Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Illinois state colleges are expensive. Even *without* merit aid, looks like the cost-of-attendance at Montana State is cheaper than the cost-of-attendance for UIUC in-state. Add in merit aid, and it looks like they give a good amount, and they could probably save a good amount of money going with MSU.
(Plus, I'd sure rather spend four years in Bozeman than Urbana-Champaign!)
With merit aid and "out of state" aid, Montana and other colleges (e.g. Miami Ohio) were quite a bit less expensive than the IL schools we looked at...
I believe the Boulder kids that are going to Montana State received A LOT of scholarships. My neighbor only has to pay room and board.
btw, I asked the OP about Montana State because I think it's an interesting finalist compared to the rest of his list.
Yes, I think he got almost a full tuition scholarship there. I'd have to look up the offer though - but it was substantial. I've spent the last two months pushing Montana state - their programs look great. However, my son is most definitely influenced by the rankings out there.. Ohio, Indiana, Penn State just look better on paper to him...
My only advice is that your son be certain he is comfortable with the OSU vibe regarding rabid sports team support. It is pretty intense and may be difficult to avoid if too intense for your son.
All schools have great reputations.
Congratulations to him!
Thanks... Son enjoys watching and playing sports - sports mania is something he'll love being a part of! He also plays just about every sport so will join various leagues. Schools with large rec centers, sports leagues, outdoor activities and lots of school spirit really appeal to him.
Fantastic place. I just don't know about his major in undergrad there.
This is the only school he's gotten a rejection letter from (even though he's a double legacy!)... FWIW he did compare finance/accounting rankings and found that some of the other schools he got into had better rankings in these majors, which made him feel better..
And what 17-18 year old knows that? I never considered Colorado when I was in high school, yet I've lived here longer than anywhere else.
Actually they do factor that into their ratings. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's an individual thing, etc, etc, but in general, the ranking of the school does say something about the quality of the education.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business...matter/400898/ "According to their results, school choice matters the most for business majors. Those who attended top schools earn 12 percent more than their peers who went to schools that were in the middle of the pack. And grads from those mid-tier institutions earned 6 percent more than their peers who went to the least-selective schools."
It may come as some surprise to you that hiring managers are familiar with the top schools in their business.
RE: the schools in question. They are so geographically diverse and very different in feel! How far does he want to be from home? How liberal is he (Boulder vs. Miami)? Does he care about sports? Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State are really big sports schools, Miami, Montana State, and Colorado less so. Is cost a factor?
My sister is a Miami grad and her daughter goes there currently. I also spent some time there with my daughter; she was very strongly considering it but ended up at Wisconsin. It has a renowned business school; my niece is a senior and has a job lined up at a very well-known company in Chicago, and she had great internships each summer. Miami grads tend to stay in the Midwest (especially Chicago it seems) and some to the East Coast. It's an absolutely gorgeous campus with a very classic, East Coast looking vibe. Campus with lots to do but is isolated. It's also more of a conservative, preppy study body (commonly nicknamed "JCrew U") and Greek life is a big deal, although my niece isn't either and has had a good experience there. I think that if someone didn't know better, they might think it's a private college.
Michigan State, Penn State, and Ohio State probably have the strongest national reputations of the schools on his list, although you could not pay me to live in East Lansing or State College (Columbus is good).
I have appreciated your input on this thread..
Too answer some of your questions:
How far does he want to be from home?
We would like him to stay on the continent - lol. Location isn't really a big issue for him, as long as he's accessible to airports. And I think all the schools are located in areas where family members live so he will have that support too...
How liberal is he (Boulder vs. Miami)?
Politically, son is very conservative. He will debate politics with others - things like safe spaces, gender neutral pronouns, infringements on free speech or gun rights, minimum wage, social welfare programs, extremely liberal teachers, etc. Hopefully, college will help expand his exposure/opinions on some issues...
Does he care about sports?
Yes, he is obsessed with sports. He is a 3 sport HS athlete and will want to play intramural sports. He is a big college sport fan, so will want to attend lots of games/tailgates.
Is cost a factor?
No, because all the schools he applied to are within our budget.
As far as Miami goes...
The vibe of that place fits him - yes, he is preppy and conservative. Those students looked like all his HS friends, so he felt right at home. However I'm hoping he will meet lots of different types of students in college and expand his worldview. Not sure how sheltering of a place Miami is.
