<p>Which of these schools provides for the best undergrad experience....academics, social life and parties, school spirit and sports, chill atmosphere....etc</p>
<p>University of Florida
Penn State University - University Park
University of Wisconsin - Madison</p>
<p>Also could you compare Indiana University-Bloomington to University of Oregon separate from the others above.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>No one is going to be able to answer that question for you because our idea of a great undergrad experience may not be your idea of a great one. It would be wise for you to visit sites where you can connect directly with alum and students of those colleges and find out about their experiences.</p>
<p>From what I know of those colleges, none of them would provide what I personally would consider a great undergrad experience because I've never been into campus Greek life or heavy partying. My S, 18, has a similar viewpoint, which is why he decided not to apply to U Wis. after visiting there.</p>
<p>UW Madison may have a rep. for partying - but with over 28,000 undergrads even a few thousand is a minority. Greek life is <10 %- all in one area, not a significant part of campus, except to those who participate. I went there eons ago, son now there. Challenging, small numbers in his math-science honors classes. The academics are still there. The school spirit is there, again you can ignore football and do your own thing on Saturdays. A diverse enough student body you don't need to party to fit in. Remember the blind men and the elephant- each one felt a different aspect. Tour guides, by their personalities are more likely to be extroverted. The party scene will be seen on State St and some other off-campus areas but the campus and surrounding areas are large enough that this doesn't have to get in the way. Check out the website; it is very easy to navigate. Runners, bicyclists paradise(especially if you like hills). Res Halls has diverse settings, food and other choices. One of those campuses that is large enough you can probably find your niche- religious or not, conservative or liberal...You will not find as much ethnic diversity as on the coasts because of the ethnic mix instate, nor will you find the small campus feel although I noticed signs that the school pays a lot more attention to meeting individual needs now than in the 70s. BTW by chill I presume you don't mean the weather. Download the Viewbook and the Res Halls brochure to read online.</p>
<p>wis75,
Hey, I believe you. From what I've seen on the web and by literally driving throughn the campus and having lunch in Madison, U Wis and Madison seemed like terrific places to me.</p>
<p>However, my S did a 7-week select engineering program there after his junior year in h.s. The academics of the program were excellent. </p>
<p>S, however, was turned off by the engineering students who -- at the program's invitation -- spoke to the students in his summer program. Presumably, the students were selected to speak because they represented the best and brightest students in the engineering school. However, those students kept emphasizing drinking and partying, which turned off S, who is not at all into that. Based on that experience, he crossed UW off his list of potential places to apply.</p>
<p>I don't know about the others but here's my 2 cents on University of Florida:</p>
<p>Academics- admission gets more competitive every year. Current SAT range something around 1200 to high 1300's. Honors program- Students get priority scheduling, separate dorms, separate honors classes. Good medical, agricultural, biological sciences, engineering, construction, don't know about the rest.</p>
<p>Social life and parties- Students tend to be open and friendly. Florida is a melting pot anyway, so most people who live here are from somewhere else. You won't find a small town, closed minded atmosphere here. UF supports it clubs- if they don't have it and you want to start it, the money is there for the asking. Lots of activities.</p>
<p>School spirit- Unbelievable school spirit. They LOVE their Gators. Gator Growl- worlds largest pep rally.</p>
<p>Sports- Currently ranked #2 AP football, 2006 NCAA Basketball Champs.</p>
<p>Chill factor- ??? The beach is about 1 1/2 hours away. Ocala Forest, lots of springs and rivers nearby for tubing and snorkeling. Florida is very casual, very laid back.</p>
<p>I would go back to what Northstarmom said: All five schools you named are huge state universities, where different students will have incredibly different experiences. The bulk of the students will come from very different places, though. Wisconsin's general academic reputation is much higher than the others', but "general academic reputation" doesn't mean all that much to an individual student. It does mean that Wisconsin probably draws significantly more students from other states that are not neighboring states -- it has a noticeable minority of East Coast kids, and I don't think the others do. Historically, Wisconsin and Oregon have been more politically liberal than the others, but I'm sure you would find liberals and conservatives at all of them, and in any event you didn't ask about that at all.</p>
<p>Penn State's academics are very well respected. It is a huge school so you need to be able to do things for yourself (yes there are advisors but with 35,000 undergrads at University Park don't expect a lot of individualized attention). Some of the more popular majors are enrollment controlled so you do have to do the work if you want to get in.
School spirit is incredible. A Penn State t-shirt or hoodie is the school uniform.
Penn State football weekends are major events. They won the Big Ten championship last year and so the student tickets sold out this year in record time.
