Undergrad: New College of the University of South Florida, Sarasota. Yes, I would go back in a minute.
Grad school: University of Delaware. Hated it. Got my degree by the skin of my teeth and got the hell out of there.
OrcaChow - a friend of mine went to Humboldt. I love that area myself - I visit the Arcata/Eureka area every year, just to see the redwoods. (And I love to shop at Wildberries in Arcata to get all my veggie goodies for the trip!) Oh, and read my sigline.
I went to Otis in L.A. A great art school, in a shitty part of town. (I’ve heard they’ve moved, though.) I’d go again in a heartbeat. I also went to Glendale Community College which has the best ceramics dept. anywhere. I’d go back there definitely in a heartbeat!
I got my undergraduate degree from the University of Florida. I liked it so much I went back to UF for law school.
I went to Purdue University. I endured A LOT of bad football jokes, but nonetheless …
Loved it, loved it, loved it. Would I do it again? Yes, in a heartbeat. It’s a pretty levelheaded campus, I had great professors for the most part, and I made some wonderful friends.
Univeristy of South Florida, AKA U Stay Forever or Univeristy of Stupid F***s.
I really wanted to go to University of Florida in Gainesville. I applied too late and got wait-listed. I had already applied and been accepted to USF, and I was so darn anxious to leave home, so I went. I really, really, should have just done a year at my local community college and gone to U of F after that. And I guess I could have transferred after my first year at USF, but by then I had friends and was settled in and was afraid of too much change.
Michi
Harvard University.
I’d go back in a second, but only if someone else were paying my tuition.
In high school, I had no interest in going there. I had nothing against the place, I just had no feelings about the school one way or another. I think I almost gave my father a heart attack when I told him I had told the admissions interviewer that they were my second choice. Later, when I was trying to decide whether or not to go, my boss told me the place was filled with “commie faggots,” while the columnists of the Boston Globe were continually ranting that the students were all right-wing elitists. I figured that a place that pissed off so many people in so many ways couldn’t be all bad.
While the classes were excellent, I think the best education I received was from the other students. I had grown up in a tiny, all-white, all-Catholic suburb and suddenly I was surrounded by people my age from all around the world. I met people who shared my interests, developed new interests, and generally had a great time changing from a sheltered teenager into a responsible, yet adventurous, adult. I’m not saying that this wouldn’t have happened at any other school, but I have no regrets about where I spent my four years.
–sublight.
Univ of Delaware: The fact that my mom worked there and my education was free was definately a bonus, but there were other things I liked. Our football team is usually nationally ranked (Div I-AA) and the tailgates at the stadium rocked. It has a wonderful mix of apathy and conservatisism, which meant that going to class didn’t involve crossing 13 different protest lines or sit ins. The campus in small, but nice. There weren’t a lot of bars, but luckily we had plenty fraternities (including mine-KDR) to pick up the slack. Classes in my major were like most:large in the first two years, small in the last two. But if you did your work and had a modicum of determination you could do well. I never expected college to be some grand voyage of self discovery. It was just more school so that I could get a better job. And that’s what UD was for me. I wouldn’t say its for everyone, but for me it was perfect.
The east coast first, then that there Pasadena institute for further confuscations.
My skills became obviously mechanically inclined when a ‘dude’ implied that I belong in the machine shop. Have the results of my machinations made it to space…you bet my ass…Am I special, flock no.
Are there some/many outside the persevered?
Again…? You Betcha.
Yawhanna swap BS onna BBs? Ya gotta be semi-accurate. Leavus make a token run at this here rumination.
Suck, Lick, Chew, Whine: Age If You Will, Then Die!
I graduated in December '94 with a B.A. in Secondary English Education.
I took my husband up there for Homecoming this year (the first time I’d been in 6 yrs). He was greatly impressed with the campus - it’s really beautiful. You’re also right about the quality of education. When I was there, we were told the College of Engineering, College of Journalism, and College of Education were all ranked in the top 10 in the nation. (They may have been lying, though!)
sigh
You were serious about this, huh?
