Why are DII schools so academically bad?

psychlown wrote:

Seyta wrote:

This school is garbage compared to the higher quality schools in both DI and DIII. If that's the best of DII, it's a lost cause.

https://www.mines.edu/undergraduate-admissions/new-freshmen/https://www.lumosity.com/en/blog/americas-brainiest-collegeshttps://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/bachelors

Just saying, you probably don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do a lot of work, but average freshman at the university have academics just as good as OP.

Pay is excellent.

Reputation is excellent in science and engineering world.

I graduated in 2009 at above average starting salary and my pay has tripled in 10 years. I'd say i'm a typical case.

Are you stupid?

The two sources you've provided are

1) A report on students playing a "brain game".

2) A salary report.

Colorado School of Mines is ONLY an engineering school. By default, they will have the advantage of not having their average salaries dragged down by a huge population of students engaging in useless majors.

If you're going to compare in that respect, you would need to compare ONLY engineering schools. If you can find a list for that, then wonderful. I'd be happy to see it. Do NOT try and use the Payscale equivalent for engineering schools only. They do not remove non-engineering majors from the averages, as all schools' salaries do not change across the list.

In a direct comparison of quality, Colorado School of Mines drops significantly.

I am going to be blunt here. The fact that it is entirely an engineering school gives it an advantage in most metrics. But the school has a 40% acceptance rate, and a huge assortment of engineering colleges at either DI or DIII programs are superior. The reputation is good within Colorado and the immediate surrounding region. That is the equivalent of ANY decent quality state school. It does NOT bring the recognition associated with top tier schools like MIT, Caltech, Cornell, etc., or even high tier schools like Northwestern, USC, Williams, etc.

Again, if this is the best of the DII schools, it lags DRASTICALLY behind the best of both DI and DIII.

OP back again with a couple quick thoughts.

1) DII colleges aren't necessarily "bad" they just cater to a poorer, less smart population

2)I will not run or go to school at a DII college, most likely DIII or low tier DI

Thanks for the input!

As a whole D1 fastest, then D2, then D3. That’s not to say that a random D3 guys can’t be nearly as fast as the best D1 guys. As a whole, D1 best academic, then D3, then, D2. That’s not to say that MIT and Wash U and University of Chicago are not as good as some of the best D1 schools.

Bentley univ is d2

D3 is slow and D2 is dumb wrote:

There are quite a few decent D3 schools and almost all D1 schools are good. Almost no D2 or NAIA schools are good. Even if you go one of the best academic D2 schools, it will only be as good as an average D1 school. I would not recommend going D2 for a smart kid because the entire experience will be bad. The fan base at the conference meet will be sketchy and your competitors will be idiots.

I'm sure you've seen this list before in some form, but here's a list of some of the top-ranked D3 schools:

https://recruiting.studentathleteworld.com/images/uploads/pages/Best_Academic_D3_Schools.pdf

Bentley isn't even the best college in the suburban town of Waltham.

Guess what, the academically superior college is DIII.

The density of the people of on this site never stops short of amazing.

A couple of things:

1. Despite the apparently common misconception, D2 schools can provide some top notch educations.

2. The OP never said what their intended major is, so to attempt to compare schools without the knowledge of the program they wish to pursue is simply foolish. Many of you are looking at the overall reputation of the school rather than the reputation of the individual program.

3. Where you get your degree matters to prospective employers in certain instances. First and foremost, a strong company will look at your experience first. Internships and job experience are much more valuable to an employer than just a degree, they want to be able to hire someone who can jump right in with minimum training required so they don't have to pay for you to spend multiple weeks training. Second, the place you get your degree from typically has a bigger effect in entry-level positions where experience is not required or is very little.

D2 nit all bad wrote:

Bentley univ is d2

To its credit , Bentley has top notch welding and plumbing programs.

There are a lot of factors you should be considering. The 34 is obviously a very good ACT score. What about the PSAT? If you just finished sophomore year I would be putting a lot of work over the summer into prepping for the PSAT and getting National Merit. A lot of schools will throw money at you just for getting National Merit. If you want to run in college, that's great, but you are in good position to get academic scholarships from a wide range of schools.

You should also be considering your intended major and career. In some fields the prestige of a big name school matters. If you go to a top 10 school that is going to help you pretty much anywhere. Some colleges aren't as well known, but have great reputations in a particular major. But for some jobs in some areas, it's not going to matter whether you went to fancy liberal arts college or Podunk State U.

My general advice would be to go to a school near the area where you'd like to live after college. That way you're more likely to make connections with people in that area.

I think you are looking at the wrong schools and conferences! Yes, there are a lot of DII schools that are sate schools and may not have the highest academic standards. But their are a lot of private DII schools that have very high academic standards and higher admission requirements. You will def have to pay more for these schools. An example would be some of the schools in the GLVC Conference. Very high academics like Truman State, Drury, and Missouri S&T. If you have a 2.8 and 18 ACT you are not getting accepted. If you have a 28 ACT and 3.9 you can get a lot of academic money. These schools are much like a lot of DIII schools but with athletic scholarships!

First, don’t listen to anyone who says where you get a degree from doesn’t matter. I’ve got an undergrad, masters and PhD from top tier schools but have also taken a lot of community college and D2 state university classes over the years either to fill untaken prerequisites over the years and there is a huge difference in the quality of education.

I had similar PRs to yours and was looking mostly at D3 schools but found a D1 schools that would let me walk on. We got a lot better while I was there and I got worse so felt a bit over my head at times. I have no regrets but often wonder if I would have excelled more at a D3 school. If I were you, I would narrow your schools down based on academics and then start reaching out to coaches at the D1 schools and see if they would be willing to accept you as a walk-on then take a visit and see if it clicks. Like most high schoolers, I thought I was better than I was so reached to try to run D1.

The answer as to why the D2 schools suck so bad academically is that most of them are state funded schools and since we are in America, anything that is funded by Taxpayers has to suck... but that’s another story. Just stay away from them if you have grades and test scores like that, no matter how much cheaper they may be.

Very high? You need to learn the English language. The schools you listed have average ACTs of 26 and 27. Some other local schools, Illinois 29, St Louis 28, Wash U 33, Missouri 27. You are making the point that D2 schools are bad by listing some top schools that would be st the bottom when compared to D1 and at the lower end of D3.

Club is also a great option. I personally love my experience on that level so far. I currently go to a pretty large state school while getting an engineering degree. I could have gone to some smaller D1's or other schools but chose to go to the school I really wanted to attend. It is all that you make out of it. With the right people, a training group is a training group. My advice is pick where you really see yourself going to and then decide if running could work out on any level available to you there.

Young, ignorant, and slow is no way to go through life

If you don't get into Harvard, Princeton, or Yale, you may as well skip college and go straight to your job at McDonald's. Maybe by the time you're 30 you'll be able to buy a franchise.

Good luck!

OP, do you have a preference for small liberal arts type schools or big research universities? There will be a significant difference in the college experience.

Rupp a Lupp wrote:

Ggggh wrote:

Unless it’s Ivy League nobody cares where your degree is from. Employers just want to see the piece of paper. Whether it’s a D1 state school, D2 state school, or weird D3 liberal arts school, or weird religious school nobody cares.

Nothing can be farther from the truth. I work in HR and we use certain schools to filter resumes. Obviously experience is the main factor, but we often use school as a tie breaker.

Well then you are an idiot. Filtering based on schools? What a lazy and illogical approach, not to mention elitist in the worst way. How are you not ashamed to operate that way?

These elitist threads on LRC represent the some of the worst elements of our society.