what "good" college did you attend but would not necessarily recommend to your kids or others?

[Anonymous]

I am only writing about my own post which you keep twisting into a pretzel with some other poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Michigan

-- overwhelmingly huge; over 50,000 students, 30,000 undergrads
-- dovetailing above, bureaucracy is bloated beyond belief; it's daunting and exhausting
-- bottom 20% of LSA are legitimately dumb
-- location is cold and grey most of the school year
-- Mid-Michigan is dreary and isolated; spare me the Ann Arbor "great" college town rankings nonsense
-- Greek life and pseudo pro sports control campus
-- Lots of cocaine use
-- Everyone from out of state was rejected from all private top 20s and the top UC campuses, so they have an obnoxious insecure chip on their shoulder
-- dovetailing above, there's a lot of over-the-top and tacky bragging and flashing of money

If you truly seek a school environment like Michigan, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just go to USC. Or even Georgia, Clemson, UNC, Texas, UVA, Alabama. Honestly, nobody cares about Michigan "top 30" standing, our BA/BS degrees are treated like any other large public university.

Michigan is a top 25 school. It is located in southeast Michigan and not mid Michigan. Comments like, “legitimately dumb” and the tired statement of every OOS student being rejected from all higher ranked schools plays into a simpleton thought process. Furthermore, that you would compare it to Clemson or Alabama tells me you have never attended Michigan.

By the way IU are correct about one thing, Michigan does have a top 30 standing in world rankings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan

-- overwhelmingly huge; over 50,000 students, 30,000 undergrads
-- dovetailing above, bureaucracy is bloated beyond belief; it's daunting and exhausting
-- bottom 20% of LSA are legitimately dumb
-- location is cold and grey most of the school year
-- Mid-Michigan is dreary and isolated; spare me the Ann Arbor "great" college town rankings nonsense
-- Greek life and pseudo pro sports control campus
-- Lots of cocaine use
-- Everyone from out of state was rejected from all private top 20s and the top UC campuses, so they have an obnoxious insecure chip on their shoulder
-- dovetailing above, there's a lot of over-the-top and tacky bragging and flashing of money

If you truly seek a school environment like Michigan, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just go to USC. Or even Georgia, Clemson, UNC, Texas, UVA, Alabama. Honestly, nobody cares about Michigan "top 30" standing, our BA/BS degrees are treated like any other large public university.[/quote
Michigan is a top 25 school. It is located in southeast Michigan and not mid Michigan. Comments like, “legitimately dumb” and the tired statement of every OOS student being rejected from all higher ranked schools plays into a simpleton thought process. Furthermore, that you would compare it to Clemson or Alabama tells me you have never attended Michigan.

By the way IU are correct about one thing, Michigan does have a top 30 standing in world rankings.

Thanks for corroborating the statement about students ‘having a chip on their shoulder.’

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan

-- overwhelmingly huge; over 50,000 students, 30,000 undergrads
-- dovetailing above, bureaucracy is bloated beyond belief; it's daunting and exhausting
-- bottom 20% of LSA are legitimately dumb
-- location is cold and grey most of the school year
-- Mid-Michigan is dreary and isolated; spare me the Ann Arbor "great" college town rankings nonsense
-- Greek life and pseudo pro sports control campus
-- Lots of cocaine use
-- Everyone from out of state was rejected from all private top 20s and the top UC campuses, so they have an obnoxious insecure chip on their shoulder
-- dovetailing above, there's a lot of over-the-top and tacky bragging and flashing of money

If you truly seek a school environment like Michigan, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just go to USC. Or even Georgia, Clemson, UNC, Texas, UVA, Alabama. Honestly, nobody cares about Michigan's "top 30" standing, our BA/BS degrees are treated like any other large public university.

Michigan is a top 25 school. It is located in southeast Michigan and not mid Michigan. Comments like, “legitimately dumb” and the tired statement of every OOS student being rejected from all higher ranked schools plays into a simpleton thought process. Furthermore, that you would compare it to Clemson or Alabama tells me you have never attended Michigan.

By the way IU are correct about one thing, Michigan does have a top 30 standing in world rankings.

Thanks for corroborating the statement about students ‘having a chip on their shoulder.’

+1. Too predictable.

[Anonymous]

University of Rochester as a non-stem major. Got a large academic scholarship and was a multiple Gen legacy. I didn’t have much choice in the matter “back in the day.”

It was a fine experience but not the kind of ra ra make lifelong friends, intellectual type of college that others have.

