Flip side: Over my dead body my daughter would go to...
 

I had to laugh on the If you could send your daughter anywhere thread and southbymidwest, an Ohio State grad, said she would send her daughter to Michigan. Well, I didn't really laugh. I was shocked and hope she doesn't get reported to the OSU authorities. :eek:

So how about the flip side? Which schools fall into the (tongue in cheek) "over my dead body would my daughter ever attend that school"? Are there any schools that you seriously would not want your daughter to attend?

I would not want my daughter to go to Michigan. Not even if she got a full ride scholarship and we had to sell our house to send her somewhere else. I dislike the school that much. Any other Big Ten schools is fine, but not that school in Ann Arbor.

And we're fairly conservative in our views so anything super liberal would be on our no list as well.

An Ivy.

Ok, not really. Obviously I wouldn't forbid that :p But I do think that Ivies are pretty overrated, and the degree of competition among the students is ridiculous and unnecessary at many of them. Also, many Ivy-goers I've talked to seem really unhappy in general. Yes, of course they're getting a great education. But I think the "warm fuzzy" factor and loving your alma mater is so important, and I think that's more prevalent at non-Ivies that are still great schools.

But if my future kids are brilliant and will survive in a pressure cooker, I suppose they could go. As long as they didn't choose their school based on its name alone!

You're a brave woman to call out the Ivies. But I agree. And are the students getting a great education or great connections? I think the Ivies have become more and more about the connections. There are so many schools out there with excellent Honors Colleges that can offer students just as much educationally, if not more. No, they won't get the same professional connections an Ivy will have. But I agree that in some ways the Ivies are overrated.

With the huge bubble in higher education, it is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next couple of decades. More and more families are saying no way to taking on massive amounts of debt just for the perceived prestige of a school.

This could be an...interesting...thread.

"Over my dead body" will my son or daughter attend a for-profit school for a bachelor's degree.

Just trying to shake things up until recruitment starts in a few weeks and we can start enjoying recruitment stories again! :D

You all can enjoy recruitment stories. :) I never do.

Oregon State or UW.


Both are great schools, I just have to say it to preserve my alum status. However, they will get crap during football season.

I know that some are waiting for me to say Bama or Ole Miss. :D However, I have to agree with KSUViolet and Dr. Phil about the for-profit schools.

For profits are OUT. Out out out.

Also: Bob Jones University, Oral Roberts...anything ending in "Bible College".

To be clear, I'm not anti-religiously affiliated university (I'm an observant Catholic who went to a Methodist college, and then to a university founded by papal bull!), but I'm against a university choice that may negatively impact a prospective employer's view of them.

Since my husband and I are child-free, I'm going to go ahead and say this is for my future niece/nephew (s). But my brother is a smart guy and won't let that happen.

Ohio State. Obviously.

A little piece of me died when my nephew went to Iowa State. But that's still preferable to Ohio State. HA!

My hypothetical future children can go wherever they want to go, I suppose, but I will not financially support them attending a for-profit university or any school that is not accredited (such as Bob Jones). I would have serious reservations about paying for most religiously-affiliated schools. Hopefully, my children won't want to go to any of these places anyway, since they will have been raised in my house.

Add this to my list of negatives.

Anything named "(insert ANY religion, denomination, or religious leader) College/University" is a BIG NO.

Other than a Bob Jones/Liberty/BYU "bible college," or a for-profit/college.com set-up, I can't get too wrapped up. I wouldn't want my kid to go to a large state school--50,000 undergrads?! Other than that, I don't have a ton of issues with other schools. Okay, maybe Fordham because all the women I know who went there for college are bitches.

I'm sure my parents didn't want to send me to a college 1,600 miles away and cost $35,000/year (that was 12 years ago, I know it's much more now), but they knew it was for my own good. Hopefully I'll have that same perspective.

:D It helps that I have not lived in the midwest for awhile, even though my heart is still there, so I am removed from the intensity of it all. Must admit though, I definitely miss being in a college town (where football is relevant) on football Saturdays.

For many years I would have said Penn State. I knew a couple of people that graduated from there that I absolutely despised, so it colored my vision on all things PSU. Ahhh, the young and stupid. Now I have friends who went to PSU or have kids there, and I like them, so PSU has moved off my blackstar of death list. Except when they play OSU. In anything.

If we did not live in such a large urban area with a billion universities and colleges, I would not be exactly thrilled if my daughter chose to remain local for college, gotta get some air under those wings honey...

Illinois -- it's just too big, even with the great Greek system. :)

I have to agree about not sending my children anywhere that is for-profit or non-accredited. I would also have serious reservations about them getting their bachelor's online, unless there was a very good reason that they needed to do things that way.

