Did you go to a state university?

Of course not. I went to a Big Ten school, and my program was one of the top three in the nation in my field at the time. Why would I be embarrassed?

OP probably didn't even graduate from college.

(Snicker) “you should be if u r not”

I went to a Big 10 school, but it was private. We kind of looked down on the other Big 10 schools.

Yes and no. I loved my college experience.

Harvard, you dumb shit….

As a young overachiever, set to graduate early and some unforeseen obstacles came in the way.. interrupting my scholarships. I did spiral down when I had to look into alternatives.

I went to UC Berkeley. Not embarrassed.

As long as you're employed after graduation and become a productive member of society, why should you be embarrassed if you went to a state school (or a trade school)?

You would have less school debt from a state school, too. Less debt is always preferable.

Who writes these things?

I went to a Big 10 school and wasn’t at all embarrassed until I moved to a large city about five years later and started hanging out with a truly well-educated crowd. Yale, Brown, various other Ivies. That’s when I realized just how paltry my education actually was. I received a diploma. That diploma got me a job. But I feel cheated of a true educational experience.

I’ve found anyone who calls themselves “Prep” isn’t typically from that subculture.

R9 Those who know, know.

[quote] But I feel cheated of a true educational experience.

The Internet age has given us access to endless amounts of books and lectures that would have been taught at other schools. You can spend your whole life filling whatever gaps interest you.

Well, I went to a state school that wasn’t fancy like the rest of the posters here. Embarrassed, sure, but it rarely comes up. I’m not very intelligent so at least I went somewhere and finished, since I didn’t know what to do with myself at that age and I had zero interest in the military.

"You can spend your whole life filling whatever gaps interest you."

No, Cockgobbler, we aren't going to "fill your gap", no matter how many times you leak pics of your darkened hole.

[quote] You can spend your whole life filling whatever gaps interest you.

I have. Or at least I’ve tried. And one of the great things about my friends is that they’re not snobs; they’re happy to pass along what they know. I’m quite blessed, four years at a diploma mill aside.

Yes. No.

I was thinking that R2, or, more likely, went to a fourth tier private college (e.g. one of those random church-funded small colleges no one has ever heard of.)

Otherwise he'd know that many of the top colleges in the US are "state universities" and carry zero social stigma--Michigan, Cal, UVa and UCLA, just to name a couple.

He'd also know that tuition to those schools for out of state students is not really much of a discount over private school tuition

The picture OP used at the top, coupled with "Did you go to a state university?" made me laugh out loud.

I went to a Catholic traditionally all-girls college that had only recently started accepting male students. It had local cachet and was one of the last to provide a classical liberal arts education. I got nothing specific to a career out of it, but skills and strategies to be very successful in two different fields, and I'm now building into a third - the last two with my own companies.

It is true that most of the male students were gay and that there was a lot of male-faculty-and-male-student relationships and hookups, but that all was part of the education. Only one of the faculty members was fired for anything, and he was a male teacher who married a former student and who was aggressive with both male and female students.

I've worked extensively with state universities, both central/main campuses and the poor relations or independent state schools in the hinterlands, top-tier research universities and top-10 privates, community colleges and historically black universities. The worst are the top-tier and central state universities, with enough money and power to create towers of influence, encourage corruption while lying about it, foster mediocre talents who meet PR and marketing foci (the female brute cliques and "special studies" tyrants have destroyed many departments around the country, both in science and humanities). They're all trying to succeed at many different things, and it doesn't work that way, not within the American university structures. They're all rather rotten-souled.

I never went near a bible college or anything affiliated with a nutty-fundie mission.

I went to Stanford. It was a rather miserable experience -- lots of entitled, not terribly articulate, bossy Californians mixed in with smart but weirdly unsophisticated kids from the rest of the West, the Midwest, and the South. I've always been jealous of people who went to college with a really interesting mix of people -- poor, rich, smart, dumb, etc, more like the world, and not like a suburban country club, which was what Stanford basically was. I do hear it's gotten better, more diverse, more interesting but still... what a mistake.

I went someplace better! DeVry!

In the South, the state universities are just football clubs.

Everyone knows this.

I had a friend who went to Sweet Briar. And then it died.

"Of course not. I went to a Big Ten school, and my program was one of the top three in the nation in my field at the time. Why would I be embarrassed?"

I went to Northwestern, the only private school in the Big Ten. I didn't grow up in some uniformly wealthy and ambitious community where all the kids were gunning for the most prestigious schools and the parents were bragging about it. So, when I was admitted, a common reaction was "ooh, a Big Ten school" - like the impressive part was going to a school in a well-known, successful sports conference tied to schools like Ohio State and Michigan. They would have been more impressed if I actually was going to Ohio State. Also, some people thought I was going to Northwestern College (now University of Northwestern), a small christian school in Minnesota, where I'm from. It was all so where I'm from (west central Minnesota).

