The Ugly Realities of UW Life (Seattle, George: dorm, buy, school rankings)

[UKWildcat1981]

You can be successful at any college and it depends on what your program and degree is in. Life is all about connections now more than the college you graduated from.

[GatsbyGatz]

I'm surprised this troll thread has lived for this long.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by Blackhawk4440

Reasons given for the UW's poor showing include the overcrowded 'McCollege' classrooms and the ghetto-like crime-ridden University District's general safety problems..

You need to get out and travel more around the country if you think the University District is ghetto-like... Seriously, some Pacific Northwest people have such a sheltered outlook it's hilarious.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by 509

My daughter was a straight A student in the math and sciences. She was so disgusted with the lack of focus on education at the U of W she dropped out of school.

What does this mean? You keep using very vague terms. How did this perceived lack of focus on education manifest itself in her experience?

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

Now, if you have a business, liberal arts or law degree I cannot help you there as I have no clue as to how people find jobs in those fields or what employers look for.

Some of the humanities programs are among the best in the US. Others are mediocre. I got better French and Spanish instruction in highschool than the UW provides in its advanced courses. But I guess the mediocre students need a department to call home, that will graduate them.

[Yakscsd]

Ive heard the same complaints about (enter favorite school here). It means nothing.

[GoBlueInSeattle]

Originally Posted by DP79

It's not just the ivory tower investment firms on the East Coast that have pipelines into Boston and Northeast schools - every firm, industry, and company on the East Coast does. Just like every Chicago-area firm has pipelines into Big 10 schools, and West Coast firms have pipelines into Pac-12 schools. The only difference is, a degree from MIT or University of Michigan or UC-Berkeley will open up doors for you anywhere you go. Not so with a University of Washington degree. A lot of people don't even know if it's in Washington state, Washington DC, or confuse it with Washington University. Trust me on this because I work for a national consulting firm, and our clients are people who work in the finance and admin departments of the biggest corporations in America, and RARELY have I met anyone in these companies with a degree from UW. To answer your question, I don't know the reasons for leaving "the fastest growing city in the country", but the point is, if you plan on getting a degree from UW, you better plan on living in Seattle the rest of your life.

As a hiring manager who has worked on both coasts, I rarely if ever encountered many UW grads. If I saw UW on a resume, I'd likely put in the same category as grads from U. of Wisconsin, William & Mary, G.I.T. or Pitt. Decent enough public university at its flagship campus, but nothing special. Outside of compsci, UW isn't well known for much. Its graduate level programs, generally speaking, are decent enough, but not top of the heap outside a few fields (well regarded in compsci, very good social work school, solid engineering program - other program ok but nothing special)

There ARE public universities with national reach and reputation, whose graduates of both undergrad and graduate level programs enjoy a national reputation in the employment market - UC-Berkeley, U of Michigan-Ann Arbor, U. of Virginia, UT-Austin, and UNC-Chapel Hill. UW is not in that category.

[GoBlueInSeattle]

Originally Posted by Blackhawk4440

The pathetic state of Seattle schools extends, it seems, up to the college levels. The VA-affiliated website 'Collegefactual' has come out with its annual rankings, and the UW barely cracked the top 100, coming in at a humiliating 98th place.

http://www.collegefactual.com

That list is completely full of ****.

Notre Dame as #10? Ridiculous.

CalTech, a school that makes Harvard kids look like slackers, all the way down at #15?

Columbia U. at #17? U. of Chicago at #36? - Those are both amongst the Top Ten universities in the country.

John Hopkins #45? Carnegie Mellon #46? U. of Virginia #50? UC-Berkeley #53? None of those numbers make any sense to anyone who actually is familiar with these institutions.

Meanwhile, let's see who they rank higher - Pomona College #22. College of the Holy Cross #23. Bucknell #24. Its laughable.

Just like StrokeMyBlackhawk444TimesANight.

[RVD90277]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

And why should UW students be paying UC Berkeley rates for an education that's not on a par with Berkeley? Berkeley is considered a "public Ivy". The UW isn't. A degree from Berkeley opens doors for job applicants nationwide. As someone said earlier, the UW is barely known east of the Cascades, or outside the NW.

The answer to your first question is (for the most part) "because UW students can't get into Berkeley."

Sorry for the arrogant answer but it's true, it's true. I graduated from Cal in the 90s. We don't compare ourselves with other public universities, we actually compare ourselves with Stanfurd (our rival), MIT, and Cal Tech. Our Computer Science department (my major) is typically second to none with some objection from folks from the other schools that i mentioned. I went there because it was the best school that I got into...I didn't care that the dorms were kind of old, dorm food was pretty bad, class sizes were huge, Professors didn't know me (nor did they care about me), etc. I did go to grad school at a private school (Ivy League) and it was like nigh and day in terms of the difference in experience. Private colleges actually know who you are, care about you and want to help make sure you graduate, etc. Of course my grad school cost something like 4X as much as my undergrad.

I suppose that UW is a "top public university" as another poster said but for most people public university rankings are going to be something like:

uc berkeley
ucla
michigan
unc
illinois
uva
ut austin
wisconsin
uw
uc davis / uc irvine
etc.

But no doubt, in this area within a 500 mile radius, UW is the place to be.

RVD.

[cpmunk]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

I'm surprised this troll thread has lived for this long.

i agree, they all seem to skip over my question too