However, I can't agree that I would refuse to send my child to a school with a religious affiliation. Though my partner and I are not religious people, there are some very fine institutions of higher education that are religiously affiliated and it would be a mistake to exclude them. I think college is an important time to be exposed to other world views and experiences, and as long as religion is not foisted upon the students at every turn, I think it's healthy to be exposed to it and/or to take a required religion course. I also think the emphasis on service learning and social justice that many of these schools have is admirable. That said, any school that requires its students to be of a certain religion or makes an effort to exclude or silence certain groups (such as LGBTQ students) would absolutely be out.

Finally, I absolutely would not want my child to choose to attend a school solely because of its prestige. I attended a very highly ranked private university and while I would be thrilled to send my child there, I wouldn't want him or her to attend just because of the name. I have seen too many college students choose a more highly ranked university over a less highly ranked one because of the "bumper sticker" factor, even though the less prestigious university would have been a better fit.

Question:

Is a for-profit college any private one, or any non-state school?

Just curious.

Nope. Most private universities are non-profit.

For-profits are often (though not always) online - i.e. Kaplan, University of Phoenix, etc.

For-profit schools are run by organizations whose goal it is to turn out a profit. While not-for-profit schools receive donations and tuition payments, that money goes back to the Universities, either through operating expenses or endowments.

Auburn, Ohio State, Notre Dame

Alabama and Ole Miss are both NO-GO's for my kids.

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification. I only asked because I couldn't think of a "for profit" school.


Two schools:

Michigan
USC (cal)

I will give my children the same criteria my parents gave me:

Any school I choose as long as it is not in Oxford, MS. :D

Or I could do like my father and say that you can go anywhere you want but the only one I'm paying for is Alabama.

I couldnt agree with this statement more!!!

What's with Michigan? Just curious.

I wouldn't want to see my kid take on a ton of debt...so I would very strongly suggest he/she stick to more affordable options ( or get a great scholarship). Or join the military! That is what I did :)

I just did online research and UTX Austin (49,984 total enrollment) is larger that U of IL Champaign (41,620 total enrollment). U WISC Madison is not much smaller (40 thousand plus) so my traditional argument against Illinois fails. It is still the state university to send your child to if he/she can get in. :)

If I had a daughter and she wanted to go to Michigan, I would fully support her. And furthermore, if she wanted to go to ANY Big Ten school, I would have no problem. All twelve schools are terrific research institutions with tough programs.

I guess I am very opposite of you. If she decided to go to a super conservative school, I would cut off all funding. I have a friend whose DD did that and while she is an A student, she can't think for herself.

I quite honestly don't care where my future children go to college as long as they go to college. My biggest thing though is that unless they get scholarships, I don't know if I could afford out of state schools (as much as I would love to).

They definitely have to go to an accredited university. While I may be going to a for profit school right now for my graduate work, as a working professional I think that is okay, I don't want my undergraduate 18 year old to do this. I want them to enjoy college like I did.

If my kid wants to go to an Ivy that is fine, I just don't think they are all they are cracked up to be.

I know. This seems to be tempting fate.

That said . . . Duke. :D


This!

Really? No Catholic University? No Southern Methodist University? No Presbyterian College?

University of Texas.

Proof God has a sense of humor - I married a man with two degrees from UT!

For me, No. No. Heck no (I've never even heard of it!).

I'm a school snob, I guess. I think I've earned the right to be one. :)

Really? You have never heard of SMU? If nothing else, it is mentioned regularly on these boards.

SMU is a strong academic school with very minimal association to the Methodist church. Like SMU, my own TCU (Texas Christian Univ) is not much more than name only. Freshmen year you are required to take one religion class, which can be either a Survey of the Bible or a World Religion course. There is not one aspect of any religion espoused by the faculty, administration, or any official aspect of the university.

Contrast that with Baylor, which does not have any religious word in its name, yet is crazy tied to the Southern Baptist in all aspects.

Anyway, it just seems like a broad brush to automatically eliminate schools with religion in the title. While some are quite tied to a demonations beliefs, others are more historically tied and now have VERY loose associations. And any employer who discounts a SMU or TCU student solely based on the demonation in the title is full of fail.

Penn State and Michigan. Well, they could go, but I'd cry. ;)

Also, I'd have to veto places like Sarah Lawrence or Berkeley... just too liberal for me. As for the Ivies, I'd have to win the lottery before they could go there!

Blondie, that's like Ohio Northern University. You wouldn't imagine it's tied to the Methodist church, but it is. And the University of Dayton is affiliated with the Catholic church. Hard to tell just by the title of the schools.

Clemson or Notre Dame.

My child under no circumstances will be going to Cal (Stanford is cheaper out of state and a nicer place to live besides), Notre Dame, or Baylor....

I might just be really depressed if they decided to go to West Point - so glad I talked my way out of that one. :D

No you wouldn't, because the Ivies - like lots of private schools - have excellent financial aid. Most of the Ivies pay almost the entire tuition now for their students. And many other private schools (such as my alma mater) have such nice endowments that they give generous grants and scholarships, making them possibly more affordable than a public university (certainly an out-of-state public).