OT: College

[lcjjdnh]

After reading the recent topic on Graduate Schools and seeing illinifan's recent post about recieving mail from West Point, coupled with my own reieving of about 12 different pieces of college related mail today, it reminded me that I soon have to start thinking about college. I am in my junior year which means I have about a year and a half until I will be leaving for school. I was wondering whether anyone could give me some schools to look at based on personal experience or knowing someone who went there, etc.

Just to give you idea of what I plan to major in, I was thinking economics or finance of some sort. Politics also interest me so I was thinking about political science as a minor since I know a few people who have majored in Political Science and hear most people don't actually go into anything related to politics after school. My parents have suggested careers ranging from investment banker to lobbyist to journalist for me to pursue based on my interest, so I figure economics and poli sci would be a good choice for possible majors.

In terms of admissions, I recieved a 1450 (750 math, 700 Verbal) on my PSATs so apparently my SAT score should range from like 1400 to 1550. In terms of grades, I get almost all As(darn AP calc) taking mostly AP classes.

I have only thought about a few colleges. SOme of my friends suggest U of Chicago but no one has actually gone there. A couple of my friends were accepted to Columbia and Penn but for engineering and still have a year left in high school. Other than that most of the kids in my school end up going to local schools or state schools(Michigan, Rutgers, Penn State, Delaware, Maryland).

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments on schools which are respected in either major?

I am trying to get a large selection of colleges to look at and narrow down, so I have been asking a lot of people about college recently, and figured that the board which has a large sampling of people from different regions.

Thanks in advance.

[McSweeny]

i suggest you don't go to college and get a job. I went to college and quit after a semester and now i'm working in the sports department of a local news paper and i couldn't be happier.

Err... um what i mean to say was make sure you think things through over and over again. I thought i knew exactly what i wanted to do, but i was dead wrong. I went to school as a comp sci major and now i'm writing for a living. Though, i still do visit my buddies in college a lot.

But to answer your origanal question. Don't put down state schools or schools that don't have a kickass rep. I don't know you're money situation, but all schools are pretty much created equally(with a few exceptions). Other than that, go somewhere you think you'll be totally happy, and don't compromise. Oh and if you want a good college town, look no further than Boston. I went to the Wentworth Institue of Technology and aside from disliking my major and being a student i loved boston and i go back there as often as i can

[lcjjdnh]

I wasn't putting down state schools at all, in fact Michigan and Maryland are two great schools, and I know people who go there who are some of the smartest I know.

[sterlingice]

I had good high school credentials and was accepted at Carnegie Mellon's Comp Sci program and Case Western in Cleveland but my final choice came down to Kansas or Arizona because of money. I don't know about you, but getting money from an expensive school is nearly impossible and was really the determining factor on eliminating some schools from my list. How much are you looking to spend money-wise? Are you willing to go into debt? I was not just in the event that I decided I ended up changing my mind, which happened as I went to work partways through school and went back. Remember stuff like that can happen, too.

SI

[Iceberg]

Im just a year ahead of you in the process. Right now I am waiting to hear back from Northwestern, Washington U is STL, UVA, Tulane and Maryland. Ill try to give you a few suggestions.

1. Try to visit some schools if possible. I had no idea where i wanted to apply until my family took road trips the last two summers stopping at just about every school along the way. Personnally visiting U of Chicago took it off my list. I just found it really gloomy and the neighborhood around it was not exactly friendly to say the least.

2. Try to figure out what type of school you want to go to based on size, location ect. it just helps narrow things down.

3. A site I found very helpful: Princeton Review They have actual student feedback about what the school is like and they give you both the good and the bad on academics as well as social life.

4. All of those letters you are getting, be warned with the scores you have they are going to keep coming and coming. I have a big box full of them now. Dont waste too much of your time reading them because they all say pretty much the same thing but it doesnt hurt to look into the schools online. Most of the places you have probably never heard of and you never know what you will find. Wash U is know my first choice and before recieving mail from them i had never heard they existed.

Good Luck

BTW-where do you live?

[lcjjdnh]

Thanks for the help. I Live in NJ.

[sterlingice]

Before my college search was over, i filled up two drawers in a filing cabinet with college stuff.

I second Iceberg- I stronly suggest visiting about 5 schools you are actually considering this summer or whenever you have time. Both the summer of my sophomore and junior year, I visited a few schools each and it helped a lot with the decision making. Sometimes, the "feel" of a school will greatly influence your opinion of a school.

