re: Would you rather your school be ranked #1 in football or academics?

quote:

---

You think people around here chose to go to school at MSU, Ole Miss, Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina, and LSU because of their academic rankings? Perhaps in some cases where the school has a specialty... But I couldn't see many people beating down the doors to attend those universities if they didn't field a popular football team within those states.

---

Don't underestimate the networking opportunities post-grad from those schools as well, particularly if you know you are going to stay in the region. You'll learn what you need to learn from any of those schools (hint- you are really going to learn 80% of what you need on the job anyway), but one of the main purposes of going to college is to get a better job and the networking for SEC schools in SEC country is very valuable. "Academic ranking" (amorphous as that concept is anyway) isn't everything.