4 Secrets to Winning Admission to an Affordable 'Public Ivy'

referring to this article

hello im a junior at clewiston high school in florida.While reading, a question formed in my head. Is my school one of those not so top-notch schools? and i so, does that mean that if i apply to a college they may not accept me?

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

This school is not just a "public ivy", but it is one of the orignial 8 schools so designated back 40 or so years ago when this nomenclature was first coined. There are good reasons for this:

Stellar campus with great beauty

Rick traditions in academia

Formidable reputation outside the university and outside of Ohio

An old University now in its 200th year (older than Cornell, for example)

Great breadth of opportunity

Think twice before passing this school by...

Miami of OH and UVT

Miami U of OH and Univ of VT are public Ivies? Are you joking?! Those two are jock schools filled with students who had mediocre high school records at best. VT has always been popular given its location but academically in the same lineup as UVa or William & Mary??? Dream on. Only the Honors College at UMich counts as Public Ivy. UNC-Chapel takes just about everyone from in-state but if you're out of state you might as well look at an original Ivy. By the way, the Ivy League is a FOOTBALL conference. Glad you all get caught up in the aura of a FOOTBALL conference.

Selective schools like Michigan

So U of M is considered a "selective school"?

I attended U of M starting in 1961. My experience would suggest it is the worst school I ever attended. The entering freshman class was assembled and then told 1/2 of the students would be flunked out. The quality of instruction was terrible, with students having to attend classes with 1,500 students, classes led by old and incompetent professors, and classes taught by totally worthless teaching assistants. In addition to poor instruction, the level of student counseling was worse than non-existent.

I witnessed lives being destroyed by an academic institution that had no regard for its students, their aspirations, or their chosen careers. I will never believe this is an example of good education.

My wife and I have owned a private school for 20 years. Unlike U of M, we have respect for our students, offer excellent instruction, don't abuse our students, and nuture students who become healthy and productive adults.

Let's not fall for the line that U of M is a "selective school". There are way too many schools that do not treat students with respect and provide a good education. Let's demand excellence from our schools, public and private.

Geneseo

Also a Geneseo grad who then moved on to NYU for graduate school. Geneseo offers that small LAC experience that really can't be matched for the dollar.

It is considered the Honor's College of the SUNY system.

AVG SAT score this year I believe is 1352, Highschool avg is usually around 92-93.

Not sure what the admission rate is. People are beginning to realize what a great school Geneseo is so much so that their Admission yield keeps increasing every year.

About 11,000 students applied for a class of around 900.

I have heard that they were only accepting 2500 students haven't read this anywhere though to confirm.

Worth a look!

Public Ivy

What about the State University of NY at Geneseo? It is consistently one of the highest ranked public colleges in the country, dubbed "New York State's Public Honors College." Typically, it attracts the same type of student that applies to Cornell, the U of R, or Colgate, but doesn't want to graduate $100,000 in debt. That was me. I graduated debt free, and now attend graduate school at Georgetown University. I received so much individual attention from my professors at Geneseo, many of which were Ivy League educated themselves. Classes were small, opportunities for research at the undergraduate level were many.

ivies

oh please......this is all about demographics. filling the pool with oddities...and if you happen to have good grades, parents who could send you to a foreign county in summer of sophomore year and some kind of slight disablility You are IN.....middle class white boys need not apply.

Public Ivy

I think the public ivy should be SUNY, SUNY universities offer cheap tuition fees. It is cheap not only for American people, but also for international students like me. In this way, I can also save lots of money. However, U of Michigan is so extravagant to some international students, maybe it is a good option for Michigan residents.

TAMU is also affordable. A public ivy in the depresion period should be good at academics and also affordable to the students.

article and comments miss the point...

To be honest, it really does matter what field you are talking about. For English and History, many non-Ivy-esque schools may excel. But when it comes to International Relations, Economics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Math, Computer Science, and Engineering, top tier 'National Universities' blow the competition out of the water.

I will not deny that there is a strong possibility that you get the same 'basic' education as a mechanical engineer whether you go to University of Maryland or Johns Hopkins. The formula and theories don't change no matter how you teach them.

What distinguishes such schools as Stanford, MIT, JHU, etc... from state universities is the learning environment. It is commonly accepted that the 'average' student at one of these top-tier schools is of 'higher caliber' than at a state school. Thus, in your Stem Cell Engineering class, when you have to write in a 20-page grant proposal in groups of three as the final assignment, the 15 hours per week for four weeks you spend working with your partners will be very different based on the school you attend. Further, you're assuming that the larger state schools even have classes intimate enough to facilitate such a class and assignment.

As a recent graduate of a top 10 school, which will remain nameless, I have tons of friends at state schools who I feel got as good of an education as I did and are just as smart if not smarter. But sadly, there is truth in the fact that I know many more kids who didn't get an optimal education because they were at a less prestigious and public school compared to where I went. Frankly, if you didn't get a "BLANK" University education from my school, you don't graduate.

Another thing to consider is the fact that, universally, people tend to aspire to the level of their greatest role model. I have peers who say they would feel horribly guilty for having a salary more than $100K because they "never knew that lifestyle while growing up". At my alma mater, I spent my afternoons meeting with and working for professors who also write popular textbooks, have patents, consult for leading firms in both industry and the public sector, as well as have the time and desire to inspire and guide young minds like myself. When you're not around people like that, it shows in one's career plan and general perspective on life.

What am I getting at? I think generally speaking the university education system in this country could be greatly improved. How? I'm not sure, but the obvious (to me) discrepancy between the education I received and that which my friends at public school received is sad, especially because there's no way to escape the decisions they made in high school that kept them out of "BLANK" University.

This turned out funny

Interesting how this article became a college "class" comparison

Just thought it was funny, how most of the comments doesnt really relate to the article