Exchange to America - I need advice on choosing my exchange University?

I'm from Australia, and am planning on going on exchange to America.


I've never visited America before, so I'm not really sure of anything. I have to pick 3 Universities to apply to, and so far I've narrowed it down to University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Miami.





I'm a Journalism major, and of course I'm looking for a Uni that has a good reputation for their Journalism course. But I'm also looking for somewhere, well, awesome. Haha. I'm only in America for 6 months, and I really want to see as much as I can, and be able to travel easily. I'd like to see snow, but that's not a definite (I know Miami doesn't get any). I want to go to a fun place, with good academics and that just really, at the risk of sounding really weird, is all American! Also, travel is important - I want to see lots. But that doesn't mean I necessarily want to be close to New York, California etc, I just want a place that is accessible by train/bus or whatever, and is easy to see other states.


Thanks!Exchange to America - I need advice on choosing my exchange University?
As always, Ranto's answer is very good, but I disagree with him a little about the final answer. I don't think you should be worrying too much about the ranking of the schools. You are not getting a degree there, you are just visiting. All of these schools are very respectable and the courses you take will be pretty similar between the four.





I think Illinois is too isolated, and it is in the Midwest. Certainly Illinois is All-American, but it is a long way from most of the things you might want to see. Either UMass or UConn are within an easy back-and-forth -in-a-day trip of New York or Boston, and within a comfortable weekend trip of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC or Montreal or Quebec in Canada. Also, these schools are likely to have more kids from around the East coast, while Miami I think would have a preponderance of southern kids and Illinois mostly midwesterners. Miami is not within a weekend trip of anything but itself. If you are in the Northeast over the winter you can take a vacation trip to Florida to see Disneyworld or whatever...





I think it is kind of a tossup between UMass and UConn but I guess I might give UConn a slight edge... it depends what subjects you want to study...





I don;t think you could go far wrong with any of these choices. Exchange to America - I need advice on choosing my exchange University?
uni of mass is the best in there... boston has lots to see and u can travel to new york easily from there.
Uni of Miami is not a good first choice.
Academically, there is a clear winner. The University of Illinois is one of the best public universities in the US. US News ranks it as the #40 university overall.





The University of Miami comes in second at #54. University of Connecticut comes in third at #66 and the University of Massachusetts comes in last at #102.





Miami is the only university near a big city. It is also the only one that has a major international airport. At UMass or UConn you would probably have to go to Boston to fly elsewhere. Miami has a heavy Latin influence, and most people would not call it All-American.





UMass is about two hours west of Boston and about three hours away from New York. It is a beautiful area with lots of universities near it -- but not much else. You will certainly see snow. UMass is near the Berkshires (mountains).





UConn is a little closer to Boston and a little closer to New York, but still not near anything else.





While Illinois is the clear winner in terms of quality of education, it is also the most remote. I hear that the Champagne-Urbana area is a great college town. Friends who went to Illinois loved it. But the area is in the middle of the Great Plains -- so the terrain is very flat. There is nothing near these two towns except farm land. It is 2.5 hours away from Chicago, and three hours from St Louis. There isn't a lot that is close to it, but it is All American.





Below is a link to university rankings in the US. If I were you, I'd reopen your list of schools. If there is a high ranking school that is closer to Boston, near Philadelphia or in Maryland, DC or Northern Virginia, I would consider those schools. The only part of the US where train travel is common is the route that connects the major cities between Boston and Washington.





If you insist on staying to these four schools, I'd choose Illinois.
UConn, UMass, and U Illinois sound pretty good, Miami's okay too... I have a couple of friends from HS who are studying journalism now, so I was there when they did their search, and I remember them looking at these universities also:





University of Missouri-Columbia


U of North Carolina Chapel Hill


Indiana University-Bloomington


University of Florida


UC Berkeley





If you want to be close to New York, why not NYU? The Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute in NYU's college of arts and sciences is excellent with the plus of being smack dab in the city. This is actually the only university I have experience in since I considered it in my college search. Good luck!