Advice on USA College Choice...

Any particular reason?

Because most of the southern universities are the equivalent of our Bangor or Bolton.

UT is a very popular university, true. Out of this list, UNC would be your best bet I think. It's a shame they don't have UNC at Chapel Hill listed, I guess it's too popular (I'm applying there).

As someone said above, a lot of the universities listed here aren't going to be 'amazing cultural experiences' in terms of being able to study at a university that is well known and fairly prestigous. Most of the universities listed above aren't equivalent to the university you probably come from in the UK.

To give you an idea of how random a lot of the choices are on there, I'll give you some info on the VA choices. I live in VA and know all of the VA universities mentioned above, and can give some advice on those.

Old Dominion University - certainly, to be honest, wouldn't consider this. I go to a new public (state) high school in Roanoke, VA, and I don't know one person who is applying there or who would ever consider it. Not to offend anyone who may go there - because obviously a lot of people do - I'm just saying.

Roanoke College - literally about fifteen minutes from where I'm sitting at my house. Private school, nice facilities, but known around here to be the choice for kids with rich parents who don't get good enough grades to either care about going elsewhere or to get in. However, I did my science project with the Bio department there, and they were lovely and accomodating and fun people. It's slap dab in the middle of Roanoke .. not sure what you would really do here, although Roanoke is a pretty big city. I've lived here for a few years, but I live here, I have a car, I go to school, come home, have my own room, etc. and I can do whatever I want whenever I want as someone who lives at home can. On the other hand, the more highly regarded schools in VA - such as William & Mary and UVA - are all in quite small towns and are all incredibly popular, so take this assessmet with a pinch of salt.

Virginia Commonwealth University - two of my best friends are going here for nursing next year! In Richmond, so big city lifestyle. VCU is in a pretty dodgy area - my friends will all be taking pepper sprays... although the nursing program is highly regarded, the university as a whole isn't, not that it's terrible or anything.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University - if you were going to pick one in VA, I'd pick this one. I've applied here as a safety, although I won't need it because I made my offer for Edinburgh in the UK. Tech has a lovely atmosphere - it's a big football school and has a big rivalry with UVA. It's in Blacksburg, and it could be worse - you can get to other places from Blacksburg, although it's a city and you won't need to on a regular basis. A lot of people from my school are going here, and I have a lot of friends who wish they could apply but can't because the school doesn't have the programme they want .. so that sort of speaks for itself. They do all sorts of programmes well .. my English teacher went there, and is now doing a PhD aged 26. My history teacher last year was fantastic, and he went there.

It's a difficult choice. If I were you I'd probably go for something in North Carolina .. or perhaps VT which would be a great American college experience - which is what you're going to. A lot of these are a bit obscure- the kind of places most people apply to because they live nearby, parents went there, etc, which makes it difficult for an exchange student to pick.

Good luck!

UT is a very popular university, true. Out of this list, UNC would be your best bet I think. It's a shame they don't have UNC at Chapel Hill listed, I guess it's too popular (I'm applying there).

As someone said above, a lot of the universities listed here aren't going to be 'amazing cultural experiences' in terms of being able to study at a university that is well known and fairly prestigous. Most of the universities listed above aren't equivalent to the university you probably come from in the UK.

To give you an idea of how random a lot of the choices are on there, I'll give you some info on the VA choices. I live in VA and know all of the VA universities mentioned above, and can give some advice on those.

Old Dominion University - certainly, to be honest, wouldn't consider this. I go to a new public (state) high school in Roanoke, VA, and I don't know one person who is applying there or who would ever consider it. Not to offend anyone who may go there - because obviously a lot of people do - I'm just saying.

Roanoke College - literally about fifteen minutes from where I'm sitting at my house. Private school, nice facilities, but known around here to be the choice for kids with rich parents who don't get good enough grades to either care about going elsewhere or to get in. However, I did my science project with the Bio department there, and they were lovely and accomodating and fun people. It's slap dab in the middle of Roanoke .. not sure what you would really do here, although Roanoke is a pretty big city. I've lived here for a few years, but I live here, I have a car, I go to school, come home, have my own room, etc. and I can do whatever I want whenever I want as someone who lives at home can. On the other hand, the more highly regarded schools in VA - such as William & Mary and UVA - are all in quite small towns and are all incredibly popular, so take this assessmet with a pinch of salt.

Virginia Commonwealth University - two of my best friends are going here for nursing next year! In Richmond, so big city lifestyle. VCU is in a pretty dodgy area - my friends will all be taking pepper sprays... although the nursing program is highly regarded, the university as a whole isn't, not that it's terrible or anything.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University - if you were going to pick one in VA, I'd pick this one. I've applied here as a safety, although I won't need it because I made my offer for Edinburgh in the UK. Tech has a lovely atmosphere - it's a big football school and has a big rivalry with UVA. It's in Blacksburg, and it could be worse - you can get to other places from Blacksburg, although it's a city and you won't need to on a regular basis. A lot of people from my school are going here, and I have a lot of friends who wish they could apply but can't because the school doesn't have the programme they want .. so that sort of speaks for itself. They do all sorts of programmes well .. my English teacher went there, and is now doing a PhD aged 26. My history teacher last year was fantastic, and he went there.

It's a difficult choice. If I were you I'd probably go for something in North Carolina .. or perhaps VT which would be a great American college experience - which is what you're going to. A lot of these are a bit obscure- the kind of places most people apply to because they live nearby, parents went there, etc, which makes it difficult for an exchange student to pick.

Good luck!

