Was UM, UVA, and UW Madison considered more “prestigious” back in the day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

….and its inability to graduate even one student who went on to win a Nobel Prize. Shockingly embarrassing!

Embarrassing??? Uh, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is actually not as old as Michigan. It was founded 183 years after Harvard. I know of no real connection with Ivies. It is not in the Ivy League. I also don't think UVA is ranked particularly high in areas like quality of undergraduate teaching.

UVA is ranked decently at #48.

Of course that’s behind quite a few other publics. Michigan, for example, is #16

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/undergraduate-teaching

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

….and its inability to graduate even one student who went on to win a Nobel Prize. Shockingly embarrassing!

Embarrassing??? Uh, no.

Yeah, it really is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

….and its inability to graduate even one student who went on to win a Nobel Prize. Shockingly embarrassing!

Embarrassing??? Uh, no.

Yeah, it really is.

Not at all. Stop being dramatic. It’s not a good look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is actually not as old as Michigan. It was founded 183 years after Harvard. I know of no real connection with Ivies. It is not in the Ivy League. I also don't think UVA is ranked particularly high in areas like quality of undergraduate teaching.

UVA is ranked decently at #48.

Of course that’s behind quite a few other publics. Michigan, for example, is #16

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/undergraduate-teaching

My kid is at UVA. Double major. So far kid is raving about professors and overall undergraduate teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is absolutely superior to the other schools listed here. However, what is unique about the architecture? Other colleges have nice buildings too.

No, it isn't absolutely superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is absolutely superior to the other schools listed here. However, what is unique about the architecture? Other colleges have nice buildings too.

No, it isn't absolutely superior.

Why the hate? Is it personal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is absolutely superior to the other schools listed here. However, what is unique about the architecture? Other colleges have nice buildings too.

No, it isn't absolutely superior.

Why the hate? Is it personal?

+1 People triggered by UVA only validates UVA’s superiority

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is absolutely superior to the other schools listed here. However, what is unique about the architecture? Other colleges have nice buildings too.

No, it isn't absolutely superior.

Why the hate? Is it personal?

+1 People triggered by UVA only validates UVA’s superiority

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back when I graduated high school( in the eighties), these were the schools people talked about. They weren’t Harvard, but I’d put them analogous to Notre Dame or Vanderbilt today. What happened? Is it all because they say “public” or “land-grant”, kind of how the ultra pretentious rip on Cornell.

There have been a lot of changes over the past forty years. In 1980, Wisconsin was probably the most prestigious of this bunch. Vanderbilt was a regional school for rich southerners. Notre Dame was a niche school for Catholic school kids. And UVA and Michigan were decent state schools but nothing exceptional.

And today everything is different. Obviously having responsive management to changing trends and demographics has been critical. Both Vanderbilt and Notre Dame have had great chancellors over the past few decades. And both schools developed outstanding brands with smart investing in infrastructure and key programs. Both schools also now have enormous endowments that allow them to get top students and faculty and pretty much do as they please. And sports revenue certainly helps. Notre Dame is Notre Dame. And Vanderbilt is part of the SEC and getting a cool billion per ten years just through revenue sharing alone. Both Vanderbilt and Notre Dame are now among the most desirable schools in the country.

Michigan did two things great - football. And engineering. Most of the Ivies are decades behind the smart public flagship universities when it comes to engineering. As engineering became more critical, more in demand, more desirable, and more competitive there was an enormous opportunity for certain schools with the resources to invest to really make a name for themselves. And Michigan did just that. Combined with overall excellence and a football program that inspired immense passion and loyalty - not to mention revenue - and Michigan became a cool school. Also, Ann Arbor is a great college town. Plus, Michigan is nearly 50 percent OOS, which gives it both national stature and a high quality student body.

I think the source of UVA's prestige remains the same as always - it's one of the oldest schools, founded by TJ, in a pleasant part of the country. It is a genteel school with a long list of famous alumni. Darden has helped keep it modern and lucrative. But UVA has a preppy vibe that's long been appealing to many. Plus sports and school spirit. And generally being good academically, particularly in liberal arts.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, has done everything wrong. They've remained focused on graduate programs instead of undergrad. They've had terrible political interference from state politicians that drove away both funding and talent. They're not particularly good at sports. And it's too cold, which is a no-no with this generation of students.

U Mich was ranked as high as 8th in USNews in the mid-to-late 80s. It was ranked higher than a couple of Ivies.

Michigan's Business School was Top 5 for a time in the late 90s according to BW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is absolutely superior to the other schools listed here. However, what is unique about the architecture? Other colleges have nice buildings too.

No, it isn't absolutely superior.

Why the hate? Is it personal?

+1 People triggered by UVA only validates UVA’s superiority

Second best college in Virginia!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA was not a big deal when I went to college in 1997.

Hard disagree. I graduated from McLean in 1997 and many of the best students worked extremely hard to get into UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is absolutely superior to the other schools listed here. However, what is unique about the architecture? Other colleges have nice buildings too.

No, it isn't absolutely superior.

Why the hate? Is it personal?

+1 People triggered by UVA only validates UVA’s superiority

Second best college in Virginia!

Dream on!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is absolutely superior to the other schools listed here. However, what is unique about the architecture? Other colleges have nice buildings too.

No, it isn't absolutely superior.

Why the hate? Is it personal?

+1 People triggered by UVA only validates UVA’s superiority

Second best college in Virginia!

Dream on!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is unique among publics for the combination of its founders, its architecture, its age, its quality education, including its professional schools, and its strong connections with Ivies.

UVA is absolutely superior to the other schools listed here. However, what is unique about the architecture? Other colleges have nice buildings too.

No, it isn't absolutely superior.

Why the hate? Is it personal?

+1 People triggered by UVA only validates UVA’s superiority

Second best college in Virginia!

You are proving the PP’s argument.