Also, he really did like the campuses of Michigan State and Penn State, but maybe he needs to explore the surrounding towns more...
They make those decisions when they recruit at top-ranked schools, and make job offers before graduation, whereas graduates from lower ranked (or unranked) institutions have to pound the pavement to find jobs.
Recruitment and internships are his top priority. This is what he is researching now at the various business schools...
I am aware of some of Penn State's history, as well as UIUC's where my husband got his PhD. However, I don't get this. Penn State was established in 1855, UI in 1867. What was Pennsylvania's flagship prior to the 1950s?
The University of Pennsylvania. It was subsidized by the Commonwealth of PA well into the 1900s as a Pennsylvania's pseudo flagship State U, probably until around the 1950s. State's usually dislike the expense of duplicate grad/research programs so they only financially supported one, usually. To this day, Penn, and urban Ivy League school, runs the state's only full-fledged veterinary medicine school while PSU has just has a 3-specialty degree program within its college of agriculture despite being Pennsylvania's land grant school.
For a business major, I'd add comparisons of the schools based on these criteria to the mix:
1. Strength of the program in the student's intended area of specialization (number of faculty in that specialty, number of classes offered each semester, number of students who choose that specialization, funding for the program, unique options or strengths of the program in that specialization). Since interests can change, it never hurts to look at a few other specialties in the business school as well.
2. The strength of the business school's career services office and programs
3. Internship opportunities and internship placements in the specialization
4. Which companies recruit on campus for business majors in general and for grads of the intended specialization in particular. How many job fairs does the school host? Do major employers conduct on campus interviews?
5. Where do grads end up working. By this I mean both the employers AND the geographic locations. If your goal is to end up working in a particular state, choosing the flagship business program in that state *may* give you a leg up over someone who graduated from a geographically distant program. Local employers tend to hire from the schools they have in their backyards.
To a lesser degree, it can also be telling to look at where students in the business program go on to get their MBAs.
The business school itself, as well as the school's career services office, should be able to answer most if not all of these questions, but there is also plenty of information available on each business school's website.
Of course, most students will also want to compare the out of pocket cost of attendance (i.e. net price), student loans required, and personal factors (i.e., distance from home, location, extracurricular interests, etc.)
Congratulations to your son, and best of luck to him - he has some GREAT options!
Thank you, this is a great list of questions/issues for him to explore when evaluating different business programs. He has talked about continuing on for a Masters and which schools would best prepare him for that as well...
I agree that too many people rely on US News' rankings as gospel and that these rankings are skewed anyway: too much emphasize on admissions stats when, really, admissions is just a popularity contest that favors/disfavors schools often because of geography and other logistics. I mean, Michigan State University is a huge world-class university that sits in a medium-size state contending with another huge even higher ranked school in University of Michigan. And yet there's Clemson Univ ranked higher than Mich State, which is in a small state with no in state competition with modest competition in the region -- UNC and Ga Tech are very good, but there are a bunch of bordering and nearby southern states with mediocre public Us. Clemson decided to emphasize engineering, which typically draws higher math SATs/ACTs, and viola! ... Honestly, does anybody really believe Clemson is qualitatively 'better' than MSU? Certainly the world ranking authorities, like Times Higher Education (THE) of London, and even US News' global rankings -- which don't really factor in admissions, don't think so.
I think most employers view the large state 'flagship' and land grant universities as being similar.
I went to Clemson and I wouldn't say that Clemson has no competition in the state. U of SC is a larger university and it is a good university. My father earned an electrical engineering degree at SC and never had a problem finding a job. It also has the state's public law school, one of the medical schools and a branch of the pharmacy college. College of Charleston, Winthrop, Coastal Carolina, etc are all fine for liberal arts and business majors.
Clemson doesn't emphasize engineering over other programs in my view. It is a comprehensive university. Most universities don't offer engineering so there is a high demand to attend Clemson. I think the business college at Clemson is slightly larger than the engineering college now.
I'm not sure why you say the other universities in nearby states are mediocre but there is nothing wrong with Auburn, NC State, Alabama, etc. They offer engineering and architecture programs that UNC does not offer.
UNC has a very small enrollment for a flagship university in one of the most populated state so it can be very selective. I don't think selectivity is evidence the college is better than other colleges.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
- their programs look great. However, my son is most definitely influenced by the rankings out there.. Ohio, Indiana, Penn State just look better on paper to him...
