Regional universities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, a few of the PA state schools (PASSHE, not the Pitt/Temple/Penn State group) are pretty good. West Chester is considered the gem, but I've heard decent things about some others. I think part of it depends on the kid's major, and whether they want to stay in PA.

The last matters, but not in the way you think it does, I'm pretty sure.

E.g., I went to Purdue. Few outside of the Midwest are going to bat at eye at a degree from Purdue-Cal, but in Chicago? Everyone local know it's second or third best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After that post bashing the PA one, is it how people feel, that regional colleges are bad and sort of loser-ish?

As always, in my opinion, the strength of a college for a particular student depends on several factors, including the programs offered, the preferences of the student, the location, and the quality of honors programs. One of my kids went to a regional university because it was strong in an area that interested her, and she wanted a smaller school in a small, quiet town without too much traffic. When she visited, she felt "comfortable" there. She loved the campus and dorms and had a very happy and rewarding undergraduate experience.

Most public universities, regional or otherwise, have honors programs, often giving your kid a similar education to that they might have obtained at a higher-ranked school. Honors programs vary in quality but typically offer small, seminar-style, advanced classes (often multi-disciplinary) and/or a mentored advanced project. Some offer just one honors class per semester (if you can get in), while others provide many possibilities.

I'm sure there are people who feel "regional colleges are bad and sort of loser-ish," but those designations are not necessarily helpful or relevant to helping our kids find the best possible fit.

I don’t know of a single Honors college that offers advanced classes particular to even just popular majors.

The benefit is advanced registration, specific dorms, merit $$$s. Nearly all the Honors kids consider the special classes and the “advanced” project as big negatives. It’s like they are getting punished and have to do more work…again, usually nothing to do with their major…for being Honors.

Basically, 95%+ of any Honors college classes will consist of classes that anyone at the college can take.

It really is not at all the same to smaller, private schools.

The smaller honors colleges I'm seeing do have the preferences you note but also do have different classes. And yes, require some sort of project which is not ideal if you're applying to grad school at the same time. Some are as you describe, with "regular" classes but a project. It's not really one-size fits all.

The thesis/project sounds like a pain, I agree. But if it is the difference for grad schools to show that you are in a harder curriculum (and if you get more advising- some offer enhanced academic advising), it could be worth it for certain majors.

The thesis or capstone project is a bonus if that is what you want to do. Nobody is compelled to do it. At Reed, for example, you have to do something like that for your major. Every student who graduates from Reed does one, and students choose Reed in part because they want demanding academics, which includes the rigorous senior thesis requirement. The public regional university + honors program is a way of approximating the Reed experience (where tuition is $64,760 a year) at a school that may be costing less than $15K a year out the door (tuition, room, board), once you factor in merit and financial aid.

You might not get Reed exactly, but you can get a turbo-charged education IF you embrace opportunities and put in the hard yards. For example, my daughter learned much more from a geology class at community college than my friend's kid did at U of Penn. They used the same textbook and covered the same material, but my DC went all out while my friend's kid went through the motions. If you fully embrace your opportunities, even if they are not the most optimal opportunities in the world, you can learn a great deal. The honors capstone project and the additional attention from your professors can help translate your achievements into further opportunities. As you suggest above, honors programs help open doors that are traditionally only open to more privileged students.

That's why I want my kid to go to a school with a required senior thesis--I mean capstone.
--another Reed alum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be fair, a few of the PA state schools (PASSHE, not the Pitt/Temple/Penn State group) are pretty good. West Chester is considered the gem, but I've heard decent things about some others. I think part of it depends on the kid's major, and whether they want to stay in PA.

West Chester is considered a National University by USNews. I am not sure if the PA State schools you may be thinking are truly regional colleges by the definition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After that post bashing the PA one, is it how people feel, that regional colleges are bad and sort of loser-ish?

As always, in my opinion, the strength of a college for a particular student depends on several factors, including the programs offered, the preferences of the student, the location, and the quality of honors programs. One of my kids went to a regional university because it was strong in an area that interested her, and she wanted a smaller school in a small, quiet town without too much traffic. When she visited, she felt "comfortable" there. She loved the campus and dorms and had a very happy and rewarding undergraduate experience.

