Is there a perceived difference? Have you been to both? Is one better then the other? I have my opinions, but I'll hold off...
The EdD classwork at OSU was significantly easier than the ThM classwork at Western Seminary for me. One could argue that the different content was the cause of this, to which I'd respond that I'd suppose my greater interest in the latter would even things out, but it didn't.
I did my Associate's at a city-owned college, my Bachelor's at a private liberal arts college, and my Master's at a state university. Is there a difference? There are so many variables that it's an impossible question to answer. Is the private University of Southern California a great school? Of course. It's ranked much higher than most public schools, but wait....we have the state-owned University of Pennsylvania which is ranked higher than USC, so state is the way to go. Not really, because we have the private Harvard University trumping that. The comparisons are endless. The only sure thing I will say about the difference is the price. State schools are much less expensive (for residents) than private schools, what you have to decide is if the price difference is worth it. Bruce
YOU'RE A STUDENT HERE? WE HAVE NO RECORD OF YOU!!! I graduated with an undergraduate degree from a private college and then transferred to a public university for a masters. Previously, I was under the notion that public universities were squared away. Maybe it’s because they have football teams or because the locale citizens hold them so dearly. At any rate, I only have the two anecdotal experiences of two schools, so my opinion is not a valid indicator. However, thus far, my private college was much better, thus bursting my preconceived notion about “public universities.” I’ve been to my public university for four semesters now. Each semester, when I try to register, they tell me that I can’t because I don’t exist. Each and every semester, this problem must be corrected. I have five more semesters left, and I already know that I’m going to have this problem for each of those five semesters. I guess I’m just venting.
Re: YOU'RE A STUDENT HERE? WE HAVE NO RECORD OF YOU!!! I think you should just decide once and for all to either exist or not to exist. I'm surprised that your school puts up with it!
Re: Re: YOU'RE A STUDENT HERE? WE HAVE NO RECORD OF YOU!!! A fellow student has volunteered to vouch for my existence. Reality check!!! Today they finally found me in their computer. So it's been fixed. Again. I have a healthy, new respect for private colleges!!! They are squared away!!! If God grants me the money and the necessary scheduling, then someday I will pursue a Ph.D at a private college.
I attended both private and public universities. I found the course work similar in the level of difficulty. However, the state U was notorious for "mixing" things up. I was blocked from registration once, not because of fees or the such but due to an academic error on their part. The record keeping was confused they had my course standings confused what I had taken and had not taken. It worked out in the end in my favor but was not pleasant at the time. BMAN
Re: YOU'RE A STUDENT HERE? WE HAVE NO RECORD OF YOU!!! I can top this, I believe: A friend of mine transferred his credits from Uconn after a stint in the Navy to the Univerrsity of Colorado, Boulder, to complete his undergrad work. TAfter matriculation (i.e., becoming eligible to earn his BA there) after the next semester, they lost ALL record of havnig admitted him! He was forced to reapply. It's funny because while the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, is twice as large as Colorado, nothing like this ever happened to friends there. --Orson
I don't think that there is a significant academic difference between public and private universities. The more interesting variables exist within each group, not across the groups particularly. One place where private schools do excel is in small, high-quality liberal arts colleges. Williams, Amherst, Carleton, Middlebury etc. There seems to be little competition from the state schools in this sector. There is also the "ivy league" effect. Of the 31 "doctoral" universities with US News 'academic reputation' scores of 4.0 or above, 10 are public and 21 private. That includes all nine ivy league unversities. If you exclude the ivy league, you have 10 public, 12 private, which isn't a tremendous disparity. There are 26 additional universities between 3.5 and 3.9. Of these, 17 are public and 9 private. These aren't weak schools by a long shot, UCSB (3.5) has produced three Nobel prize winners in the last five years. Of the 11 "low end" schools with academic reputation scores of 2.0 or below, 4 are public and 7 private. Personally, I don't think that the gap between the "top" schools and those just under them is as large as many people think. Much of it is related to social class. A "high-toned" school is going to have a better academic reputation, almost as a matter of course. I mean, ask yourself which is academically superior: Egyptology or soil science? I think that many people, academics included, can't differentiate between style-points and real academic merit. The gap is almost invisible at the graduate level, I think. At that level you have to look at things subject by subject, and department by department. And once you get into the more average schools, the good-but-unspectacular programs, I see no difference at all, except that public universities are consistently less expensive.
I have attended and have worked at both private and public colleges/universities. I agree with Bill that the differences between individual institutions are far greater than the difference between public and private universities. A word of caution: many people treat university rankings (especially those done by U.S. News & World Report) as the ultimate authority. Much of the ranking is built upon highly subjective criteria, such as university administrators' opinions. My advice is to look at reputable accredited programs in your field of study and select the institution that best meets your needs. **The subject of reliability of college rankings might make an interesting thread in its own right*** Tony Pina Adjunct Faculty of Education California State University, San Bernardino
Differences in the Decision Process Tony, I think you make an interesting distinction. As far as the actual decision process of attendance, there is a lot more going on than if the school is Private/ Public.. acredited/nonaccredited. I honestly believe these distinctions are at the lower end of the decision criteria list. For us non-traditional older folks who do not have the ability to do the residential class room scene, I belive items such as: 1. Availability of courses. 2. Financial aid from the employer and program cost. 3. Length of course work ie weeks spent completing a course. 4. Decision to stay with current employer or seek new employment. 5. Number of courses required for graduation. ... have a higher priority. Of course I am adding the caveat that this listing in in not particular preference order. We have witnessed a desire on the part of traditional schools to go out and seek the "mature" student for residential attendance. The sheer magnitude of the availability of "Accelerated" formats is readily apparent on the radio and TV ads as well as the Educational Supplements in newspapers. I am a product of the educational process in both Public and Private institutions. I have horror stories from both sides of the fence at three universities. Regards, Dick
Dick, When I decided to return to doctoral studies at the age of 39, your list of the five items were also major considerations for me. I happened to select a university 85 miles from my home, so my studies have been a combination of traditional and non-traditional. The fact that I selected a private institution over a public was, as you stated, a "lower" consideration. The public universities that I investigated did not happen to have the right combination for me. Tony
I wish that the posting generator in this forum would stop freezing. I probably have four posts that all say "Posts:73". Tony
Wierd! When I submitted this post, all of my posts on this thread changed from "73" to "74". I wonder if they'll all change to 75? Administrators, what is going on? Tony
I'm not an administrator but I am a software engineer. Here's the answer that seems obvious to me. The BBS system just works that way. Each post is kept in a database. When you ask to look at the thread these posts are pulled out of the database and the html web page is built dynamically. The number of posts is pulled from the poster's profile at that time.
