Why a Large Flagship/Public?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Big flagship publics are NOT the right place for a DMV snowflake. These schools are for self starters who have good time management skills and don’t melt down at the first sign of adversity. I came from a large public school where I was in the top 5% of my class of 450 or so, and the first semester was a major eye opener. You need resilience and a level head to make it through, especially as a pre-professional student competing with other pre-preprofessionals. It can be pretty dog eat dog, but I think prepared me for the realities of real life and ultimately I graduated from med school at the top of my class. Just food for thought when you think of what kind of kids go to large flagship publics.

This is a cope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why people think SLACs don't have tons of ECs. And obviously, it's easier to be in leadership at a SLAC if you're one of 25 seniors in an organization, as opposed to 250. And the notion that you're limited in what you can study? I suppose it's true that most SLACs don't offer animal husbandry or mining management. But they all have the same academic basics as the 30K student flagships.

As for meeting hundreds of new people, my sister went to an all-women's college with about 200 classmates and didn't know all of them. No human being makes more than about 200 actual friends/acquaintances in any social setting like a college. The fact that there are 10,000 other freshman to meet at Michigan doesn't really matter once you've met your 150-200. As someone else said, schools of that size are like small cities. No way will you encounter the vast majority of them much less be in touch with them 20 years later.

I went to a school with 1,200 fellow freshman. I'm in touch with about 150. I've had 3 non-super close friends (not people I invited to my wedding) ask me to take in their kids while they've been in DC for internships. They're obviously people who feel a connection with me after all these years. It's been a blast to catch up with them. I've worked with classmates who have brought me in on staff or as a consultant over the 30 years or so since we graduated. Our school was big enough to create a significantly sized alumni network but small enough that I was able to form strong bonds with lots of people. I wouldn't want any child of mine, even a self-starter go-getter like I was, to be at a school larger than mine as an undergrad.

Also, the state flagships tend to be among the least racially and economically diverse of the most selective schools available. The privates and the SLACs have the flexibility and political will to form diverse classes of students in ways that UT Austin and Michigan cannot.

When making a point, it’s a good idea to present accurate facts. Michigan has no where 10,000 students in its freshman class.

[Anonymous]

Michigan has no where near 10,000 students in its freshman class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My large public school provided no academic or mental health support to struggling students.

That is very difficult to believe. Perhaps they're not able to be proactively seeking out those who are struggling, but it would be seriously negligent (and legally risky) for them not to make mental health help available. I'm sorry for whatever struggles you may have had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Post after post about big state schools not being able to help "struggling" students. Is everybody crazy or something? What's up with all the damned "struggling?"

Parents coddle too much.

Some do coddle too much, but some are insensitive to the real struggles their kids are having and even contribute to them. It takes talent to find the right balance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why people think SLACs don't have tons of ECs. And obviously, it's easier to be in leadership at a SLAC if you're one of 25 seniors in an organization, as opposed to 250. And the notion that you're limited in what you can study? I suppose it's true that most SLACs don't offer animal husbandry or mining management. But they all have the same academic basics as the 30K student flagships.

As for meeting hundreds of new people, my sister went to an all-women's college with about 200 classmates and didn't know all of them. No human being makes more than about 200 actual friends/acquaintances in any social setting like a college. The fact that there are 10,000 other freshman to meet at Michigan doesn't really matter once you've met your 150-200. As someone else said, schools of that size are like small cities. No way will you encounter the vast majority of them much less be in touch with them 20 years later.

I went to a school with 1,200 fellow freshman. I'm in touch with about 150. I've had 3 non-super close friends (not people I invited to my wedding) ask me to take in their kids while they've been in DC for internships. They're obviously people who feel a connection with me after all these years. It's been a blast to catch up with them. I've worked with classmates who have brought me in on staff or as a consultant over the 30 years or so since we graduated. Our school was big enough to create a significantly sized alumni network but small enough that I was able to form strong bonds with lots of people. I wouldn't want any child of mine, even a self-starter go-getter like I was, to be at a school larger than mine as an undergrad.

Also, the state flagships tend to be among the least racially and economically diverse of the most selective schools available. The privates and the SLACs have the flexibility and political will to form diverse classes of students in ways that UT Austin and Michigan cannot.

Over 36% of Michigan's students are students of color, which is enough diversity to see many other ways of looking at life.

At Texas, it's a whopping 60% of students who are of color.

Also, you'll get nowhere near the economic diversity at SLACs. I attended both types of schools and was much happier and learned much more outside the classroom at the flagship university.

The benefits of LACs are many, and they're definitely the better place for many students, but you can't just make up facts to support an argument you'd like to be true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a brown URM I would never choose a LAC or SLACK because they tend to lack racial diversity. Public flagships have more people that look like me.