SI

[sooner333]

I'm also a year ahead. I'm waiting for Stanford (actually was deferred), Duke, and Northwestern. OU accepted me and is offering me a good deal to go there. I'm not sure what I'm going to do though. I'm thinking of Political Science or some kind of Journalism (always has been my interest to do sports journalism or broadcast journalism). However, I'm not going to pick a school based on one major...more the over-all quality of education coupled with the "experience."

[RPI-Fan]

I applied to RPI (safety school), UMich, UWisc (Madison), PSU, Rice (deferred), and Georgia Tech (preobably my favorite school of them all).

I narrowed it down to those because of cost (RPI is free for me), location (bigger cities, or big schools), and general quality. Plus, going to a big school, I hear, gives a little more options for classes and stuff.

So anyways, that's my situation.

Good luck with all yours!

[Easy Mac]

Am i the only one who applied to only one school?


Am I really that lazy and self-assured?

[Craptacular]

I'll be a homer and suggest UW (Wisconsin for all you left coasters). It is one of the largest universities (as in 40K enrollment), so there are pros (huge selection of classes, lots of potential friends) and cons (500 people in your chemistry lecture).

If you're into politics, Madison is a great place, and not only because it's the state capitol. If you're a little on the liberal side, you can join thousands of friends and protest something new every day. If you lean to the conservative side, you can laugh at all the liberals.

The best thing about UW is the location. Madison is the perfect size community in my view (a little over 200,000). You have most of the "big-city" amenities and recreation, but without most of the "big-city" problems. Crime is low, traffic isn't too bad, and the city is full of parks, a few nice lakes, and a great selection of restaurants. The job market is almost always in the employee's favor, as the combination of state government and the university keep unemployment nice and low. You're also 90 minutes from Milwaukee, 2.5-3 hours from Chicago, and 5 hours from the Twin Cities.

If you can wing it, I agree with the suggestion to visit as many places as possible. I wouldn't pick a school without visiting it first.

[Vince]

I also support the idea to visit the schools you are interested in...it makes a big difference. If you can find a way to chat with current students as well, that would be tremendously helpful.

I'm currently enrolled at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and I absolutely love it here. If you are willing to travel, I would HIGHLY recommend my school. We have a good reputation academically, and it is only increasing (two of our faculty have won nobel prizes within the last two years). We are located here in sunny southern California, where the weather is gorgeous 340 days a year, you're on the beach and you're also within a day's drive of snow (Lake Tahoe = 8 hours, Mammoth about 4 hours). I can't say enough about the location...the university is actually a few miles north of Santa Barbara, and the majority of the student population lives in a little college town called Isla Vista...it's basically a square mile with approximately 8,000 college students living in apartments. Not only that, you are a mere hour away from Los Angeles, and a scant 4-5 hour drive to the Bay Area, where I'm from. Tuition isn't so bad (about $3,900 a year as a CA resident, I think it'd be about half again as expensive for an out of state student), rent is atrocious (I pay $600 a month to share a room...average is between $400 and $600 to share, $700-$1000 for your own room...I live across the street from the ocean though ), and books are always a killer ($100-$300 a quarter) in the economic aspect. However, with a test score of 1450 on your PSATs (you probably got National Merit letter of comendation, correct?) and a solid GPA, it shouldn't be difficult to get in and probably get some money from the school. The Student Body (undegraduates) is about 18,000, and class sizes range from 20 (such as my upper-division history classes) to 1,000 (general Chem, Econ, Soc classes that most undergrads have to take).

If you have any questions at all about UCSB, feel free to ask...as if you couldn't tell, I take great pride in my school and love to talk about it

[wade moore]

Well, to really answer this question fully I'd need to know more about what kind of school you want..

do you want a big school? do you want a small school? do you want to live in the city? do you want to live in a college town? etc, etc, etc..

I personally just graduated from the College of William and Mary (for whoever was looking at UVA, you shouldn't consider UVA without considering W&M) and i absolutely love it and continue to live in Williamsburg. It is a great relatively small atmosphere (about 5k students counting the graduate school) and a fantastic reputation. It is outstanding in Business, History, Government, Biology, English and very good in many other areas.

A general piece of advice I would give is go to a school you like, not one that is great in your major -- you're going to change majors, atleast once, trust me.

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by RPI-Fan
I applied to RPI (safety school), UMich, UWisc (Madison), PSU, Rice (deferred), and Georgia Tech (preobably my favorite school of them all).

I narrowed it down to those because of cost (RPI is free for me)...

