WVU vs University of Delaware

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin’s daughter transferred out of West Virginia after her freshman year. She did not like the university or the town.

Is the 3.2 weighted? I hear great things about Delaware but I don’t know about admissions. You should be using your school’s tools like Scoir or Naviance to see what you need to be admitted. I’d go back to the drawing board and replace WVU. I second the suggestion to look at ASU. My friend had a child that really liked it there.

Oh. This random person's cousin's daughter didn't like WVU, so your child is likely to dislike it, too. LOL!!!

Oh, I thought everyone already knew all about WVU and why it sucks, so I thought I’d include an anecdote. WV ranks 45 for education in 2025. It is one of the worst school systems in the country. Those will be OP’s peers at WVU. Also, WVU as an institution is not doing well.

I’ll just leave this here. September 2024, One Year After Massive Cuts, West Virginia Is Still Bleeding Faculty, Administrators
- https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2024/09/09/year-after-cuts-wv-still-bleeding-faculty-administrators

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin’s daughter transferred out of West Virginia after her freshman year. She did not like the university or the town.

Is the 3.2 weighted? I hear great things about Delaware but I don’t know about admissions. You should be using your school’s tools like Scoir or Naviance to see what you need to be admitted. I’d go back to the drawing board and replace WVU. I second the suggestion to look at ASU. My friend had a child that really liked it there.

Oh. This random person's cousin's daughter didn't like WVU, so your child is likely to dislike it, too. LOL!!!

Oh, I thought everyone already knew all about WVU and why it sucks, so I thought I’d include an anecdote. WV ranks 45 for education in 2025. It is one of the worst school systems in the country. Those will be OP’s peers at WVU. Also, WVU as an institution is not doing well.

I’ll just leave this here. September 2024, One Year After Massive Cuts, West Virginia Is Still Bleeding Faculty, Administrators
- https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2024/09/09/year-after-cuts-wv-still-bleeding-faculty-administrators

West Virginia has its struggles. It has not adapted to an economy not based on extraction of raw materials and has a declining population. WVU is not immune from these realities and needs to settle on a set of core subject matter areas that make sense for the state. This is not easy to do with a state flagship that for years desired to be all things to the state’s citizens. This doesn’t mean that the school isn’t a good fit for some. Reflexively I don’t care for the football culture but nurturing that is the norm at many schools. Presidents who come to the job as ardent intellectuals soon discover the reality of football.

My friend just retired from 30 years as a track coach and faculty member at Marshall. The school in a very depressed location. Not an easy mission. Notwithstanding I was impressed by the academic success of his athletes. He really succeeded with minority athletes. The school has excellent placements in pharmacy and special ed among other areas. From a DCUM lens these schools are not desirable but they do a good job for the state and local population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Miami Ohio

Yes, send your child to the school where the kids who get all Cs in Ohio high schools end up, LOL.

[Anonymous]

Will a kid from NOVA feel out of place at WVU if they are preppy, focused, sporty and not huge partiers?

[Anonymous]

Udel is great, but it is not a huge rah rah sports school. Go blue hens!

[Anonymous]

Color me surprised that Delaware is a somewhat difficult admit?

[Anonymous]

Look, weirdos, WVU is a great choice for what OP and her kid are looking for. Liberal leaning without being too political, friendly student body, really fun top level sports (which Delaware doesn't have) etc. The idea that if she goes there she'll get too distracted to graduate is ridiculous. It's also not that far away. You could do a lot worse than WVU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Color me surprised that Delaware is a somewhat difficult admit?

For comparison, here's what the Princeton Review says about admissions standards:

UVA 97/99
William & Mary 95/99
Maryland 94/99
Delaware 89/99
JMU 85/89
WVU 84/89
VCU 80/89

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will a kid from NOVA feel out of place at WVU if they are preppy, focused, sporty and not huge partiers?

I know someone from MoCo who went there, not a huge partier, and they did really well for themselves. They said that the party scene is big, but if you want something else, you can find it.

[Anonymous]

UNC Wilmington, Coastal Carolina

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why on earth would anyone send their child to WVU? Are you trying to find the crappiest state university in the country?

What don't you like about it?

[Anonymous]

Look at VCU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, weirdos, WVU is a great choice for what OP and her kid are looking for. Liberal leaning without being too political, friendly student body, really fun top level sports (which Delaware doesn't have) etc. The idea that if she goes there she'll get too distracted to graduate is ridiculous. It's also not that far away. You could do a lot worse than WVU.

There is also a lot of reflexive sneering at it. Some people really like feeling superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WVU is not particularly political and Morgantown is left-leaning. It's a good school for sports management and similar majors; they have an entire health sciences campus (hence the PP about the campus being spread out, although it's not really that bad). OT is competitive, but that's true everywhere. Ruby Memorial Hospital is the on-campus teaching hospital. And it's right beside the 64,000-seat football stadium; sports are a very big deal.

TBH I don't know much about UDel, which I think sort of says something itself. ECU is a fun school, nice location not far from the beach, also big on sports. Whoever said Pitt and Penn State must be kidding. Appie State is OK, but Boone is REALLY small and rural, and it was badly damaged by Hurricane Helene, including the campus. I would definitely go visit and see how things are looking. In the Appalachian region and Carolinas, I might look into ETSU, Western Kentucky, UNC-Wilmington, Coastal Carolina.

ASU and Arizona are not small-town schools and as far as outdoorsy goes...well, it's the desert, although there is good hiking. Northern Arizona University up in Flagstaff would be a better fit for outdoors interests and according to a quick Google search has a 91% acceptance rate. If you're willing to go west, then I'd consider Colorado State and Washington State University.

This is great advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about VCU? Pitt? Penn state?

Pitt and Penn are not easy to get into. They are probably harder than UDel.

I went to Penn State and transferred to Pitt. Did not like the isolated, homogenous feel of PSU. It was not liberal artsy at all (Pitt is).

Given all that, I'd be willing to spend a year at a Pitt branch campus to get a shot at transferring cleanly to Pitt. Pitt Johnstown maybe?

My family just looked at Drexel. It reminded me a bit of Pitt. I think it's more expensive though.