<p>Also</p>
<p>SC: Clemson and USC
NC: UNC and NCState
IN: Purdue and IU
IA, AL, GA, WA, AZ, FL,
etc., etc. somebody could rank one over the other within each state, but it’s foolish for in-state students not to consider all options in that upper public tier.</p>
<p>No one said that the existence of a state flagship meant that students in that state shouldn’t consider other options. IMO, a state flagship, though, tends to be a decent “generalist” school. Schools such as Purdue, VA Tech, NC State that have more of a focus on engineering don’t feel as flagship-py as U of Indiana, UVA, UNC that have more broad-based, decent-in-everything types of offerings.</p>
<p>This article pretty much explains the notion of “flagship university”:
[url=<a href=“http://cio.chance.berkeley.edu/chancellor/sp/flagship.htm]Flagship[/url”>http://cio.chance.berkeley.edu/chancellor/sp/flagship.htm]Flagship[/url</a>]</p>
<p>In some states the the flagship schools are also the land grant universities and have agriculture, engineering, and all the hard sciences along with the humanities and social sciences, e.g., Rutgers and University of Wisconsin-Madison. In other states they separate the land grant school from the “liberal arts” university, e.g., Clemson and U of South Carolina and UNC-Chapel Hill and NCSU.</p>
<p>And then there are the historically black colleges and universities some of which were created under the Morrill Act of 1890.</p>
<p>Great link, zapfino. It is more than ten years old, but seems relevant now.</p>
<p>[Institute</a> for Educational Excellence & Entrepreneurship - College of Education - West Chester University](<a href=“http://www.wcupa.edu/_academics/coed/3e.asp]Institute”>http://www.wcupa.edu/_academics/coed/3e.asp)</p>
<p>They think they are the flagship of the state universities.</p>
<p>I don’t consider something that charges twice the state university system tuition a state university. And they <em>don’t</em> give much aid at all, unlike those schools in the state university system. </p>
<p>If PSU <em>used</em> to be a state university, why did they switch??? They didn’t want to be one, perhaps, but still take taxpayers’ money?</p>
<p>@tsdad - if that’s the case, then University of Penn is PA’s flagship… ;)</p>
<p>In Florida, UF and FSU are both considered flagships. While UF may be a nose above FSU, FSU is well above the next tier. They both have many strengths in areas the other does not. Much like UNC and NCstate.</p>
<p>The only people in PA who think West Chester is the state flagship is those who run West Chester and those that attend and want to believe the marketing from West Chester</p>
<p>There is obviously a pretty clear definition of what a state flagship is. This doesn’t necessarily translate into what the general public thinks it is. For instance, I’m a lifelong resident of Virginia. I was born and raised in the dreaded NoVa to be specific. If you asked me before my kids were applying to college, before my cc days, before I bothered to google the term state flagship, I would have told you with clear conviction that ours was VA Tech. It’s where good students went to school. Yes, there is an emphasis on engineering, but kids from my area went for lots of things other than engineering (remember NoVa is pretty populated so I’m not an outlier). UVa is a school residents are very proud of, both for it’s place in higher education and history, however to many of us it is a school where the tippy top students go. I’m not bemoaning anything here, but kids from our area get turned down with excellent stats. For whatever misguided reason my definition of state flagship wasn’t UVa, it was Va Tech (now only slightly less competitive…a lot has changed). I fully realized I was incorrect in my assumption and that UVa is the state flagship, but I can’t imagine I’m the only one.</p>
<p>Having said this, putting the label on it doesn’t change how I feel about either university. Anyone that knows me on this board knows I’m pretty proud of both schools, just as most people are about their state universities.</p>
<p>I didn’t post this earlier but someone mentioned no one had brought up VT, so here it is. I don’t know if I explained myself well and hope this won’t be taken out of context.</p>
<p>Many schools don’t have one true flagship, and those that do often have several excellent options that I would consider “flagship” when someone on here refers to your flagship in-state U as being a good option.</p>
<p>Ole Miss/Miss State
Auburn/Alabama
Florida/Florida State
USC/Clemson
Arizona/Arizona State
UVA/VT/JMU
Penn State/Pitt/Temple to a lesser extent
Iowa/Iowa State
Indiana/Purdue
Michigan/Michigan State
Oklahoma/Oklahoma State
Texas/A&M/Tech
Colorado/Colorado State</p>
<p>etc…</p>
<p>University of Georgia is probably the state flagship for GA, but GA Tech is “better” on a lot of metrics.</p>
<p>For Idaho, the flagship and land-grant university is the University of Idaho - it is far and away the leading research school in the state.</p>
<p>Boise State may have great football, but that’s about all they have ;)</p>
<p>It could be my Blue blood showing, but while Michigan State is an excellent university, I do not think it is considered to be a flagship by Michigan residents.</p>
<p>It seems that whenever a state has two large, well-known public universities, one of them is considered the flagship by almost everyone who doesn’t attend the other one, and the other one resents it.</p>