Big 8, bitches. No shame.

[quote] In the South, the state universities are just football clubs. Everyone knows this

Well if we operate under the theory that it is always 1987 on Datalounge, then R23 is not completely wrong.

However, if we look at this from the perspective of the year 2022, then several of those schools - Florida, Texas, UNC and UVa - are among the top 50 college academically, and several of the others (GA, AL, SC) have upped their games and started attracting larger contingents from outside the region, the Northeast and California, in particular.

Any college experience is what you make it. I went to, at the time, the only state university in my state and majored in a field where I was the only student who was in the program. Because of that I had incredible freedom and longitude to do things I couldn’t have done at other schools. It was Art History and the primary professor was the director of the University Art Museum. She was my mentor and I did course work in museum studies and got to curate various exhibitions and do independent studies on topics that interested me, I was eventually even given my own office, which even the grad students didn’t have in the Art building. With all the experience I got from that I was able to get an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I was the only person from a state school and most were from Ivy or Seven Sister schools or highbrow places like Boudin. I followed that up with another internship at The Brooklyn Museum, again with students from Smith, Vassar, Bryn Mawr and Princeton. I never felt any less then them and while I may not have had year long studies in Florence and know Renaissance Art inside out, I had other strengths that served me well.

My first Masters was from an incredibly small graduate school that didn’t even have an undergraduate program, but is the most highly regarded school in the nation for what it does. It was one of the most gratifying learning experiences of my life, and again I got to do amazing things because I had the freedom and support of an outstanding program.

My second Masters is from a private/public hybrid type that really only exists in that state and there are two very different schools that are in the unique category. It had the prestige I wanted for the program, though it had been resting on it laurels for quite awhile. Again, I got to do some amazing things because of it.

One thing I think that fails students is the fact that they are paying for their education and they can demand the right to the highest quality that they deserve and expect. It’s all there and you need to be the main component to make it happen. When I had a subpar professor in undergrad, who was also homophobic, I took her in front of the department head, who I was close with and was another mentor, and withdrew from the class. She was not asked back to teach the next semester. There is no need to put up with bad educators and students have the power to change that.

I first went to a public community college and transferred to a state university. I worked while attending and graduated with zero debt. I then got two grad degrees from decent private colleges. One was completely paid for by my employer.

By far, the best teachers were the ones at the community college. It was a highly rated cc and they were amazing. The public uni also had very good profs. The teaching at the two private schools was not as good on average, and one of those schools was so bad that I complained to the dean and the visiting accreditation committee at one grad schòol.

I truly do not understand why anyone takes on major debt for any private college degree unless it is only way to get into a profession they want to join or is from the kind of top tier school where they get amazing networking opportunities or an alum network that pretty much guarantees a job.

I worked at a decent but unexceptional private college. Some parents and kids rack up spectacular debt so that a kid with little intellectual curiosity can drink and party for four years, doing just enough classwork to scrape by. It's ridiculous.

I’m a proud graduate of Oral U. (Not to be confused with the religious institution)

I went to 2 Ivies and Sorbonne but also I went to Hunter for some classes and 2 community colleges and 1 state university in USA. Every school was fine, there is no need for any embarrassment many state schools are more than fine they are great. The USA shouldn't even have a private/state division anymore. But nobody is going to solve that in our lifetimes just like the lack of universal health care.

Undergrad at one of the original "Public Ivies." Grad school at a massive, Midwestern university (it it in the top three in my field). My entire professional career of 33 years has been in top-tier private colleges and universities. So... who would have thought...

Yes. Not embarrassed in the least.

Despite (or perhaps because of) having attended what I fondly refer to as my "land-grant school," I had a successful career that allowed me to retire at age 50.

For undergrad, yes. For grad school, Princeton. If you think there's no difference between a state university and an Ivy League education, then you're fooling yourself. Of course, college is what you make of it, but the opportunities are incomparable.

Yes, I went to a state school. I had a blast in college and got out with very little debt. I graduated in '83 during the recession and landed a job within 3 months after relocating to Boston. I transferred to the west coast and worked until 2013 then retired at age 56. No regrets.

I went to a public university in an exceptionally beautiful area, and more Nobel laureates are from this university than the entire former Soviet Union.

I'm a graduate of the University of Alabama!! Roll Tide!!!

I graduated with a PhD from a fourth tier university. Throughout my career in higher education, many alums of elite universities reported to me. Many of them had no common sense whatsoever, though they were brilliant in a very narrow specialty. So, no, I am not the least bit embarrassed for their lack of problem solving and critical thinking skills.

