re: Academically speaking, what is your University known for?

You are absolutely spot on! I could not agree more.

I have a good friend who went to Auburn and is killing it in his chemical engineering career. Ironically, his boss a few yeas ago happened to be one of my fraternity brothers and college roommates at Alabama. Both are doing very well. That's not one of the more common engineering degrees but anyone I've known that majored in that is doing very very well professionally. My Auburn friend who was an SAE at Auburn studied his arse off all through college. He loves to have a good time but he parties harder now in middle age than he did while at Auburn because of the grueling curriculum required of chemical engineering majors.

At Alabama, Accounting, Finance, Law, and Communications are by far the most prestigious degrees offered.

quote:

---

A&M is more similar to the rest of the SEC than they are to Vandy and UF. You people are literally the only people that group A&M with Vandy

---

I would say the top 3 are pretty clear.

LINK
A&M 159
UF 180
Van 216

LINK
Van 53
UF 83
A&M 100

Please shut up with the Texas A&M superiority comments.

You have a fine institution.

But this is not a "dick-measuring" thread.

What is wrong with you guys? So insecure. It is embarrassing.

I get that you're being a smartass, but yeah UMC is the only level one trauma center in La and its location in downtown Nola means a shitload of trauma. Great training there for trauma ICU

Not being a smartass at all. I have experience at Charity Hospital (when it was still open), E.K. Long (Baton Rouge) and University Hospital (Lafayette). Know the system (or did) quite well.

Rodo

quote:

---

Look, the four AAU universities in the SEC are Vandy, Fla, A&M and Mizzou. In most rankings, they would also appear in that order. I left Mizzou out because of their recent events that threatens their future.

Realistically, if your university is not an AAU member (which is not a huge standard) then it's more trade school than academic institution. Nothing wrong with that but, it is the reality.

Rodo

---

The AAU is really somewhat of a strange institution.

It reminds me of the Florists board in the state of Louisiana I was reading about a few years ago. If you wanted to become a florist there, you had to submit and pass a review board.... of your florist peers who would ultimately be your competition in business. This law was strictly anti-competitive and at times arguably corrupt.

The AAU is somewhat like that very system. "It's prestigious because we say it is, and we're not letting you into our club." The fact is that AAU is heavily focused on research for inclusion - but that alone is far from being the only indicator of the quality of the school and it's rankings.

Take for instance the debate in my state about Alabama and Auburn. As much as I like to personally gig Auburn, the fact is that Auburn is a very solid institution. But, so is Alabama - but our premier majors and what we are known foremost are business, teaching, nursing, law, and communications. Auburn is much more famous for their vet school and engineering. These are areas in which research dollars are more heavily spent - and one could argue that on the basis of that alone, AAU would probably be much more interested in looking at Auburn for membership inclusion than Alabama. That in no way infers that Auburn is a superior institution compared to Alabama... only that their research efforts are much more visible. And frankly, if you use that metric alone, UAB and UAH are *FAR* ahead of the other universities in the state when it comes to research prestige and potential. It's just a fact.

So... when it comes right down to it... AAU membership is nice. Sounds great. But is not the feather you guys think it is. Frankly, AAU status was something that you literally had NEVER heard of on the national scene until a few years ago, it just didn't make that much of a difference. Vandy, Uf, and A&M *are* great schools... but it is not ONLY because they are members of the AAU.

JMHO.

The problem with that is, it means you'll have to stay in Texas.

ULM

1) Beating Bama in 07

2) Beating Arkansas in 2012

3) being every other sec teams personal bitch since

For real though:

1) pharmacy

2) nursing - supposedly one of the top programs in the nation

3) meteorology maybe idk. We're the only meteorology school in Louisiana but it's a small program.