Universities not discussed in CC

Parents Forum
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<p>Universities not discussed in CC </p>

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<p>I am a little dissatisfied with CC as far as not showcasing enough schools on its site. They seem to show bias towards certain schools. The posters are the same way. </p>

<p>There are other universities out there and though they are not like the hyps they are worth attending. I don't see too many directional universities, other state schools, or historically black colleges and universities being discussed. Why is that?</p>

<p>I live in Illinois at there are other schools here besides Northwestern and UIUC that are worth attending like Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western Illinois University, Illinois State, DePaul, University of Illinois Chicago, University of Illinois Springfield, Loyola, North Central, and others. Same goes for Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan. </p>

<p>Please share your thoughts as well</p>

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<p>While this site generates a lot of traffic for people looking for HYPSM and the Top LAC's, I think there is also a lot of discussion about other schools. Frankly, I think there is MORE discussion than you would expect, seeing as how the collegeconfidential.com front page has items like "Searching for Ivy Success", "Ivy Guaranteed Admissions Progam", etc. This site is marketed toward kids and parents who are looking for Ivy success. But the Parents Forum, in particular, has pretty much hijacked that idea, and we talk about a lot of different schools. Just look at the recent post by Berurah asking for help in finding a school for somebody. </p>

<p>And I'll tell you that the reason why some lesser-known schools are talked about a lot on this board (Hendrix, Centre, Grinnell, Denison and Rhodes come quickly to mind) -- it's because some of us posters "just do it". If you want to have more discussion about DePaul, UIC, and others, I suggest you stop complaining and start a thread about these schools -- I think you'd be surprised at the response. Believe me, I wouldn't stick around here much if I found the discussion to be limited solely to the HYPSM's of the world.</p>

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<p>I somewhat agree with you, but most people here arn't looking at those schools. Schools you mentioned are mostly regional schools. Someone from New Jersey for example wouldn't look at northern illinois because rutgers is better and in new jersey. The only state schools mentioned on this site are the ones that are better, more prestigious, and more selective than the majority of private schools (uva, mich, berkley, ucla, unc). Also, these schools attract a lot of out of staters, so more people from all over the country are willing to discuss them, rather than schools that only people in illinois would discuss. </p>

<p>Also, most people on this site are looking at tier 1 schools, which do not include the schools you have mentioned. There are only a few public schools in tier 1.</p>

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<p>Yeah it's kind of, as Earth, Wind & Fire would say, the way of the (CC) world. Just curious, looked up the U of Nebraska this morning to see if anyone would be gloating after the big win last night. Nope, no posts within the last 30 days. Meanwhile the UMich site had some rants regarding officiating and coaching.</p>

<p>A while back a poster suggested sending your request for including additional individual colleges directly to the moderators.</p>

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<p>I get the impression that many on this forum are caught up in the "best-name" game. It is a real shame.</p>

<p>There are hundreds if not thousands of schools in this country where students can get a fantastic education. Some of my favorite schools to recommend are in Illinois: Augustana, Lake Forest, Knox, Quincy, Bradley, Rockford. </p>

<p>All of these schools are very generous and offer great educations.</p>

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I get the impression that many on this forum are caught up in the "best-name" game. It is a real shame.

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<p>While there are certainly such people on CC, I don't believe that they are the majority. </p>

<p>There are tons of great schools and no single person can know them all. If you find that there are good schools in your area that are not mentioned on CC, mention them! They might be a good fit for somebody on the board.</p>

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<p>I think what you've pointed out is simply a "marketing" problem. </p>

<p>CC is really only on the radar of college fanatics ;) - I don't know what would change that. </p>

<p>Generally when one wants to expand their customer base (in this case, the readers/contributors who might be interested in "other" schools) it would take some way to reach out to them, and, unfortunately, I don't think guidance counselors are going to go around advertising CC to students (they might be out of a job!).</p>

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<p>There are posters like carolyn who wave the flag for schools across the country.</p>

<p>Actually, weenie has a point and there is evidence to suggest the base is expanding--on the Master List of Acceptances--2005 vs 2004. Look through that 2005 list and you will find a wide variety of schools. The acceptances were much narrower last year.</p>

<p>If folks don't like the narrowness of CC, they should post info about the schools they love!</p>

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<p>There would have to be something like a press advisory or media article developed that could be e-mailed to high school and college newspapers around the country. CC could advertise on yahoo, google, aol, etc., but that's too expensive.</p>

<p>Other than that, word of mouth is the only way i can think of to spread the word about CC. Ask your hs webmaster to add the CC url to the college/career or GC web page.</p>

<p>We CC users have to become CC's defacto media relations department and simply spread the word...</p>

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<p>I believe jenrik is a parent (as I am a student).</p>

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<p>Schools that draw the majority of their student body from a national or international pool will generate more discussion than schools that draw the majority from a local or regional pool. E.g., most us here in northern California already know enough about Sonoma State, UOP, St. Mary's, Cal Poly SLO, Santa Clara, UC Berkeley, Chico State, etc., that we don't need to come on here to ask questions and discuss those schools. Most seniors already know at least one person, if not half a dozen, at each school and schools within 200-300 miles are easy to drive to and visit. JHU is on the other side of the country, and many CA high schools can go several years without sending one student to JHU. So there are lots of questions and a quick and inexpensive trip out to a campus in Baltimore is impossible. </p>

