<p>Quote:</p>
<p>Ohio University
Miami University (Ohio)
Washington State University
Michigan State University
Kansas University
U of California-San Diego
Indiana University-Bloomington</p>
<p>LakeWashington, do you mean the University of Kansas (Lawrence) or Kansas State University (Manhattan)? They're both good schools and located in great college towns (I prefer Manhattan), just not sure which one you're referring to.</p>
<p>With in-state tuition I'd definitely apply to UVA, Uwisc, UCB, UCLA, UIUC.</p>
<p>We have visited several state universities over the last few months with our rising senior. From a parent's perspective, I will rank the ones we have seen and thoughts for each:</p>
<p>Virginia Tech: In the mountains, absolutely beautiful, very solid academics especially in architecture and engineering. Met so many great, down to earth kids who seem to have it all together, incredible sense of community and school spirit. Professors son talked to were absolutely impressive.</p>
<p>University of Georgia: Wonderful college town, good academics, incredible resources for their students (have you seen their student center or the natatorium? Oh my goodness!) Super nice kids, engaging professors.</p>
<p>University of South Carolina: Most areas of campus were beautiful: the Horseshoe, etc. Great resources for the students: the Strom Thurmond Center and the library were very impressive. Great school spirit, seems to be a school that is really on the rise academically as well. Very nice people there.</p>
<p>William and Mary: Small, lovely setting, incredibly tough academics- maybe too intense for the likes of some, the best bang for the buck LAC out there in my opinion. They didn't seem to have as much in the likes of school spirit. Seemed a bit one dimensional for my tastes. Can't beat the reputation it has in academics.</p>
<p>Clemson: Didn't impress me as much. Pretty school grounds, but we found the dorm we visited to be very poorly kept up and the presentation by the tour guide was lackluster at best. We visited in the summer, though, which could be part of it. The professors son talked to were not really enthusiastic either, which was a turn off to him. </p>
<p>UVA: Pretentious. Sorry to all of you UVA lovers out there, but to me it was. I made son go to look at it (to try to change his opinion) but I even felt the wrong kind of vibe. Then upon coming home, my neighbor,whose son is a sophomore at UVA, tells my son not to apply because her guy is very disappointed with his classes. He claims that most of his classes are being taught by TAs who are foreign and he can't understand. Oh well, I am sure for every student like that is one who absolutely loves the place. Just not me.</p>
<p>What exactly made UVA pretentious?</p>
<p>One of the biggest events is a steeplchase where everyone dresses up and gets stupid drunk.</p>
<p>Foxfield</a> Races - Charlottesville, Virginia</p>
<p>YouTube</a> - Foxfield 2007</p>
<p>UVA is not nearly as pretentious as people claim. UVA is pretty normal but a bit homogenous. And Barrons, not everyone goes to Foxfield you know.</p>
<p>Mint julep, anyone?</p>
<p>UNC all the way. Chapel Hill is such a perfect college town, and the people are nice. Plus, if you go home for summer, you can beat (most of) the Dixie heat.</p>
<p>^ That's a good thing, I reckon. :)</p>
<p>U.Va. and W&M are a different breed of public from others. 13,000 undergrads at U.Va., 6,000 at W&M compared to 30,000 elsewhere. A third of the student body's from out of state. At UNC, the OOS population is capped at something like 17%. At UCLA it's only 2%! A lot of the appeal of elite private schools is the smaller, more selective, more national peer group, and that's what you find at U.Va. and W&M.</p>
<p>Berkeley, by far. Everything clicks for me. =]</p>
<p>Other top choices would be UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, or UC Santa Barbara. Perhaps U Washington.</p>
<p>It's interesting, isn't it, how the two coasts are generally so focused on their end of the country. Nothing wrong with that. I just think it's interesting.</p>
<p>lol that's a good point.</p>
<p>Well, not on my coast, I would love to go to UCSB or like Michigan. Those two places are amazing as well.</p>
<p>I was tempted to add UIUC and Michigan, since I'm a Midwest native, but I thought my list was getting a bit long. =p</p>
<p>LOL! That's funny. Based on the fact that all your schools were on the West Coast, I would have sworn you were from there! My experience outside CA is that most people don't pay a lot of attention to WC schools and, to a somewhat lesser degree, vice versa.</p>
<p>I'm applying to New College. I'd love to go to Berkeley if I could as an OOS...lol.</p>
<p>Tarhunt, I had UDub on there :D</p>
<p>William and Mary without a doubt.</p>
<p>I really enjoy my college life here at Illinois, although I'd wish that engineering classes were a bit easier.</p>
<p>The only public school other than Illinois that I was interested back in HS days was Michigan (fantastic school, I would have attended Michigan for engineering if it was not in state tuiton for Illinois).</p>
<p>I'd hope I can get my MBA at Ross :)</p>
<p>Personally, I like U wisconsin-madison and Michigan state.</p>