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

[Anonymous]

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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.

Kudos if you’re able to do that. I didn’t love my school (Cornell) because it was too big and preprofessional, and tried to steer my DS away from big schools, but he’s applying ONLY to big schools. He has his reasons, and he’s definitely not me.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I went to UVa and hated it. I don't want my own teen to go there because of my bad experience. It was just so snobby and unfriendly.

Yet UVA has the highest freshmen retention rate among public universities by far and a graduation rate that rivals the Ivies and other top privates. Somebody there must like it.

I was the PP who hated UVa. What's the retention rate got to do with it? I graduated. I even had good grades. I was just really unhappy for 4 years.

I get it. But how can you be so sure that your miserableness was UVA's fault and not your own?

Imagine being so insecure about a college that you have to question someone like this.

Maybe, one day, there can be a post that UVA boosters don't nasty.

The retention rate point is relevant because the PP who hated UVA could have transferred as did my UVA kid’s roommate. I don’t know why he transferred but he went back to Utah. FWIW my DS lived UVA as did all of his friends but you have to be a self-starter and find your group of friends

Once again the retention rate at UVA is not any/much better than most of the top public universities. UVA boosters like to make up their own realities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting - UC Berkeley sounds a lot like UCSD.

My spouse was a science major at UCSD, and had his first and only panic attack when we visited the campus 15 years after he graduated. The price (back then) was fantastic, but otherwise it sounds like it was a malignant pressure cooker filled with vicious premeds.

Same experience (except for panic attack). I lucked out with great apartmentmates but would have been miserable otherwise.

[Anonymous]

William and Mary. Very expensive for a Virginia public. Student body that prided itself on making a pressure cooker environment even more intense than it needed to be. It was really hard to find people to join clubs or even attend football games because they "had to study". Only exception was Greek life, which was elitist and dominated the small social scene.
I have alumni friends with kids there now, and they report that it's only gotten worse since it's so much more selective now.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of weather related complaints on here. My sense is that outdoorsy types that enjoy the change of seasons and in particular, enjoy winter and snow are the ones that should be targeting these northern schools.

Fair weather lovers would be advised to avoid them.

Nobody “enjoys” brutally cold weather and grey skies of flyover country. That ‘change of seasons’ nonsense is a cope. People enjoy the cold Rockies because it’s still sunny and beautiful and of course skiing. Ann Arbor, Chicago, South Bend, Madison are just miserable half the school year.

Says someone who has never lived in Madison.

100% disagree. It doesn't have the lake effect that chicago has. It is usually sunny and crisp. Sure, it isn't Tuscaloosa, but people love Madison and that include the bonding that happens when it is colder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of weather related complaints on here. My sense is that outdoorsy types that enjoy the change of seasons and in particular, enjoy winter and snow are the ones that should be targeting these northern schools.

Fair weather lovers would be advised to avoid them.

Nobody “enjoys” brutally cold weather and grey skies of flyover country. That ‘change of seasons’ nonsense is a cope. People enjoy the cold Rockies because it’s still sunny and beautiful and of course skiing. Ann Arbor, Chicago, South Bend, Madison are just miserable half the school year.

Says someone who has never lived in Madison.

100% disagree. It doesn't have the lake effect that chicago has. It is usually sunny and crisp. Sure, it isn't Tuscaloosa, but people love Madison and that include the bonding that happens when it is colder.

That is true about the sunnier weather on the western side of the great lakes. While it does very cold, it doesn’t seem to have the endless days of grey skies throughout the winter that are more common towards the east.

[Anonymous]

I also went to UVa.

For me, it was too southern, too traditional, and too Greek. Also, I did not know how to manage my stress as well as I do now, so the rampant binge drinking culture was very bad for me.

That said, I love my roommates and friends from there, I got a good job and career afterward, and people are generally impressed when I say I went there. I also learned a ton.

I only want my kids to go if they can understand how Greek and how alcoholic it is. I’m going to talk more openly about it than my parents did. My parents are clueless.

I can’t tell how bad the drinking culture would have been for me at another school, but I have a feeling, not as bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also went to UVa.

For me, it was too southern, too traditional, and too Greek. Also, I did not know how to manage my stress as well as I do now, so the rampant binge drinking culture was very bad for me.

That said, I love my roommates and friends from there, I got a good job and career afterward, and people are generally impressed when I say I went there. I also learned a ton.

I only want my kids to go if they can understand how Greek and how alcoholic it is. I’m going to talk more openly about it than my parents did. My parents are clueless.

I can’t tell how bad the drinking culture would have been for me at another school, but I have a feeling, not as bad.

It’s only 30 percent Greek. My son didn’t participate and never once set foot on Greek row. There are over 900 clubs to choose from. Also he stayed sane in the alcohol issue. If you kid is going to go crazy Greek and is prone to alcohol abuse you, as parent, can’t do much about it. It is present on every campus.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I went to UVa and hated it. I don't want my own teen to go there because of my bad experience. It was just so snobby and unfriendly.

Yet UVA has the highest freshmen retention rate among public universities by far and a graduation rate that rivals the Ivies and other top privates. Somebody there must like it.

I was the PP who hated UVa. What's the retention rate got to do with it? I graduated. I even had good grades. I was just really unhappy for 4 years.

I get it. But how can you be so sure that your miserableness was UVA's fault and not your own?

