OT: Top 10 Non-Academic Football/Party Schools

[paramount]

A Top 10 list of schools that are all about football/sports and not much else. Very little academic contribution or original research. In general low entrance standards.

1. Alabama
2. University of Florida
3. Florida State
4. LSU
5. Miami (Florida)
6. Oregon
7. West Virginia
8. Iowa
9. Nebraska
10. Tennessee

[bearishgurl]

Are you thinking of trying to convince your kid(s) to apply for admission to “party schools,” paramount?

[paramount]

No way – most of the schools on that list are where you go to avoid going to work. Have fun and party for 4 or more years.

[bearishgurl]

Maybe a lot of their students on sports scholarships can’t afford college unless they accept whatever scholarship(s) are on offer to them. It’s better for the “poor, rural kid” to go to university than to stay in his/her home turf after HS, mingle with their old homies and become accidental early parents, or worse, drug addicts. There isn’t much opportunity for young people in a lot of these states.

Maybe the kids on athletic scholarships might actually learn something while at university and decide what to do with their lives.

[paramount]

[quote=bearishgurl]

Maybe the kids on athletic scholarships might actually learn something while at university and decide what to do with their lives.[/quote]

Actually it’s a huge disservice IMO.

IMO a university should exist for the purpose of true higher learning and research.

Sports and football should be secondary, and yet these schools focus and market almost soley on football and to a lesser extent other sports.

Most of these athletes would be much better served learning trades, since only a very small few will play pro sports with many graduating with fake degrees in worthlessness.

[bearishgurl]

paramount, there are a lot of (mostly private) colleges and universities out there which don’t mind accepting undeclared applicants with the goal of counseling them heavily to decide on a major ASAP but before sophomore year ends, at the latest.

Most of them are “liberal arts” colleges. That’s not such a bad thing … if money isn’t a problem or the kid has a scholarship. Not every kid knows what they want to do with their life at 18. Sometimes it is better for them to be away from home to figure it all out.

A couple of (OOS) schools I checked into for my youngest (when they were a jr/sr in HS) assigned academic advisors one on one to freshmen. These counselors would remember their names, walk with them on campus between classes and try to lunch with each one on their list and also bring them into their offices for “career aptitude tests.” They would also remain chained to their “charge’s” ankles during their college “career” to remind them of deadlines and keep abreast of their grades and progress they are making towards their chosen major.

My kid wasn’t interested in attending college OOS but I don’t see anything wrong with this if the money to attend isn’t a problem. In a small college (of less than 5K students), this is very doable and freshman often receive all these services, beginning upon their arrival to campus.

Rushing for selection into a Greek organization is also important for a freshman in the first month of college, IMO. Upon selection and indoctrination, the new frat/sorority member is automatically bestowed with tons of “support” from upperclassmen (or women, as the case may be) and they are immediately assigned an older “sister” or “brother” who will likely be “shadowing” them for awhile to the point of annoyance (to make sure the new member learns the “lay of the land” quickly and assimilates into their classes). Every member is required to show up at weekly meetings in business attire (WITH a blazer), NOT tight shirts/tops and skinny jeans with holes in them or gangsta clothing. It’s part of the whole experience of becoming an adult and getting out of the crass, public HS homie mindset.

I think a lot of kids are still trying to figure out who they are and what they want even at 18-20 years old. Again, if money isn’t a problem and/or the kid has a scholarship, what’s the harm? I’ll repeat here that its better than sitting in mom and/or dad’s back bedroom after HS playing video games and working at Starbucks while “pretending” to take 1-2 classes at a time at CC while constantly texting to meet up with your homies that you’ve known since K.

It’s the same concept as putting your kid in preschool and/or pre-K to learn rudimentary academics, social skills and how to be a friend and good student in elem school. I think most parents would agree that sending their kid(s) to preschool and/or pre-K was a good investment.

[Anonymous]

What’s your point? All large universities could be considered party schools even the ones that are so called “elite”. The presence or absence of top sports programs has nothing to do with anything. Frankly, all things equal I would rather go to a school with elite football or bball program, makes for a more interesting college experience, along with the drinking, partying and sex that is hall mark of ALL universities.

[temeculaguy]

Oregon? Really, the list seems like a group of haters because their team got beat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Oregon_alumni

I went to a party school, SDSU, and proud of it. But to claim Oregon is about football and parties is inaccurate. Nike, readers digest, Columbia Sportswear, Intel, Palm, Gucci, MySpace-All invented by or the Ceo went to Oregon.

