The Best Public Colleges vs the 'worst' Ivy Leagues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who says "Cal"? Isn't it just "Berkeley"?

How do you say it in Mandarin?

My brother was an undergrad there -- he says Cal. I was a grad student -- I say Berkeley. "Cal" always struck me as a little presumptuous, given how many UCs there are.

everyone who went to "Cal" says "Cal"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just mildly curious, what makes Penn "better" than Dartmouth or Brown? Penn has an impressive range of graduate and professional schools but for undergraduates what's the benefit over the other Ivies?

Other than Wharton I've always found the undergraduate college to be good but not particularly impressive or distinctive relative to the other Ivies. Penn and Cornell seemed more similar to each other than the other Ivies due to their size and large graduate/professional presence.

"I've always found"... what the f do you mean by that. Really? Have you analyzed that? I wouldn't say it's "better" or "worse" than "the other Ivies". They all have differences. Cornell is in upstate NY. Penn is in the middle of a city - a real urban experience. Brown has a cool laid back vibe in a smaller 'city.' Some of them have stronger departments than others. Etc. I have two Ivy degrees. Some classes and profs were awesome, some were boring, people make different sets of friends, have different extra curricular interests and opportunities. Seriously - why pit them off? These threads are the most ridiculous navel gazing over nothings and false perceptions by people who don't know what they don't know. I feel no desire to 'sell' anything about my experiences. They are going to be better or worse experiences for different kids. Let your kids apply where they seem to be good fits and let the cards fall where they may. They will be fine. promise.

The Dartmouth kids tend to be better skiers!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just mildly curious, what makes Penn "better" than Dartmouth or Brown? Penn has an impressive range of graduate and professional schools but for undergraduates what's the benefit over the other Ivies?

Other than Wharton I've always found the undergraduate college to be good but not particularly impressive or distinctive relative to the other Ivies. Penn and Cornell seemed more similar to each other than the other Ivies due to their size and large graduate/professional presence.

Penn has changed tremendously under Amy Gutman's leadership. Here are just some highlights:

In addition to those noted above, selected highlights of President Gutmann’s tenure at Penn include:
Undergraduate applications have grown from 18,282 to nearly 39,000 for the Class of 2020.
The undergraduate financial aid budget has grown by 155% since FY2005, from $84 million to $214 million. The average grant for undergraduate students receiving aid in FY2017 is $45,368.
The creation of 200 new endowed professorships, and the recruiting of 17 Penn Integrates Knowledge Professors and 10 Presidential Professors.
Philanthropy of more than $5 billion for Penn, including $4.3 billion through the Making History Campaign, the University’s largest-ever capital campaign.
Penn’s endowment has grown from $4 billion to $10.7 billion.
Creation of a $100 million Action Plan for Faculty Diversity and Excellence, resulting in an 18% increase in female faculty and 43% increase in minority faculty.
Creation of the President’s Engagement Prizes and President’s Innovation Prize, the largest student innovation prizes in the country.
Penn Connects campus plan resulting in a $2.7 billion investment creating 5 million square feet of new or renovated space, with plans for $2 billion additional investment in 1.8 million square feet of space.
Creation of Penn Park, a 24-acre urban oasis linking Penn to Center City Philadelphia.
Signature architectural buildings, such as the Singh Center for Nanotechnology, the New College House, Perry World House, Golkin Hall, Weiss Pavilion, and the Stephen A. Levin Building for Neural and Behavioral Sciences.
A 29% increase in sponsored research to nearly $1 billion annually, despite flat federal support.
Penn Medicine has grown to include major new facilities (Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, Roberts Proton Center, Smilow Translational Research Center), Chester County Hospital and Lancaster General Hospital, and new physician offices and outpatient facilities across Philadelphia, southwestern Pennsylvania, and southern New Jersey."


The full article can be read here:

https://news.upenn.edu/news/university-pennsylvania-trustees-extend-president-amy-gutmann-s-contract-2022

[Anonymous]

^^^I saw that article yesterday and confirmed my decision to allow DC to apply ED to Penn. Now to just get in and hopefully some grant money to take advantage of the fruits of Gutmann's labors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^I saw that article yesterday and confirmed my decision to allow DC to apply ED to Penn. Now to just get in and hopefully some grant money to take advantage of the fruits of Gutmann's labors.

You will not regret it - Penn is an incredible place for my DC. Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^I saw that article yesterday and confirmed my decision to allow DC to apply ED to Penn. Now to just get in and hopefully some grant money to take advantage of the fruits of Gutmann's labors.

You will not regret it - Penn is an incredible place for my DC. Best of luck!

Thanks! I will try and remember to come back and let you know the ED result.

[Anonymous]

I'm from the west coast, and I don't think of UCLA as in the same class as these other schools.

A lot of this depends on what the major is. For a liberal arts major, it's really helpful to be at a smaller school with smaller discussion classes. Taking a massive lecture hall class for liberal arts sort of stinks, because it's really all about the conversation -- you could read and understand the books just fine on your own. I think it's different for science and engineering classes. I think it's hard to find seminars at some of these really big state schools, particularly places like Cal (maybe less so at UVA, which has such a strong tradition of liberal arts -- the people I know at UVA seem like they do take that some seminar classes).

[Anonymous]

I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

It's about CHOICE. Nothing wrong with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

It's about CHOICE. Nothing wrong with that.

It's about money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

It's about CHOICE. Nothing wrong with that.

It's about money.

People sometimes make concessions and obtain small/medium loans. That is also their choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

It's about CHOICE. Nothing wrong with that.

It's about money.

People sometimes make concessions and obtain small/medium loans. That is also their choice.

Do you have any f'king idea how much these schools cost?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

It's about CHOICE. Nothing wrong with that.

It's about money.

People sometimes make concessions and obtain small/medium loans. That is also their choice.

Do you have any f'king idea how much these schools cost?

Do you have any idea how to express yourself without profanity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look at the schools my colleagues attended and realize it just doesn't matter as much as people think it does.

It's about CHOICE. Nothing wrong with that.

It's about money.

People sometimes make concessions and obtain small/medium loans. That is also their choice.

Do you have any f'king idea how much these schools cost?

Do you have any idea how to express yourself without profanity?

No. They didn't teach class at PP's state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the lowest ranking ivy league school gives you more 'margin for error'.

Grading at Cal is hard and there is a war to sign up for classes at cal and ucla.

Also not to dig up another thread but there was one recent that went for 20+ pages about brown vs michigan.

the public schools are fucking massive. that said - cornell is perhaps similar

but not brown or dartmouth - those are WAY different and i would select either before a public school OOS.

In state is different.

We were looking at UCLA. So much to like about it but it seems now every major is impacted. Getting the classes you want is difficult. All freshman dorms are three to a two person sized room. Not all state colleges are like this. We love the location but to pay almost $60,000 oos seems like a rip off.