For the more rural LACs that can be true, but many LACs have a strong diversity of students, especially those that are more selective. You should check out their Common Data Sets to see the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Michigan has no where near 10,000 students in its freshman class.

Unless you consider 8000 to be close to 10,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My large public school provided no academic or mental health support to struggling students.

That is very difficult to believe. Perhaps they're not able to be proactively seeking out those who are struggling, but it would be seriously negligent (and legally risky) for them not to make mental health help available. I'm sorry for whatever struggles you may have had.

If this was the 1990s, I believe that poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids go instate to a public university and never see the other 9 kids that go there from their class, not any other classes that they may know. The point is, it’s large enough that there are literally thousands of people for them to meet and interact with. I’m sure there are plenty of kids who are rooming with a friend they know from home but there are just as many that don’t. Something for everyone.

I went to a college that was smaller than my high school and still didn't often see a high school classmate who also attended, and we actually liked each other. But we had different majors, lived in different dorms, met different groups of people, etc. We did drive home together for breaks though. If you were in a high school with at least 1000 students, how many did you know? You can see how easy it is to never cross paths with some people. So much more in a college with the density of a city.

My large fairly affluent public high school in the early 90s sent like 200 seniors to the same two public universities every single year. That's not even factoring in neighboring high schools, public and private, which fed hundreds, too. High school cliques most certainly continued into and all through college -- and it's certainly far easier now with social media and iPhones.

Name the college. C'mon, you're hardly outing yourself by naming two gigantic public universities, especially since you appear to not have attended either, and without doing that your post is worthless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why people think SLACs don't have tons of ECs. And obviously, it's easier to be in leadership at a SLAC if you're one of 25 seniors in an organization, as opposed to 250. And the notion that you're limited in what you can study? I suppose it's true that most SLACs don't offer animal husbandry or mining management. But they all have the same academic basics as the 30K student flagships.

As for meeting hundreds of new people, my sister went to an all-women's college with about 200 classmates and didn't know all of them. No human being makes more than about 200 actual friends/acquaintances in any social setting like a college. The fact that there are 10,000 other freshman to meet at Michigan doesn't really matter once you've met your 150-200. As someone else said, schools of that size are like small cities. No way will you encounter the vast majority of them much less be in touch with them 20 years later.

I went to a school with 1,200 fellow freshman. I'm in touch with about 150. I've had 3 non-super close friends (not people I invited to my wedding) ask me to take in their kids while they've been in DC for internships. They're obviously people who feel a connection with me after all these years. It's been a blast to catch up with them. I've worked with classmates who have brought me in on staff or as a consultant over the 30 years or so since we graduated. Our school was big enough to create a significantly sized alumni network but small enough that I was able to form strong bonds with lots of people. I wouldn't want any child of mine, even a self-starter go-getter like I was, to be at a school larger than mine as an undergrad.

Also, the state flagships tend to be among the least racially and economically diverse of the most selective schools available. The privates and the SLACs have the flexibility and political will to form diverse classes of students in ways that UT Austin and Michigan cannot.

How, exactly, are you "in touch" with that many people? Do you have a massive WhatsApp chat group? A facebook page? An alumni organization?

You really don't think the same things are going on with graduates of State U?

And, please, show me a large list of top LACs that are overrun with Pell Grant recipients and POC. I'll wait.

Simply amazing that you draw conclusions about big state schools based on you're NOT having even attended one.

[Anonymous]

PP I did attend a large flagship for grad school and interacted a lot with the undergrads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a brown URM I would never choose a LAC or SLACK because they tend to lack racial diversity. Public flagships have more people that look like me.

For the more rural LACs that can be true, but many LACs have a strong diversity of students, especially those that are more selective. You should check out their Common Data Sets to see the numbers.

I have yet to find one. Would love to be pointed in that direction. I suspect we may have different ideas of "strong diversity."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan has no where near 10,000 students in its freshman class.

Unless you consider 8000 to be close to 10,000.

Unless you consider 7,290 to be 8,000, let alone 10,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a brown URM I would never choose a LAC or SLACK because they tend to lack racial diversity. Public flagships have more people that look like me.

For the more rural LACs that can be true, but many LACs have a strong diversity of students, especially those that are more selective. You should check out their Common Data Sets to see the numbers.

I have yet to find one. Would love to be pointed in that direction. I suspect we may have different ideas of "strong diversity."

Nobody is real life actually cares about “diversity.” It’s all bogus and smoke and mirrors. Ideally, I want my kids are smart, ambitious and rich — I frankly could not care less about the racial makeup.