...Mediocre state school...

[The David]

After much deliberation, and nine months of planning to attend DePaul University (after Hampshire College rejected me), I finally bit the bullet and admitted I did not have enough financial aid. I applied to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga late in the Summer, got in with only a small financial aid gap which wouldn't have been there at all if I had gotten cheaper housing, and am moving in tomorrow.

I have mixed feelings. The school seems a lot better than I had originally thought, and I've kind of warmed up to the idea of staying in Tennessee for at least two more years. Still, I can't get the words 'mediocre state school' out of my head. I try not to be arrogant, but despite some setbacks from being homeschooled, I am a pretty good student, very independent (one of the things that drew me to Hampshire), and I get a lot better every semester. I really think I could go somewhere great in life with some more improvement. UTC seems like a school for students who aren't exactly the most focused, and I have a fear--possibly irrational--that I'm going to stagnate here.

How would you make the best of this situation? Does undergraduate school really matter that much?

[geekchic9]

At least you don't owe over $50,000 because you wanted to go to a preppy private college instead, and are making less than $10 an hour at your current job, like I am....

[Ree]

Look at the bright side. There's always a bright side. It may be that you could just blow right by everyone else at this school and become, i don't know, maybe student body president. Why not?

I'm assuming that you're currently working on your undergraduate degree. This is a fine opportunity for you to truly excel and show just how far you can go. Then when post graduate time rolls around, apply to Hampshire or DePaul or wherever. With a long list of fine accomplishments at UTC on your application, you'll definitely get looked at seriously. The post-grad school is what really matters anyway.

Good luck. Oh, and don't forget to enjoy your college years wherever you are!!

[Susie]

If it's mediocre as you say you should be able to ace the classes, so DO stay focused and get top grades, and work on making yourself known to your professors in order to get good letters of recommendation from them for grad school. I also attended a state university that wasn't exactly known for rigorous academics. It did suck in that way (in elementary and high school I was in the advanced classes but in university I was back in a class with less than advanced classmates) but make the best of it and get yourself a high g.p.a. and do what you can now to pave the road to a top grad school, if that's what you want to do.

[Zukin]

Craig Venter, the scientist who sequenced the human genome, went to community college (San Mateo) and then UCSD (a state school). There's plenty of other examples of successful people who went to state schools and examples of unsuccessful people who went to private universities. It depends on how you define success.

Lots of things are subjective in terms of education. You can either focus on the bad aspects (potentially less educational prestige) or the good aspects (educational variety, among others).

I attended a state school and hated it at first because I focused on the negative aspects. Then I loved it because I started looking for anything positive I could find in the experience.

[sakredkow]

I agree with what's been said. My view is that if you accept the responsibility for your education - for educating yourself - have a personal policy of learning in SPITE of any bad schools, bad classes, bad teachers, you will do great. Plus, you will undoubtedly meet many amazing teachers and students who are going to help lift you up regardless of the school you attend. Plus, as GeekChic9 said, you won't have the crushing weight of all those student loans. Well, you might still have the crushing weight of student loans but they won't be as bad.
GeekChic9 also made me think of something else. I don't know about her particular circumstances but the reality is that when people graduate from college they are often disappointed to learn they have to start their careers with low-paying entry level jobs. A degree does NOT guarantee a high level high-paying job when you graduate. But what it does do is help make you more promotable than others who don't have the degree.

[The David]

You've made some very good points. I'll admit I came here with a lot of baggage that isn't the school's fault, and I probably have a bad attitude about this region of the country (although Chattanooga is my original hometown and a pretty good city). I mostly posted this just to hear some thoughts, not because I necessarily thought I was right.

[Amandaaa]

(in elementary and high school I was in the advanced classes but in university I was back in a class with less than advanced classmates) but make the best of it and get yourself a high g.p.a. and do what you can now to pave the road to a top grad school

that describes exactly what happened to me, and exactly what i want to do.

just try to make the most of it.

and try not to go into it thinking that it's a "bad" school...
don't let your ego hinder your ability to do well there.
(i let that happen to me, and trust me--it was a big mistake.
now my first- and second-year transcripts make me look mentally retarded, even though it was all because i was bored...)

but anyway, don't let that happen to you!

i'm sure that you'll get a decent education.
half of the knowledge that you need to be successful isn't taught in school, anyway.

my parents are friends with so many millionaires who didn't even go to college. (my dad, on the other hand, went to a very prestigious university.. and has been unemployed for the past 6 years. )

...so the status of your school doesn't always matter.
just try to excel wherever you are.

(and if you really don't like it there, you can always transfer next year...? )

[Doku]

Where you go to school helps with two things:
1) grad school
2) your FIRST job.

Depending on what you want to do, 1 might not matter at all to you, and 2 might not matter at all either if you have internships, or an actual job during college.