Imagine being so insecure about a college that you have to question someone like this.

Maybe, one day, there can be a post that UVA boosters don't nasty.

The retention rate point is relevant because the PP who hated UVA could have transferred as did my UVA kid’s roommate. I don’t know why he transferred but he went back to Utah. FWIW my DS lived UVA as did all of his friends but you have to be a self-starter and find your group of friends

Once again the retention rate at UVA is not any/much better than most of the top public universities. UVA boosters like to make up their own realities.

You could actually got glue before you insult. Not a booster, but with a 97 percent first year retention rate, UVA is in the top 20 of universities in the US holding on to their students. But, if PP is miserable, she should have transferred out.

[Anonymous]

The point of this thread, which has been mostly helpful, is to talk about where you went to school and why you wouldn’t recommend that institution to your kid. We all know these posts are highly subjective and are subject to time, different personalities, etc. People jumping in trying to gaslight those posting need to stop.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Ann Arbor can’t be both dreary deindustrialized Rust Belt, cold and grey most of the school year and one of the “best” college towns. Those lists are literally for sale to the highest bidder. I mean even locally, you really think Ann Arbor is prettier than Georgetown / NW DC or Charlottesville? Hell no it’s not.

The best college towns have warm climate, obviously.

Ann Arbor is beautiful. What are you talking about? Here's that psycho Rust Belt babbler again, lol.

Yes, I really thing Michigan is prettier than Georgetown.

Ann Arbor is not prettier than Georgetown, DC. You sound ridiculous. Again, "college town" lists are literally for sale. Ann Arbor has crumbling roads, strip malls and a dozen new hideous 10 to 20 story builder-grade apartments surrounding campus. It's an ugly Rust Belt town. Fittingly, all of the post cards from Ann Arbor feature the football stadium. Because that is the shrine you worship, an marvel and the center of attraction in a dreary and grey Rust Belt college town.

Off the top of my head, the best college towns include Cambridge (MA), Boulder, Austin, Athens (GA), Chapel Hill, Santa Barbara, Burlington, Oxford (MS), Georgetown...

Michigan native and I agree. The UofM campus is beautiful, but the city of Ann Arbor is pretty dumpy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Ann Arbor can’t be both dreary deindustrialized Rust Belt, cold and grey most of the school year and one of the “best” college towns. Those lists are literally for sale to the highest bidder. I mean even locally, you really think Ann Arbor is prettier than Georgetown / NW DC or Charlottesville? Hell no it’s not.

The best college towns have warm climate, obviously.

Ann Arbor is beautiful. What are you talking about? Here's that psycho Rust Belt babbler again, lol.

Yes, I really thing Michigan is prettier than Georgetown.

Ann Arbor is not prettier than Georgetown, DC. You sound ridiculous. Again, "college town" lists are literally for sale. Ann Arbor has crumbling roads, strip malls and a dozen new hideous 10 to 20 story builder-grade apartments surrounding campus. It's an ugly Rust Belt town. Fittingly, all of the post cards from Ann Arbor feature the football stadium. Because that is the shrine you worship, an marvel and the center of attraction in a dreary and grey Rust Belt college town.

Off the top of my head, the best college towns include Cambridge (MA), Boulder, Austin, Athens (GA), Chapel Hill, Santa Barbara, Burlington, Oxford (MS), Georgetown...

Michigan native and I agree. The UofM campus is beautiful, but the city of Ann Arbor is pretty dumpy.

Wrong.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Mount Holyoke. Excellent school and excellent alum network. Good place for the right student. I needed more of a party/fun culture after coming from an intense high school.

I'm a Wellesley alum and would say exactly the same thing. Plus, I missed having male friends.

Ugg. It sounds like it would have been perfect for one of my DDs. I kinda knew that but I could not get her to apply.

I transferred from Wellesley for the same reasons. Too intense, no male friends. Wasn't even on my daughter's radar screen to apply there.

Wellesley has swung so far to the radical left I would never have my child from our moderate Dem family attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mount Holyoke. Excellent school and excellent alum network. Good place for the right student. I needed more of a party/fun culture after coming from an intense high school.

I'm a Wellesley alum and would say exactly the same thing. Plus, I missed having male friends.

Ugg. It sounds like it would have been perfect for one of my DDs. I kinda knew that but I could not get her to apply.

I transferred from Wellesley for the same reasons. Too intense, no male friends. Wasn't even on my daughter's radar screen to apply there.

Wellesley has swung so far to the radical left I would never have my child from our moderate Dem family attend.

+1. My kids had no interest in my super woke slac

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Mount Holyoke. Excellent school and excellent alum network. Good place for the right student. I needed more of a party/fun culture after coming from an intense high school.

I'm a Wellesley alum and would say exactly the same thing. Plus, I missed having male friends.

Ugg. It sounds like it would have been perfect for one of my DDs. I kinda knew that but I could not get her to apply.

I transferred from Wellesley for the same reasons. Too intense, no male friends. Wasn't even on my daughter's radar screen to apply there.

Wellesley has swung so far to the radical left I would never have my child from our moderate Dem family attend.

Haha, I transferred out of Smith. I thought it was radical left then (30 years ago), but now it's somehow even more insanely woke. I wouldn't recommend to my kids. I also don't understand what the point of a women's college is if any man who "identifies as a woman" can go there, or a woman who is transitioning into a man, etc.