OT: Top 10 Non-Academic Football/Party Schools

[paramount]

[quote=bearishgurl]
You’ve probably already had a lot of practice in this regard, scaredy, but I think part of the university experience is receiving exposure to all kinds of people from all walks of life and learning to speak, act (and move) with more grace and confidence.

Aside from the academics and degree obtained, I look to university as a type of “finishing school” experience for my kids and so far, I haven’t been disappointed.

The CA public HS experience doesn’t exactly lend itself to practical preparation for adulthood, IMO.[/quote]

I agree with your last and earlier post regarding the Greek system. And I believe sports should be a part of the university experience, but not a semi-pro team which a university almost completely revolves and exists around.

Please, click on the following link – take a look at what goes on during a typical day at FSU. The main focus of a university should not be fun – like at FSU and so many football/non-academic schools:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UB_ss4hnnUg/maxresdefault.jpg

[Anonymous]

[quote=paramount][quote=bearishgurl]
You’ve probably already had a lot of practice in this regard, scaredy, but I think part of the university experience is receiving exposure to all kinds of people from all walks of life and learning to speak, act (and move) with more grace and confidence.

Aside from the academics and degree obtained, I look to university as a type of “finishing school” experience for my kids and so far, I haven’t been disappointed.

The CA public HS experience doesn’t exactly lend itself to practical preparation for adulthood, IMO.[/quote]

I agree with your last and earlier post regarding the Greek system. And I believe sports should be a part of the university experience, but not a semi-pro team which a university almost completely revolves and exists around.

Please, click on the following link – take a look at what goes on during a typical day at FSU. The main focus of a university should not be fun – like at FSU and so many football/non-academic schools:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UB_ss4hnnUg/maxresdefault.jpg%5B/quote%5D

Instead of picking on Florida St. why not criticize the University of Michigan? They pay their football coach $7 million a year and have a football stadium that holds 110,000 people including hundreds of luxury suites. Right or wrong UM is considered an “elite” Academic Institution.

UM proves my point that the athletics and Academics have nothing to do with each other. UM football is basically a professional sports team which for all practical purposes has nothing to do with the University other than using their name and land.

[poorgradstudent]

[quote=deadzone]
Instead of picking on Florida St. why not criticize the University of Michigan? They pay their football coach $7 million a year and have a football stadium that holds 110,000 people including hundreds of luxury suites. Right or wrong UM is considered an “elite” Academic Institution.

UM proves my point that the athletics and Academics have nothing to do with each other. UM football is basically a professional sports team which for all practical purposes has nothing to do with the University other than using their name and land.[/quote]

You have a point that the UM football team is basically a separate entity from the rest of UM Ann Arbor. The coach, team and stadium are largely paid for by rich alumni and boosters. The school itself is quite academically rigorous, both at the undergraduate and graduate level (depending on your major, of course).

It is a good example of a school with an active party scene, strong football team, and is at least reasonably academically strong (it’s no Harvard, but even Dartmouth is no Harvard).

FSU on the other hand doesn’t have the best academic reputation. Like any big state school a motivated student could get a good education, but it definitely has a reputation as somewhere you could skate by, drunk and high most of the time on Mommy and Daddy’s dime.

[Anonymous]

Yes and the real point is, regardless of the football team, UM would be UM and FSU would be FSU academically.

On side note I don’t understand all the criticizing of FSU or similar schools academically. People party and get high all the time at UM and other so called elite schools just the same. Only difference is on average they have higher SAT scores and/or have parents with more money.

Also aside from reputation, in terms of the actual education you receive as an Undergrad, there is little that separates any of these large public institutions.

[paramount]

A few facts to consider (although slightly off topic):

*Most D1 football programs actually operate at a deficit

*Not uncommon for students at these football schools to pay excessive ‘athletic fees’

*College football is big business at many public universities, and has no business being so – when many are non profit to begin with. Why should tax payers have to support a semi-pro sports team when the purpose of a university should primarily be academics.

In many of these schools, it’s football.

As I’ve said before: Jonathan Gruber was right.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=paramount]A few facts to consider (although slightly off topic):

*Most D1 football programs actually operate at a deficit

*Not uncommon for students at these football schools to pay excessive ‘athletic fees’

*College football is big business at many public universities, and has no business being so – when many are non profit to begin with. Why should tax payers have to support a semi-pro sports team when the purpose of a university should primarily be academics.

In many of these schools, it’s football.

As I’ve said before: Jonathan Gruber was right.[/quote]Football (and other college sports) is the only thing many residents in the HUGE community surrounding OU live for. Yes, even the senior citizens! Football season tix are always sold out months in advance (when they first become available).

http://www.soonersports.com/

I would have loved it if my kids could have qualified to apply for this school but at the time my youngest was submitting college apps the entry GPA for OOS students averaged 3.67 and my kid only had a 3.1. The bar is higher now, mainly due to its desire to admit deserving in-state freshman hailing from rural areas (who didn’t have the AP/IB offerings of urban HS’s). OU has a deeply-entrenched Greek system as well.

http://www.ou.edu/studentlife/get_involved/fssl/ifc.html

The rent there for a decent nearby off-campus apt is about $400-$550 for a 2/2 (with 2 assigned pkg spaces). That’s so much cheaper than CA, esp in the big cities. If my kids qualified for acceptance, they would have been required to pay only 25-30% of the OOS tuition premium (over and above in-state tuition) due to family legacies and their heritage.

