I went to a "national" state flagship. One of my kids is at a different "national" state flagship.

We both went to small independent high schools.

The opportunity to have a vastly different experience than the high schools, the opportunity to have literally any field of study, any class and any resource at your fingertips was/is amazing.

The misnomer the professors are inaccessible is BS. they hold office hours, chat with students before and after classes or will grab a beer over the weekend, like any smaller school.

The school spirit, going to games and partaking in decades and century-old traditions is a bonding experience.

The alumni network for internships and jobs are the best.

I get it for small schools, I went to one for high school, but I wanted, and my college kid wanted, a very different experience. Also, you aren't coddled. You want a class, you have to figure out how to get into it, or prioritize when registering. You want an internship? No one is handing one to you. You want a post college job interview? Go seek it out. Sink or swim., If you end up swimming, you are all the better for it.

My son is looking at big state schools because he wants to major in fairly disparate areas (music & computer science). There are probably some mid-sized options that would have fit the bill, but he felt that small schools by and large wouldn't accommodate that range so well.

Anonymous wrote:

No offense but you don’t seem terribly bright.

How could you possibly believe that this would not cause offense? Your social and emotional intelligence must be rock bottom.

DD is at Michigan. To her, it represents the whole package. Many opportunities, academic and social. Great research to be involved in even as an undergrad. Well respected. Huge alumni network for job opportunities.

She doesn’t like the fierce competition for some classes but she actually said to me, “I took some classes I didn’t think I would like all that much but they turned out to be good. And now I am more interested in X.”

It is true that as a Freshman she could disappear and no one would know. As the kids progress, many of their classes get smaller and it would be much harder to skip classes and such. Even as a sophomore some of her classes like Mandarin had maybe 20 people. She said her Freshman year was the outlier in this respect, and overall academically it was probably the least fun year but most fun socially.

She is very happy with her choice but it’s not for all kids. Other DD is at Colby. Go figure.

Students from state flagships are total self-starters. It's the coddled kids from small overpriced private schools who send endless tweets about how they're still "adulting" well into their 30s!

Anonymous wrote:I don't see any appeal or advantage to attending a large public university as an undergrad. The competition is fierce in the intro courses, you don't get direct interaction with professors, you could easily disappear for a few days or a week and nobody would notice, you could flunk out and nobody would care, etc....

Other than fun football games in the fall semester, what's the appeal?

Do tell where you got your info? Sure there are large core courses like at most colleges but looking at my sophomore's classes for spring semester at large flagship OOS is class size ranges from 12-35. He has one core course still with 100+ that has a discussion section limited to 20 with professor (and a larger discussion with TA).

A lot of flagships don't just hand out admissions like candy. Can't your kid get in?

Anonymous wrote:I don't see any appeal or advantage to attending a large public university as an undergrad. The competition is fierce in the intro courses, you don't get direct interaction with professors, you could easily disappear for a few days or a week and nobody would notice, you could flunk out and nobody would care, etc....

Other than fun football games in the fall semester, what's the appeal?

You raise some good points. There are kids who go to these schools for whom it is the wrong choice and who could have been more successful in a different college environment. But these schools also have the pluses that the other posters cite if your kid has the tools to navigate that environment.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really understand a school the size of a HS. I don’t understand wanting to be buddy buddy with professors. I want somebody who learned the material without hand holding and get out and got a job. I don’t need to hire somebody who needed to be handled and coddled and “known”.

Many want to fly under the radar and just get an education.

If you hire a flag state student they are self starters, don’t need to bring their dog to work for support and work hard.

No offense but you don’t seem terribly bright.

I went to my state’s flagship. Huge school. I went because it was cheap and they gave me scholarship money. And I didn’t need someone holding my hand or checking in on me. I got all of the classes I needed because I knew how to work the system. I met professors when needed (to recommendations and such). It was a good experience for me. But most of the kids around here now probably couldn’t hack it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see any appeal or advantage to attending a large public university as an undergrad. The competition is fierce in the intro courses, you don't get direct interaction with professors, you could easily disappear for a few days or a week and nobody would notice, you could flunk out and nobody would care, etc....

Other than fun football games in the fall semester, what's the appeal?

I could say this about when I went to Cornell. It’s not only big state schools. I could have spontaneously combusted during one of my huge freshman classes and no one working at the school would have ever cared.

+ 1 for Vanderbilt

+1 for Harvard in the larger majors (oops, concentrations). I had a great experience and a great education and loved it, but my DD at UVA in a smaller major has far more personal interaction with her professors and a similar extracurricular life.

I don’t really understand a school the size of a HS. I don’t understand wanting to be buddy buddy with professors. I want somebody who learned the material without hand holding and get out and got a job. I don’t need to hire somebody who needed to be handled and coddled and “known”.

Many want to fly under the radar and just get an education.

If you hire a flag state student they are self starters, don’t need to bring their dog to work for support and work hard.

Sure they’re cheaper but the idea of a school where 75% of students come from a single state seems entirely unappealing.

Usually cheaper. Very cheap if instate.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t be dim, OP!!! JFC. People advocate state flagships because they are lower priced than private while also offering excellent educations that are broadly recognized & respected by employers.

I posted just above you and I preferred the large flagship to a smaller private. I really enjoyed all the variety and choices, the opportunities, different libraries, etc. Different strokes for different folks.