<p>Also, the complexity of the application itself plays a role in the need for discussion. A labor-intensive application with multiple unique essays is an investment of time, energy, and emotion not to mention money. People are justifiably motivated to limit the number of "reach" schools that require that kind of investment. The most selective schools discussed here are reaches for just about everyone, so naturally there is going to be a lot of discussion about them. Schools with 70%+ acceptance rates are not reaches for the majority of students on CC -- they would be safety schools and if the students have done their homework, they already know what they need to know about their safety schools and their anxieties at this time of year are driven by the need to identify good matches and reaches. </p>

<p>Selectivity and prestige are not the only factors. For example, UC Berkeley is a reach for most CA seniors. It is selective and prestigious. But you don't see many in-state people discussing UCB a lot on the main forums here because UCB applicants are almost always going to be applying to at least one other, if not 4, 5, or even 6 other, UC schools -- and it's all one application. You fill it out once, write one long and two short essays, send test scores, and your part is done--and the main essay can often be tweaked and used in other applications. You don't even have to bother teachers or your counselor for recs or send in a transcript. Test scores, your app, and your $$ are all that you need. So even people who don't know all that much about UCB in particular have few qualms about shooting off an application -- It's a sort of "apply first, ask questions later" approach. But writing an essay about a giant jar of mustard or how you would spend a day with $10 is a pain and your teachers and counselors have to be involved so you don't want to have 25 of these things going out.</p>

<p>Local/regional schools, schools that are easy to apply to, and schools that accept the majority of applicants just don't generate as much discussion here, not because they aren't good schools but because there is less anxiety associated with applying to them.</p>

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<p>The way to fix that problem, as always, is to post something interesting about a school you like. Anyone who starts a thread with an interesting point of view will get replies. (My reply proves that I think your point of view is interesting. ;) ) </p>

<p>In general, people post the most discussion about the schools that are hardest to get into. That makes sense to me, as there really isn't a lot to say about the ADMISSIONS process for a school that admits more than 80 percent of all applicants. (The majority of colleges in the United States accept the great majority of all applicants.) But it is still worthwhile to mention, and I encourage you and anyone else to do this, desirable aspects of college life and academic programs at schools that are easy to get into. Every year there are students who post here who find out that they got into NONE of their top-choice schools, and they need to look for other reasonable choices in a hurry come April.</p>

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<p>I wish they'd set up college forums by letter or state (for those institutions that don't justify their own forum), instead of requiring a separate forum for each institution. There have been times I wanted to post or ask about a place but there was no forum for it. Surely there have been others just like me, some of whom might have had thoughts or questions about the exact same institutions.</p>

<p>I think such an arrangement would facilitate discussion of those schools. Threads started here would drop to page 3 pretty fast.</p>

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<p>hoedown, Yes, this has happened to me on numerous occasions. Some schools that I wanted to learn more about are not listed. Many listed never get a post b/c there does not seem to be high interest on cc for those schools.</p>

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<p>Great idea! Let's get a forum for colleges (by state or letter) that don't have their own individual forums. I have also tried to randomly post in parents or admission forums trying to find out about less "popular" colleges. I bet they'd receive a surprising amount of activity!</p>

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<p>"Master List of Acceptances 2005 vs 2004...Look through the 2005 list and you'll find a wide variety of schools."</p>

<p>Absolutely true, but I think that's because there are more posters this year than last. And a lot of the earlier acceptances were for safety schools and those with rolling admission. The more recent acceptances are ED and EA at ivies and the like, and there are a lot of them.</p>

<p>OP has a point...CC seems to have a word of mouth presence at many of the Eastern preps and schools like Stuyvesant, TJ, and the most selective public schools in wealthy suburbs (NJ, LI etc) and cities like NYC, Boston, where selective college admission continues to be taken to new levels.</p>

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<p>I'd love to see more action in the other schools by alphabetical order forum. So many schools have no posts within thirty days or threads with single posts looking for more information. I guess part of the problem is that the people who would provide the info; students, parents, admissions reps, just don't use CC. Considering the importance of safety schools for the elite crowd, it would be nice to have more information available for them, as well as meeting the needs of more typical students.</p>

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<p>^^^^Totally correct. People on CC tend to be more elitist and could give a goat's patoot about state schools. I try to subtely (sp?) slip in Kent State references in when I can, to see if some people notice. Hell we actually got KSU on the alphabetical list of colleges which is a start.</p>

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<p>There is an alphabetical list of colleges. Unfortunately many of them have few or no posts. I have told our guidance counselors and every one I know who might be interested to come to CC, but haven't gotten it on our school website yet.</p>

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<p>(Couldn't let the inaccuracy go by uncorrected.)</p>

<p>Actually, they are tier one institutions. If your tiers are like USNWR National Liberal Arts Colleges, that is. Centre, Grinnell, Denison, and Rhodes are tier one institutions and have been for years. Hendrix is safely in the next batch and rising. </p>

<p>I agree with Iderochi. Some of us have made it our mission on CC to get the word out about more choices and better choices being available than just "round-up the usual suspects".</p>