SlyPieGet the eyedrops:
Yeah, just keep up the modesty during interview and I'm sure you'll get in. You might as well walk in with a strut and see how that goes.
Well my university does rank highly--(sigh) probably due to its research and its high-ranking departments-- along with the genius professors. Unfortunately these professors aren't always the best lecturers since some seem to focus on their research. Also my uni is over-crowded with 30,000+ students. I like it though, because it is only costing me $20,000 at the moment per year (which is cheap for an American university) and it really makes you independent because of the class sizes while offering a superb academic experience.The departments are amazing. (Out-of-state applicants can gain California citizenship after a year I believe and pay the lower tuition (from 40,000/year to 20,000/year).
Lectures usually have 200 people or so, maybe slightly less, up to 800, so you don't even have to go to class if you feel like crap, or if you are lethargic. I swear half of the class in my lectures don't even attend, but do self-study. There are discussion classes consisting of 30 people or so, run by graduate student instructors which are taken alongside the lectures. I guess you really need to be self-motivated if you want to attend a large (30,000+) university. Smaller unis give you a more personal atmosphere, if that's what you prefer. It might be easier to get recommendation letters from professors in smaller universities (like LACs) than from large ones.
The liberal arts departments are great. History is ranked 2nd nationally, English 1st, art history 3rd, German 1st , etc. etc. blah blah. The information is on its website. I think that's for graduate rankings, but hey the same faculty teach undergrad.
We have a "liberal arts" education, meaning we take 7 core classes outside our major and 2 upper division courses outside our major. You can also double major at American universities if you desire, which, I don't believe, English ones allow.
I think you can apply to as many universities are you want. I applied to 10, or was it 11. I applied to all of the Universities of California, and then U Washington, and U Michigan- Ann Arbor. I never applied for the privates nor any on the East Coast so I can't give you info regarding them, although I'm doing some research regarding graduate/professional school in privates on the East Coast. (I really don't want to be stuck on the West Coast for another 3 *****ing years...)
All in all, you should make a choice regarding what size of a university you want, what kind of an atmosphere, what your major is, and the region, etc. My opinion, stay away from the damn South.