Question about VA state schools....

[Anonymous]

Anyhow, everyone knows that State University Professors are paid less than private.

??? Don't think this is necessarily true.

[Anonymous]

There is a wide range in the state schools. VCU is definitely a cool place for free spirits. Another option may be UMW. It attracts a crunchy crowd too. You will find a wide range at all of these schools due to their large size.

[Anonymous]

NP here. OP, the comments on this thread are consistent with our observations, at least. The VA publics are profoundly different from each other, except for overall institutional quality -- several are excellent, and others are very good and recognized. W&M is viewed by some as the most academically serious for an undergraduate, although UVA is certainly much more of a research university. Do not discount VCU, which is urbane, interesting, and benefits from increasing recognition in essentially every field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a wide range in the state schools. VCU is definitely a cool place for free spirits. Another option may be UMW. It attracts a crunchy crowd too. You will find a wide range at all of these schools due to their large size.

I went to UMW and there was definitely a mix of the crunchy and the conservative. It's a small school, but another place where you can find like-minded people and a good mix of "types".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We looked at electoral maps for areas of the country we weren't familiar with. Looked at presidential '08 election specifically. Even within conservative states, there were some surprise "matches" where the county was surprisingly more liberal. This worked, in part, since all U's our kids considered were large and would be a major influence on the area.

So, to answer your question, UVA passed our test. VT passed (which surprised us). Don't remember re JMU.

Nevertheless in the end, our kids chose (more liberal) out-of-state and are very happy.

Too weird, bro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anyhow, everyone knows that State University Professors are paid less than private.

??? Don't think this is necessarily true.

Not necessarily the case anymore. All are overpaid, though, compared to, say, 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anyhow, everyone knows that State University Professors are paid less than private.

??? Don't think this is necessarily true.

Yes, it's true. I just read an article on it last week. This isn't the article, but just good "private university salaries pubic university salaries". http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/faculty-pay-survey_n_3038924.html

[Anonymous]

Those full professor salaries are plenty high for those who get summers off (if they choose) and, in the case of the humanities, don't have any real skill sets that could translate to good earning non academic careers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anyhow, everyone knows that State University Professors are paid less than private.

??? Don't think this is necessarily true.

Not necessarily the case anymore. All are overpaid, though, compared to, say, 20 years ago.

Unless they are adjunct, which many of the them are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. OP, the comments on this thread are consistent with our observations, at least. The VA publics are profoundly different from each other, except for overall institutional quality -- several are excellent, and others are very good and recognized. W&M is viewed by some as the most academically serious for an undergraduate, although UVA is certainly much more of a research university. Do not discount VCU, which is urbane, interesting, and benefits from increasing recognition in essentially every field.

I went to JMU and had friends attend other state schools, and this is all true. VCU also graduates great teachers. I also had the sense that fraternities/sororities are a lot more important at UVA than at JMU or other state schools. Also, at the time William and Mary had a brutal curve system that made it difficult to get great grades, I'm not sure if that's still an issue.

[Anonymous]

Those full professor salaries are plenty high for those who get summers off (if they choose) and, in the case of the humanities, don't have any real skill sets that could translate to good earning non academic careers.

That's a strange way to think about the salaries of those humanities professors. Their salaries are based on their skills as professors and the demand for their expertise and skills in the education setting. I see no relationship to any non academic career and no reason their salaries should be based on a non academic career if they are good at what they do (which is an academic career). ???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Those full professor salaries are plenty high for those who get summers off (if they choose) and, in the case of the humanities, don't have any real skill sets that could translate to good earning non academic careers.

That's a strange way to think about the salaries of those humanities professors. Their salaries are based on their skills as professors and the demand for their expertise and skills in the education setting. I see no relationship to any non academic career and no reason their salaries should be based on a non academic career if they are good at what they do (which is an academic career). ???

+100 What a bizarre way to look at salaries for humanities professors. Thank goodness sanity still prevails in terms of setting their salaries. Reducing everything to how much you could make at a commercial job kind of devalues what it means to be human.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are so many different groups of people at these schools. Your child will find a place to fit in easily.

+1
These schools are all large enough to have many different kinds of kids, which is what my DC liked. He didn't want to be boxed into a stereotype that he might have found at a smaller SLAC.

Yes and it would probably be good for your dd to be exposed to people that ha e a diverse range of ideologies and opinions. Going somewhere like a slac would be too much of a bubble imo. Don't you want her to be exposed to people across the political spectrum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't feel safe sending kids/girls to UVA.

You do know Jackie lied, right?

[Anonymous]

These schools are all large enough to have many different kinds of kids, which is what my DC liked. He didn't want to be boxed into a stereotype that he might have found at a smaller SLAC.



Yes and it would probably be good for your dd to be exposed to people that ha e a diverse range of ideologies and opinions. Going somewhere like a slac would be too much of a bubble imo. Don't you want her to be exposed to people across the political spectrum?

I don't understand these comments. Don't you believe that SLACs try to attract diverse ranges of students? If anything, you will be forced to interact more with those diverse students in a small environment. You will be much more likely to see them all the time. I don't know of any SLACs that do not try to attract a broad range of students. You are stereotyping the SLACs.

Also, whether you interact with different types of human beings has more to do with your efforts to do so than which college you go to.