Not something an 18 yr old would have known but my big regret is lack of name recognition outside NY. The expectation was that you would go direct to grad school. There was barely a career center and very weak alumni support.

I would not recommend for non-STEM majors, unless they plan to go directly to a brand name grad school. Of course, my DD wants pre-med so it’s on the list..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/freshmen-least-most-likely-return


Most of the top schools have exceptionally high retention rates. There are always going to be those who complain about their experiences. The vast majority of students attending the schools listed above at the upper end of the spectrum must be doing something right. Take that into consideration when reading these comments.

OP here.

There is a HUGE gulf between not recommending a school to your kid and hating it so much that you dropped out. Good grief.
I'm not going to enthusiastically suggest my daughter go to CWRU. I think she can have a better experience elsewhere. However, I wasn't miserable enough that I dropped out and moved home or transferred. The vast, VAST majority of students will stick out a less-than-ideal experience (especially at a competitive school).

This x1,000. Especially if a kid is receiving financial or merit aid. The prospect of applying out, figuring out how to pay for the new school, moving, etc. can be very daunting.

[Anonymous]

University of Notre Dame. Great sophomore year abroad programs but the school is in the middle of a cultural wasteland. Plus it’s gotten way too conservative for my kids in the last ten years.

[Anonymous]

replying to your own posts with +1 is weak

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:replying to your own posts with +1 is weak

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:replying to your own posts with +1 is weak

+1

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan

-- overwhelmingly huge; over 50,000 students, 30,000 undergrads
-- dovetailing above, bureaucracy is bloated beyond belief; it's daunting and exhausting
-- bottom 20% of LSA are legitimately dumb
-- location is cold and grey most of the school year
-- Mid-Michigan is dreary and isolated; spare me the Ann Arbor "great" college town rankings nonsense
-- Greek life and pseudo pro sports control campus
-- Lots of cocaine use
-- Everyone from out of state was rejected from all private top 20s and the top UC campuses, so they have an obnoxious insecure chip on their shoulder
-- dovetailing above, there's a lot of over-the-top and tacky bragging and flashing of money

If you truly seek a school environment like Michigan, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just go to USC. Or even Georgia, Clemson, UNC, Texas, UVA, Alabama. Honestly, nobody cares about Michigan's "top 30" standing, our BA/BS degrees are treated like any other large public university.

Michigan is a top 25 school. It is located in southeast Michigan and not mid Michigan. Comments like, “legitimately dumb” and the tired statement of every OOS student being rejected from all higher ranked schools plays into a simpleton thought process. Furthermore, that you would compare it to Clemson or Alabama tells me you have never attended Michigan.

By the way IU are correct about one thing, Michigan does have a top 30 standing in world rankings.

Thanks for corroborating the statement about students ‘having a chip on their shoulder.’

+1. Too predictable.

I didn't like Michigan either, but am aware that most people love it. I have to agree w/ a lot of what PP says. The weather is terrible not because it's so cold, but because it's so grey all the time. I also agree that there were A LOT of drugs...more than my friends from high school encountered at other top colleges across the country. There's also this kind of strange divide between the NY/NJ/DC/CA crowd vs. the MI students (excluding those MI students from Farmington, Bloomfield Hills, etc. who could hang w/ the NY/NJ, etc crowd). And the school is HUGE...I am completely steering my kids away from big schools. All that said, Ann Arbor is a great college town. I've visited a lot of college campuses at this point in my life and it's hands down one of the best in the country. I don't know how anyone can dispute that. But I didn't recommend U of M to my kid and he has no interest in even looking at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Notre Dame. Great sophomore year abroad programs but the school is in the middle of a cultural wasteland. Plus it’s gotten way too conservative for my kids in the last ten years.

Interesting considering it is a huge legacy school and the endowment is through the roof due to very happy alumni!

[Anonymous]

From these posts, it strikes me that a lot of Top 25 kids would be more comfortable at a Top 26-50 school. Basically, they could get a great education without the cut throat competition and sole focus on academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Notre Dame. Great sophomore year abroad programs but the school is in the middle of a cultural wasteland. Plus it’s gotten way too conservative for my kids in the last ten years.

At least this poster actually attended the school. Her kids probably couldn't get in today, though -- much tougher admit, even for legacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From these posts, it strikes me that a lot of Top 25 kids would be more comfortable at a Top 26-50 school. Basically, they could get a great education without the cut throat competition and sole focus on academics.

I think it's because times have changed and the parents know their kids can't get into the schools that their parents now say they wouldn't want their kids to go to anyway. A defense mechanism.