OT - Universities in US

[timsedwards]

Hi Guys,
I am looking into doing my PhD in the US (for the better climate of course), but I was hoping for a bit of advice from my fishy friends.
Firstly, apart from the Ivy League, what are the best uni's? Ive written to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, NYC, Toronto (yes i know, Canada) and a few others. All I can think of is searching for the big cities in Yahoo! and seeing what comes up! Is there like a league table of the best universities like we have over here?
The biggest problem then is if they do Theology (or at least Religious Studies!). If anyone knows of any places please post and let me know!
Secondly, tuition fees! I had a response from Columbia saying fees are $29,640!!!!! Over here they are $1500 a year! Is this right? How do you guys ever afford to go to uni? Also, apart from talking to the universities themselves, are there any scholarship commissions around or anything?
Thanks guys for all your help!
Tim.

 

[daniel411]

U.S. News does a rather extensive survey of all the graduate schools each year. Do a search, find their website or goto a large book store, its around $9us and the report is released each year.
Yep, thats about right for tuition. The schools justify it by stating that the majority of people don't really pay the full price because of grants, scholarships, parents, etc. Also, they are not funded as generously as schools in england by the government. It just sucks when you're self supporting. Oh well.

 

[terminus est]

Thats prolly right. Hell i go to a local university thats $1300 a semester and thats cheap. My brother goes to Vanderbilt which is $35,000 a year, not counting the $600 parking sticker fee. The best way I can think of is apply for scholarships and hope your grades and the fact you are a foriegn student gets you one. If you played any sport especially well, you might be a shoe in. Aside from baseball at my school, the sports program is dominated by foreign students, I dont think there is a single American on the tennis team including the coach.
Lets see schools that I know of with Theology theres Presbeterian(sp) College in SC, its I think somewhere in the $20,000 a year area, I believe University of GA has a program, one of my old high school freinds who is aitheist majored in it to help him disprove religion(bet there its a public college so its probably much less maybe <$4000

 

[cathbad]

When looking at degree programs related to religious areas of study you may also want to look at the theological stance of the department. There are a lot of universities that offer religious degree programs but they run the gamut from very fundamental to the very liberal. There are also many smaller universities who offer firm spiritual and theological study program, without leaning to far right or left, (such as my undergrad alma mater) as well as the religious schools. We have much to offer.
And yes the price is right. I paid $40,000 for my undergrad.

 

[timsedwards]

Hi guys and thanks for the responses!
Well there go my hopes for me mishearing the tuition fee amount!
Yes in England the actual fees are $14,000 a year, but the government pays $12,000 of it per person, so the most you have to pay is $2000, and thats if you earn a lot.
I also noticed the theological stance of the university comes into question, which is strange because over here it doesnt...
Im not particularly profound in any sport, im fit and play casual soccer but not enough to warrant any help on my application. My friend from the same high school as me went to Harvard as he was very very good at Rugby.
I still cannot imagine how you guys afforded the tuition fees...thats more than most people earn in a year over here, before tax!
The search continues!
Tim

 

[scotts]

Tim,
I think you should do a search for some of the religious based colleges over here. I know that Notre Dame is one and I think that Layola Marymount or Pepperdine are others. Of course it all depends on what your faith is. ND is catholic based. However that is all that I know about them, beside the fact that they are very big into their football. Our type of football, not yours.
Now for the bad news. I graduated from California State University, Fresno. They had a fee schedule based on if you were a state resident or not. The fees for state residents were cheap IMO. They had a higher fee for out of state students and I think they had a higher fee for foreign students. I did a quck search for my school and the cost for a resident is $1,700 and the cost for a non resident is $9,700. Of course this is a state sponsered school and may not apply to the private schools that you are looking at.
Best of luck.
Scott

 

[overanalyzer]

yeah we pay out the ying yang for college.... but I would suggest you take a look @ the US News and World Reports that DFaniel Mentioned

 

[timsedwards]

Thanks Scott,
Im trying to avoid a college with a particular sway, e.g. catholic or otherwise as i am studying it academically, faith aside. Although the more I look into it, the more I realise that this may not be available in the states.
Are government funded universities any good? is there really any difference between them and private ones?
Im starting to think that staying here might be the best option! Here i can goto Europe's finest university, Oxford or Cambridge for $5000 a year. What appealed to me was that at Columbo NYC they didnt require you to do M.A. first before a PhD.
Thanks for the continued help,
Tim.

 

[timsedwards]

does anyone have a link for these reports as I cant seem to find them...?

 

[stumpdog]

Tim-
Link
HTH-
Jeremy

 

[infalable]

I have never heard anyone from England use the word soccer. Always football. Ok what gives? You are actually in the same boat that most people here are in when they want to pick schools. Use the resources available on your end and the internet. Someone mentioned US World Report, but you mainly get the best schools. Religion will rarely be mentioned there. Also, look into schools that offer philosopy. Good luck.

