re: Which SEC school brings the least to the conference?

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In my experience w/ UGA (which is quite extensive), their reputation has received a very generous boost due to proximity to ATL. UGA is a beautiful school and a ton of fun and has high regional visibility. Thus, admissions standards are fairly high (for an SEC school, anyways). But once you get in, make no mistake, it's a party school. And after graduation you can make your way to ATL and plug yourself into a very deep alum network that has access to very good jobs in the south's largest city.

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I went to grad school at UGA, but I think I can comment on undergrad there vs. Auburn (where I did undergrad). Adams at UGA really pushed academic rigor, something not present at Auburn outside of "hard" subjects like engineering or tech. It wasn't present at UGA either, for that matter. But in contrast, I didn't have to work at Auburn at all. That's changing now somewhat, but UGA was already like that by the time I arrived, and my friends had to work more even in "soft" subjects.

Anyway, I think most of your points are correct, but UGA does draw smart kids and good faculty. I think they benefited heavily from HOPE and Atlanta, but now they're actually working to make the changes to the school to correspond with those built in advantages.

To be honest, for public schools to really soar you need a major feeder city, you need to be in a state on the rise or that is already prominent, and you need money.

Almost all of them have that. UGA in GA and with ATL, UNC in a rising NC and growing Charlotte, Texas with Austin, TAMU with Houston, UCLA, UVA, UF etc. etc.

Hence it'll be tough for the Miss schools to get too far with their state as it is. Auburn and Alabama are benefiting from Alabama's growth, but they'll track the state's upswing. To a lesser extent, so will LSU.