<p>“Again, I am not following you. You want me to read a post and discuss “assertations” and get back to “you.” Is that it? If you want to know my opinion about the Counselor Poll, I have made it clear in the past that I think even less of that part than I do about the “expert” PA poll. What say you now?”</p>
<p>Just wanted to see your comment, since you consistently chime in whenever PA scores are mentioned with public schools discussions.</p>
<p>Vandy without a doubt. These are not peer schools.</p>
<p>True, most Vandy profs would not get hired by UW. CVs just not quite up to snuff.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Please, every flagship state U has its share of “rich kids” (who do you think make up most of the Greek system at those schools?).</p>
<p>The diff. is that while state universities have their rich kids, they also have their middle class and low-income kids to a greater extent than private schools.</p>
<p>Now, this is changing a bit as state tuition keeps rising and private schools (at least the ones w/ big endowments) offer more need-based aid.</p>
<p>IMSA sent 5 to UW in the 2011 class–not one. Perhaps he was confused with Michigan. </p>
<p><a href=“https://www3.imsa.edu/system/files/2012%20Profile_0.pdf[/url]”>https://www3.imsa.edu/system/files/2012%20Profile_0.pdf</a></p>
<p>My dad is bigger than your dad!!!</p>
<p>If I didn’t know better I’d think that this was a debate taking place in an elementary school playground. </p>
<p>Both schools are fine schools. Both schools have bright students. Both schools turn out successful and productive citizens. Some of the comments on this thread would be laughable if they weren’t so mean spirited and ridiculous. </p>
<p>My daughter has friends who are currently at UW, Vandy, Georgetown, and other very good schools that would most likely be trashed by the elitist posters on this thread. They were all “movers and shakers” in high school. All of her friends chose the right schools for them, not the school that the “adults” on this thread deem to be the best. </p>
<p>It’s scary to think that the attitudes on this board have probably been passed along to the next generation.</p>
<p>I guess you missed the 15+ pages on Cal Tech versus Cleveland State versus Yale on the Parents board.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1221057-caltech-named-worlds-top-university-new-times-higher-education-global-ranking.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1221057-caltech-named-worlds-top-university-new-times-higher-education-global-ranking.html</a></p>
<p>I was just correcting one of the poster’s many errors of fact. You would think a news man would do better.</p>
<p>Is IMSA the best HS in the Midwest?</p>
<p>""Both schools are fine schools. Both schools have bright students. Both schools turn out successful and productive citizens. Some of the comments on this thread would be laughable if they weren’t so mean spirited and ridiculous. </p>
<p>My daughter has friends who are currently at UW, Vandy, Georgetown, and other very good schools that would most likely be trashed by the elitist posters on this thread. They were all “movers and shakers” in high school. All of her friends chose the right schools for them, not the school that the “adults” on this thread deem to be the best. “”</p>
<p>Not sure what thread you have been reading. FYI, Vandy is often lumped together with Georgetown, Emory, and Rice and NOT trashed by elitists. You most definitely have the trashing group wrong. Look for the anti-elitist public university fanboys who are dismayed by having such undeserving private schools ranked ahead of them, and heavens forbids, such schools having the recognition they deserve by non-BCS followers.</p>
<p>“Not sure what thread you have been reading. FYI, Vandy is often lumped together with Georgetown, Emory, and Rice and NOT trashed by elitists. You most definitely have the trashing group wrong. Look for the anti-elitist public university fanboys who are dismayed by having such undeserving private schools ranked ahead of them, and heavens forbids, such schools having the recognition they deserve by non-BCS followers.”</p>
<p>Clearly Georgetown and the other schools you listed are in the same category as Vandy. It
was the “other very good schools,” which would be compared to UW on this board that I was referring to, and those schools have been trashed by the elitists on this forum.</p>
<p>It’s amusing to repeatedly read how rankings don’t matter when one’s favorite school falls below another. But, when one’s favorite school ranks higher than another suddenly those rankings mean something. </p>
<p>Again, UW and Vandy are BOTH great schools and I would be proud to send my kids to either one. However, I’d never let them hear me say that one is better than the other. I’ve raised my kids to appreciate the differences in people and since schools are filled with lots of different types of people I’d be a hypocrite to rank the intelligence of students based on the name of their school. It’s best to appreciate a socially awkward nerd and a socially brilliant but average student equally. Both could end up being your boss regardless of where they went to school.</p>