Hey, pretty good if RPI is your safety school. I applied there too, back in....um....1990 (darn, I'm getting old!). I unfortunately wouldn't have gotten a free ride. Virginia Tech was my safety school I guess, they let me apply for free and I heard from them early.

lcjjdnh, I ended up going to Johns Hopkins, which is in Baltimore and not too far from Jersey (I grew up around Philly). I went for Biomedical Engineering, but I think they are strong in poly sci/international studies as well.
Here's a link to the department.

Now, keep in mind this is in the city, and Baltimore isn't that great a city, though I suppose they've gotten a little better. And when I went there was a 65/35 men to women ratio, though I think they're getting better. But there is also an all-girls Catholic college up the street (College of Notre Dame of Maryland, aka "CONDOM") which helps a little. Loyola of Maryland is also just a mile or two away, and so is the smaller Goucher.

Hopkins generally ranks in the top 10 schools and is very competitive - you won't find many dummies there, that's for sure. The acceptance rate may be better than some comparable schools. Not much of a party school. It's pricey, but they gave me a grant and college loans (only 3 more years to go!!!).

[cuervo72]

Dola -

Forgot to mention that a roommate of mine freshman year changed his major from BME to Econ, and later went on to graduate work at U of Chicago. I believe he's doing pretty well these days.

[QuikSand]

Without being too specific, here's one additional thought. You're probably on your way to being a National Merit Scholar, and that is one crowbar to use handily. You might be able to leverage a nice incentive package from one or more schools- many universities will come up with "complementary" aid packages to augment what you might get from your NM Scholarship per se.

Good luck.

[bigdawg2003]

I'm a senior in high school, so I'm right smack in the middle of the college stuff.

Remember, this is YOUR decision, not anybody else's. I'm seeing too many of my friends go to certain schools because other people want them too, and it makes me sick. I applied to Colorado-Boulder, Texas Tech, Southwestern U in Georgetown, Texas, and North Carolina-Chapel Hill. I've been accepted to CU and TTU, but Southwestern is MY first choice. Make this one of, if not the most selfish decision of your life.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by wade moore
I personally just graduated from the College of William and Mary and i absolutely love it and continue to live in Williamsburg. It is a great relatively small atmosphere (about 5k students counting the graduate school) and a fantastic reputation.

Plus, it has a reputation for an "alternative lifestyle" population and realatively high suicide rate. Something to consider if you are into either of those things.

[albionmoonlight]

2 quick suggestions

Don't pick a school based on a potential major. You will probably change majors. My cousin went to a school that had pretty weak programs across the board, but was kick-ass in pharmacy. When he decided he didn't want to be a pharmacist, there was not much there for him.

Having a low debt load coming out of college gives you more freedom to afford grad. school, volunteer, take a low paying but fun job, etc. when you graduate. You've got the grades and the test scores to get some scholarship offers from some pretty good schools--look into that.

To make the search manageable, try to narrow down by broad area--part of the country, size of school, urban or rural, etc.

Good luck.

[Fritz]

don't forget about social atmosphere!

There are few times in your life when you can get away with running around the streets dunk, naked, wearing a bunny mask, and having a sock stuck half up your ass.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Stay close to home and be happy with yourself in your decision and you should live at home too cuz it saves a ton of money in the end . Also manage your time well and everything should fall in place .

[Easy Mac]

Originally posted by Fritz
don't forget about social atmosphere!

There are few times in your life when you can get away with running around the streets dunk, naked, wearing a bunny mask, and having a sock stuck half up your ass.

You mean Christmas and mothers day right?

[Radii]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
Am i the only one who applied to only one school?


Am I really that lazy and self-assured?

I applied to two, Ga Tech and UNC-Chapel Hill. I only applied to UNC because my parents made me. I knew the entire time I was going to Tech. I was going to apply to MIT and Duke to see if I could get in, but I changed my mind when I saw there were essay questions on the application. Yes, I am that lazy.

[Easy Mac]

I did the same, only applying to one school b/c I knew I'd get in. Almost applied to Duke, but you had to do a bunch of extra work. Figured FU was good enough for me.

[wade moore]

Originally posted by Fritz
Plus, it has a reputation for an "alternative lifestyle" population and realatively high suicide rate. Something to consider if you are into either of those things.

hahaha.. i should have known you or subby would chime in on that ..

1) The suicide rate is not high.. in my 5 years there (no snickering) there was one suicide by a grad student..

