<p>^^except the weather f-ing sucks.</p>
<p>some people like “seasons,” but as comedian Daniel Tosh said (I was always looking for a good way to phrase this concept until I saw his stand-up), “I like seasons too. That’s why I live in a place that skips the s****y ones.”</p>
<p>I’m a business major; for business it goes
<p>Oh yeah, did I mention that Michigan is the class act of all college football (even, if they are re-building), but Northwestern has the coolest uniforms!</p>
<p>^Not only that, but it’s a sweet feeling when NU wins anything for football/basketball (I’m a fan, btw). They’re such a different school (smaller, more academic, etc.) than the rest of the Big 10, that it’s a wonder they can even compete given the talent (or lack thereof) they recruit.</p>
<p>I respect NU because there aren’t any easy majors for their players to hide out in while they play out their eligibility, and Paterno’s players at Penn State (even though it’s not a real Big 10 school) have to make the grade, too. Several years back, I think Michigan had a player who was in med school, but i don’t recall the name or year. Now, on the other end of the academic spectrum, there’s OSU…</p>
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The Big Ten all around is probably the worst conference when it comes to sports, ironically…but the best conference when it comes to actual universities, which is far more important, of course. They are all great schools, great academics, beautiful campuses, and great college towns. They ALL represent the ideal state flagship
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<p>ehh…not really. SEC beats the B10 in football, no doubt and same for the ACC and basketball. I’d probably place the Big Ten above the Pac-10 or the Pac-1 as they are know throughout College Football, lol.</p>
<p>But they have not been as good as they have been in the past, sure, but they are still pretty good.</p>
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Oh yeah, did I mention that Michigan is the class act of all college football (even, if they are re-building), but Northwestern has the coolest uniforms!
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<p>I’m actually a closet UM fan but even some UM alums, like Jim Harbaugh, would disagree with this. The whole Jason Boren leaving because he though DickRod doesn’t have any family values probably does not help either, but Michigan has been pretty good otherwise.</p>
<p>Illinois has one of the best engineering programs in the country. Business is good there too.</p>
<p>Well, I’m not living in the Great Lakes region anymore, so I’m probably not up to speed on Michigan football like I used to be. I was a longtime closet UM fan, but I came out of the closet when I lived in Ohio. For some reason, whenever I’d come back from vacation, I’d find that my staff had re-decorated my office in scarlett & gray… (which BTW, I find more aesthetically pleasing than UT orange which is everywhere in Knoxville!)</p>
<p>My apologies to the OP for sidetracking this thread on sports…</p>
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<p>In college football the Big 12-South (UT, A&M, OSU, OU, Tech) and the SEC (Bama, UF, LSU, Ole Miss, UGA) would team up to steal the Big Ten’s lunch. In college basketball the ACC (Duke, UNC, Clemson, UMD) and the Big 12 (KU, Mizzou, OSU, OU, UT, A&M) would team up and steal the Big Ten’s lunch.</p>
<p>But you’re right that the Big Ten does have an amazing history, and several dynasties.</p>
<p>Ooops, yeah I forgot about the Big 12, beats the B10 in football and probably basketball too, but B10 is no pushover.</p>
<p>Yeah, sorry OP for making sidetracking the thread.</p>
<p>He/she probably doesn’t mind, even said he/she doesn’t care about academics. lol</p>
<p>Yeah if he goes to a B10 school, sports will be a pretty big deal, and a pretty decisive factor on deciding on where to go for college for a lot of people.</p>
<p>Yeah thanks for not sidetracking the thread, because my question is really urgent… and I’m looking forward to answers/ opinions on it.</p>
<p>osucowboys, I don’t rememeber saying I don’t care about academics (lol), it’s an important part of my decision. Which is why I also prefer to attend a university well respected. Though with my current situation ( mention in original post, first), and my top choice Michigan State University which is only 10 minutes from my house I’m starting to question.</p>
<p>Oh whoops…I had it mixed up with another “give me some big schools” thread.</p>
<p>Indiana universitie’s med school,nursing school,and dentistry school are all at the indianapolis campus not bloomington ,and the campus is called IUPUI. If you are in to healthcare ,but want to get an IU ,and or Purdue degree go to IUPUI. The campus has four hospitals on it ,and an another across the street. GOOD LUCK!!!</p>
<p>One thing to consider is that NU and OSU are use a quarter system academic calendar. It can be rough to do in 10 weeks what you do elsewhere in 15 or 16 weeks.</p>
<p>^But there are advantages: you can take more classes, you do not have to remember a long way back for finals, you don’t have work over vacations, and if you hate a class you are done quicker. Both have their pros and cons.</p>
<p>Pros outweigh the cons.</p>
<p>for which one?</p>
<p>IMO, the class of the Big Ten academically is the University of Chicago, a founding member which quit the athletic side of the conference in 1946 (despite a distinguished athletic tradition, including some dominant football teams in the 20s and 30s) but still maintains close ties to the Big Ten schools through the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the Big Ten’s academic arm. Exceptionally strong in humanities and social sciences but also strong on natural sciences.</p>
<p>After that, I’d say:</p>
<p>1) University of Michigan. Strengths in almost every program imaginable, but especially strong in engineering, business, humanities (among the super-elite in classics and philosophy, also terrific in music and language studies), and social sciences (among the very best in anthropology, sociology, political science, psych). Great college town. Football school all the way.</p>
<p>1) (tie) Northwestern. Smaller school, low s/f ratio & strong in all the other measures US News likes, but it’s basically a strong generalist undergrad-oriented school that’s reasonably strong in many areas with not all that many truly outstanding faculties. Excellent in journalism, theater, and speech, though, and not notably deficient anywhere. Sort of an Ivy/Stanford wannabe, not quite at their level but in some ways always close.</p>
<p>3) Wisconsin. Strong all around, superb in bio sciences and social sciences, possibly a little stronger than Michigan in sciences generally and competitive in many social sciences but not quite as strong n humanities, engineering, business—though it still has strong programs in all these. A very good school but seemingly condemned to playing second fiddle to Michigan as the best all-around public university in this part of the country. Bigger party school than Michigan or Northwestern, and another great college town. Known for hockey, football, and beer, but it also seems to field competitive basketball teams pretty consistently.</p>
<p>4) Illinois. Very close on Wisconsin’s heels, very strong in physical sciences and computer science/computer engineering, arguably the best engineering school in the Big Ten, a shade ahead of Michigan and two shades ahead of Purdue.</p>
<p>5) Minnesota. Strong in engineering and biosciences but also pockets of strength elsewhere, e.g., econ, psychology, political science. Wants desperately to pass Wisconsin and might someday—but probably not soon. Known for hockey. The only truly urban Big Ten school.</p>
<p>6) (tie). Ohio State and Penn State. Very strong public universities all-around, but hard to identify particular strengths apart from football where both are very strong.</p>
<p>8) Purdue. Outstanding engineering, arguably a strong third in the Big Ten in that category after Illinois and Michigan, but so-so elsewhere.</p>
<p>9) (tie) Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State. These are all among the best public universities in the nation. They suffer only by comparison to the truly outstanding publics at the top of the Big Ten. Indiana and Michigan State are known for basketball. Iowa’s known for writing and, I guess, football?</p>