Here’s one person’s opinion of “public Ivies.” 
Cal Poly SLO should be listed somewhere in there in terms of public schools. 
I edited it and added W&M. It slipped my mind because it’s a different breed than the other flagships, but since it is still technically a state school, it belongs there.
As for program rankings, I tend to go with USNews rather than Niche. Most are based on grad school – it is hard to rank undergrad programs, so the nearest proxy is grad/PhD rankings.
Obviously that would not apply to LACs.
That’s just an opinion, like we have opinions. They’ve had UVM on there. Let’s be honest - OSU is the top school in Ohio, and not Miami. No W&M, etc. and that’s a far better school than Miami if you go by the normal metrics.
They’ve had Boulder on here before, I believe. IU and U of AZ, etc.
He’s got a statistical method he’s using and that’s fine.
He can join the debate too.
And yes, they’re all fine schools but there’s many others. And no, I don’t see anyone nationally even knowing what TCNJ or SUNY Geneseo are vs. having them on a list above Michigan - which isn’t on at all.
One of the blessings we enjoy in the US is the number of quality schools. I was mainly addressing academic rep, perhaps overzealously.
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Cost does matter to me btw. But so does academic quality. I would pay for my son to go to Stanford but not say, Tulane or Syracuse (not to denigrate those schools, everyone has different priorities and interests). Figuring out what is worth the cost is the challenge. As I said above, I do have a son at UWM and his Professors and academic experience has been excellent. Was just looking for a similar academic and social experience for my younger son, with better weather. Which brings me to my question. You listed as UF as top for business. I cant figure out why it is so highly ranked when so many of the classes are online and that is the first thing that is mentioned about it. Do you have any thoughts on why that would be since you seem better acquainted with the southern schools than me.
Those are fighting words !! I’m an SU alum (Syracuse) and my dad paid full (in the late 80s) and truthfully I always regretted that even though he’s fine. I should have gone to Arizona State which was my #2 and would have saved him a lot. I went for journalism - and that was a fail as it was for 90% of my counterparts - or so it seems.
UF is now - in US News ranking - rated the same as UNC - #28 of all schools. I think that schools have their things - Berkeley has classes with 1K plus, most flagships have hundreds of kids in a class and this is UF thing (online business).
It’s great that you are looking at experience and not ranking. My assumption is most people are the other way.
There’s different rankings out there by the way - I used Niche because it lists so many majors and other things. There’s US News, Forbes, WSJ and more.
I think for the same reason a school is ranked high - probably in many ways student selectivity, etc. that will translate to high rank in different disciplines.
The most important thing is your child is having a great experience. My guess is - company X who is hiring isn’t noticing that Michigan has a class with 500 or SUNY Plattsburgh has one with 30.
They are just going by rep or rank or perception and not necessarily by school. Some go by major, and some are tied to a school. When my son was going through internship leads, he’d find a great one - and then it would say - only intended for a student from Bradley or Michigan Tech, etc. so it was an internship for a specific school. When I say by major - so when I was ASU MBA, I got offered a job by Fedex in supply chain. ASU is one of the top supply chain schools - arguably with MIchigan State and UTK. I did not major in supply chain but had one elective - but there were more companies recruiting ASU MBAs for Supply Chain than we had students. So in this regard, ASU was like Harvard - tons of jobs, big money…so if your child has a specific discipline, you might even want to look deeper.
If costs matter - and then I’d go back to my original argument - that yes, Wisconsin is a fine school but so are so many others and you can save a boatload - a seriously boatload - like Bama or Arizona-or Miami of Ohio or U of SC, FSU or other… and today everyone has Honors colleges to shrink the size of some of the classes.
But in your case - as class size and/or in person matters to you, that’s a smart thing to check out at any school of consideration and you’re a good dad for raising the questions.
Thank you for the info and sorry about Syracuse. My feeling on it is its similar in quality to Binghamton, which is right down the road, and costs 50k less per year. Perhaps if my child was interested in communications/Newhouse I would feel differently though. But again, everyone has different ideas on what is worth their money, as seen by this discussion.
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My OOS son applied for FSU Honors. From what I have heard it is an excellent program. We toured the campus in the summer, it was beautiful - the tour guides and all of the staff we talked to were very friendly and informative. Got a great vibe on campus. Hoping for the OOS tuition waiver if accepted. Good luck to your daughter!
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Good luck. My kid got into U OF Sc (#1) Honors and UGA which has I think a 35 avg ACT for Honors. Turned down at FSU. So it’s not easy but wish you luck. And the waiver…last year I think needed a 31.