2) The alternative lifestyle is not necessarily a higher percent (i don't believe it is) it is just very active in the college community (The GSU is a well run organization that has a lot of events, etc)

[Fritz]

oh, you bill and misery folks are easily baited.

[wade moore]

I only applied to W&M and did it early decision.. so I knew for sure where I was going by Thanksgiving..

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
I did the same, only applying to one school b/c I knew I'd get in. Almost applied to Duke, but you had to do a bunch of extra work. Figured FU was good enough for me.

Duke was my #1....and I didn't get in. When I applied to Penn there were maybe 5 essay questions....it was insane. Of course, I applied anyhow.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
Am i the only one who applied to only one school?


Am I really that lazy and self-assured?

I applied to one school and one school only. University of Michigan. I got in early and that was it for me. For law school, I applied at around 9 schools. Got into the University of Michigan and that was it for me.

[wade moore]

Originally posted by Fritz
oh, you bill and misery folks are easily baited.

Hook, Line, and Sinker...

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by sterlingice
Before my college search was over, i filled up two drawers in a filing cabinet with college stuff.

I second Iceberg- I stronly suggest visiting about 5 schools you are actually considering this summer or whenever you have time. Both the summer of my sophomore and junior year, I visited a few schools each and it helped a lot with the decision making. Sometimes, the "feel" of a school will greatly influence your opinion of a school.

SI

but summer doesn't give you a very realistic impression of most schools. Check out some places this spring, and then visit some more in the fall.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by lcjjdnh
Thanks for the help. I Live in NJ.

I just finished up Rutgers, and can honestly say I loved it. I can also say it isn't for everyone. It's a gigantic campus, there are tons of people, your freshman year will be filled with large lecture hall classes. And don't get me started on the football team.

If you think you're leaning towards a large school, definitely check it out. Also, based on your grades, I wouldn't doubt if you could go for completely free. Finances were a huge reason for my going there (I had to student loan my way through school).


Which best describes your financial situation?

1. Money is no object
2. My parents can pay up to (blank) per year, the rest will have to be loans/scholarships
3. I'm almost going to be entierly on my own paying for school.

[Racer]

Originally posted by lcjjdnh


I have only thought about a few colleges. SOme of my friends suggest U of Chicago but no one has actually gone there.

I'd agree with the comments someone said early about University of Chicago. I felt the campus was unattractive, had a lot of traffic on its streets, its surrounding area was semi-run down. To my dismay, I was also surprized to not find one sports' shirt in their entire bookstore. In contrast, I was quite impressed with the other three schools I visited (Northwestern, Valparaiso, and Butler). Then again I'm from a town of about 10,000 people in Indiana so the inner city life might have been a bit much for me .


The schools I ended up applying to were Valparaiso, Butler, Notre Dame, and Indiana. So far I have been accepted to Valparaiso, Butler, and Indiana. Both Valparaiso and Butler have offered me a decent sized scholarship to go there. Notre Dame is a long shot. Right now I am leaning towards Valpo.

[lcjjdnh]

As far as the money situation, my parents will pay for it but they prefer I keep it down if possible. My grandmother actually left my parents money for this, so although they used to really worry about the money situation, they have told not to really factor it in to big decisions, but if there are two equal schools, one being cheaper, take the cheaper. On that same note, my parents might give me some of the money, maybe buy me a nice car, etc. if I were to go to a school which was free(such as maybe Rutgers) which is a deal I know some of my friends siblings were offered and my cousins were offered, but I have yet to see anyone take it.

Also on the Rutgers topic, I am on my school's Academic Bowl Team(Quiz Bowl, etc.) so I actually have been to a few collegesalready for tournaments. We went to Yale one time, and although the town is really nice, most of the people I met there who go to the school were jerks. On the other hand, Rutgers campus wasn't exactly beautiful, but most of the guys running the tournament were actually pretty cool.

On that note cthomer, if you went to the main campus, do you happen to know of the big red metal "piece of art" which is like a huge rectangle twisted. If so, one of the kids on my team said one of the stupidist things there. The conversation went sort of like this:

Me:Hey, look at that
X:Yeah, cool, but why did some one vandalize it?
Me:What?
X:Look, they twisted it, why would they do that?
Me:You fool, its suppossed to be like that
X:Oh, I'm a huge idiot

I guess it was funnier if you were there, but are entire team started cracking up when it happened.