After working in the field for a few years, they look at the resume, "degree... check." The degree is just a checkbox. What they really are looking for is the years of experience doing whatever. Same with grad school... they want to know what experiences you can bring to the class as far as class participation goes, and how each student can potentially help the other students.

[The David]

Well, it's midway through the semester and my attitude has definitely changed. The classes are not too bad, and I am not too good, and it's not a horribly stifling environment. My biggest gripe is the apathy that penetrates the school. Students just don't seem focused at all. Sometimes I realize I have gone whole days at a time without any intellectual discussion at all, something I took for granted at Lee University. Of course, that's sometimes my fault, but it is hard to
find purpose-driven people here.

If, by the time class reigstration rolls around, I am doing exceptionally well, I will try to take more hours and get involved with the community. It's only recently hit me that I really need a lot of contact with other people to function normally.

Thanks for the advice. I have learned a lot about myself this semester and am glad I decided to stay. Even if I once again feel the need to move on just a little further down the road.

[Clarity]

Congratulations on making wise decisions and making the best out of things. Give yourself a paradigm shift in thinking. Feeling you are in some way superior in focus and in other areas will not serve you well. Instead consider, perhaps you have been placed ther to be a leader of sorts. Be a role model and use this opportunity to develop yourself and learn all you can.

Then think of how to save enough, etc. to go to your dream school in the future. I think that you have something in mind and you are worth pursuing that dream.

[CStrunk]

College is what you make of it. I go to a state school and I worked over the summer at an internship and all of my intern colleagues were from MIT, Columbia, and Carnegie Mellon. I got all the same skills with a fraction of the cost (I am graduating with no debt thanks to working for the school). If you put us in a room together, you wouldn't be able to pick out the non-Ivy. Don't let people push you over because of a label.

(Fed Ex was created for a business assignment at, I think, Harvard Business School. It got a 'C' because it wasn't realistic.)

[The David]

Originally Posted by Clarity

Congratulations on making wise decisions and making the best out of things. Give yourself a paradigm shift in thinking. Feeling you are in some way superior in focus and in other areas will not serve you well. Instead consider, perhaps you have been placed ther to be a leader of sorts. Be a role model and use this opportunity to develop yourself and learn all you can.

Then think of how to save enough, etc. to go to your dream school in the future. I think that you have something in mind and you are worth pursuing that dream.

Hopefully I didn't give the impression that I think I'm superior in focus. That is clearly not the case. If I were focused it wouldn't bother me so much that other people weren't. I am one of the least organizable people you will ever meet, and I can hardly focus long enough to type this message.

Edit: I even made the 'was/were' mistake that usually annoys me. lol

[Catlover]

Great feedback has been posted here. I would like to suggest that you check out the opportunities for exchange study through UTC with a school abroad or perhaps even within the U.S. I understand myself the yearning to get away from the hometown and interact with people who have different points of view. I left a mid-sized city in Virginia for Washington and New York, and I would not trade those experiences for anything, nor would I want to go back to my hometown (one of the possible consequences of expanding one's world view, unfortunately). My mother was originally from around Chattanooga so I have some experience with that city and area, although not recently. Perhaps an exchange program would provide an extra challenge and different perspective for at least one semester.

[ThoughtAddict]

I have a friend going to UTC. She transferred there last year from the prestigious private school we attended together. She's happier there, doing better work, and much more driven.

A "mediocre" state school is only mediocre if you let it be. In college, as in life, you only get out what you put in. If you go to a state school and push yourself, well, you can turn some heads. You can get noticed, no matter where you went.

If you're worried about the quality of your education, you shouldn't be. The disadvantages you may have are limited resources available on campus and a lower quality of professor. I've found the first to be merely an annoyance, unless you're into hard sciences/technology (larger state schools may be better, then) and the second to be something you can fix. You'll learn to select professors carefully,but you would have to anyway. And the professors don't determine what you take away from college... you do. It's your game, not theirs.

The other real concern is for the job/graduate school market. Yes, grad schools will look at you differently than someone who went to Harvard, but that isn't always to your disadvantage. You have a good chance to show that you're more driven than them. You didn't just go to college... you seized the day. You did what was expected and much, much more. The Harvard kids just fit the mold... you shattered it.
Jobs may be a problem because you won't make the connections others did. This is a real concern if you want to go into politics or other closed-off communities. On the bright side, you can make many of those connections in the community now and network aggressively instead of passively. Also, most professional connections you make can be made either in your professional life or in a grad school.

Really, don't think of it as a "mediocre state school". Think of it as an opportunity. You can make it into whatever you want. You can get a degree in a few years, if you'd like. You can become class president, start your own business on the side, write professional articles, and graduate summa cum laude. Or you can spend four years just scraping by and numbing yourself, bemoaning your "mediocre state school".

Your choice.