Dartmouth, and I recommend it to everyone who’s at that stage of life.
William & Mary
I got a great education there, but have some regrets (biggest complaint: students overwhelmingly white, suburban & the kids of “pols, 'crats, wonks & feds” as we used to say. 2nd biggest complaint: “trophy” african american students plastered all over admissions materials. They should at least be honest about their appalling lack of diversity in student body.) And Williamsburg is a great sucking pit of nothingness. On the pro side: great theater dept, excellent faculty and equestrian team for credit!
Wish I would have applied to U of Chicago, even though my chances were slim to none.
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. There’s a few of us Salukis on the boards, I know. Also did some classes at University of Wisconsin at Madison, and my Masters at Oklahoma State University. There have been some other classes at various and sundry Universities and Colleges, but wasn’t really around enough to base an opinion. I don’t know if I’d go back to SIU. I had a great time there, but I think the town would be WAY too small for me at this point. UW-Mad is awesome, though. Madison is a little bit of California stuck in the Midwest. And I wouldn’t ever step FOOT in Oklahoma again. You couldn’t even pay me.
Undergraduate:** Middle Tennessee State University **: at the time, it was a placid little state college with a great honors program, which was exactly what I needed as a first-generation college student.
Graduate: ** University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill** and ** University of Massachusetts at Amherst **. I would recommend the psych depts at both schools.
When I was a college professor, I taught at a couple of small, liberal arts schools (Earlham College and St. Mary’s College of Maryland) Although I never attended a small school, I highly recommend them. At bigger colleges, one can slip through the cracks without learning much. That isn’t as easy with smaller colleges.
That’s what I get for asking a question and then leaving for 5 days. Audrey, yes, I know Dr. Nahl. I was in the academic librarianship track to I took more classes from her than any other SLIS professor. Great lady (though tattooing her eyebrows in strikes me as a bit weird).
Have to say that I was disappointed by their book on road rage, however (I did not need to learn that Leon was such an aggressive driver that it sometimes made Diane cry).
Brynda:
I’m a Psych professor now and interviewed at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 1993 or so – when were you there?
Eissclam
Undergrad…Univ. Of Wisconsin - Madison…Definitely would make the same choice.
Grad…Univ. of Rochester…No, no, no. I dunno if I would just skip Grad shcool or go somewhere else, but I would not go to Grad school at UofR. I suppose there should be a thread asking “Did you go to Grad School and are you glad you did?” NO!
Virginia Commonwealth University (B.A., Poli. Sci. 1987, M.U.R.P. 1992). Would I go here again? For undergraduate degree, probably not. For my graduate work-In a heartbeat. A great department with excellent instructors.
Yeah Barney! As my username might imply, I went to Virginia Tech. I was another of the “thought-free” college choices – the only reason I applied there was because they sent me a free app due to SAT scores. I had my heart set on Syracuse and their COMM department, but then they screwed me over on financial aid and it was hello Blacksburg!
All that, though, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I loved my time at VT, and would go back in a heartbeat. Everything’s either w/in walking distance or on the bus line. Great buffalo wings … great football … GORGEOUS campus … it’s a little slice of heaven.
Penn State for a BS and MS. Loved it and it was completely free for me so it worked out well. I was in the Honors Program though which meant I got to take a bunch of smaller classes in place of some of the 200+ freshman standards. I don’t know if I’d recommend it academically otherwise. I was a Chem major for my undergrad which is a pretty good department there, with lots of opportunities to work in labs. Since it’s big school it’s easy to find interesting electives because there are so many. It’s in the middle of nowhere, but it’s a college town so there was a fair amount of nightlife (especially bars) and there were always shows (both student and professional) fo which you could get student rates. They built a new arena and started getting some bigger name concerts too which was fun. It’s also in the middle of mountains so there’s some great hiking/outdoorsy activities available.
Got my MS in geography and that was even better. An amazing program and amazing profs and fellow students. I almost wish I had stayed to get my PhD.