What are the best Public Universities or top public schools in the U.S.?

College Search & Selection
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<p>^^ Well, I may not be right 100% of the time, but I speak only the truth and truth only. You are welcome to prove me wrong! Perhaps a Clemson vs Ohio State thread would do the trick since you also brought Clemson up here as well? ;)</p>

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<p>Belleniente, I think there were several public universities that were founded before UNC, inlcuding William and Mary, University of Delaware, Rutgers and UGa.</p>

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<p>Alexandre, there are many claims. I’ve heard UNC, UGA and WM but never Delaware/Rutgers. </p>

<p>I’m assuming the claim is ‘founded private’ -> public = nation’s oldest public?</p>

<p>To the original point, UGa and UNC were the first public-founded schools?</p>

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<p>Could be JohnBlack, I think Tennessee is pretty old too. Many old Southern publics.</p>

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<p>When I visited UNC, they said that while UGA was chartered first, UNC was the first to actually enroll students and UNC’s first class graduated before UGA even had students.</p>

<p>W&M, of course, was private–>public, but went public much later than UNC and UGA were founded.</p>

<p>To the OP, you can get a very good education at any of the schools you listed–they might not have the reputation you appear to be looking for though.</p>

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<p>Berkeley, Michigan, UVa, UCLA, W&M, UNC – in that order.</p>

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<p>The rankings of these universities (Berkeley, UCLA, Uva, Michigan, and UNC.) tend to be all over the place. But here are some rankings to give a picture of how they’re usually sorted out: </p>

<p>THE WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2011-2012:</p>

<p>Berkeley: 10, UCLA: 13, Uva: 135, Michigan: 18, UNC: 43</p>

<p>TOP UNIVERSITIES BY REPUTATION 2010-2011:</p>

<p>Berkeley: 4, UCLA: 12, Uva: not ranked, Michigan: 13, UNC: 41</p>

<p>America’s Top Colleges (2011):</p>

<p>Berkeley: 70, UCLA: 55, Uva: 46, Michigan: 93, UNC: 74</p>

<p>Top Public Schools:</p>

<p>Berkeley: 1, UCLA: 2, Uva: 2, Michigan: 4, UNC: 5</p>

<p>World’s Best Universities: Top 400:</p>

<p>Berkeley: 21, UCLA: 34, Uva: 126, Michigan: 14, UNC: 55</p>

<p>The one that most surprised me in all of these rankings was probably Uva (listed +100 in two seperate rankings, and not even ranked in one.) Unc also did better than i had expected it to.</p>

<p>From what these rankings point out, it seems like they should be stated as:</p>

<p>Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, UNC, and Uva (respectively.)</p>

<p>Also, take notice of the “berkeley bias.” Berkeley is only three spots above UCLA in terms of quality for the THE rankings; But it’s 8 spots ahead in terms of reputation.</p>

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<p>^^^Where Michigan beats UCLA is in it’s professional/graduate programs. Michigan is stronger in business, law, and comparable in medicine. It is also stronger in overall engineering and most other areas of graduate education when both are compared. Only Berkeley has an edge over Michigan rating comparable disciplines. Only because Cal lacks a medical/health complex, does it stand a bit lower than Michigan in the top 400.</p>

<p>Take note of the top 400 ratings you listed. This is for the “complete” univeristy.</p>

<p>World’s Best Universities: Top 400:</p>

<p>Berkeley: 21, UCLA: 34, Uva: 126, Michigan: 14, UNC: 55</p>

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<p>

UCLA and Michigan are neck and neck in most areas of the arts and sciences, but I agree that Michigan is a little better in engineering and its professional programs. I would rank the top 5 like this:</p>

<p>(1) Berkeley
(2A) Michigan
(2B) UCLA
(4) UNC
(5) UVA</p>

<p>UVA is noticeably weaker than the others, particularly in the sciences. I’ve never understood why it’s considered the strongest public in the South – it’s stronger than UNC in business and law, but that’s about it. </p>

<p>There are others that could fall in between UCLA and UNC, of course, particularly at the graduate or overall level – UT Austin, Wisconsin, Washington, Minnesota, and Illinois come to mind in particular. W&M is excellent for undergrads, and Georgia Tech is a good niche school.</p>

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<p>"…but I agree that Michigan is a little better in engineering and its professional programs. I would rank the top 5 like this:</p>

<p>(1) Berkeley
(2A) Michigan
(2B) UCLA
(4) UNC
(5) UVA</p>

<p>UVA is noticeably weaker than the others, particularly in the sciences. I’ve never understood why it’s considered the strongest public in the South – it’s stronger than UNC in business and law, but that’s about it.</p>

<p>There are others that could fall in between UCLA and UNC, of course, particularly at the graduate or overall level – UT Austin, Wisconsin, Washington, Minnesota, and Illinois come to mind in particular. W&M is excellent for undergrads, and Georgia Tech is a good niche school.</p>