<p>No one is ranking the intelligence of students based on the school name. There is no disputing that there is a wide range of academic abilities, and some schools have a larger percentage of motivated and bright students than others.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>IMSA is a very good high school. Ranking high schools is just like ranking colleges - you can make any good school come out on top, depending on the criteria you pick.</p>
<p>I have a D at IMSA and it is unquestionably the best place for her (especially given the alternatives open to us). I can go on and on as to why. But there are very smart kids for whom IMSA is not the best place. Just like for any college in the country, there are kids for whom it is a good fit and kids for whom it is not.</p>
<p>Momofwildchild wrote “No one is ranking the intelligence of students based on the school name.”</p>
<p>Really? Here are a few comments that certainly sound as if they are. </p>
<p>Thing is - everyone around you at Vanderbilt will be smart. I don’t think you can say that at U of Wisconsin – Pizzagirl</p>
<p>Wisconsin is a huge state school. Simple sense- The average Vanderbilt student will be smarter that’s for sure. There is really no comparison between the student body at state schools relative to that of selective private schools.- Sefago</p>
<p>No, because I know quite a few people going to both schools (I live in Illinois, remember? in fact, my next door neighbor’s kid goes to UW). The Vandy kids are kids who are top 20 material in general and were candidates for other top schools. Movers and shakers. The UW kids are decent-bright but nothing to write home about academically. If they weren’t going to UW, they’d go to UofI. Sorry. I call it like I see it. I think UW is a fine enough state school but it’s no Michigan or Berkeley. – Pizzagirl</p>
<p>It isn’t that easy to find the smart people at the huge schools. – Momofwildchild</p>
<p>UW is a perfectly fine state school, but at least here in Chicagoland the kids who go there aren’t cream of the crop. They are perfectly nice and decent hardworking kids. The kids attracted to Vandy are kids who are top of the class and elite- school material. – Pizzagirl </p>
<p>Pizzagirl, our public high school is located in a Chicago North Shore suburb. Our biggest rival both academically and athletically is New Trier. We turn out some of the brightest kids in the region and many of our top students have chosen UW over the top 20 privates. A kid who wants a big school with great academics and sports and a small Greek influence would choose UW over Vandy. U of Illinois and Michigan are also quite popular with our top students. </p>
<p>Another argument that is constantly being debated is whether or not a large research university can offer an undergraduate student a quality education. I suppose if a student is majoring in Liberal Arts, or they need to be spoon fed and coddled by their professors then probably not. However, my daughter is a STEM major at a top research university that has afforded her opportunities that she probably wouldn’t have at a private school. As a sophomore she has a paid internship in a research lab and is assisting the doctor and grad students with cutting edge experiments, and, she volunteers in one of the top university hospitals in the country and she is being mentored by a wonderful doctor who is helping her navigate her way to med school. If she had chosen a small private school she would not have these opportunities. </p>
<p>Yes, she has had to figure out how to be successful in a class that is taught by a professor who barely speaks English and a TA who isn’t really invested, but those few situations have made her a better student and have prepared her for the real world.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wouldn’t it have been a lot cheaper to buy her a good textbook and given her a quite place to study it?</p>
<p>annasdad- I’m going to assume that this an attempt at being clever instead of snarky.</p>
<p>Nope, just curiosity.</p>
<p>lovemykids- You are really just proving our point.</p>
<p>No one has claimed that there aren’t bright kids at public universities. I went to one myself. I hated my experience with the limited English TAs, although I liked a lot of other things about my school. </p>
<p>It really is getting amusing how defensive people get about the state schools. I don’t really get it. They are wonderful in many respects, and I can see why a student would choose one, but you must not have a lot of familiarity with schools like Vanderbilt if you think there is a real comparison.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Your points are somehow correct, but yet again you seem to be missing the real dynamics of such threads. Time will tell you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I hope you realize that this point is considered blasphemy by the some around here.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Uhh, no. There are plenty of “cutting edge” research opportunities at many “small private schools.”</p>
<p>^^ Real dynamics? Time will tell? Blasphemy? </p>
<p>One thing certain is xiggi likes to pop up on threads like this with his passive aggressive word games.</p>