgia Tech in the fall knowing that he will not be hitting the books/lab 24-7.</p>
<p>Seriously, I think this thread is quite interesting and deserves attention. Anyone want to debate UGA vs. UFL?</p>
<p>Tech is a really good school… for engineering. Outside of that, it’s nothing special. I chose U Florida over GT (same price) because I wanted to do pre-medicine, and being a physician is my main goal, not being an engineer. I’m confident that I made the right choice in picking Florida. UGA is the same way… Different colleges suit different people…</p>
<p>Sure, if by “good” you mean unquestionably one of the top 5 schools in the world that regularly ranks ahead of Caltech, and if by “nothing special” you ignore the first tier business school, the #15 architecture program, the #10 computing college, the #7 liberal arts college in the US, the #3 public policy program, #2 biomedical program, and the #7 overall public school in the country, in addition to the #3 engineering program. But that’s nothing special. </p>
<p>Meanwhile UGA’s top program in a major field is business at #50 (barely second tier). Florida isn’t much better at #46.</p>
<p>BH: It looks like you missed my last post referring to your listing of rankings, so I have cut and pasted it for you:
A few quick questions to make sure I understand your overall view on the THE rankings: Do you believe that U of Arizona, ASU, U Maryland, U Utah, Purdue and IU are stronger colleges than places such as UVA,Wake Forest, W&L, and Clemson, as the THE rankings indicate? Can you respond to the quotes given by the THE editor so I can understand your point better? Do you feel that the THE rankings are impacted by a college being a STEM college or having a Medical College associated, and how does that impact your view of this ranking system? Do you see colleges not in this list (Davidson for example) that are strong colleges but do not have a focus on certain fields, and can you explain why they would be considered lower in the view of THE but not in the overall view of people? Can you please list, if you have it, the comparative information on matching majors at UGA vs GT, so we can better understand the GPA, salaries, etc. on an equal footing look (leaving off Nuc. Engineering and Journalism, for instance). I think this would help in understanding your point of view more clearly.</p>
<p>You were referring to the THE rankings, so I assume you are still working off that list, but your numbers (# 5 in the world?) do not seem to match anything I have seen. Can you tell us where you are getting this? As well, could you respond to my questions about your previous posts so we can be further educated? I would be especially interested in your new statements about being the #7 liberal arts college in the US among other things. Thanks!</p>
<p>Apologies, banjohitter. I am sure there is data to support what you said, and I am a big supporter of my hometown school, but I’d give Cal Tech the props over Ga Tech.</p>
<p>Individual program rankings (including liberal arts) are USNews, business school rankings are Business Week, salary information is publicly available from GT and from Business Week for UGA, since they refuse to post salary information publicly.</p>
<p>Caltech is a great school, but routinely ranks behind GT in overall engineering. That’s the level GT is at with regards to engineering - its a world renowned powerhouse, not merely just a “good school”. Some people on here seem to miss that point.</p>
<p>BH: I am looking at the US News rankings for GT, and I do not see Liberal Arts as #7 at all ([Georgia</a> Institute of Technology | Overall Rankings | Best College | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/georgia-institute-of-technology-139755/overall-rankings#]Georgia”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/georgia-institute-of-technology-139755/overall-rankings#)). Maybe I am just missing it, but there is definitely a national liberal arts college listing, and it does not have GT in it. At USNWR does list caltech at #5 as far as overall national rankings, above GT, so I am confused about your ties to rankings at times and not with others. Help?</p>
<p>Would you be so kind as to answer my other questions, as I am sure it would help us greatly.</p>
<p>College is what you make it. I personally know two professors that went to SF State, then got their PhDs at Stanford. I have a friend who transferred from a lowly Virginia college to the University of Chicago. Both of Google’s founders went to state schools. Larry Ellison attended Illinois. Leonard Susskind went to the City College of New York. I was looking at a list of Caltech graduate students months ago, and a number of them went to low-ranked state schools. Microsoft said they hire more people from UIUC than from anywhere else. The proof isn’t hard to find. If you’re a passionate, determined student, going to a lower tier university doesn’t doom you to a second-rate lifestyle.</p>
<p>In fact, who says you have to go to college at all to be rich? My Uncle never attended, and is now making bank as a real estate agent. He buys houses in different countries like every two months.</p>
<p>Although there’s merit to studying rankings, it’s not very wise to obsess over them. The people who obsess over prestige and names are like those people who buy obnoxious monogram bags in hopes of impressing random strangers who probably don’t give two ****s anyways.</p>
<p>I would say UF and Georgia are roughly equivalent, as are many of the flagship state universities.</p>
<p>While they are not the same as going to Harvard, if you do well there, you can perhaps get into a true Ivy for grad school.</p>
<p>So, they are both equally suitable launch pads for grad school.</p>
<p>I know people who got into medical school from SUNY Oswego, and Nova Southeastern University, and Florida International University, so while a “name” school is important, you can still be a success in life if you start out at a state university.</p>
<p>That being said, we opted not to send our son to our flagship state university.</p>
<p>By the way, I also know MIT graduates who live in trailer parks.</p>
<p>And I have a friend who did not graduate from a big name law school who still made partner at a major firm, while I did graduate from a big name law school, and did not.</p>
<p>Once you get out in the work world, the importance of what school you graduated from often fades with time.</p>
<p>A few years out, and you Harvard guys might find yourself working in a cubicle right next to the “public Ivy” guy.</p>
<p>Or not employed at all.</p>
<p>I strongly believe that its the company you keep in college, to a greater extent than the in-class experience, that provides the added value of a highly selective campus. Between UGA and UF, there’s no significant peer difference.</p>
<p>BH, it’s been a while but:</p>
<p>Where’s GT’s medical school? Where is their law school? I didn’t know a “top-tier” business program was ranked 32? UF’s is 44. Not much of a difference to me. </p>
<p>GT’s glory lies in their engineering school. But like I’ve heard someone else say: it’s a one trick pony. This is evident through their national ranking of 36 on US news. 36 isn’t very “world renowned,” in my opinion. I do acknowledge that their engineering program is very good, because that is indisputable. However, for you to say that overall, Georgia Tech is world renown, and above Caltech (I laughed when you said that), is absolutely ludicrous. I told several friends that I had applied and been accepted to Georgia Tech, and they said “what is that?” Had that been MIT or Caltech, I would’ve been showered with compliments. Georgia Tech gets a good reputation in the engineering sphere, but don’t try to take it out of its sphere to claim that it can compete with these other top universities. MIT and CalTech are ranked 5th nationally for a reason. </p>
<p>And I’m not saying UF is the best university in the world, but I can firmly say that for medicine, or biomedical sciences, UF is superior to Georgia Tech. It is superior to Georgia Tech for law, as GT doesn’t have law, for Psychology, for any liberal arts degree. </p>
<p>All GT has over UF is engineering (UF’s engineering is also pretty good, with their biological engineering program being ranked 3rd in the nation, their industrial eng. program ranked 10th, etc.) , and a slight edge in business. UF’s got everything else.</p>
<p>I hope this post is useful to others who happen to stumble on this thread.</p>