college - tell me about "the best kept secret" schools - anyone have one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the prof. (as a fellow prof). College is really what the student makes of it, so you need to think where your child can thrive. My own belief is that small liberal arts colleges tend to have one advantage: they don't have to focus on a graduate program. Focus on grad programs usually comes at expense of undergraduates in any give department. And also grad students need to be employed, so they TA big classes and teach courses. I was a TA at a major big name university. I had no training. Pity the poor students.

Agree with this. I really want a school like this

[Anonymous]

We took a lot of different looks at small private colleges in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. We looked at Penn State satellite schools, Hood College, Shenandoah University, Chatham University, and Mary Baldwin University. We had it narrowed down to MBU and Hood before the start of her senior year. Either school would have been great for our daughter, but she fell in love with the MBU campus and its surrounding area. There have been alot of updates to the school in the last year, and I think it is a perfect fit for what she was looking for. We are looking forward to her moving in on August 27.

[Anonymous]

Congrats on going to MBU. I'm an alumnae and loved my time there.

[Anonymous]

If interested in aviation/aeronautics and engineering - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona

If interested engineering and science (originally automotive engineering focused - Kettering University in Flint, MI. Virtually everyone receives co-op employment the way the curriculum is set up.

[Anonymous]

"I agree with the prof. (as a fellow prof). College is really what the student makes of it, so you need to think where your child can thrive. My own belief is that small liberal arts colleges tend to have one advantage: they don't have to focus on a graduate program. Focus on grad programs usually comes at expense of undergraduates in any give department. And also grad students need to be employed, so they TA big classes and teach courses. I was a TA at a major big name university. I had no training. Pity the poor students."

I guess this will be a little STEM centric. There are articles by Nobel prize winners floating around the web pushing SLACs for STEM. Which could be related to the idea that Nobel prize winners can go anywhere as undergrads.

Really, you have to know your student.

If they are going to be a graduate student, going somewhere that has graduate students, so you can watch them, is a great way to learn how to be a better (and if you want to be a) grad student.

A big part of being a grad student is learning to teach yourself when the course is missing. This often starts when you have a critical mass of poor TAs. For many, there is no reason not to start learning the processes as an undergrad.

It has always surprised me that colleges give freshmen the worst TAs. I guess I understand that incoming grad students would rather teach sophomore classes if they can (I did).

But why not have the worst/least experienced TA teach seniors? Do seniors really even need TAs? I remember TAing seniors as a pretty cushy job. Seniors should pretty much know how the department is run, who to ask about what and how to teach themselves in a reasonably developed course.

If seniors don't even need TAs, maybe the worst (but experienced) TAs could be for juniors who should just need a little help. Sophomores would end up with TAs (like myself) who might not be bad but might be first years who haven't TAed before. Leaving those who had proven themselves as TAs for freshmen.

[Anonymous]

The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). Strong programs, beautiful campus, and good merit scholarships for top out-of-state students.

[Anonymous]

"The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). Strong programs, beautiful campus, and good merit scholarships for top out-of-state students."

We liked TCNJ. DC got reasonable merit aid but had to go through multiple levels of application to increase their merit aid level.

[Anonymous]

Dickinson College

[Anonymous]

Many of these schools don’t seem like hidden gems. University of Scranton is a hidden gem. Jesuit university. Liberal arts education. Great admissions to medical schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For smaller STEM schools STEM: WPI, RPI, Rose Hulman, I would say SUNY- Stonybrook but it is more of commuter school in that it empties out on the weekends.

For business: Miami (Ohio)

Most RPI students are extremely awkward and the school is in a depressed part of upstate NY. It is best kept a secret, rather than a best kept secret.

Some prefer upstate NY, some prefer middle of Indiana. Your choice.

Some prefer neither, but it doesn’t change the fact that RPI is a geek fest in a cold, depressing run-down area.

I decided against applying to RPI years because Troy was so ugly, but upstate New York state as a whole is gorgeous.