To be frank, I know a lot about various US schools and haven't heard of many of these. Too bad you can't go to Chapel Hill or the University of California system. Don't despair, however, there are a few good ones on the list. Here are the ones I would recommend:

-The College of New Jersey
-Agnes Scott College (Georgia)
-Eckerd College (Florida)
-Rhodes College (Tennesse)

These are places with good academics and probably with some of the best students among those on the list. Try and look up some of the schools on your list with princetonreview.com. You must sign up for an account (but it's free). This is the best site out there to get unbiased professional descriptions of US colleges. For a rough gadge of how good the schools are, compare SAT scores and the the GPAs (on a 4.0 scale)... the higher the SATs and average GPAs, generally the better the school. Princeton Review will provide you with these statistics; you can also find them by looking on the school website under the profile of their entering class.

A lot of these schools will not be on the Princeton Review site, and this is a sign that they are not very highly regarded...

The one school I'd advise, hands down, is Agnes Scott College in Georgia. This is simply a great place with great academics. Many wouldn't consider it because it's a woman's college, but personally I think it's the best on the list. It's a beautiful campus (really, really nice) and has great dorms and nice small classes! 9% of the students are international and it has a lot of tradition and activites as well. If you go to the website, I believe you can request a DVD that will give you a campus tour for free (though I don't know about international shipping). Another plus is that it's right near the city of Atlanta, so you're not holed up in isolation. Please look into this great school! I'm applying (despite the fact I'm pretty sure I'm going to St. Andrews) and it's a really excellent institution despite not having the prestige of some other places.

Let me know what your narrowed down list is. Good luck.

I think I'm gonna go bug eyed from all these websites lol.

Thank you all so much for your help - one new addition to the list though - University of Richmond in VA.

I'm about to complete my application for my year abroad (in USA) and am allowed to put up to 10 colleges from a given list on the form, in order of preference. The problem is there is over 100 to choose from and although I've ruled out about half of the list, I still have a tonne to pick from. I'm studying Irish History & Politics (2/3 History, 1/3 Politics) and although my year will count as one of my degree years (meaning I graduate with my class when I get back and not a year later because I went abroad) any classes I take obviously won't strictly be related to my degree (can't find any on the list that offer Irish History as a module lol) but will be History/Arts related.
Another problem is that I've only heard of about 5 of the colleges before and aside from reading the league tables etc which tell you which are the best based on certain criteria I was hoping for some advice from the American posters here! I know if you read a league table about UK universities it wouldn't give you enough information to make the best choice so please be sympathetic! PS: Quite a long list so grab a coffee or something...

California
California State University--Bakersfield
California State University--East Bay
University of the Pacific
San Diego State University
San José State University
Florida
Eckerd College
Georgia
Agnes Scott College (Women only)
Berry College
Georgia Consortium:
- Armstrong Atlantic State University
- Columbus State University
- Georgia College & State University
- Kennesaw State University
- North Georgia College & State University
- University of West Georgia
- Valdosta State University
Idaho
Idaho State University
University of Idaho
Illinois
Elmhurst College
Monmouth College
North Park University
Northern Illinois University
Roosevelt University
Southern Illinois University--Carbondale
Indiana
Ball State University
Butler University
Indiana State University
University of Southern Indiana
Kentucky
Bellarmine University
University of Kentucky
Louisiana
Louisiana State University
Loyola University New Orleans
Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Maine
Saint Joseph's College of Maine
Maryland
Frostburg State University
Towson State University
Minnesota
Hamline University
Minnesota State University Moorhead
Missouri
Missouri Southern State University
Missouri State Consortium:
- Central Missouri State University
- Northwest Missouri State University
Missouri State University
Truman State University
Nebraska
Creighton University
University of Nebraska--Kearney
University of Nebraska--Lincoln
Nebraska Wesleyan University
New Jersey
New Jersey Consortium:
- Montclair State University
- The College of New Jersey
- Rowan University
- William Paterson University
Saint Peter's College
North Carolina
Mars Hill College
North Carolina Consortium - UNC-EP:
- Appalachian State University
- East Carolina University
- North Carolina Agricultural & Technical
State University
- North Carolina State University-Raleigh
- University of North Carolina at Asheville
- University of North Carolina, Charlotte
- University of North Carolina, Greensboro
- University of North Carolina at Pembroke
- University of North Carolina--Wilmington
- Western Carolina University
- Winston-Salem State University
Oklahoma
University of Tulsa
South Carolina
Clemson University
Tennessee
East Tennessee State University
Maryville College
University of Memphis
Middle Tennessee State University
Rhodes College
University of Tennessee--Chattanooga
University of Tennessee
Tennessee State University
Tennessee Technological University
Texas
University of North Texas
St. Edward's University
Southwestern University
Texas A&M International University
Texas Lutheran University
Virginia
Old Dominion University
Roanoke College
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Washington
Central Washington University
Washington State University
Western Washington University
Whitworth College

Phew...

Realistically the states that appealed right off were NC, SC, TN, TX & IN but I've included some other ones that I thought "mmmlooks nice" when I read about the individual colleges.

I'm looking for a school that's relatively well regarded (it's going to be on my resume forever!) but also that's got lots of extra curriculars and ideally where most students live on campus (the school I go to now - everyone except me goes home every weekend!!). I'm thinking near a city of big town purely because if it is a kind of small school there might not be that many people around to interact with (if they go home on weekends lol).

Has anyone got any thoughts on any of the schools I mentioned? Particularly ones I should avoid lol

Thanks - Happy Christmas!

TnV