[lcjjdnh]

Also, about the NMS, I think I will get commended but not be a finalist or semi-finalist. I was 98% nationally which is good enough for commended but apparently, the finals go by state and my writing score on the PSAT(650 Junior year, which stinks because freshman year I had a 700 on it) brings me down a bit on the overall score.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by lcjjdnh
As far as the money situation, my parents will pay for it but they prefer I keep it down if possible. My grandmother actually left my parents money for this, so although they used to really worry about the money situation, they have told not to really factor it in to big decisions, but if there are two equal schools, one being cheaper, take the cheaper. On that same note, my parents might give me some of the money, maybe buy me a nice car, etc. if I were to go to a school which was free(such as maybe Rutgers) which is a deal I know some of my friends siblings were offered and my cousins were offered, but I have yet to see anyone take it.

Also on the Rutgers topic, I am on my school's Academic Bowl Team(Quiz Bowl, etc.) so I actually have been to a few collegesalready for tournaments. We went to Yale one time, and although the town is really nice, most of the people I met there who go to the school were jerks. On the other hand, Rutgers campus wasn't exactly beautiful, but most of the guys running the tournament were actually pretty cool.

On that note cthomer, if you went to the main campus, do you happen to know of the big red metal "piece of art" which is like a huge rectangle twisted. If so, one of the kids on my team said one of the stupidist things there. The conversation went sort of like this:

Me:Hey, look at that
X:Yeah, cool, but why did some one vandalize it?
Me:What?
X:Look, they twisted it, why would they do that?
Me:You fool, its suppossed to be like that
X:Oh, I'm a huge idiot

I guess it was funnier if you were there, but are entire team started cracking up when it happened.

That's a great story about the sculpture! Funny as hell.

I'd have to agree that Rutgers isn't the prettiest school. The Voorhees mall area of the College Ave campus is nice, but the campus is so sprawling that you can't halp but notice the traffic, run down frat houses and what-not getting in the way. Plus Route 18 runs right up along side it.

I don't know if you understand the whole New Brunswick setup either, but there are actually 5 campuses connecting all of the New Brunswick (and Piscataway) part of Rutgers University. Sadly, Douglass College is the prettiest of them all, but is an all-girls school. Livingston is a wasteland for transfer students and those who couldn't get into Rutgers College proper (there is also Livingtson College). The Busch Campus is nice looking, but so gigantic you need be bused almost everywhere.

The school definitely has it's drawbacks , I won't lie.


BTW, where in Jersey are you?

[lcjjdnh]

I lieve in Northern New Jersey about 20-30 minutes from Newark if you're looking for a big city to compare it to.

[RPI-Fan]

I got into Wisconsin today. I don't know if I'll go there, but it's nice to have gotten in somewhere, so I feel good about the other places now. Plus, I can finally tell people I got into a college now when they ask where I'm going, instead of saying "I applied to..."

1 down, 5 to go.

~rpi-fan

[McSweeny]

man i remember when i got into my first school... all high school work ceased. December - June with almost no work was such a great thing. Totally ruined my work ethic for college though... could explain why i'm working instead of going to school... heh heh

[Iceberg]

congrats RPI

I know what you mean about just wanting to have gotten in somewhere. I hear back from Maryland on the 15th and though its pretty much a sure thing it will be nice to know ive been accepted to college.

[Logan]

I'm currently a Rutgers sophomore. You're right, it is not the best looking campus (cthomer was right about Voorhees mall though), but you will get over it in your first weekend here.

Let me see if I can sum up my college experience so far:

Cons:

-Large class sizes in your first year or two (especially in intro classes)
-Some TA's will be hard to understand (specifically in the math/comp sci department)
-If you ever have a problem or concern that will force you to interact with administration, expect to be led around in circles.

Pros:
-By far the best time I've had in my life.
-Will continue to have the best time of my life.
-Have made tons of great friends.
-Would never trade it for anything or another school.

You mentioned a possible finance major. Our business school is very competitive and hard to get into (you apply in your sophomore year--I'll find out March 15th). It is also highly respected.

I'll echo what others have said though. Make the decision for yourself and no one else. Go with your gut.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
Am i the only one who applied to only one school?


Am I really that lazy and self-assured?

I only applied to one (UNH), but I actually got accepted to two (UNH and Nebraska). When I took my SAT's there was a checkmark to send your results to a couple different schools - I chose UNH, Nebraska, and a couple others at random. Nebraska accepted me with just my not-exactly stellar SAT score.

[Daimyo]

I graduated from Northwestern in 2000 and liked it okay. If you're interested in economics or poli sci, you should consider it, especially if you're going to be visiting UChicago anyway. If you want to go into consulting or ibanking its a great school because all the major players recruit heavily there so its really easy to get job interviews.

