<p>It's in the title of the thread.</p>
<p>Private: USUALLY provide a better education, services, and are looked on more favorably come employment time. They are usually a lot more expensive, but they do tend to give out good financial aid packages, and merit scholarships too.</p>
<p>Public: MUCH cheaper. These schools are usually huge, and, like all government things, aren’t as good education wise as their private counterparts.(UC’s and UMICH break this trend though). Many people go here, and there is nothing wrong with it. They give out a lot more scholarships and often have GREAT DI sports to watch.</p>
<p>Oh, and public colleges are much easier academically(again excluding Umich and UC’s). At a high tier private university a 96% on a final exam may get you a mere B+ due to grade deflation (big reason why private schools are more recognized by employers)… in a state school, you may get a 65% on a final and get it curved to an 85% quite often. </p>
<p>That being said, it might be a good idea to save money and go to a public college instead of paying a ridiculous amount to go to a bottom tier private college, since they end up pretty close in the end anyways.</p>
<p>
Publics are bound by charter to accept the majority of their students from in-state (though some have been bucking this lately), and most offer little if any financial aid to out-of-state students. Most publics are at least somewhat state-supported, though that can be as little as 10% of the operating budget at some of the top colleges. Private universities are usually free to admit whomever they choose, and they are independently supported financially. Public universities usually have much cheaper tuition rates for in-state students; they may or may not have cheaper tuition than comparable private universities for out-of-state students. There is usually a wider spread of abilities at a public university, so public universities are more likely to have honors colleges/programs.</p>
<p>Any other generalizations about the two should not be made. There is a big difference between Dartmouth and Boston U, just as there is a big difference between Penn State and the College of Charleston. Both public and private colleges can vary immensely in size, sports, undergraduate focus, selectivity, etc.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to make general statements about the distinct differences, given the wide variability of selectivity and quality across the range of both private and public universities. In general, public universities are larger and offer a wider range of majors, especially majors that have a vocational emphasis. In general, public universities are less selective. In general, the sticker price for a public university is lower, but private universities discount their sticker prices through various types of financial aid. For every general statement, there are exceptions. It all comes down to what particular private and public universities you are comparing.</p>
<p>drac313 makes some wild and unfounded generalizations. It’s unfounded to say that a private university usually provides a better education than a public university unless you are comparing specific universities and specific programs. The same consideration applies to services, employment prospects, grading/academic rigor, and, even cost. </p>
<p>drac313 excludes UCs and Michigan from his sweeping generalizations about quality of education and academic rigor. Many public universities besides UC and UM offer a better education and more rigorous than many private universities. Again, it depends on which public and private universities and what specific programs you are comparing.</p>
<p>drac313 also states that a public college and a bottom tier private college end up pretty close in the end so don’t spend the money on the private college. I agree if you’re comparing a bottom tier private college, but he seems to imply some equivalence of bottom tier private colleges and public colleges. Again, it depends on which public and private colleges you’re comparing.</p>
<p>Public unis are usually large, with all the advantages and disadvantages that come with the size. Private colleges run the gamut and vary much more widely than public ones do.</p>
<p>You’d be better off deciding which college you want to go based on other factors than private vs. public. Look for the schools you can afford and can get a good education at, regardless if they’re private or public.</p>
<p>Also, don’t automatically assume private colleges are more expensive. The sticker price is often higher, but financial aid is also usually higher, especially since most public unis are strapped for cash at the moment.</p>
<p>“Private: USUALLY provide a better education, services, and are looked on more favorably come employment time.”</p>
<p>LOL!!! Very misleading and hardly correct. There are many, many, many private schools in this country who will take just about anybody who can pay the full tuition, especially if we’re talking about the children of the very rich. This includes, by the way, many Ivies. (Did you see George Bush’s GPA that got him into Yale? Or JFK junior’s? Or John Kerry’s?) And I don’t know anyone who hires people (and I used to be one of them) who gives automatic preferences to private schools. It’s the caliber of the school that matters - and the GPA. I’ve often hired kids from big, competitive, intellectually alive public state university over those who came from small privates where hand-holding and a sheltered atmosphere are often prevalent. Big schools also often offer more - and a bigger variety of – services. And their graduates, I find, were often more adept at handing the realities of the corporate workplace.