What makes these schools great?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>What makes these schools great? Current students + alumni only please (or family members of current students/alumni). Would appreciate personally related endorsements only (quality) - I do not want to hear anything about quantity (average SAT/GPA etc.)</p>

<p>***quality as in student happiness, intellectual environment, and financial fulfillment from those that have first-hand experience</p>

<p>UVA
Vanderbilt
MIT
Notre Dame
UC Berkeley
University of Chicago
UNC Chapel Hill
Rice
Johns Hopkins
Emory
UCLA
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Stanford
Duke
Georgetown
Carnegie Mellon
Cal Tech</p>

2

<p>My employer uses the fact that my degree is from ND in proposals to prospective clients. Surprisingly (to me), it does seem to impress people, even though I graduated 30+ years ago.</p>

3

<p>For me, the sense of community was what made Notre Dame/St Mary’s so remarkable. My experience, FWIW, is somewhat dated, as I graduated more than 20 years ago. However, from professors and advisors who truly invested time and effort into my success & education to a campus ministry that was supportive, accessible and welcoming…the Notre Dame/St Mary’s community was everything and more. For starters, it is what I’d call a school that attracts a wide variety of kids. Unlike “State U”, where most everyone is from the same geographic area, the kids here come from EVERYWHERE. It’s comforting to know that you can find friends whose parents don’t necessarily live down the street (but, kids from South Bend do go to school there as well). Pretty much, everyone is coming without a lot of baggage or friends from their high school. Fresh slate, so to speak. All freshman, and a huge percentage of upper classmen live on campus. There are no sororities or fraternities. Instead, there are dorms. Your dorm becomes your identity, your home, your safety spot. Most students do not switch from one dorm to another. Each dorm has a rector (priest) who is both on faculty and serves as a mentor/ guidance counselor for the students in their dorm. Each dorm has a chapel for weekly Mass. Pretty much, everyone goes to Mass. On a regular basis. The opportunities to get involved in clubs, activities and community service are everywhere. It’s really just part of the culture to be involved, in some way. And, I think that helps to create a balanced person. Class sizes are small. Mentor ship with professors is common. Football is King on Saturdays. Overall, I cannot imagine feeling safer or happier on a college campus.</p>

4

<p>I am a Michigan grad (adult and parent now, as you can tell from my name). I come from a family of Michigan grads (I was third generation), although both of my kids did/will attend other colleges. Here are some of the positive things about Michigan:</p>

<ul>
<li>A darned smart group of students. I think (and have experience in an MBA program elsewhere to back this up) that the quality of students is key to a good college experience. The discussions in classrooms, working together on group projects, and hanging out in free time with smart people is one of the very best things about a Michigan education. My MBA from another Big 10 college was not nearly as good an experience because the students just weren’t as bright.</li>
<li>I certainly have done well financially with my degree. I did get a bachelor’s in Business Administration (BBA, what you get if you go to the now “Ross” school at Michigan). But I spent two years in LS&A before starting business school (I think it might be 3 semesters now instead of 4 now for students, but same concept). So it was a pretty marketable field, and the Michigan BBA is highly ranked.</li>
<li>A smorgesbord of academic opportunities. I bet I could have gone to college for 25 years there and still not have taken all the courses I would like to try.</li>
<li>Michigan football in the Big House – nothing like it. :)</li>
<li>Ann Arbor is such a great college town. Restaurants, bookstores, funky shopping areas. I still go back all the time when I am in Michigan (live elsewhere now). Have been giving some thought lately to moving back to that area, actually.</li>
</ul>

<p>I am not blind, however, to the downsides. I think the main issues for me are larger class sizes (esp. in intro classes) and many courses taught by TAs. In spite of the constant battle against this, a lot of them do not speak English very well. I found it difficult enough to learn Chem and Finance without the language barrier – that was a big problem for me. These are likely to be problems at any large research university, though. As I said, my kids are going elsewhere for undergrad (#1 to an LAC, #2 probably going the LAC route as well) primarily for this reason. But I will be thrilled if they end up at grad school in Ann Arbor.</p>