Look I hate how Bama wins all the time, but there would be no Wikipedia without the University of Alabama. Also the CEO of Lockheed/Martin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Alabama_people

Football and sports excite the Alumni and promote donations, which lead to academic and research achievements. My fraternity brothers who donate the most, the 5, 6 and 7 digit donors only do so because they like attending vip athletic events. To lack a D-1 athletic program with some achievements is to lack the money to achieve. Don’t hate the way it is, capitalize on it.

[scaredyclassic]

Idle fun may be our purpose.

The room it’s will be here soon.

Party on.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=deadzone]What’s your point? All large universities could be considered party schools even the ones that are so called “elite”. The presence or absence of top sports programs has nothing to do with anything. Frankly, all things equal I would rather go to a school with elite football or bball program, makes for a more interesting college experience, along with the drinking, partying and sex that is hall mark of ALL universities.[/quote]

I agree.

Florida is a huge school and actually has great engineering and medical and veterinary too.

[poorgradstudent]

I can’t speak to some of those, but University of Iowa is a pretty decent University. It’s not Harvard, it’s not UC Berkeley, but it’s also more prestigious than Iowa State. It also isn’t really much of a party school.

I also know that University of Oregon has a pretty decent chemistry program.

I mean, general rule, any school with “State” in the name is less rigorous and more of a party school. LSU and Florida State aren’t super high in terms of academic prestige.

[poorgradstudent]

[quote=deadzone]What’s your point? All large universities could be considered party schools even the ones that are so called “elite”. The presence or absence of top sports programs has nothing to do with anything. Frankly, all things equal I would rather go to a school with elite football or bball program, makes for a more interesting college experience, along with the drinking, partying and sex that is hall mark of ALL universities.[/quote]

UCSD could not be considered a party school. At all. There are parties, but it really is dominated by nerds.

UCLA is a lot more balanced.

[paramount]

Ok – yes my list is subjective and I might have been off on a few of them.

Seriously though, some of the comments above are outrageous:

“I went to a party school, SDSU, and proud of it.”

“To lack a D-1 athletic program with some achievements is to lack the money to achieve.”

“All large universities could be considered party schools even the ones that are so called “elite”. The presence or absence of top sports programs has nothing to do with anything.”

IMO, A true university should be a place where students who are prepared go to learn and hopefully discover new knowledge. Not throw a ball around.

It is decadence. Excess. Ridiculous.

No other countries do this.

And yes, I would agree that UCSD is a true university.

High academic standards with rigor. The true definition of a University.

Most who attend Florida State would be better off attending Phoenix – at least you’re more likely to come out with real skills.

Florida State is a classic example of a so-called university that should be seriously reformed. It’s a joke.

[Leorocky]

Seriously though…

The University is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.[12] The university comprises 16 separate colleges and more than 110 centers, facilities, labs and institutes that offer more than 360 programs of study, including professional school programs.

The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Florida State University is home to nationally ranked programs in many academic areas, including law, business, engineering, medicine, social policy, film, music, theater, dance, visual art, political science, psychology, social work, and the sciences.[16] Florida State University leads Florida in four of eight areas of external funding for the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

The university is ranked 43rd overall among all public national universities in the current 2015 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

The middle 50% of the Fall 2015 incoming freshmen class had a GPA range from 3.8 – 4.3; a SAT total range from 1750 to 1960 and an ACT range from 26 – 30.

The university has a 79.0% six-year graduation rate compared to the national average six-year graduation rate of 59%.

Florida State University is currently ranked the No. 2 most efficient high-quality university in the country by U.S. News & World Report 2015. The university was also named the nation’s most efficient in 2013 and 2014 by U.S. News & World Report.

In 2010, Florida State University was named a “Budget Ivy” university by a list prepared by the Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College.[145] In addition U.S. News in 2009 ranked Florida State as 32nd overall amongst the most popular colleges in the United States, this ranking is determined by institutions with the highest yield rates.

[flyer]

Some of our kids and their friends went to Ivies, and received advanced degrees from same–others attended other universities that run the gamut.

Regardless of the “type” of school, on average, only about 20% of them have, to date, landed the jobs they want–where they want them.

So, imo, although education is important, kids need to know there are many other factors in play in life that shape their chances for success in
life–especially in this world of global competition.

[Author]

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