Whatever you decide you should definately take time to visit all your top choices. NWU and UC were my top two choices coming out of high school, I visited both, was accepted at both, but liked Northwestern much, much better so that's where I went. Evanston is a much, much, much nicer area than where the where the University of Chicago is located.

[Daimyo]

Originally posted by sterlingice
I don't know about you, but getting money from an expensive school is nearly impossible and was really the determining factor on eliminating some schools from my list.

I don't know if things have changed that much since 1996, but this is completely opposite my experience. At most of the top tier schools, nearly everyone gets some form of financial aid. For all the schools I considered (Northwestern, UChicago, Harvard, Stanford, Caltech), once you're accepted the attitude was pretty much "Show us how much you can afford and we'll pay the rest."

When I first saw the $30k/year price tag, I didn't think I could afford it either, but after comparing financial aid packages Northwestern ended up costing only a few thousand more than Indiana and Purdue for me and that was easily made up with a work study job and some increased student loans.

[mckerney]

Originally posted by RPI-Fan
I got into Wisconsin today. I don't know if I'll go there, but it's nice to have gotten in somewhere, so I feel good about the other places now.

Not a big fan of that school, the city totally sucks, though they did send me a letter saying I should apply there. But then again, Yale had sent me an application even though I'm not nearly smart enough to get in, or rich enough to afford it. Also, I somehow got into a school that I didn't think I would when a friend of mine got rejected even though she has a much higher class rank, way more extra curriculars, and I didn't have a letter of recommendation or anything like that.

[Craptacular]

Originally posted by RPI-Fan
I got into Wisconsin today.

Originally posted by mckerney
Not a big fan of that school, the city totally sucks, though they did send me a letter saying I should apply there.

What's wrong with Madison mckerney ... other than some of the hippiecrits??

RPI-Fan, congratulations. Let me know if you have any specific questions about the school (I spent 8 friggin' years there ... grad school included ) or about the beautiful city of Madison.

[mckerney]

I've been to Madison several times, and I'm just not a big fan of the city I guess.

And as long as this is a sports board, I suppose I should bring up my objections to Camp Randall. The main problem I have with it is that's it's an outdoor stadium, they're spending a good deal of money renovating it, yet it's still a turf field. Turf, outdoors. Turf indoors is bad enough, but outside where you could be growing real grass? Inexcusable. This is the part where I fail to mention that the school I'm going to has the biggest piece of shit of a stadium, but at least they used to have a kickass on campus stadium and are trying to get a new place to play ball. Oh, but they do have the greatest basketball arena in existence.

[Craptacular]

Mckerney,

I completely agree with the turf / grass issue. Of course, everytime I bring it up, my friends who were in the UW marching band always claim how they would destroy a grass field. They might make a nice grid on it, but that's no reason to keep the fake stuff. Bring on the grass ... wait, our student body might try to smoke it.

[mckerney]

Well, if the marching band had a problem with tearing up the field, maybe they could just stay in their seats.

The worst is when a small college that shares a stadium with a highschool gets an outdoor turf field. I had the misfortune of playing on UW-Stout's new sports complex, what a piece of crap. I completely understand how athletes can sit out as long as they do with turf-toe injuries because I dislocated a couple toe joints.

But anyway, I'd probably still rather watch home football games at Camp Randall than the giant crapshack known as the Metrodome. How they ever get anyone to come play football for the gophers is a wonder to me.

As far as the wacko commies, that wasn't a real big turn on for me but it had nothing to do with my decision. I'm pretty sure I'll face my share of assholes at the U of M, just not as many and they won't be as fat or drunk.

[SplitPersonality1]

Originally posted by Craptacular
If you're into politics, Madison is a great place, and not only because it's the state capitol. If you're a little on the liberal side, you can join thousands of friends and protest something new every day. If you lean to the conservative side, you can laugh at all the liberals.

Very funny Crappy. Sad but true.

Originally posted by Daimyo
I don't know if things have changed that much since 1996, but this is completely opposite my experience… once you're accepted the attitude was pretty much "Show us how much you can afford and we'll pay the rest."

Even though I went to school back in the dark ages when $16k/year was at the top of the food chain (way back in :sigh: 1984); my experience was a lot like Daimyo’s. There seemed to be absolutely no way we could afford the price tag to go to MIT, but after scholarships and my parent’s portion, I was eligible for several grants.

BTW, MIT is also highly regarded in economics.