<p>Agree with above statement.</p>

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<p>Where Michigan has a distinct edge over UCLA, other than in Engineering and undergraduate Business (which UCLA does not offer), is in its wealth. Michigan’s endowment is $7.8 billion, compared to UCLA’s $1.8 billion. That’s more than four times greater.</p>

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<p>that’s just one ranking. UCLA beats michigan in the four others that i listed. Another ranking that’s supposed to take account of the "whole university " is USnews, which ranks michigan as fourth and UCLA as second.</p>

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<p>Michigan slightly edges out UCLA in terms of research: 10 vs 13 (although i imagine this will change once UCLA opens up Wasserman in 2012.) UCLA does better in primary care (16 vs 20) but UCLA significantly edges out Michigan in terms hospitals (5 vs 14)</p>

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<p>It higher than many other universities. If memory serves, MITs endowment is like 8billion, so it’s pretty high. Although berkeley’s endowment is only 2.2 billion or something like that. So clearly there’s more to a university than just how big its endowment is.</p>

<p>I also have no idea why UCLA has no undergraduate business school. I would have thought that Anderson would have like to have established one. Maybe now that he’s dead, there’ll be talks about restructuring the business schools to establish an undergraduate one.</p>

<p>EDIT: oops MIT’s endowment is actually like 10b.</p>

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<p>Even UVa is generally superior to UCLA. UVa’s professional schools are more prestigious than UCLA’s too. This is not to say UCLA isn’t a good school. I’m just saying there are 3 public schools that are superior to UCLA in terms of prestige and brand power.</p>

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<p>THE WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2011-2012:
UVA: 135, TOSU 57 (TOSU >> UVA)</p>

<p>TOP UNIVERSITIES BY REPUTATION 2010-2011:
UVA: Not Ranked, TOSU 54 (TOSU >>> UVA)</p>

<p>*USNEWS 2012 Best Colleges
UVA 25, TOSU 55 (UVA > TOSU)</p>

<p>The Washington Monthly 2011
UVA 53, TOSU 42 (TOSU > UVA)</p>

<p>World’s Best Universities: Top 400:
UVA: 126, TOSU 111 (TOSU > or = UVA)</p>

<p>The Final Verdict based on almost all of the rankings: TOSU >> UVA </p>

<p>Thanks beyphy!! :)</p>

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<p>Too?</p>

<p>Their academic departments aren’t even close.</p>

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<p>^ So??? Most of Brown’s, Penn’s and Dartmouth’s academic departments aren’t even close to UCLA’s. </p>

<p>Department strengths are different from overall prestige.</p>

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<p>There is only one way to settle this: </p>

<p>“Cage Fight” to the death! lol</p>

<p>And I am certain that Ohio State would come out on top as it possesses most student body amongst the top public universities. In fact, TOSU > UNC + UVA in terms of total number of students. We are THE Aircraft Carrier of the American Higher Education! There is just no equal in terms of the best combination of capacity, facility and quality of education in the nation! Schoo’s Motto: “Disciplina in civitatem,” in English “Education for Citizenship.” We don’t try to imitate private wanna be as a top public flagship. We are America’s true public university! Go Bucks!! :)</p>

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<p>You can believe that if you want. But i’ve already refuted that claim with the rankings i listed.</p>

<p>I’m not saying your belief is false, it’s just different from the truth :p</p>

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<p>NP :D</p>

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<p>But those league tables you’ve shown aren’t exactly about school prestige. </p>

<p>The super-heavy weight students of the world are thinking of going into MBA or Law (they’re elite programs for very elite students.) In those areas, the “big 3” public elites (Berkeley, Michigan, Virginia) are superior to UCLA.</p>

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<p>“What are the best Public Universities or top public schools in the U.S.?”</p>

<p>So to answer OP’s Q, yup, SIZE DOES MATTER when it comes to Public University with its core mission which would be to serve its respective state and residents who pay taxes! Public for the masses, as such, as I’ve alluded above, no more pseudo-public operations like Wake Forest, or a whole bunch of private wanna be by accepting 1/3 OOS students as a means to increase revenues instead of serving the general public, TOSU IS your perfect answer in terms of combination of size and overall academics. </p>

<p>“The super-heavy weight students of the world are thinking of going into MBA or Law (they’re elite programs for very elite students.)”</p>

<p>College of Business Update:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bgnews.com/campus/college-of-business-achieves-high-rating-from-princeton-review/article_8c594310-1402-11e1-bce0-001cc4c03286.html[/url]”>http://www.bgnews.com/campus/college-of-business-achieves-high-rating-from-princeton-review/article_8c594310-1402-11e1-bce0-001cc4c03286.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;