5

<p>motherlordship, when I have time I will post a more personally-related endorsement, but in the meantime here’s a thread you may find helpful: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/1130505-101-reasons-why-stanford-awesome.html?highlight=101+stanford[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/1130505-101-reasons-why-stanford-awesome.html?highlight=101+stanford&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>intparent, you must have gone to Michigan in the 80s. When I went to Michigan in the early 90s, there was a minimum language requirement for TAs put in places. It has been highly unlikely to get a TA who does not speak English perfectly for the least 20 years. Of course, that one may have the misfortune of having a TA who is not fluent in English, but it is very rare.</p>

<p>Also, TAs do not teach classes at Michigan. They may lead discussion sections, but even that is rare past the intro level.</p>

<p>That being said, Michigan has large lectures at the intro level, but that is to be expected of any major research university. Even my friends at schools like Columbia, Harvard, Northwestern and Stanford complained of Freshman classes with 300 students. I personally did my graduate studies at Cornell and I saw first hand how even smaller private universities has as many large lectures and use TAs as frequently as Michigan. </p>

<p>To the OP, the thread named “Is Michigan weak in any way” at the top of the page answers many of your questions.</p>

7

<p>Mother, are you in-state or out-of-state? Of course, the answer has no bearing on MY response about our son’s satisfaction with Michigan. But you might get additional insight by sharing that info, and also including what area of study your son or daughter might pursue.</p>

<p>In our case, we feel doubly blessed that we’re in-state for Michigan, and that our son garnered a generous merit award to attend. He is a super lucky guy, because his area of study is music, and the odds of both having a nationally top-drawer conservatory in your state that a) admits you at all and b) gives you academic merit money is, well, normally a longshot.</p>

<p>Michigan was his first choice among many very attractive programs at pretty elite universities, in part, because he enjoyed the variety and diversity it offered and in part due to the specific teachers in his highly specialized area of music/technology/composition. For music students, you want to attend where the mentors are. His department and the SOM have truly some of the best of the best in terms of teachers. I suspect that is true elsewhere in highly ranked programs. You can see the difference in his work from the start to end of a term. It’s quite remarkable. That corroborates his own assessment of his teachers as “awesome” – even the ones who are brutal :wink: (He has, no doubt, been challenged to stretch himself.)</p>

<p>In our case, we’ve been extremely happy with the leadership of his department, his skill development, support and personal attention he’s received. His classes are virtually all intimate in nature – but that comes with the territory of his major and is not necessarily true of other majors with first year weeder lectures.</p>

<p>He loves Ann Arbor, the “vibe” and the variety. The facilities are top notch for his field – and I believe you’ll find that true in many disciplines due to strong Alumni participation and robust endowment.</p>

<p>I agree that students learn most from their peers in a student body and Michigan has been a great fit for him – all walks of life, very diverse, but very intelligent and creative overall. He’s met some exceptionally talented people who he admires.</p>

<p>In terms of downsides, there is a collection of them that I suspect frequent most large research universities – in electives, registration and scheduling can be an issue and you don’t always get what you want. Though a well-oiled machine, given its size, UMich is given to the odd bureaucratic snag here and there. Eg. it seems to have difficulty matching grad requirements with the SOM requirements online, etc. Some system errors can put you in mind of the movie Brazil ;)</p>

<p>Housing resources can be scarce in that you don’t have a lot of control over where you end up at least in Freshmen and soph years, but in our case, we weren’t worried about that. Some facilities are newish/nice…some old, small, a little weary. All seem relatively expensive, but demand for housing near the U. in AA is very high, so you get what you get.</p>

<p>If you are out of state, I would be of two minds. On one hand, I feel UMich is pretty unique in its spirit, network, robust endowment, resources and overall academic quality. You can find small, socratic style learning opportunities, as well as the more traditional large uni-style classes.</p>