Thanks for the info about FSU. Where did your child end up going? My son got into UGA also, we really liked that campus as well when we visited.
Believe it or not, she goes to College of Charleston. She’s a fellow - a subset of Honors. She got into a top ten LAC and even though it wasn’t her favorite (too rural) would have gone, she said, had she gotten the tuition scholarship she interviewed for (W&L).
Always stated American was her top choice but I told my wife when we visited Charleston Tgiving week of Junior year, that’s where she’d end up. She loved the vibe and was stopping every 5 seconds to do a tick tock.
U of SC was her #2 and FSU and Arizona #3 - her major was stronger at FSU than UF although she liked the UF campus better. I travel for work and stay in both cities and personally like FSU’s better - but there’s always differing opinions.
C of C was #16 rating wise of 17 she got into but right for her, small classes, great friends, and she loves the city vibe.
UGA - not sure why she applied for Honors. If you’re not admitted at admissions, you need to apply - the campus was massive - and that wasn’t for her. I think she was just collecting acceptances!!
I just hope she can get a job…but that’s major related, not school related 
Charleston is a hotbed of growth as a city.
Good luck with FSU - I remember they had some great LLCs which include academics - if the Honors College doesn’t quite work out.
btw - my son when he applies for internships - there’s not even a place to list Honors on jop apps. So make sure your kids are doing it for themselves and not for getting a leg up on the job market.
All good information and advice - thanks so much! Glad to hear your daughter likes C of C - I am a HS teacher and have a few students considering it! Said they fell in love with the city. Awesome that your D is a fellow and is very happy with her choice.
What about Georgia Tech Scheller for business?
UGA or South Carolina also have really good business schools. Add Honors and it would be a great option.
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My S21 is at FSU and in Honors and waiver. He really enjoys it there. We visited many schools with S20 and S21 including UGA. It was game over when we visited FSU. It is a happy place.
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So happy to hear this - thanks! Now we just have to wait until Feb 17 to hear decisions.
I am a Pitt Alum - both BS Bus Admin and MBA. Increasingly harder to get into, my HS students are often surprised to see the stats. Many excellent programs/degrees. Pittsburgh is a great city (but definitely not warm, LOL). Plenty of things to do and see…great sports with loyal fans…nice people!
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Of those you list, I’d say Michigan or Texas. (You couldn’t get me to move to FL for any reason— to me, it is the strangest state of the fifty.) Both Michigan and Texas are great schools but offer very different weather and culture. UT is a wicked fun place to be— and Austin is growing at record speed. Also, consider regionality — your child’s internships, connections will likely be in the region he/she chooses. If I were you, I’d base it on that— spend 3-4 nights in Ann Arbor and Austin. You’ll know.
I appreciate all the responses here. I’m still having trouble with the Florida hate though. Is there any other school ranked so high that gets so little respect? It’s obviously full of smart kids. Is it just a matter if it’s rep needing a few more years to catch up to its quality? Or is it a matter of so successfully gaming the ranking system that it’s rank is way higher than it deserves? Is it a reluctance to admit you could have chased the warm weather and still gone to a top tier college instead of freezing your butt off in Wisconsin or Michigan?
I’m not saying it is the equal of a Michigan or a Berkeley, but could it be on that path? And a true peer of Wisconsin or Texas? Like what makes those schools so much better, besides Madison and Austin beating Gainesville? They are all huge and impersonal. It wasn’t that long ago that Vanderbilt was an afterthought. Can’t a school truly get better?
Ok so here is the truth about Florida. They have different levels of admission for in state kids. So the level of students from in state is lower than out of state. Plus if you read Florida political news the Governor is very involved in funding for the Florida schools. Their board of governors is appointed, not elected, so they are beholden to him. I say buyer beware, do your due diligence. Take what you want from this I am born and raised in SoFL and will move but I say Go Blue over Go Gators any day of the week!
One factor in its national rep is that it admits very few US students from outside Florida—only 8% on the last CDS. By comparison, UVa is 28%, Berkeley is 16%, and Michigan is a whopping 39%. So it is just going to have less of a national feel to it on that basis alone.
Secondarily is what BullsandWolverines mentions above: with such a heavy in-state focus and making sure kids from all over the state are represented, the stats on some kids are going to be a bit lower than the schools in the tier above. The same factor is in play at UNC and UGA to some extent.
It’s a great school, regardless, and on a good trajectory. My only long-term concern is political: I don’t think it is particularly controversial to say that the relationship between the Republican party and higher education is a bit unsettled at the moment, and budgets are obviously important at a student level.