I went to a Public Ivy School.

College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA)

Miami University (Oxford, OH)

University of California system

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Texas at Austin

University of Vermont (Burlington)

University of Virginia (Charlottesville)

Yes, I did. And it wasn't even one of the top state schools in my state. Graduated debt-free I'm not embarrassed at all.

I went to two private art colleges, graduating from California College of the Arts after transferring from the first school. Not all of the academics required to graduate were offered by the art schools. I got those credits at SF State while attending CCA, then transferred the units.

Not embarrassed at all. I would relive those years if I could, they were among the happiest I've had.

Employers will not hire you unless you went one of the best schools.

I attended University of New Mexico and I regret ever attending that heavily biased and corrupt piece of shit university. The hospitals affiliated with them are also corrupt and filled with piece of shit employees.

Yes. No. Why? Everyone knows you go tp a sate U, study law, go back home, run the town. A good life. How you doin, OP?

The first college class I had was between my Junior and Senior years of high school. I was the only person in the room who didn't have at least a Bachelor's, and there were several MSs and a couple PhDs there, too. Most of them dropped out before the end of the term. I've known any number of Ivy graduates, and a lot of them are colossal nincompoops.

That crowd has been sitting on their laurels (and other things) for decades.

Those who can't get in … go to state schools.

Yes, I went to State schools. No student loan debts.

R47 = dumb humorless cunt. What if one gets into UVA, UCLA, Berkeley, Michigan?

No, because most people think Rutgers, if they've heard of it, is a "private" school.

I went to a Cal State University and no, I'm not embarrassed. It was damn hard finishing it when I was already in my late 20s and doing so while working.

Quaecumque Sunt Vera, R4

I went to UVA and while I loved it while I was there and love the prestige factor of having a degree from there, if I had to go back to college knowing what I know today, I would probably pick a different school.

And yes, it would probably be a smaller, private school.

But I wouldn’t say I regret it exactly, either. It was the perfect college experience for me at the time.

Was it a charm school r53?

It's baffling that www.goop.com briefly went to UCSB.

Couldn't they buy her a slot at a private school?

this year USC actually bested UCLA's acceptance rate

I went to one for two years so I could transfer to a better university.

No, but UVA and Rutgers are state schools.

I should have taken my stankin ass to Binghamton and saved some dough.

OP eats Carrie White's used tampons.

I went to a small private university in the south. It wasn’t particularly challenging, but the emphasis on internships and workshops landed me a 30 year career, thanks to my connections.

Now the place is terrible. All of the new buildings look like Hampton Inns.

with the crazy tuition prices now, many look to state colleges

[quote] That’s when I realized just how paltry my education actually was.

As someone who did go to a pretentious school, I’m curious what you think you missed. With my own university education decades in the past, I’m more and more sceptical of what an elite university offers that a state school does not to students in anything but the most rigorous fields.

As others have noted, general culture is so readily available now, you can obtain it everywhere.

Northwestern University-I loved it!!

My brother went to a very expensive private university and you should hear some his opinions. He thinks Bari Weiss is a real journalist. Everyone else in my family went to a state university including my very rich dad.

My first school was a state school. It wasn't awesome but it wasn't terrible, however it was so overenrolled that I couldn't get any needed classes and moved to a new dorm every semester.

But I had a hot wrestler roommate one semester and spent the last few weeks of that semester licking and sucking every inch of him, and gulping down about a gallon of his cum....and that right there was worth the experience.

OSU! OSU! OSU!

University of Kentucky has some excellent programs

R67, YM (t)OSU, (t)OSU?

Yes, I did. A lesser known CSU. No, I'm not embarrassed.

My college just folded. A fine traditional liberal arts school, grounded in secular humanism because the faculty and administration were lesbian nuns, gay and lesbian professors, and whacky-and-qualified instructors.

I've worked in education (researcher/evaluator) for many years, all levels, and the one thing I've cringed at is how the states' public land-grant universities, now multi-campus research university systems, look down at state universities as near-remedial, not seriously engaged, mere educators giving the rubes a place to go to spare the biggies the hassle. And the flagship campus of the big state universities is almost always the worst.

Of course the top 30 private universities then are often in a position to strong-arm the public systems because of their top research groups, their patents, enormous endowments (not that kind), competitive enrollments, prestige, and high tuitions.

Ivory towers my ass. I've had to threaten libel and other suits against universities to get them to back off, pay off and fuck off when my contractual scrutiny was too strenuous for them. And always women. Cunts drunk with power and hatred of men.

State university for bachelors, Purdue for masters.

It didn’t embarrass me at all. Got ahead and out of the city as fast as I could. Did the first half of my undergrad in community college, and then the final half in a state school. No regrets, as I paid it all off within a few years of finishing both and no my parents didn’t help with more than encouragement and a few books.

