Aerospace and mechanical engineering aren’t “elite”, but they also aren’t oh that’s cute you went to Osu.
People think of it as an NC State but out in the plains. That’s just the perception.
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I do agree we need better academics though. But that’s moreso caring about the university and if my kids went there. As I get older my money will go more towards academics and less towards sports.
The Ag Economics Dept has some world renown professors in it and churns out high quality degrees. Some economists that generate data and number analysis that are broadcast across the country daily.
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So I was thinking about this more… maybe these rankings don’t matter at all for most land grant school? They obviously matter a ton for liberal arts colleges that don’t rely on athletics marketing or anything like that for interest from students, and look to the “I’m only sending my child to a top 100 school” people that are out there as the way they will get students… land grant schools serve a totally different mission than those schools.
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Provide higher education to the “common” masses “affordably”… * ducks *
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I think I might agree with this premise. I know I will have no problem sending my children to OSU; I tend to believe that a great education can be had at most educational institutions if the family around the student fosters a supportive environment that places an importance on being a well-rounded, learned person.
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yeah I’m with you. I won’t shield my kids from the pain that comes along with OSU fandom and a degree. And I’ll certainly do the same speech my father gave me which was, “son you’re smart enough to go anywhere you want to go. We certainly want you to go to OSU, but will be proud of you and help how we can wherever you choose… unless it’s OU. If you go to OU, you can come home for Christmas but you won’t like the presents.”
My future wife… however… went to one of those top 100 liberal arts schools, her parents went to two different of them, and her grandparents did the same… so she’ll probably want our kids to follow those footsteps.
My OSU economics degree has done great things for me. Got my foot in a door on my first job and hasn’t mattered since.
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Ha I plan to say almost that exact same thing to my daughters. You want financial help from me for college? Better not go to OU…
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I’m glad Ag Econ is pulling their weight… As much as I love OSU, a business program in the middle rural Oklahoma is never going to be world renown, aside from oil.
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Speaking of Spears, here’s an interesting note.
My Strategic Management professor told me (off the record) that Eastman loathes how low OSU’s academic ranking is, more than anyone else on campus. So Spears is trying to cut back on the pure volume of professors and overpay top notch ones. He admitted it’s part of why he chose to come to OSU and the new professors are excited about where the school is going.
Hard part is, improving OSU’s reputation won’t happen overnight. But the effort and strategy is there.
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I’m not saying I want OSU to take the Boren route to get there…
But it would be nice to see OSU get a little bit more selective in the application process, a little bit more serious about hiring academic talent, and double down on marketing the research efforts taking place at the university.
The donations and stuff like that are what they are… and Texas Tech is probably climbing because of their law school and medical school… but OSU should be top 300 in that Forbes ranking because it is a high value degree.
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That’s a start, but at the end of the day it comes to the quality of students. I’ve met some really motivated, smart kids there. I’ll put our top end kids with anybody in the country. However, our bottom 1/3rd, in terms of academic prowess and motivation, are really rough.
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You’re spot on there, and the best way to fix that is by being more selective in admissions.
Good professors are helpful though as they help bring in outside research ideas and funding.
So how do you combat that with the loss in revenue that would occur with the smaller incoming class size? I can assure you that our admissions requirements are not significantly less than most peers you would be thinking of.
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Raise the cost or, better yet, seek more grants from the state, federal, and private industries that have an interest in improved research and student output.
That’s certainly overly simplistic…
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That’s the debate that Nebraska had on their lack of AAU status. I tend to agree with their view.
I get what you’re saying, but currently OSU is built to have 4,200-4,600 new students per freshman class. Decreasing that significantly, something that schools rarely try to do, would have reverberating effects throughout campus.
Raising the cost would likely happen at both OSU and OU simultaneously. This would also lead to a greater drop in enrollment. Anyone want to take a stab at OSU’s top in-state competitors for new freshmen other than OU?
State/federal/local funding opportunities - now we’re talking. Funding would be one of top ways, IMO, to improve perception and ranking. I have no idea where we’d be without the massive commitments Burns Hargis has been able to get for OSU these past 8-10 years. I hope he can continue this and set us up for the incumbent president to do the same.
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When I applied to both OU and OSU they had essentially the same admission standards. I chose OSU initially because it was closer to Tulsa but I genuinely didn’t see much of a difference between the two.
One of the OCU/UCOs? Maybe NSU?