I am contractually obligated to say Penn State. :D

The...interesting...thread has begun.

LOL @ the bolded

Really.

I think it absolutely is if one is saying that just because a school has the name of a religion/denomination in its own name, the school must automatically be ruled out. That's what I was referring to and that makes no sense at all to me.

That does indeed suck, but thanks for the reminder/reality check/perspective.

Alrighty then. :p

(I guess Wesleyan is out, too.)

Any school with a religion, denomination, or religious leader in the name is ruled out. I am talking about my dislike for particular names. I don't care about anything more in depth than that.

Just like I'm sure you said Duke for a particular reason regardless of anything positive I can say about Duke. ;)

UF. They've begun admitting far too many kids than they can handle just to get the money; they're admitting more and more out-of-state students without reserving a specific number of spots for in-state students; they are flooded with applications from all over the country (following their decade of titles and championships) so they pick all the best (which they should) but have done nothing to improve class sizes, professors' salaries, or to insure at all that all of these smart kids they're bringing in are getting their money's worth or even a good education.

Florida IS a good school, but not as good as it should be for everything they're doing. They're bringing in stupid amounts of money and feeding it directly into sports programs and other things that don't directly benefit the entire student population. (The dorm my dad stayed in still doesn't have air conditioning. NOT okay for Gainesville.) They're into some sheisty business. My father and grandfather both went to Florida and just last year resigned their membership from the Gator Nation as they can't justify giving them money anymore.

Not to mention their fans are assholes. But that's just a little side note. Sort of. Not really. I've never less gracious people.

/:mad:

Fair enough, especially for this Very Serious Thread.

LOL . . . like anything positive can possibly be said about Duke. :p



(You'll never win. I'm irresistible, you fool, give in! Give in! Give in!)

;)

sidebar/
And in case people don't know, there are plenty of people (including employers) who judge schools based on what others consider trivial and/or incorrect. There are employers who will hire someone who went to the school of their favorite team; and wouldn't hire someone who went to the rival school. Thus is the world of preferences, networking, and blahzey blah.
/sidebar

:p http://today.duke.edu/2011/06/humanities

I already know you're irresistible and I shall give in! Give in! :eek: What's this thread about again?

Two Florida words that live in infamy around here: Teddy Dupay

When he undercut Mateen Cleaves in the NCAA title game in 2000, it sealed a very strong dislike for Florida throughout the state of Michigan. The kid was a thug then and went on to prove himself even more of a thug after college.

Anywhere that is without argument considered the South.

As a Cal grad I do feel the need to point out that much of the "left wing" image of Cal comes from the surrounding community and not the student body. Granted, I went there for grad school, but it was pretty obvious to me then (which was not TOO long ago, though "long ago" gets longer each year) that the undergrads are super focused on academics. Freshman year, in particular, is known for being extremely academically unforgiving.
I think in comparing Stanford and Cal, you would see that the Stanford undergraduate student body is probably along the same lines politically. However, Stanford is surrounded by a very affluent community that is slightly conservative (by Bay Area standards) while Cal is surrounded by one of the looniest cities in the nation. I think both schools offer exceptional academic opportunities for their students.
With that said, I can understand a parent's concerns. The first time I saw the hippies on Telegraph marching naked (I don't know if they still do that, which was completely different from the guy who refused to wear clothing to class...I think I am hurting my argument :o), I was competely caught off guard. By the time I graduated I was not phased at all.

I strongly concur with the opinion on Bob Jones and Oral Roberts. I met a young lady who graduated from Bob Jones who was the spouse of a younger naval officer. Sweet girl for the most part, but extremely homophobic and guardedly racist. I did talk to her at several social events (I felt bad for her, as she was rather isolated from her peers). She indicated to me that interracial dating was not not tolerated at Bob Jones and any openly gay students would be expelled by the university. I also got the feeling that women were discouraged from aspiring to leadership roles on the campus.

Also, "Bob Jones" sounds odd. Why not "Robert Jones University"?

One of the most unpleasant people I have ever met in my life was a graduate of Oral Roberts. The guy was a total misogynist and one of the worst parents I have ever encountered. Granted, a small sample size, but he apparently really loved attending college there.

As other posters noted, schools like Southern Methodist may have orginally had religious ties, but are pretty much secular now.

Haha! Hilarious typo on my part. Will teach me that typing and the second glass of wine do not mix.

This is where I am too, and have been interested to read others opinions.

I don't know if it has changed since I was in school, but one of my best friends went to an Ivy while I went to a private university. I was ineligible for financial aid due to my parents' salaries, and I don't know her exact tuition, but her family was much like mine and she was not on financial aid. My private university did not give out much in the way of financial aid at all, either- most was relegated towards full scholarships for those that couldn't afford it. While it is nice that my family could afford it, I doubt that my husband and I could do the same if my child(ren) decided to attend my alma mater. I can put down some costs of both my out-of-state public university and my private university, but don't want to get too personal, but suffice to say that I would need at least a $30k grant per year in order to offset the cost between the two.

I also think that the Ivies have a great alumni network across the country (in some areas more than others), but so do most larger universities as well. I'm even surprised of the large alumni network I have found myself in, as my college was not large at all. If my kid desperately wanted to be, say, a lawyer, and had his/her heart set on an Ivy for undergrad and grad, that would be a different story. But if they didn't know what they wanted to do, there are plenty of other schools that would probably be a better fit.

The Ivies and a couple of other like-minded schools only provide need-based aid, not merit-based. They don't need to attract attract star applicants with the lure of a merit scholarship. The Estimated Family Contribution is calculated using the CSS Profile (more extensive than FAFSA). The CSS Profile's idea of a student's EFC and what the family thinks it can afford are sometimes very different.

That being said, if the student DOES qualify for need-based aid, the FA package will probably have a higher percentage of outright grants vs. loans/work-study since these schools have huge endowments.