<p>I keep reading about "flagship state universities"...usually described as a good safety school. Can someone please give me an example of a few of these schools, and we are in California, are there any schools here that would be considered "flagship"?</p>
<p>Any UC school would be considered a Cali Flagship, especially UCLA and Berkeley.</p>
<p>UCLA, UC Berkeley, University of Washington, University of Oregon, U Michigan, Ohio State, University of Colorado Boulder, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Virginia, UT Austin, University of Wisconsin Madison, etc.</p>
<p>The term flagship state university is usually used to describe the one big state university that attracts students from the entire state, rather than just the local region. For example, here in Maryland, it’s the University of Maryland at College Park. Penn State, the University of Michigan, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst would be other examples.</p>
<p>In California, though, you don’t really have one. There is no one UC that attracts a statewide population, while the others attract only local kids. Also, several of your UCs wouldn’t make good safety schools because their admission standards are quite high. So in California, you have to think a bit differently.</p>
<p>A flagship is typically the strongest, most well-known public university in your state. They’re often considered to be safeties because they accept a high percentage of residents at a reasonable price (due to state taxes). But for many students, they might not be safeties at all!</p>
<p>In CA, you’re very lucky. You’ve got two flagships, Berkeley and UCLA - both very good quality schools, with complementary strengths. Those are much better than typical state flagships.</p>
<p>Also, many other schools in the UC system are excellent. It’s good to be a CA resident when it comes to college!</p>
<p>Wouldn’t state schools such as Cal State Long Beach, Fullerton, CSSan Francisco etc be considered safety schools?</p>
<p>I think Cal and UCLA are definitely flagship as they attract students from across the state.</p>
<p>I think people refer to their in-state flagship as financial safeties, meaning they are likely affordable. They are by no means safeties in terms of admission.</p>
<p>Makes me wonder if larger flagships turn down their own residents in favor of OOS students who are full payers.</p>
<p>I believe SUNY Binghamton and SUNY Geneseo are considered the two flagships in the NY SUNY system.</p>
<p>The SUNY flagships are barely flagships. New York is much like California, with a wide variety of high-quality state schools, unlike other states that have a pretty clear flagship. SUNY Buffalo and Stony Brook are very close behind Bing and Geneseo, plus Geneseo is more a LAC, so I don’t know if I would call it a flagship.</p>
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Ahem. The SUNY flagships are Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany, and Stony Brook, in as much as any of them are labeled that.</p>
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<p>Whether a “flagship state university” is a good safety school depends on the school (state) and the applicant.</p>
<p>It usually refers to the most selective or “best” state university in the state.</p>
<p>In California, this would be UC Berkeley, but some would claim that UCLA is essentially equal and is a co-flagship (of course, specific students may prefer one or the other). Neither UC Berkeley nor UCLA should realistically be considered a safety for anyone, especially for popular majors or divisions (e.g. engineering), due to a semi-holistic admissions process (although they are not “reach for everyone” schools like the most selective private schools).</p>
<p>In California, probably five or six of the UCs, and Cal Poly SLO for engineering and architecture, would likely be considered “flagship quality” in many other states. The existence of such a large number of “flagship quality” state universities is likely a function of California’s very large population. A much smaller population state enrolling the same percentage of the population at its flagship would fill only one flagship state university. Note that California has a very large number of total four year state universities (UC and CSU) and two year community colleges feeding transfers to the four year state universities.</p>
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<p>In many states, they are required to accept only a limited number of out of state candidates.</p>
<p>SockherMom, most states don’t have the extensive public college systems that CA (and NY) do. I wouldn’t worry about “flagship” status in either of those states and would recommend finding safeties based on the best program(s) for the student’s intended majors/areas of interest, student preferences for size/fit, and benefits like honors college, scholarships, etc. The universities tend to have more majors/minors and grad programs, many more students, broader name recognition, and have a greater focus on their research mission.</p>
<p>Generally, the state flagship refers to the best state university in a given state. The only exception would be California, where both UCLA and Berkeley might be considered flagships. </p>
<p>The others are good, too, but would not be flagships (battleships perhaps?)</p>
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The term ‘safety school’ is relative to the stats of the individual. I’m sure that the colleges you mentioned turn down some applicants in which case they weren’t safeties for those people.</p>
<p>When I applied to UC way back when (1974) we applied to the single university then ranked the various “campuses” by preference. Of course back then they weren’t really very selective . If you were UC eligible you pretty much got in where you wanted. They didn’t really get selective until the mid 80s.</p>
<p>The term state flagship doesn’t derive from its status as a safety school.</p>
<p>Basically, the state flagship is the university that most would choose to represent the state–that is, the one that flies the flag of the state. Generally, that is the best state university in that state. For example, U. of Michigan is the state flagship in Michigan, not Michigan State. </p>
<p>California is the only one which could arguably have two, because of the size and prestige of both UCLA and Berkeley. However, strictly from my definition, I guess it would be Berkeley.</p>
<p>In most states is the “University of (State Name)” generally considered to be a better school than the “(State Name) State University” ? I am thinking, U of Michigan vs MSU, UNC vs NC State, Penn State vs U of Pennsylvania (just kidding!) not sure about other states. Most of the arguments you will get over which school is the best, or the “flagship” will come from loyal alumni of the other nonflagship schools.<br>
“Flagship” school is definitely one of those terms that starts to sound strange if you say it too many times.</p>
<p>The purpose of the flagship state university is to attract state money first, students second. In Louisiana, at least :).</p>