Which College Provides the Best "College Experience?"

College Search & Selection
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<p>Thanks for the solid inputs guys! Much appreciated. One thing is that I noticed most of the schools mentioned are either large publics (not renowned for undergrad education - they just have a prestigious name; those aren’t the same thing) or mid-sized privates. I guess there doesn’t seem to be any “semi-LAC” schools where undergrad size is small and student spirit/athletics is also good? Oh well. </p>

<p>Here is the list I will be recommending (no real order) since they got the most recommendations:
Stanford
UCLA
UVa
Duke
Notre Dame
Michigan
Cal
UNC
USC</p>

<p>The ones I didn’t include just weren’t said as many times as these ones. If more people agree with Purdue, Boston College, Texas etc I’ll add them. </p>

<p>Thanks guys. If you have any other suggestions keep them coming. Maybe a lively LAC would be good to recommend just for some variety in this list.</p>

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<p>BC is a great school for “College Experience”</p>

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<p>I’d also say BC ranks up there.</p>

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<p>Lehigh would be a good option, although it is located in shabby bethlehem and lacks the national identity that the aforementioned schools offer. Lafayette would be a good option for a LAC. Its graduates fare well, although it is mainly known only in the Northeast. It’s not really known for its academics, but URichmond might be another LAC option.</p>

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<p>The faculty student ratio is 1/9 at USC.</p>

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<p>Stanford, USC, Cal, UCLA, Notre Dame, UNCCH, U of M, UVa, Duke, Penn State. </p>

<p>My list is almost exactly the same as g0ld’s. All do extremely well for all of the TC’s guidelines. </p>

<p>The top Ivies have even better recognition than any of what I have listed except Stanford and Cal, but all lack top-notch sports scenes. I will, however, say that Brown students probably feel more comaderie toward each other than alumni from any other school. </p>

<p>Stanford is probably the very tip-top in terms of everything the TC said. Amazing sports scene, superb reputation, extreme prestige, powerful alumni network, and located in the heart of the world’s most vibrant business community. Only Harvard clearly has a better reputation, but it lacks a good sports program that is just too important to exclude from the “overall college experience”.</p>

<p>The least selective school to experience everything the topic creator outlined is Penn State. Despite the recent scandals, it has great prestige and a superb sports scene. Overall, it is almost not befitting its actual academic performance.</p>

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<p>Check out the College of the Holy Cross.</p>

<p>[url=<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Cross_Crusaders]Holy”>Holy Cross Crusaders - Wikipedia]Holy</a> Cross Crusaders - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<a href=“%22The%20carrying%20of%2023%20Division%20I%20varsity%20programs%20gives%20Holy%20Cross%20the%20largest%20ratio%20of%20teams-per-enrollment%20in%20the%20country.%22”>/url</a></p>

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<p>Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Rice (Won Baseball title in 2003), Dartmouth</p>

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<p>Holy Cross ranks in the top 10 annually for highest alumni giving rates.</p>

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<p>Duke, ND, Stanford. All among the best for academics, alumni network, campus, sports etc. Advantage Duke for weather. Among top LAC’s, Williams, Davidson, Holy Cross, and Bowdoin. As mentioned by others Holy Cross has an incredible sports tradition-2 championships in basketball-NCAA and NIT, 1 NCAA title in baseball, 1 Orange Bowl appearance, storied golf and track programs, highly ranked Div1 hockey(top 25 this year), and Div1 Lacrosse and crew. For a small school under 3000 students HC has 25000 seat stadium built in the 1920’s and Holy Cross has played most Ivies for well over 100 years and HC has played the Ivies more than any other non-Ivy. Holy Cross has great alumni network.</p>