 

[caribbean guy]

Well I am coming from both sides here as as previous student and now as a representative.
There are two things to take into account here.
(1) You are a out of state student which means that your tution rate will be far more than an instate students. That is ususally 2-3 times more than normal students. Also with the way Immigration is right now you will have to adhere to certain Sevis rules, determing how many classes you can register for and what you can take as online clases etc. Too much to go into here.
(2) Many schools that offer your specific program are also very expensive and require strict admission policies. YOu may be better off entering a small town college and then transfering to your desired college that way admission policices are less stringent, but you did not hear that from me. Good luck in your venture, If you need any further help finding colleges within your desired field let me know I can see what I can find out through my University.

 

[timsedwards]

Great thanks guys for your help!
The people from harvard are being really helpful, but unless i get a scholarship, $30k a year is too much.
Ill keep on searching
Tim.

 

[swilbs83]

Unfortunately every "big name" school you go to will be over 20k a year(State Universities, Ivy league, etc). Community colleges are around what you're looking to spend. Do a search for "US community colleges" and you will get thousands of them. Unfortunately no other school in the US comes close to 2k a year except for community colleges.

 

[timsedwards]

hmmmmm but i dont really want to travel thousands of miles to go to a community college! I did have some luck with the University of Toronto, they are the biggest university in canada (apparently and have a good department, and their tuition fees are $10,000 canadian, which is about £4,500 which is almost the same as it costs here.
Anyone got any hints/tips on Canadian universities?
Cheers!
Tim.

 

[wrassecal]

Originally posted by timsedwards
Thanks Scott,
Im trying to avoid a college with a particular sway, e.g. catholic or otherwise as i am studying it academically, faith aside.
Tim.
Tim are you studying the christian religion or various religions? If strictly christian, than this may not help. If various then there are advanced degree programs offered through several universities in the US. At the University of Oklahoma, for instance I am getting my advanced degree in Human Relations. Within that program I can take a track that is a study of various religions of the world.
There are also many Universities in the US that offer accelerated PhD programs whereby you effectively skip through the masters section and work on an accelerated PhD program.
Have you considered applying for fellowships? Grants? Thing like that? We have several international students in the department I work in that are fully funded that way.
As to the international student VISA status etc. the SERVIS rules are a bit confusing at best. My international students can not even work off campus. There are many more rules now, post 9/11 and a lot of them are affecting international students.

 

[terminus est]

Dont knock community colleges, they may not have a football team which gives the bigger schools their big names but my school for example is the #3 academics school in the State of GA, only beaten by Emory and GA Tech. How many people have ever heard of Armstrong Atlantic State University? didnt think very many, Tiff, you dont count
Thats another thing you need to remember, high dollar doesnt always mean great education, Ga Tech and AASU being prime examples since both are public schools. On the same token not all publicly funded schools are great either, GSU is a football school, absolutely crummy name academically. They only thing a degree with that schools name on it is good for is being a bar tender or a professional drinker.
Alot of public schools are specialized as well, they may be excellent in some areas but lacking in others. University of GA has excellent veterenary sciences and medical programs but are not known for anything else even though they have many many other degree programs. AASU also specializes in its nursing, education and science programs but is lacking in the computer sciences and technological fields( due to alot of mismanagement in those departments)
these are just examples, I am sure every state has the same thing. The best part is, 75% of students do not end up in careers of their degree(bachlors), so basically its all just about getting a piece of paper that says diploma and some college's name on it.

 

[timsedwards]

Hi Guys,
I have looked at scholarships, but surprisingly there arent that many of them. Im looking into Toronto more and more as I have found a scholarship that will pay everything for me because I come from Britain
Sorry I didnt mean to offend anyone with the Community College thing, just that if I go to anywhere it has to be somewhere internationally recognised as a leading university, otherwise my money is wasted. Not that it bothers particularly to me, but sadly thats how people get appointed, on where they got their degree.
Wrassecal - Hi! It would be Judeo-Christian studies, I ahve studied all world religions, but only as they were compulsory. Ive found that most 'religious' departments really mean Eastern Religions, which isnt my area of interest. I ahve also noticed accelerated programs, Harvard being one of them, but for some unknown reason, apart from the ancient languages I know (Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac) they also want me to know French or German?!!
Thanks for all your help!
Tim.

 

[cathbad]

It's nice to know that I am not the only one around who opted to study ancient Hebrew. Good luck in your search.

 

[tiffster]

Mike we are an official "University" now, not just a lowly "community college" !!! I can't really tell the difference besides new buildings and a name, but whatever. Too many appletinis. Gotta go.
Tiff