New England State Universities--that we don't hear about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on our visit to UMass Amherst (their flagship), it’s nice but hard to imagine what would make someone select it over closer options. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere. The campus is not particularly beautiful. Altogether, outside the business school maybe, it was a bit forgettable. It felt like it was lacking a personality or a specific draw like you might see at UVM or other schools.

I'd agree with that. UConn has a pretty nice campus, but is also out in nowhere--which is kind of hard to do in the second smallest state!

I would say that I don't understand the draw of U of VT since as a school it's not even as good as UMass and UConn.

Because it has only 9-10K undergrad students and 2-3K graduate students - so it isn't massive state school like the others you mentioned - professors actually teach the classes. It has good honors options as well. It is in Burlington and 5 minutes from Lake Champlain and 30 from skiing (which has been wonderful so far this year). It has one of the top Environmental Studies programs in the country. It has a great D1 men's soccer team (2024 NCAA Champions). UConn and UMass are both at least twice the size if not 3x the size so doesn't provide the warmth and coziness that UVM does. It's pretty easy for a kid to find their people at UVM. No knock on UConn and UMass - they are also very good state schools - but don't need to knock on UVM (and it's not U of VT).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on our visit to UMass Amherst (their flagship), it’s nice but hard to imagine what would make someone select it over closer options. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere. The campus is not particularly beautiful. Altogether, outside the business school maybe, it was a bit forgettable. It felt like it was lacking a personality or a specific draw like you might see at UVM or other schools.

I'd agree with that. UConn has a pretty nice campus, but is also out in nowhere--which is kind of hard to do in the second smallest state!

I would say that I don't understand the draw of U of VT since as a school it's not even as good as UMass and UConn.

Because it has only 9-10K undergrad students and 2-3K graduate students - so it isn't massive state school like the others you mentioned - professors actually teach the classes. It has good honors options as well. It is in Burlington and 5 minutes from Lake Champlain and 30 from skiing (which has been wonderful so far this year). It has one of the top Environmental Studies programs in the country. It has a great D1 men's soccer team (2024 NCAA Champions). UConn and UMass are both at least twice the size if not 3x the size so doesn't provide the warmth and coziness that UVM does. It's pretty easy for a kid to find their people at UVM. No knock on UConn and UMass - they are also very good state schools - but don't need to knock on UVM (and it's not U of VT).

+1 on above. my DS applied to all 6 New England flagship campuses, got into all 6 with merit. Chose UVM. REALLY liked UMass as well but found size a bit overwhelming and his specific program somewhat inflexible. Has one friend who is happy as a clam at UConn, another finding it too much. Schools are as "good" as somebody's experience is at them. 18yo are still very much in development and its okay to pick the school lower on the USNWR list if kid thinks will be a better place for them to figure out the next version of themself.

[Anonymous]

DC kids have always been more drawn to the south especially for state schools. That said, all the New England flagships have great things to offer.
UMaine: excellent programs in forestry, environmental science, education but given how remote it is (2+hours north of Portland) it tends to be a better choice for graduate programs
UNH: great smaller state school that kids from DC just don't seem interested in
UVM: great smaller state school that has more pull due to location in Burlington
UMass: bigger and some great programs. great location if you like that area.
UConn: you don't hear much about kids from DC going here but there are always a few
URI: seems to be getting more popular at least for some programs.

Just seems like a lot of DC kids want southern weather. I know plenty who would rather go north.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is at UConn. She loves it. She got merit aid that made it pretty much exactly the total cost of attendance of staying in state for college. She picked it over Virginia Tech, JMU, and Penn State.

I'm surprised how few DC area kids apply there. It is a good academic school with a huge sense of school pride built around the basketball teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone from outside NY state apply to SUNY schools?

The definitely do. But those on DCUM would tell you they are not worth attending even though there are several that are great schools and would be a good fit for many kids from OOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone from outside NY state apply to SUNY schools?

The definitely do. But those on DCUM would tell you they are not worth attending even though there are several that are great schools and would be a good fit for many kids from OOS.

+ 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The weather is atrocious.

Those areas are great for athletes. Skiing, snowboarding, X-country ski, skating, hockey. Even cross country starting in August with no excessive heat or humidity or gross bugs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Weather. Why go to extremes when you have amazing options nearby that are close for those wanting to be close and slightly further for those wanting that

But if your child attends a school somewhere with better weather, there could be MAGAs there.

Hard pass.

There are MAGAs everywhere. Well, in big state schools anyway.

Not really. I have never seen a red hat in real life. And if they are in Northeast schools they are a tiny minority that doesn’t matter or bother anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s UVM folks.
.

I totally understand that it's "UVM," but why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s UVM folks.
.

I totally understand that it's "UVM," but why?

The Latin for University of the Green Mountains- Universitas Viridas Montis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s UVM folks.
.

I totally understand that it's "UVM," but why?

Green Mountains = Ver Mont

The postal code should be VM too.

[Anonymous]

Take a visit to Burlington and you will understand why kids want to go there. It might be a bad fit for someone who doesn’t live the outdoors and skiing though.

[Anonymous]

*love

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generally, state schools in the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, and the West Coast are much more appealing than the public universities in the Northeast - both for academics and quality of life. New England never really cared about public universities, and that's reflective in their state schools. States like Texas, California, North Carolina, Michigan, Georgia, Virginia and so on take real pride in their state schools. That's not the case in the Northeast.

This poster has a point. I am from New England and did go to a flagship state school. There are so many excellent private schools in New England which make the state schools seem a little less well regarded. We now live in Virginia and I was amazed when we moved here I was surprised at how many well regarded VA schools there are and also noticed there are very few privates in Virginia. In New England each state has one good school and the others aren’t well ranked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, state schools in the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, and the West Coast are much more appealing than the public universities in the Northeast - both for academics and quality of life. New England never really cared about public universities, and that's reflective in their state schools. States like Texas, California, North Carolina, Michigan, Georgia, Virginia and so on take real pride in their state schools. That's not the case in the Northeast.

This poster has a point. I am from New England and did go to a flagship state school. There are so many excellent private schools in New England which make the state schools seem a little less well regarded. We now live in Virginia and I was amazed when we moved here I was surprised at how many well regarded VA schools there are and also noticed there are very few privates in Virginia. In New England each state has one good school and the others aren’t well ranked.

Massachusetts native and I agree with both of you. I don’t know if UMass will make a leap to a top state school. It certainly won’t be on the backs of the athletics program!

We had a lot of kids from my high school go to UNH and UVM over UMass. URI and UConn less popular. Maybe that was the North Shore bias?