Poll: Please rank these Mid Atlantic Universities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GWU
UMD
GMU
American
Penn State
UDel

Mason above American and Penn State? Puh-leaze. I mean, it's really come up in reputation, but no.

New poster: It's become hard to get into Mason from N. VA. 3.5 minimum. Only at 60% unless you are in No. VA where the competition is much steeper. Also recently rated no. 1 by U.S. New and World report for up-and-coming university. NO. 6 in the country for engineering. Only 40% of OOS are admitted.

First-Time Freshmen
Northern VA 5,619 3,442 61.3 1,195 34.7
Other VA 3,749 2,276 60.7 806 35.4
Out-of-State 7,860 3,182 40.5 602 18.9
Subtotal 17,228 8,900 51.7 2,603 29.2

[Anonymous]

GW
UMD
American
GMU
UD
Penn State

I have to put Penn State last because I feel like they received some weird rating increase from USNWR this fall( about 20 spots) that was in no way justified. It was like they paid them post Sandusky scandal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GW
UMD
American
GMU
UD
Penn State

I have to put Penn State last because I feel like they received some weird rating increase from USNWR this fall( about 20 spots) that was in no way justified. It was like they paid them post Sandusky scandal.

USNWR's methodology is what it is. You can't just reject how it rates one school. I bet if Va Tech merited a bump from its lowly national ranking, you'd be crowing about that. Penn State, however, is clearly not at the bottom of that list. I'm from PA, and as the state flagship it was the top choice of probably half the students at my high school and UDel was a common back-up along with the lower ranked PA state schools.

[Anonymous]

US News made some significant changes to its methodology this year so it is not surprising that some schools made big moves.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2013/09/09/how-us-news-calculated-the-2014-best-colleges-rankings

[Anonymous]

Gw is definitely the best school out of this list, esp if you plan on being in a professional liberal arts type career. Engineering not so much maybe. But lobbiest? Analyst? Lawyer, govt, etc etc

[Anonymous]

OP - I wouldn't spend a ton of tuition money on places like AU and GWU on an "undecided" major. I'd stick to an instate school.

If the major is really something that depends on a college name (for example, medicine) than yes, I could justify GWU, but if your son/daughter is studying the ubiquitous "political science" or "history" or "english" than go instate (GMU or UMD or wherever you reside). No need to spend big bucks at American to get a diploma in "philosophy".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gw is definitely the best school out of this list, esp if you plan on being in a professional liberal arts type career. Engineering not so much maybe. But lobbiest? Analyst? Lawyer, govt, etc etc

Definitely? No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GW
UMD
Penn State
------------
American
Delaware
------------
GMU

This is probably right, but there are legitimate arguments for shuffling the top three (as well as for flipping the next two). In any event, note the meaningful gaps (inserted above for clarity) after Penn State and Delaware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Maryland
PENN State
George Washington University
American University
George Mason University
University of Delaware

George Washington
University of Maryland
Penn State
American University
University of Delaware
George Mason

[Anonymous]

People are so bias. This is very easy and I don't see how anyone can disagree. I didn;t attend any of these but am very clear on the graduates AND the reputation to employers.

GW
MD
PennSt
AU
DE
Mason

[Anonymous]

Some of the comparisons here are difficult -- e.g., GW is just a completely different school from Penn State, with almost diametrically opposed strengths and weaknesses. But some are easy -- there's no way that AU is as good a school as GW or that Mason is as strong as Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GWU
UMD
GMU
American
Penn State
UDel

Mason above American and Penn State? Puh-leaze. I mean, it's really come up in reputation, but no.

New poster: It's become hard to get into Mason from N. VA. 3.5 minimum. Only at 60% unless you are in No. VA where the competition is much steeper. Also recently rated no. 1 by U.S. New and World report for up-and-coming university. NO. 6 in the country for engineering. Only 40% of OOS are admitted.

First-Time Freshmen
Northern VA 5,619 3,442 61.3 1,195 34.7
Other VA 3,749 2,276 60.7 806 35.4
Out-of-State 7,860 3,182 40.5 602 18.9
Subtotal 17,228 8,900 51.7 2,603 29.2

Oh dear god not the mason booster again...mason does not belong on a list of schools like this...more like ODU, CNU or Radford

[Anonymous]

Penn State is a freakshow. Anybody who would go there voluntarily nauseates me. It is a combination of pleasantville / silent scream / screwed up priorities/ and vomit.

Anybody who entered that school after "the atrocity" gets their resume thrown in the trash.

[Anonymous]

Yes, people (dumb people) mix up Penn and Penn State. Penn used to have tee shirts saying "Not PENN State."

Penn State is the best state school listed here, but unless I lived in PA, I wouldn't select it over #1 GW. That's Penn State for #2.

American and GMU are crap, and Delaware is crap, too.

So Maryland wins #3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn State is a freakshow. Anybody who would go there voluntarily nauseates me. It is a combination of pleasantville / silent scream / screwed up priorities/ and vomit.

Anybody who entered that school after "the atrocity" gets their resume thrown in the trash.

Go bark at USNWR who raised PSU's ranking last year an astonishing 9 spots to #37!