<p>But at the same time, out-of-state full pay is exceedingly expensive. While it will be slightly less expensive than at a top ranked private, it will be considerably more than <em>many</em> other OOS schools. So in terms of “value” - it’s really more fit and discipline specific. Eg. if your son or daughter wanted to do theater/broadway/music theater - then yes, every bit as worthy as a handful of other schools similarly well regarded in those areas.</p>

<p>If your son or daughter wanted to study a general bachelors in English and you lived in a state with strong options, I might wonder that you’d be able to find a comparable and more economic fit there. So it’s all about context and fit at the end of the day.</p>

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<p>Hi! I’m not a student at JHU (but i am applying ED this year). you may be interested in looking at this</p>

<p>[Johns</a> Hopkins University Office of Undergraduate Admissions - Student Life - Meet the Students](<a href=“http://apply.jhu.edu/studentlife/meet.html]Johns”>http://apply.jhu.edu/studentlife/meet.html)</p>

9

<p>Perhaps reading the 101 reasons to attend Rice that is stickied on this forum will help you be able to write your application essay(s).</p>

10

<p>I have heard that the TA language issue is still very much present from college friends whose kids are attending now/have attended in the last 10 years. There was testing in place when I went as well, but somehow an awful lot of the TAs seemed able to fudge it someone and get in. Agree that it is mostly 100 and 200 level course sections that have TAs, but then again… when the lecture has 200 people in it, and you see the TA for more time than you are in lecture, who are you going to get help from? Some classes only have sections (Calculus comes to mind), no lecture (if there is a professor, you don’t see them). And at least when I was there, the TAs did indeed do the grading for the classes. They graded papers, exams, and quizzes. The professors in intro classes with sections did NO grading whatsoever.</p>

<p>But I believe this is not just an issue at Michigan.</p>

11

<p>I am an alumni from a long time ago. What made MIT a great school for me was the opportunities there. I got involved in the Undergraduate Student Research Program (UROP). One of the groups I was involved with even had a NASA research contract to fund the work we were doing. Cutting edge stuff and very exciting. I also learned so much from those projects, much more than just from the classroom alone. Those research projects gave me a huge head start on my engineering career.</p>

<p>Everyone at MIT will have great GPAs/SAT scores. But what seems to set the admitted students apart from those who were granted admission is that the admitted students took advantage of their opportunities in high school. They knew how to push themselves especially outside the classroom. In order words, they were the high achievers. So when you mix high achievers with almost boundless opportunities, you have a great school. </p>

<p>The intellectual environment and the students sense of achievement create an excitment that is hard to understand unless you are part of it. I toured the school with my daughter who was thinking of applying (in the end, she did not) and didn’t get that feeling. It was disappointing to me as an alumni and was wondering what happened. Some time later, I went back to my fraternities alumni weekend (my first after many years living on the west coast) and met many old and recent alumni as well as current students. Talking to them, that old feeling of excitement came back. The students were smart and engaged in lots of exciting things and showed lot of enthusiasm. </p>

<p>So, if you asking this question wondering about attending MIT, be assured it is a great school. It is by no means the only great school but certainly is one of them.</p>

12

<p>I don’t know if its necessarily the language barrier, but rather the accent that causes the problem. I have friends who complain that they can’t understand their calc lectures cause the accents are so thick.</p>

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<p>Mother --</p>

<p>When you’re dealing with the top 15 or 20 universities, it’s safe to say you’ll get an excellent education and excellent job or graduate school prospects at any. The differences just aren’t that great (except, arguably for HYPSM – and even then, I’m not positive).</p>

<p>So, I think it comes down to intangibles, programs and educational philosophy.</p>

<p>My D is currently a sophomore. FWIW, she chose NU over Cornell, Wash U, Michigan and a few others. </p>

<p>Intangibles – from the moment she set foot on campus, she fell in love with it. It was one of the very few schools that we called “smiley” schools, meaning she was smiling ear to ear when she visited.</p>

<p>Program – she was applying for Engineering – it’s a very highly ranked E school. Others may have been a spot or two higher, but not enough to make any practical difference.</p>