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, [National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com%5DNational”>http://www.gradeinflation.com) indicates that private universities tend to have a bit more grade inflation than similar selectivity public universities on average – though individual universities do vary.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is true at some public universities, not at others. Some public universities admit in-state and out-of-state students on a non-discriminatory basis, and always have (though typically there’s a tuition differential). Others are bound by rigid quotas capping the percentage of OOS students. Still others are not bound by quotas but nonetheless work to keep their student body majority in-state for political reasons, because they depend on the state legislature for a significant fraction of their budget.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As a general statement about private universities, this is incorrect. There are more than 1,800 private 4-year universities in the United States. Most of them are mediocre, at best; some are just downright bad. A tiny fraction of them are outstanding. Most are also relatively poor, and give relatively little institutional financial aid. The 600 or so public 4-year universities are also a mixed bag, but probably a clear majority of the state “flagship” universities—the top state universities in each state—would rank somewhere in the top decile of all public and private four-year universities in terms of educational quality. </p>
<p>A small handful of well-endowed and prestigious private colleges and universities are hard to beat for educational quality and financial aid, but let’s be clear here: the University of Detroit Mercy (a private 4-year university) is not Harvard, either academically or financially, and is nowhere near as good a school as the University of Michigan (a public flagship). Most private universities are more like the University of Detroit Mercy (not a terrible school, by the way) than like Harvard, and generalizations based on the Harvards and such are just not applicable to most private universities. UDM, by the way, probably gives more institutional financial aid than most private universities, but it still meets only 66% of financial need, on average. The University of Michigan, in contrast, says that it meets 90% of financial need on average for all its students, and I believe it meets 100% of need for its in-state students.</p>
<p>And the claim that private universities “tend to give out good financial aid packages, and merit scholarships too” is clearly inaccurate. Only a handful of colleges—again, generally just the best-endowed—promise to meet 100% of need, and most of those that do either give no merit scholarships, or offer only token merit awards. Most schools that do offer substantial merit-based aid do not meet 100% of financial need; they’d rather use some fraction of their limited institutional resources to lure a few top students than to spread it around based on need. Very few schools BOTH meet 100% of need and give generous merit-based scholarships.</p>
<p>It might help if you first describe your qualifications, your state residency (if any), your budget, and the kinds of schools you’re considering. The relevant distinctions will tend to vary depending on factors like that. For example, if you need financial aid, there are distinctions but the implications differ depending on whether you’re considering an in-state university, your family income, and other factors. If you are an international student, you should be aware that only a handful of US schools are “need blind” for admission (and they are all private). If you want to study business, you should know that the most selective private schools don’t offer that major. Most small, private liberal arts colleges also don’t offer engineering. And so forth.</p>
<p>One thing that is true of virtually all public universities - I cannot think of any exceptions other than the military service academies - is that the majority of students (typically 70% to over 90%) come from in-state. Private schools vary in their national drawing power. The most famous and selective ones often attract students from most states, with perhaps only 25% or so from the local state or surrounding states.</p>
<p>Instate and OOS demographics are changing for budget reasons at many schools…</p>
<p>U Iowa overall…55% instate/45% OOS.</p>
<p>Last two Frosh classes at Iowa…55% OOS/45% instate.</p>
<p>“virtually all public universities - I cannot think of any exceptions other than the military service academies - is that the majority of students (typically 70% to over 90%) come from in-state.”</p>
<p>Again, not quite true. Many schools in smaller, less populated states have either close to a 50-50 balance or more out-of-state students than in-state students. Montana, Vermont, Oregon, Iowa, Colorado, Univ of Delaware are just a few among them.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Exceptions (majority OOS):
University of Vermont 67% OOS
University of Delaware, 63% OOS
University of North Dakota 57% OOS</p>
<p>More than 30% OOS:
North Dakota State 46% OOS
University of New Hampshire 40% OOS
University of Rhode Island 38% OOS
University of Oregon 35% OOS
University of Michigan 33% OOS
University of Colorado 33% OOS
University of Wisconsin 32% OOS</p>
<p>Thank you all for your informative replies.</p>
<p>@tk21769 I do not live in the states, but I am a citizen, so I’m not an international student. I don’t think I qualify for financial aid, or really need it.
