Ivy league colleges: what's the difference with public state universities?

The big difference is cost. Tuition to a private university will be at least $20,000/year, while some are far above that. In contrast, state resident fees for a state university--even a very good one--is far less. For example, University of California in-state tuition is something like $7,000/year (though there is a higher non-resident fee).

The Ivies are prestigious, while a state school might be looked down upon, because of easier admission standards, though there are exceptions. UC Berkeley and UCLA are very hard to get into--harder than USC, a California private university.

In addition, not all state schools are research institutions, so they won't have masters or PhD programs.

 

I'm trying to think of a flagship state school that's not a PhD granting institution and I can't come up with a single example. This is true of the secondary campuses, but not the first. Of the Ivies, does Dartmouth grant PhD's?

 

I'm only really familiar with the California system, with the UCs, and the CSUs (Cal State Universities). In theory, the UCs are the leading schools, while the CSUs have more part-time students, relaxed admission standards, etc. But there are some CSUs that I think are just as good, if not better, than some UC campuses.

 

The CSUs offer masters degrees but not doctorates.

 

Dartmouth offers a few Ph.D's, but not across the board, IIRC.

As for state schools, I think Wyoming and Alaska are pretty sparse on the number of Ph.Ds one can pursue, but there are some at each place.

 

To open a can of worms-I would add that the Ivy schools reputations often means that the students, at least by some measures (standardized test scores, HS Class Ranks and GPA's etc) are better prepared (I won't say smarter) and more engaged. You can find brilliant people at any school. You will find a higher percentage of them at these schools and a corespondingly lower percentage of kids just there for the party ( although these exist at every school too)

 

While there are thousands of private schools in the US, there are only eight Ivy League institutions (Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Penn, Brown, Columbia, and Cornell).

The main difference is not the cost per se, but the fact that private institutions receive no public support through taxes, so the cost is invariably higher, for obvious reasons. But there is a difference between an in-state and out-of-state tuition, which is pretty marked in places such as California (there are numerous private schools that have a lower tuition than the 25k or so that I would pay at, say, UCLA).

Private schools are also generally smaller and more focused on a specific set of majors. And generally speaking, it's more difficult to get into a private school than an average state school (some, such as Cal-Berkley, are very prestigous however), and the applications undergo a more rigorous screening process.

 

Still smarting about losing your drummer to that evangelical ska band, I see.

 

well, most of the Ivies and other top institutions are all starting to offer tuition reduction/waive if they are on the lower end of the financial scale. don't know whether or not he is going to fit into that category.

 

nothing wrong with that, hahah.

 

My son found the difference to be between Eating Clubs and a throaty Carill, and a committed Cornel, cliffside suicides, and the remoteness of Ithaca.

He chose USAFA, harder to get into at the time than any Ivy. Yeah, that's all before the sex assaults, cheating, and other crap.

 

Don't forget faculty fame. In my field (francophone literature), all the sparkling names, all the stars, bigwigs, honchos, godfathers, excellences, highnesses and other people you wouldn't even dare to contradict teach in private universities*.


* Let's be fair : CUNY and Wisconsin-Madison aren't that bad either.

 

FYP


(look closely)

 

You had to go there, didn't you...?

Dealt with appropriately.

 

Hah hah--actually, I know that USC is improving. It's not a "backup" school either, so it could easily be someone's first choice. Just anecdotally, I've heard of people that got in there, but didn't get into Berkeley or UCLA.

 

hé hé . of course, "teach" was a metaphor. "Hanging around while looking important" is more accurate.