<p>Philosophy – at Engineering, NU emphasized a hands on approach that work with teams. They also have Engineering First program – which exposes students to a broad range of engineering concepts early on. It also has a strong internship program. All of these resonated with her and were major selling points.</p>

<p>The rest – she is very happy there – loves it. Intellectual environment – it’s great (but I think this is the case at any peer school).</p>

14

<p>Completely agree with zephyr15. S (a sophomore) chose NU - engineering for precisely the same reasons; what tipped his choice over other highly ranked schools (which he was considering along with NU) was the additional allure of the ISP program and the overall student body.</p>

15

<p>I’m an MIT alum from what is getting to be a long time ago – I graduated in 2006. I’m also married to an alum, who graduated in 2007. </p>

<p>MIT was a fantastic place for both of us. We were both heavily involved in our respective UROPs, and we both kept ourselves in classwork up to our ears by taking slates of fascinating, challenging courses. He majored in aerospace engineering, and I doubled in biology and brain and cognitive sciences. We lived in the same dorm, and many of the people who remain our closest friends are those who lived in our dorm with us. </p>

<p>Since graduation, my husband has worked as an aerospace engineer. He’s now starting his own company, which is a pretty common thing for MIT-educated engineers to do. I went from MIT to the top-ranked PhD program in my field, which isn’t exactly as financially lucrative as being an engineer, but it’s very intellectually fulfilling.</p>

16

<p>Rice is fantastic at academics, but what sets it appart is the student experience. Very few schools of this class place as much emphasis on the social experience compared to academics. Rice is a place for unconventional students who want more out of their college experience than solely their degree. If you are smart but also like spending time getting to know other interesting people and contributing your talents towards the community, then you will fit in at Rice.</p>

17

<p>I could give you a whole bunch of reasons but the most interesting part is that me, being almost 40 years older than gainfully employed, just graduated S1, and S1 think UChicago is great for completely different reasons. You can bet we are both right. That’s what makes it a great school.</p>

18

<p>I will give you one reason (among many). I am an alumnus of the college and the law school. My son just started UChicago as a freshman. When he was considering which colleges to attend, I told him about how we would have late night discussions in people’s dorm rooms about politics, philosophy, etc. When I related this story to friends whose children are currently attending prestigious colleges, I was told that my “ancient” college experience was not relevant to current college life. Well, my son has been at school for 2 weeks now, and guess what? lots of late night discussions about politics, philosophy, etc. (although of course there have been less serious activities as well). While I’m sure that UChicago has changed over time, I am so glad that the part of UChicago that I have known and loved has stayed the same.</p>

19

<p>I think Berkeley is a very special place.</p>

<p>Berkeley is recognized as one of the world’s leading universities, and our students have opportunities to participate in a remarkable range of activities. Through academic courses taught by renowned professors, research and public service opportunities, and an extraordinary breadth of extracurricular activities — Berkeley University prepares students to take on the great challenges of the day and become the next generation of leaders.
Multidisciplinary research and teaching are at the heart of recent university-wide initiatives on human health, the environment and sustainability, international affairs and the arts. These initiatives offer our faculty and students opportunities for collaboration across disciplines that will be key to future advances.
Our undergraduate students are an important part of these efforts. Berkeley undergraduates have opportunities to study with faculty in small classes from their first days on campus, participate in study abroad or spend a quarter in Washington, D.C. Many students become involved in faculty research or develop their own projects and discover the excitement of being at the edge of a field and advancing the frontier of knowledge.</p>

<p>The pioneering spirit that inspired Jane and Leland Berkeley to establish this university more than a century ago encourages boldness in everything we do — whether those efforts occur in the library, in the classroom, in a laboratory, in a theater or on an athletic field.</p>

<p>We hope that you, too, find your place at Berkeley.</p>

<p>I think if you read those words carefully, and really integrate what I’ve tried to convey to you into your admissions essay, you will be a shoe-in candidate.</p>

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<p>“From the outside looking in you can’t understand it and from the inside looking out you can’t explain it.” [The</a> University of Notre Dame | Any Given Day - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>