<p>Why is that funny?</p>
<p>well, why didn’t you provide any other success stories from the other state schools.</p>
<p>I was just listing a few. I’m not going to spend time going through all of them…</p>
<p>"A 2.0 from Harvard & Columbia will take you more places than a 3.5 from ohio state. "</p>
<p>Wow, that’s pretty ignorant…written by someone who probably could not get into either Harvard, Columbia, or Ohio State. It would be true that a 2.0 from [insert respected university] is better than a 3.5 from [insert one-step up from community college]. But since this guy used Ohio State as your example, that’s when we get into the realm of insanity.</p>
<p>Sometimes public universities are just as prestigious if not more so than private schools. I’ve seen a lot of private schools that just accept anyone and make great financial aid offers. It’s harder to get into some public schools, and much harder to make public schools affordable through financial aid.</p>
<p>In the end, it’s probably a good rule to assume that it’s tough to go wrong with any flagship public university (i.e. Ohio State-Columbus, UT-Austin, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Univ of Missouri-Columbia, etc, etc). I know UCLA and Michigan are some of the most selective schools in the country. I would have liked to go to Michigan, too.</p>
<p>Another example: I applied to SMU, Tulsa, and TCU; got accepted and got great finaid offers from SMU and TCU. Then I applied to Michigan, got outright rejected. Also applied to OSU and OU…of all of those, OSU is where I am going next year.</p>
<p>Public universities have huge Greek scenes, better facilities, proud athletic traditions, beautiful old campuses, more campus organizations, better study abroad programs, and just more opportunities in general. There’s also one thing public universities almost ALWAYS have over private schools: a really cool college town.</p>
<p>I completely agree with the common misconception that rankings is everything.</p>
<p>I have a personal dilemma which I hope somebody can help me with.
I’ve been accepted to UMinnesota at Twin Cities Honors Program in the CLA, and I’m trying to choose between it and UChicago</p>
<p>I have relatives in Uminn, which would save me the housing costs etc. UMinn’s tuition is almost half of Uchicago’s.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, I really like UChicago’s programs, larger variety in majors, general reputation and atmosphere as well as smaller class sizes. Despite the Honors Program at UMinn boasting smaller classes/seminars and personal advising, the same is offered in UChicago, just not without the fancy cum laude and Honors stamped across the diploma.</p>
<p>So is it worth the Honors program at a university I’m not quite sure I’ll like, but is still really good and MUCH cheaper, or should I choose the university i’m quite enamoured with and just take out loads of student loans?</p>