Of course, their CalVet waiver wouldn’t have been accepted but due to the low, low COL there, it would have been worth it to pay slightly more OOP for them to have a diploma from prestigious OU. Especially since they have a few nearby relatives with pickups at the ready if they need to move, family to “rescue” them if their vehicle breaks down or make phone calls if they land in the hospital. Or if they just wanted to visit a real home with family for Sunday dinner and/or holidays and/or take a break from their studies with a bit of horseback riding on a Sunday afternoon 🙂 (Having nearby family was a benefit of my kid(s) attending university in SF as well.)

As deadzone and others posted, lots of “football schools” have a fabulous selection of academic programs, some of which are very highly rated and prestigious.

It doesn’t really matter if your Native Cali student attends college OOS. They can always return to CA to accept a job after graduation if they so choose to. The quality, prestige (and cost) of the educational programs of the institution matter a lot, whether or not it has a big, well-known athletic dept …. or not.

[millennial]

Paramount your points are well taken and most likely true. Personally, I went to Michigan State and decided to not go to UofM (despite getting offered) for the reasons you stated earlier. When I was 18 my priorities were partying, and meeting new people (most of my friends were going to UofM). I was one of those people that chose business as my major because I really didn’t have a true passion for anything, although I excelled at most. Looking back, picking MSU was one of the best decisions of my life. MSU is where I met my wife, made my most important business and personal contacts, and continues to give me a team to root for on the weekends. In addition, each time I meet a fellow Spartan it gives us something to talk about. This being said, such as most things in life, the choice of a university is a personal choice which is neither right nor wrong. I also believe that your negative opinions are not warranted, ignorant and heavily biased.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=yamashi1]Paramount your points are well taken and most likely true. Personally, I went to Michigan State and decided to not go to UofM (despite getting offered) for the reasons you stated earlier. When I was 18 my priorities were partying, and meeting new people (most of my friends were going to UofM). I was one of those people that chose business as my major because I really didn’t have a true passion for anything, although I excelled at most. Looking back, picking MSU was one of the best decisions of my life. MSU is where I met my wife, made my most important business and personal contacts, and continues to give me a team to root for on the weekends. In addition, each time I meet a fellow Spartan it gives us something to talk about. This being said, such as most things in life, the choice of a university is a personal choice which is neither right nor wrong. I also believe that your negative opinions are not warranted, ignorant and heavily biased.[/quote]

yamashi1, I agree that university is the best place to meet business and personal contacts, especially those which would be useful in landing a (future) job in your field.

However, I don’t think the choice of a university (for today’s applicants) is a “personal choice.” It may have been in the past but the entrance bar is very high now in the vast majority of both public and private colleges and universities, ESPecially in CA.

The reality is that a HS student-applicant (or soon-to-be CC graduate-applicant) must be chosen by one or more schools they apply to. It’s nothing but a numbers game which is a crapshoot in the CA public university systems unless the applicant has a legacy in a particular school, is a member of a group or nationality which that campus is seeking to admit more of or has a minimum 3.9 cumulative GPA in HS (or a 3.5 GPA for two FT years of CC). And the first two “admission criteria” don’t always pan out for the applicant attempting to use them on their application.

Gone are the days when the solid “B” HS student could easily get admitted as a freshman to a CSU campus. I suspect Michigan’s admission bar has been raised (possibly multiple times) since you attended it.

[millennial]

bearishgurl,

You are correct in your assessment of entrance requirements being much more difficult than what I remember. I personally have 3 kids of my own and right now in the midst of navigating one through elementary, one through preschool and one through being a normal 1 year old. With each generation it seems to be getting tougher and tougher as each generation continues to stress the importance of college and the top tier schools not having the ability to place the increased demand; hence the University of Phoenix’s. This being said, I think we need to change our view on college education as a whole, which is a whole different topic.

My previous post was primarily aimed at refuting the original author’s post and his misnomer of football being synonymous with a party school atmosphere and a place where students don’t get anything academically out of it.

[paramount]

[quote=yamashi1]
My previous post was primarily aimed at refuting the original author’s post and his misnomer of football being synonymous with a party school atmosphere and a place where students don’t get anything academically out of it.[/quote]

Note that I selected a few schools and even acknowledged my list could be off. I never suggested every ‘football/party’ school falls into the category.

I still believe my original statement to be true: There are quite a few schools that revolve almost solely around football, and not much else. Primarily SEC schools.

[Anonymous]

Again you are still full of crap. Those are huge public universities with thousands of people working on the academic faculty who have nothing to do with the football programs. Do you truly believe all 40000 students at these universities choose to attend them specifically because of the football team? If so you are a moron.

[paramount]

[quote=deadzone]Again you are still full of crap. Those are huge public universities with thousands of people working on the academic faculty who have nothing to do with the football programs. Do you truly believe all 40000 students at these universities choose to attend them specifically because of the football team? If so you are a moron.[/quote]

You’re right, I am a moron. I admit it. I mean, it’s not like I went to FSU.

Let me put it this way, as I sift through resumes any that attend football/party schools go into the circular file.

[paramount]

A list of a few academically competitive Schools with big time football programs:

1. UVA
2. UCB
3. UCLA
4. UND
5. Michigan
6. Stanford
7. BYU
8. Washington
9. Maryland
10. USC

[millennial]

paramount,

I hope you’re kidding? To penalize an applicant based on their football team seems like a horrible hiring process.

[millennial]

I’m sorry, what are your standards regarding big time football programs? Is it based on how much a college spends on their team? Does it mean that they have football teams which are in division I? WSJ just had an article on this on 1/16/16.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-much-is-your-favorite-college-football-team-worth-1452473476

Also when considering academics are you looking strictly at undergraduate degrees, or graduate programs? Are you also looking at how much the university spends on research? A lot of what you are stating can be easily backed up by data (US News and World Report vs. AP Top 25/The list I just sent). To simply list a bunch of schools without backing it up with criteria and data is just mindless banter.

[Author]

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