I am considering USC, BU, UCB, UCLA, Syracuse, Penn State, OSU for most probably communications/journalism and maybe doubling that major with business administration and management, but I’m still not completely sure if I want that. I think I might apply undecided to some universities as well.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, with this group of schools you can pretty much throw out the usual public-v.-private generalizations, because your privates (USC, BU, Syracuse) are all large and in many respects similar to large public universities. The usual advantage of elite privates is that because they’re small and prestigious, they can be highly selective, and therefore they have outstanding students; and also, because they have great resources relative to their size, they can offer luxuries like smaller classes, lower student-faculty ratios, more opportunities for students to interact face-to-face with faculty, and so on. But your smallest school is Syracuse, with 20,407 students (including 14,201 undergrads)—roughly the same size as, e.g., UVA. BU has 32,727 students (18,714 undergrads). USC has 36,896 students (17,380 undergrads). These are, by any measure, big universities. Not quite on the scale of Ohio State (56,064 students, 42,082 undergrads) or Penn State (45,233 students, 38,594 undergrads) but more similar in size to UC Berkeley (35,838 students, 25,540 undergrads) or UCLA (39,593 students, 26,162 undergrads) than to a Brown (8,695 students, 6,318 undergrads) or Yale (11,701 students, 5,310 undergrads).</p>
<p>As for student-faculty ratios, USC is 9:1, which is good, but BU’s 13:1 and Syracuse’s 16:1 are roughly in the same ballpark with UCLA’s 16:1 and UC-Berkeley and Penn State at 17:1. But USC’s faculty-student ratio doesn’t necessarily translate into smaller classes: at USC 62.9% of the classes have fewer than 20 students, but that’s roughly comparable to UC-Berkeley’s 62.0% and Syracuse’s 61.4%, and only a little better than BU’s 52.8% and UCLA’s 51.6%. (PSU and OSU bring up the rear in this category, at 39.2% and 31.5% respectively). At the other extreme, Syracuse is tops with “only” 9% of its classes having 50 students or more, followed by BU (10%), USC (11%), UC-Berkeley and Penn State (15% each), OSU (20%), and UCLA (22%), but even the best of these figures aren’t particularly impressive and could easily mean that the average student spends as much time in large (50+) classes as in small ones (<20). </p>
<p>As for selectivity, according to US News the two most selective schools on your list are publics, UC-Berkeley (#15 nationally) and UCLA (#20), though USC is a respectable third at #25. From there it’s quite a drop to #59 (in selectivity) BU, #62 OSU, and #88 PSU. Syracuse pulls up the rear at #110.</p>
<p>With this particular group of schools, I wouldn’t worry too much about public v. private; the experience is likely to be pretty similar either way. I’d go more for the “fit” of the individual school.</p>
<p>The old saying, “size matters?” Yep.</p>
<p>For some a big state school is just what they want and expect from a college experience. For others, a small private school with small classes and knowing everyone on campus is the ticket. To each his own.</p>
<p>The other difference? Price.</p>
<p>But lets not devolve into one is better than the other. Too many threads on CC about that. And its inane and tedious. Not accurate.</p>
<p>The only thing that matters is what is important to YOU.</p>
<p>Another consideration for the OP is which of those universities offer the type of communication/journalism and business administration/management programs that interest you? Also, since these programs are situated within different academic units of the universities, what is the feasibility of majoring in programs situated in different academic units (in terms of school regulations and the requirements for these programs at each school), should you decide to combine those fields.</p>