Most public universities, regional or otherwise, have honors programs, often giving your kid a similar education to that they might have obtained at a higher-ranked school. Honors programs vary in quality but typically offer small, seminar-style, advanced classes (often multi-disciplinary) and/or a mentored advanced project. Some offer just one honors class per semester (if you can get in), while others provide many possibilities.

I'm sure there are people who feel "regional colleges are bad and sort of loser-ish," but those designations are not necessarily helpful or relevant to helping our kids find the best possible fit.

I don’t know of a single Honors college that offers advanced classes particular to even just popular majors.

The benefit is advanced registration, specific dorms, merit $$$s. Nearly all the Honors kids consider the special classes and the “advanced” project as big negatives. It’s like they are getting punished and have to do more work…again, usually nothing to do with their major…for being Honors.

Basically, 95%+ of any Honors college classes will consist of classes that anyone at the college can take.

It really is not at all the same to smaller, private schools.

The smaller honors colleges I'm seeing do have the preferences you note but also do have different classes. And yes, require some sort of project which is not ideal if you're applying to grad school at the same time. Some are as you describe, with "regular" classes but a project. It's not really one-size fits all.

The thesis/project sounds like a pain, I agree. But if it is the difference for grad schools to show that you are in a harder curriculum (and if you get more advising- some offer enhanced academic advising), it could be worth it for certain majors.

The thesis or capstone project is a bonus if that is what you want to do. Nobody is compelled to do it. At Reed, for example, you have to do something like that for your major. Every student who graduates from Reed does one, and students choose Reed in part because they want demanding academics, which includes the rigorous senior thesis requirement. The public regional university + honors program is a way of approximating the Reed experience (where tuition is $64,760 a year) at a school that may be costing less than $15K a year out the door (tuition, room, board), once you factor in merit and financial aid.

You might not get Reed exactly, but you can get a turbo-charged education IF you embrace opportunities and put in the hard yards. For example, my daughter learned much more from a geology class at community college than my friend's kid did at U of Penn. They used the same textbook and covered the same material, but my DC went all out while my friend's kid went through the motions. If you fully embrace your opportunities, even if they are not the most optimal opportunities in the world, you can learn a great deal. The honors capstone project and the additional attention from your professors can help translate your achievements into further opportunities. As you suggest above, honors programs help open doors that are traditionally only open to more privileged students.

That's why I want my kid to go to a school with a required senior thesis--I mean capstone.
--another Reed alum

Reed is considered a National LAC. Again, not a regional university.

[Anonymous]

My kid is at a regional university that is well known for several programs, including DCs major. The Honors program offers small, specialized classes not open to non-Honors students and comes with a nice merit scholarship. There is no special housing or advanced registration benefit but kids in the program do get more personalized advising. DC will need to write an Honors thesis, and actually has to do a capstone project in the major as it’s a BFA degree. The Honors pillows BFA students to tailor their thesis topic so that the two projects go together as a larger body of work related to the students’ area of interest. It’s challenging to be sure, but DC is also finding it rewarding.

[Anonymous]

regional vs national for USNWR (which is actually a carnegie rating, right?) can be quite different than the perceptions of what is a regional vs national school

plus they do change - my alma mater was regional and changed to national while I was there

I know I mentioned Radford previously - it is in the "National U" listing mostly because it has the health science campus in Roanoke. That said, I know very few people outside of VA that have ever even heard of it. Same for ODU - it has had a couple small moments in the national media (a first round win or 2 in march madness and the couple times they have beaten Tech in football), but not really thought of on the national level. Shoot, Shenandoah is in the national listing and even people in this area have never heard of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PA state regional colleges are kind of a disaster. Shippensburg, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, ESU...they are all 40% smaller vs. around 2010 when they peaked.

I would just do a ton of due diligence to see if the regional school is growing...or at least hasn't seen enrollment fall off a cliff...if it punches above it's weight in job placement or some niche, etc.

If you aren’t from PA, I don’t think you get how much of a disaster the state schools are. Yes, WestChester is good. Yes, iUP, Slippery Rock, Clarion are good for teaching degrees. But schools like East Stroudsburg, California? No - not good school.