<p>I still would like to know whether people consider Ole Miss or Mississippi State the flagship in Mississippi. I honestly don’t know. (My son goes to Ole Miss and says he’s not sure, either.)</p>
<p>blueiguana: The reason why UVA must reject so many kids in your area with excellent stats is because it tries to admit the top kids in every high school in the state, no matter where they attend HS (that’s why the kid who attends a small, rural high school and is No. 1 in his class probably will get into UVA if he applies). I had a principal friend (and grad of UVA) once say that UVA could fill its freshman class with kids from Fairfax County but does because it wants that diversity factor. </p>
<p>At least Virginia kids have great options if they choose to stay in state.</p>
<p>Hi momreads! Good to ‘see’ you. I’m well aware of reasons why UVa admissions are tight in NoVa. I have never batted an eye at that or felt the frustration that some feel. No student has an inherent ‘right’ to any university (based on stats, residency, legacy, whatever). I mean this sincerely. I honestly have always felt that VA has a wealth of amazing schools for all kinds of students and felt very fortunate. How lucky to even have these as an option!!</p>
<p>Sorry if my post came across in a negative way, or seemed bitter towards admission practices. That was not my intent at all! My earlier mistake was regarding the definition of state flagship which led me to think it was VT for many years.</p>
<p>West Chester U is one of a number of former teacher’s colleges in PA that have ventured into other disciplines and serve as fine, smaller regional choices. The tuition is less there than at PSU or Pitt or Temple. I know a number of Pittsburghers who have found the tuition at Pitt unaffordable and it’s been an issue for them to find affordable options to continue their educations beyond community college. Those who live within commuting distance of schools like West Chester are fortunate to have that less expensive option available and can get a BA/BS degree for an affordable amount of money.</p>
<p>VA has great schools, but my brother, who lives there tells me its tough to gain admissions to them. His D is an average student who wants to major in music performance and the VA schools that can provide the level of instruction she should have are unlikely to take her. My other niece goes to an OOS public after not getting accepted to the schools she liked in her own state.</p>
<p>Mom, the question in my mind is does the state have an obligation to treat its residents fairly. If the admission process works to compensate for the poor rural kid who hasnt had advantanges, that is one thing. But if it giving preferential treatment to wealthier residents out west, kids who do get SAT prep classes, etc, then I dont think it is right. Of course, I do not live in Va, so I have no right to complain. But what I do see happening is many business employers are beginning to come to realize that George Mason may have as qualified students.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think there’s anything unfair about it. It is very easy to say “My kid got a 4.1 and was turned down while a kid from po-dunk was accepted with a 3.8.” The fact is a 4.1 may not crack the top 10% at a NoVa high school due to the number of AP classes offered. The student from a more rural area may have a 3.8, however they may rank much higher in their class, and have taken every AP class offered at their school. They may have taken advanced classes at a community college because their hs didn’t offer them. These classes are not weighted. The course rigor is similar to that of the AP (in theory, I realize some would debate this), and the initiative is rewarded even if the GPA does not reflect it. The point is, it makes a good ‘one-liner’, but without looking at the entire application package, without context, it means little.</p>
<p>On the surface it may not seem equitable however there is much, much more to it then a few statistics. Regardless of where you go to school you have to step up and stand out. To automatically assume that a student from NoVa would fare better if they had gone to school in a more rural area is short sighted…they still have to show initiative, take advantage of what’s offered, and find their niche.</p>
<p>Yes, the top schools are hard to gain admission to. There are great schools beyond UVa, VT, & Wm & Mry. JMU, Mary Washington, GMU, and many others. We also have a great community college system with articulation agreements to all of the public schools. It’s not right for every student, nor what they might dream of, but kids can spend two years at cc and transfer if they didn’t quite make it right out of high school. That’s pretty darn amazing!! I know several kids going this route due to grades or finances. One of my kids is doing this with hopes of transferring to George Mason.</p>
<p>I hesitated to post this initially because I didn’t want to derail this thread. The fairness debate over admissions to top VA schools is a hot one with many people. I don’t agree with a lot of what’s written, but I understand and respect the passionate feelings. My point originally in posting was my personal misunderstanding in the definition of state flagship. I thought it might be the case with popular opinion in why there is not always a general consensus in what a state flagship is. Few people google the definition or are on CC. ;)</p>