Majerus Magic Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 In the thread about Suggs transferring someone stated that Suggs would choose SLU because of its academic superiority to the other schools. I don't know why people think that SLU ranks so much higher than all these other schools. In fact, according to US News College Rankings (which has often been quoted on this board) SLU is ranked below Illinois, Florida and Washington. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/r...tudoc_brief.php I just feel that some are overstating the academic situation at SLU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 "I just feel that some are overstating the academic situation at SLU." That happens a lot on this board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 What?? SLU isn't the Harvard of Midtown? Blasphemy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 A fan exaggerating the positives of their school. That's just awful. Who do these people think they are. I'm glad there are people like you to put us in our place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 People overplay SLU's academics a great deal on this board. A great deal. However, there are some public schools ranked better than SLU in those rankings, who offer majors and classes that are not perceived to be as strenuous than those available at a private school. Can a school be a really strong school, and still offer perceived easier path courses and majors for athletes or anyone in the student body yes. Where SLU's academic argument has little merit is when looking at all those private schools on that list ahead of SLU that win in athletics and academics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 LOL. Your regular ole billikens.com "debbie downer" at your service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 But when it comes to our discussions here, isn't it good to be armed with the facts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahok Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I have always been proud of my SLU education but there were times in 1969 that it was not such a good place. I had an English Class that I signed up for and when I attended the first day of class the English Professor asked if he had any Viet Vets in there, when I raised my hand, he proceeded to tell me I should think about transferring out because he didn't think I would do well in the class. When I got up to leave the class applauded. I had a philosphy instructor tell me the same thing. In 1969 it was not the best place in the world for some of us. So everytime I hear people talk like this is the greatest learning institution I can't help but remember and cringe a little bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorB Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Guys; those kind of academic rankings used by USNews are pretty worthless. Mostly they reflect graduate program prestige and stuff of that sort, and are for broadly public consumption and the PR beancounters at the schools who actually take them seriously. Let me put it this way; I would much rather send my kid to SLU over Florida, Illinois, or Washington. Hands down. It has to do with campus atmosphere, class size, contact with real faculty, level of classmates, soo-like qualities of the dorms, drunkenness, drug abuse, and date rape quotients, and so on and so on. If you think SLU's academic environment is not far superior to the public universities, I just have to say that I think you are wrong. Previous to SLU, by the way, I taught at Indiana, Michigan State, and Butler. In particular, the dorms at Michigan State were quite notorious and you could not pay me enough to subject a child to those conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Or, you could note that precisely 6 of the top 20 schools have any sort of major athletic reputation at all (and I'm counting in Penn, which is probably a stretch) and draw alternative conclusions therein. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 future billiken, just want to look at the ranking and take that as the answer. what about average class size? while at slu, i had one class, a science class, that had more than 40 kids in it. i bet almost 90% of my classes had more like 25 kids in it. my nephew is at illinois now, and my sister went to illinois. they both tell me about general studies classes in lecture halls with probably close to 1000 kids in it. good luck with special help there. plus, a lot of those classes being taught by assistants not full time profs. i have no idea why or how illinois or florida gets rated overall above slu, but i would go to my grave convinced that i got a better education because i went to slu. maybe slu gets down graded because they dont have the number of program majors as a large private school. or maybe the bigger schools have more profs that have been published. who knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Thanks DocB. Looking at the categories in those rankings, it appeared that the actual acedemics figured very little in the score. I was hesitant to post that as putting a positive spin on things and showing some pride gets your called out faster than a ***** in church. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 That's terrible - I'm sorry you had to endure that. Sounds like some of the stories my dad has told me of what Wash U. was like before and after he was drafted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 "Let me put it this way; I would much rather send my kid to SLU over Florida, Illinois, or Washington. Hands down. It has to do with campus atmosphere, class size, contact with real faculty, level of classmates, soo-like qualities of the dorms, drunkenness, drug abuse, and date rape quotients, and so on and so on." Academics are obviously subjective, because some folks might like the diversity of a state school campus, the diversity of majors, etc. since it's subjective i would hardly say it's objectively a "hands down" decision for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I am surprised no one has mentioned seeing Costas show this week. With March Madness going strong the topic was student athlete and how that term was pretty much a joke. Part of the show was a panel with Miles Brand and he tried his best to defend graduation rates, etc. They had an interesting piece on Coach K too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 How many people need special help in a general studies class? I found it's usually once you get past the general classes that class size becomes a factor. Also, it makes it easier to skip if there are a 1000 kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 LOL. This coming from the guy who gave me grief yesterday about our recruits thinking SLU may be a better basketball opportunity. Like I said yesterday, and you solidified here...everything is in the eyes of the beholder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffster Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 How many classes do the athlestes attend anyway? Don't they get some sort of tutors to help them during the season. They would have to with all the classes they miss. I'm not sure about the off-season. Does any one know how that works? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moytoy12 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I figured that one was coming. apples and oranges. I think basketball programs can be viewed more objectively. Also, have you considered incorporating the fact that i said "all things being equal" into your thought process? But hey, keep thinking that it SLU is equal to the BCS schools if you want. give me 10 beholders, i'm guessing that a 6-8 will say that Florida and Illinois are better basketball options than SLU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 Mike Jarvis wrote an article a few weeks back about all the support student athletes require to get through March Madness and what universities can do to make it better: http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=mj...=yhoo&type=lgns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 My guess is that most take 4 classes per semester. They will also go to summer school to lessen the load. Yes they have help available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOSLU68 Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 I went to several different size schools; found some great teacheers at small schools and some great minds at larger ones. I understand, locally, Wash U has a reputation for superior academics and decent basketball and volleyball programs-I also understand tenured professors, there, rarely teach undergrads much less underclassmen. So if your bachelors' is going to be a terminal degree it may be important to get an idea of what kind of teachers, grad assistants, etc you will actually have. When I went to Illinois-many of the math teachers were Asian and could not speak English or teach; they spent every class copying problems on the board for those that did not drop the classes. I experienced the same thing in grad school six years later at SLU-Dr.Kwon taought management systems and he had little grasp of English at the time, later, he was promoted and touted by the University as someone of importance. We all grow. We have seen small college basketball player Brad Soderberg go from assistant to acting head coach at Wisconsin and assistant and chief recruiter for SLU and on to head coach-now he has had a decent winning season and been better than predicted in a league of seasoned head coaches-who definitely outcoached him last year and against whom he did better this year. We can only hope he lands some big recruits and we go on to win league, tournament and get in NCAA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltiedave Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 Griffster, I had Anthony Bonner, Jeff Luchtafeld(sp), and a couple other soccer players in various classes. In many of them, the weekly syllabus would be available, and/or handed out to the students who knew they would be absent beforehand. Assignments coud be turned in early, e-mailed, or handed in when they got back on campus. Normally the academic coordinator and a strong student tutor in many subjects would travel with the team, so academic help was available via multiple people. All of the degreed coaches, trainers, Jesuit priest(s), and the other university academic support facilities could also be utilized. Exams would be proctored as needed during the road trip. With the level of discipline neeeded to stay on track, most bball players did better in season than out of season in classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
provos528 Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 Network of Jesuits schools starting from Georgetown and Boston College, if you plan to go to graduate school at these schools you get a preference compared to say like Illinois or Florida or Washington as you ellaborated.. Internationally, Remember the Jesuits rule the world ...hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOSLU68 Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 credence to all the students' hopes of improving their chances? not to knodk our former conferences but you can imagine going to GW to grad school or Temple would be better than some of our former collegial associates-when we were in the old mvc with Dayton and Louisville their were always feelings that some schools had good standards and others had lesser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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