For those who don’t know, there is a California University of Pennsylvania.

I grew up in an economically depressed Western PA town. Even back in the 90s, we called Edinboro 13th grade and knew there were better options but at least it wasn’t California.

Fast forward to today - the system has financial problems. Many of the schools had to consolidate. Some of them are called Penn West now.

[Anonymous]

PASSHE has done 2 consolidations recently - PennWest and Commonwealth U.

Slippery Rock has a well known dance program. The facilities are so nice.

[Anonymous]

Meant to add - Edinboro and California are both PennWest campuses now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After that post bashing the PA one, is it how people feel, that regional colleges are bad and sort of loser-ish?

As always, in my opinion, the strength of a college for a particular student depends on several factors, including the programs offered, the preferences of the student, the location, and the quality of honors programs. One of my kids went to a regional university because it was strong in an area that interested her, and she wanted a smaller school in a small, quiet town without too much traffic. When she visited, she felt "comfortable" there. She loved the campus and dorms and had a very happy and rewarding undergraduate experience.

Most public universities, regional or otherwise, have honors programs, often giving your kid a similar education to that they might have obtained at a higher-ranked school. Honors programs vary in quality but typically offer small, seminar-style, advanced classes (often multi-disciplinary) and/or a mentored advanced project. Some offer just one honors class per semester (if you can get in), while others provide many possibilities.

I'm sure there are people who feel "regional colleges are bad and sort of loser-ish," but those designations are not necessarily helpful or relevant to helping our kids find the best possible fit.

I don’t know of a single Honors college that offers advanced classes particular to even just popular majors.

The benefit is advanced registration, specific dorms, merit $$$s. Nearly all the Honors kids consider the special classes and the “advanced” project as big negatives. It’s like they are getting punished and have to do more work…again, usually nothing to do with their major…for being Honors.

Basically, 95%+ of any Honors college classes will consist of classes that anyone at the college can take.

It really is not at all the same to smaller, private schools.

The smaller honors colleges I'm seeing do have the preferences you note but also do have different classes. And yes, require some sort of project which is not ideal if you're applying to grad school at the same time. Some are as you describe, with "regular" classes but a project. It's not really one-size fits all.

The thesis/project sounds like a pain, I agree. But if it is the difference for grad schools to show that you are in a harder curriculum (and if you get more advising- some offer enhanced academic advising), it could be worth it for certain majors.

The thesis or capstone project is a bonus if that is what you want to do. Nobody is compelled to do it. At Reed, for example, you have to do something like that for your major. Every student who graduates from Reed does one, and students choose Reed in part because they want demanding academics, which includes the rigorous senior thesis requirement. The public regional university + honors program is a way of approximating the Reed experience (where tuition is $64,760 a year) at a school that may be costing less than $15K a year out the door (tuition, room, board), once you factor in merit and financial aid.

You might not get Reed exactly, but you can get a turbo-charged education IF you embrace opportunities and put in the hard yards. For example, my daughter learned much more from a geology class at community college than my friend's kid did at U of Penn. They used the same textbook and covered the same material, but my DC went all out while my friend's kid went through the motions. If you fully embrace your opportunities, even if they are not the most optimal opportunities in the world, you can learn a great deal. The honors capstone project and the additional attention from your professors can help translate your achievements into further opportunities. As you suggest above, honors programs help open doors that are traditionally only open to more privileged students.

That's why I want my kid to go to a school with a required senior thesis--I mean capstone.
--another Reed alum

+1 Alum of a regional university that required a capstone/senior project and mine directly led to my 1st job. Both my kids (college junior and freshman) are in programs with required capstones, one at a big state U and the other at a LAC.

[Anonymous]

USNWR divides up schools this way.

National Universities -- offers doctoral level degrees in a variety of fields

Regional Universities -- offers masters degrees, and perhaps some professional doctoral degrees

LAC - bachelors

It has nothing to do with quality. There are some great schools on the regional lists -- Cal Poly and RISD are two examples of very highly sought after schools that are regional because they don't offer doctoral degrees.