I went to both private (not Ivy but selective) and state (Big Ten). I really think the quality of the education you get at either is ultimately up to you. Take hard classes across fields (good mix of STEM, humanities, and social sciences) and hang out with the smart kids? You'll come out equally well from either a state or private school. Take softie courses and hang with lightweights? Eh, you might as well skip college altogether, unless what you're looking for is a brand name. Which is fucking sad. Just my two cents.

Also, I think in some areas of the country, it helps to be a state uni grad because of the alumni network. If you went to Swarthmore and end up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I suspect you'll have a harder time getting a job and establishing yourself socially than if you went to Michigan State or something. I'm just spraying shit here, though. I'm really not sure.

I forgot, after Northwestern-went to Wharton School to get my MBA-JD. I loved University of Pennsylvania, I had soooo much fun. Got married (1884) had a couple of kids (she lived in NYC) I commuted back and forth, life was Great.

R64 is my 1st post-college.

Anyone who went to a university in the US should be embarrassed. They aren’t educating anyone.

I did, and of course I'm not embarrassed. Colleges kept throwing money at me after that, so I went to a smallish private university for my M.A., and a huge state university for my Ph.D. work.

I was the first and only person in my family to go to college, and I didn't start until I was 30. It was the first big risk I took in my life, leaving my "good state job" as a Clerk III to go to school FT, and I've been taking them ever since. It changed my whole life.

Still, there's nothing like DL to remind me of how the other half lives.

[quote] Got married (1884) had a couple of kids (she lived in NYC) I commuted

Still married? Does Guinness Book know?

Stealth fatty thread

I dropped out of community college because I couldn't afford it.

WOW!! R78, I am "OLDE". I meant 1984(like the book)

I didn't even see that one and I read what I post but I was teasing Natasha (cute demon cat).

HELL, NO, IT DOESN'T EMBARRASS ME!

Stephen Nedoroscik is a fellow Alum!

R64, Not enough.

Where, r43? The UK? Because it isn't true here.

R36, UC-Berkeley?

I went to Michigan and my wonderful parents paid for everything. I am so grateful to have had that opportunity. Going to Michigan was a big deal to me and I was proud to be a student there.

I spent a summer at UM's ICPSR Summer Statistics Program, and I [bold]loved[/bold] that place! When I went back to my (hated) Ph.D. school, I talked to one of the professors about it, and he said to me, "Ann Arbor is America's best kept secret."

I thought about trying to transfer, but at the very first football game at the beginning of September, they had sleet in Ann Arbor. [italic]Sleet!![/italic] I got over it real quick.

I went to a big SEC football college. The only embarrassment is that they cut resources from academics while the football team brings in millions a year. They cite budget shortfalls but the money is RIGHT THERE!

[quote]Yes, I went to State schools. No student loan debts.

That must've been nice. It ain't like that anymore!

R88, The money might be there, but usually at a big-time football power that money supports the ENTIRE rest of the athletic programs. I mean, lacrosse doesn't exactly bring in the big bucks, nor does swimming, golf, or, as we've learned from Stephen Nedoroscik, men's gymnastics.

i attended 2 sunys and 2 ivies. i then attended famous english french and swiss universities. the attention paid to me at the suny college was bespoke feeling because i was a serious student and a bit brilliant. i left because i wanted the contacts and prestige of the ivies and those did deliver. when i attended the suny college my profs were all full profs and graduates of ivies for the most part. all hired in 60s and 70s when suny was flush and ambitious. bo regrets by me.

Proud alumna of UT Austin here.

I don’t have kids, so I’ve never really paid attention to current tuition costs. My friend has been looking at options for her son and I was looking at places online with her. HOLY SHIT. I had no idea how expensive it is now. I knew places like Harvard, Princeton, Yale were pricey, but even some of the “lesser” places he wanted to go were astronomical. My friend and her husband make too much money for any sort of financial aid, but luckily the son is smart with lots of impressive extracurriculars. He got a full ride academic scholarship to one of his top 3 schools. The tuition would have been 70k per year.

R90 meant "nor do...."

NPO/R92, you have reason to be proud--that's a great school, in the same category as Michigan, Berkeley, and Virginia. 🙏

The Ivies do not award academic scholarships, except for children of the lower middle class and poor - in the form of need blind tuition scholarships. So nowadays a middle or upper middle class kid gets offers full rides only from private colleges that still do reward intellecutal and academic brilliance with $$$$$. The Ivies are not supposed to award sports scholarships either, but they do it in anyway, in a downlow way, by admitting the jocks they want who also happen to be poor. Then they can get the full tuition scholarships and say yes to the Ivy.