<p>You will find partying kids on almost every college campus. Probably more on state campuses…and due to the sheer numbers, they are very visible. </p>
<p>I do believe that a State U can be a harsher environment for those who are slipping though. I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Kids get off track sometimes, and if you support them, they can come out looking good on the other side.</p>
<p>Way back in the beginning of this thread, I interpreted the OP’s question as, “Why do people trash state universities, and how can I respond when they make me feel bad?” In an earlier post I gave him/her some suggestions–basically, ignore them, and make the most of your college opportunities. The rest of the thread reminds me that my own son’s experience at a state flagship doesn’t bear much, if any, resemblance to the negatives often thrown around on CC. And maybe because I have summer heat overload, it kinda makes me want to just read about pets, summer beach reads, and James Taylor in Parent Cafe instead. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>good idea, let’s all switch over to the James Taylor thread.</p>
<p>Maybe a few rounds of James Taylor’s “Carolina on my mind” or “I was a fool to care” might be appropriate here right about now??</p>
<p>He didn’t go to college, but he has a couple of honorary degrees.</p>
<p>Just wondering, what state universities might one encounter driving from Stockbridge to Boston? And what’s wrong with them?</p>
<p>^^ Whichever ones are there, they are filled with drunk fraternity kids.</p>
<p>monydad-
JT told the story (at the concert) of his writing that song for his newborn nephew (named after him), as a “cowboy lullaby”… rockabye sweet baby James.</p>
<p>OK back to griping about state schools vs Private LACs and U’s</p>
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<p>I’m certain that’s true. And it reminds me that my own daughters’ experience at a two different Ivy league schools doesn’t bear much, if any, resemblance to the negatives often thrown around on CC.</p>
<p>Monydad,
UMASS Amherst is on the way from Stockbridge, MA to boston. Along with the drunken Frat boys that you can find at almost any college, you will find a thriving university full of opportunity for the student that is compelled to take advantage of it. Again, just like most colleges.</p>
<p>^^ Agreed, coureur, but here we go again: I am not disparaging private/Ivy League schools or experiences! Which goes to show that it isn’t black and white. The young adults I know have had good, bad, and indifferent experiences at every imaginable kind of college and university–mostly good, I’m happy to say.</p>
<p>Look, I think we all know that there’s nothing “wrong” with either type of university (except for the sticker prices, of course). Furthermore, while there may be things “different” based on private vs. public, both the degree of difference and its importance to one’s education and career are often grossly exaggerated.</p>
<p>post #281
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<p>post #279
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<p>That can be a pretty rough road financially for parents who are making sacrifices and borrowing money to pay the tuition.</p>
<p>I have read all of the posts and finally feel compelled to reply. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>All state universities are not created equal. Some states take education more seriously than others. This is seen more clearly during the economic crisis. Parents and students need to be informed consumers and ask questions. Not just how many classes are taught by TAs but how about adjunct professors. Many states are replacing full-time professors with professors that are paid by the class. Some are clearly not committed to the position. For example, the professor who told the class she wouldn’t hold a final review because she had to go home and “stain her deck.”</p></li>
<li><p>People assume that because you are paying less it must be a bargain. Sometimes you get what you pay for.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>i missed the part about drunk frat guys being a bad thing</p>
<p>When people ask “what’s wrong with state universities?” the same could be asked about private universities and colleges. </p>
<p>It’s not accurate to lump together community colleges, regional campuses, and flag staff universities, because they are in many ways more different than their analog in the private sphere. Nor is it accurate to lump together liberal arts colleges (of all “tiers”), private research universities, and regional and religious universities/ colleges, and “for profit” universities. For instance some (probably very few on College Confidential) chose between a community college and University of Phoenix. I also believe that there is a difference of being at an absolutely “top” school where “everybody” is “academically smart” versus a public or private institution with a wider rage of student abilities, and possibly an honors program. And if a school is big enough, and the student doesn’t put enough effort into studying then it is entirely possible to “get lost in the shuffle” and flunk out whether the school is Cornell or Big 10 U. </p>
<p>People also don’t always consider that not everybody pays the “list” price to attend colleges and the “list” price is not always the amount spent on education (ie money from the state or endowment). </p>
<p>Thus, the problem about answering these questions is that many try to answer them via stereotypes, generalizations, and preconceived notions when they are comparing apples to oranges.</p>
<p>Massachusetts isn’t really a state that takes public education seriously. Apart from UMass-Amherst, which has a terrible party school reputation and nobody takes seriously in my town of good students, there’s UMass-Lowell and UMass-Boston and those aren’t very good schools either.</p>
<p>New England, with the exception of UVM and UConn suffers from a lack of good public schools. This probably is due to the many private colleges and the fact that many people are willing to pay $50,000+ for college.</p>
<p>Pierre,
Massachusetts is nationally ranked at number two in quality of public education. Maryland is number one this year.</p>
<p>As a MA public school teacher, I can assure you that MA takes public education very seriously.</p>
<p>I remember there was a thread on the selection among those who were cross admitted to IVY schools. Any one has the same type of data on the students who got in both IVY and State U? </p>
<p>In DS’s HS, I know one kid went to HYP instead taking Morehead to UNC Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>Hmmm. I agree that New England has relatively unimpressive public universities compared to some other states. But I can’t see rating UConn or Vermont much higher than UMass-Amherst (or higher at all). And, yes, Massachusetts takes public education very seriously. But historically it didn’t exactly have a burning need to create top-quality institutions to educate its most talented middle-class students, since it had a few excellent (to say the least) private institutions that largely took care of that. And those institutions owned (and to a large extent still own) the loyalty of state legislators and bureaucrats who were part of the institutions’ alumni networks. </p>
<p>I also wonder whether part of the issue with New England’s public universities is this: Many public university systems were originally funded in the 19th Century by federal land grants or other state-owned public resources. New England, though, was almost entirely settled prior to that; it had no public lands to speak of (and no mineral wealth or oil reserves, either). Could that have had something to do with its underdeveloped public higher educations systems? Someone here on CC probably knows the answer.</p>