The campus is beautiful but huge. There is an adjoining town (called State College). Most of the students live in State College - there are only 15,000 dorm spaces on campus.</p>
<p>I love posting on the parents forum, bc you guys give out way more detailed and accurate responses.....so thanks.</p>
<p>Maybe if I get more specific you guys could rank the schools for me.....???</p>
<p>20,000+ Students, Party School, Big Time Sports, School Spirit, Laid-Back And Outgoing Students, Strong Business, Communications, Or Sports Management Programs, Residential Campus, Most Partying Is Around Campus, But Has Stuff To Do In The City For Older Students, Happy Students Who Enjoy Being There, A Chill and Laid-Back Atmosphere, And An Amazing Campus.</p>
<p>Hope this will help you help me out....Thanks</p>
<p>Go west, well, northwest, check out the University of Washington.</p>
<p>Penn State (one of my alma maters) is a great place but very isolated. University Park/State College is right smack in the middle of nowhere. State College is only there to service PSU. The entire community - and we're talking big, big community here - is entirely made up of or engaged in serving the college demographic. It's almost a huge day care center for college kids. Very artificial environment. I'm in no way saying that's bad - since everyone's in the same boat, it's just normal there. You have to be able to appreciate the environment. If one's kids want to interact with lots of normal, non-college-related adults, it's not the place for them. There is a ton of stuff to do and it's hard not to get sucked into activities and sports. It really is Happy Valley, kind of like a make-believe magic kingdom. A neat place to be, but there's a reality check when you come out. And it's far far away from civilization - down the nasty nasty road around the dam that has always scared the stuffing out of me, hours from either Phillie or Pittsburgh. Incidentally, the students tend to polarize between Eastern PA kids and Western PA kids, but I was an eastern PA kid and eventually my friends were from both areas. The westerners just took some getting used to! Despite the partying, the students are more serious and, in my field, the education is far superior to UW Madison. There's kind of an engineering/science flavor to everything, which is a good thing. One of my two nieces currently attending PSU is in some sports or physical therapy related major and loves it. She's getting to do some really cool-sounding research on stress in mice as an undergrad. </p>
<p>Madison is a really cool campus (on the lake, with all the kids sailboating.) The sailboating thing makes me automatically think rich kids. (We lived in Milwaukee for a while and work with lots of UW grads, so I do have an opinion.) Plus it's a real town and even the state capital, so there are real adults involved in real life pursuits all over the place. They are also just a quick easy drive from Milwaukee, festival capital of the planet, and home of many cool things to do. And of course, minutes from Wisconsin Dells. Definitely have a big advantage over PSU there. In my humble opinion, most of the UW-Mad grads tend to be snooty about their alma mater (as in "if you haven't gone to UW-Madison, you are an inferior species") In my field, this is absolutely not true. The Penn State curriculum was much more difficult and prepared me better for research than that offered by UW-Mad. But that's in my field, animal science. UW-Mad (as well as the entire state of WI) is very proud of their beer-drinking. If that appeals to you, great. I get lost in downtown Madison. My son (14 when we spent a week there) thinks Madison is the ultimate in cool.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about Florida. Never been there, don't know anyone graduated from there.</p>
<p>Save your parents out-of-state tuition. There are plenty of huge, party schools in California. Or just go near by. The University of Arizona has all of the things you mentioned and relatively cheap tuition for a Californian and pretty easy to get in to. If you want to ask about getting the best education, have a specific major, are interested in the faculty, etc. that is another story all together.</p>
<p>I also agree about UW.........great school, great city for a big state U; Check out Oregon in Eugene too.</p>
<p>I agree with blucroo re study interests being a consideration. Academics at a large state University will vary from major to major. My brother is a Meteorologist who went to Penn State undergrad then U. Wisconsin grad because of the quality of that program at those particular schools. I doubt that he ever attended a football game at either school!</p>
<p>I plan to apply to UOregon.....Arizona is too hot. But thanks for all of your guy's opinions.</p>
<p>You have all been really helpful.</p>
<p>And I plan to major in business or communications ---- I'm also interested in sports management.</p>
<p>And as for California, there isn't too many options for me.</p>
<p>CSU's - I only like SDSU and I will apply there, but I could get into a better school, so that is why I'm to oos schools.</p>
<p>The UC's:</p>
<ol>
<li>UCB/UCLA - My UC gpa is probably too low for these schools.</li>
<li>UCSD - Doesn't have any majors I like, and they have no school spirit with D2 sports teams.</li>
<li>UCI/UCD - I don't want to have a theory based major which eliminates these schools. Also Irvine is a commuter school, and I don't want to go to school in Davis</li>
<li>UCSB - I love this school and I will apply here.</li>
<li>UCSC - D3 and the school doesn't offer me anything.</li>
<li>UCR - Ah....No!!!!!</li>
</ol>
<p>So I'm pretty much stuck with other large schools. I considering USC, UMiami, Penn State, UFlorida, UOregon, UCSB, SDSU, UWisconsin, and UCLA</p>
<p>But I'm still trying to find more options....so I can find my perfect school.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>The University of Florida has probably the strongest combination of academics, athletics, school spirit, social scenes, and alumni connections on the East Coast. </p>
<p>Check out this website that is directly linked to some interesting facts about UF.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ufl.edu/facts/%5B/url%5D">http://www.ufl.edu/facts/</a></p>
<p>Florida does sound pretty good, but after reading the avg. gpa is 4.06....I don't know if I will have a shot since I'm out of state.</p>
<p>You should apply ED.</p>
<p>^^^ I'm not fully committed so I don't think I should do that. And since my top to schools are UMiami and UCSB, I don't think it is a very good idea. I'm applying to UMiami EA.</p>
<p>If I don't get into UMiami or UCSB, I want to go to either Wisconsin, Florida, or Penn St. And if that were to fall through I want to go to SDSU......and then Oregon</p>
<p>University of Florida >>> University of Miami</p>