<p>We all have our favorite college. </p>
<p>Agreed with MOWC, there is a reason why a school is obscure.</p>
<p>Go navy,</p>
<p>You said anywhere…</p>
<p>University of Wyoming…$16,000 per year tuition/fees/room/board after scholarship.
Ole Miss…about $19,000 after scholarships.</p>
<p>Much cheaper than the $30,000+ that Iowa would cost.</p>
<p>gonavy15,</p>
<p>You mentioned the University of Iowa; not sure if you’ve looked at its OOS costs, but it is not particularly affordable. It’s not Michigan-esque but it’s not a steal. The University of Minnesota is a better deal, so if your D is open to really large schools, that might be worth a look. </p>
<p>As for the “obscure” schools. Hmm. There’s obscure and then there’s off the radar. There are many fine schools that are not household names. If I were you, I’d start with one of the standard college books (Fiske, Princeton, etc.) and go through it page by page. Maybe you can eliminate some schools based on their being out of range academically or financially, based on their location or based on any other weed-out factors. Dig in a bit on the schools that pique your interest. THEN ask around on CC. You’ll get more useful advice if you have a starting list. At least IMHO. And in my experience.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned the merit aid thread; please do yourself a favor and read it. It’s invaluable.</p>
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<p>Case in point about dumping on “obscure” LAC you know nothing about. Go visit the school, talk to the Poly Sci majors, attend the any number of lectures, etc. from politicians around the world the school brings in to enhance their programs. The connection the school has with local and national politicians is amazing. It’s a LAC, not a huge research institution why would you expect 100’s of profs doing research at such a small school? They have a very high grad school acceptance rate in any number of majors there.</p>
<p>mncollegemom- I realize your agenda is to push the Minnesota schools, but some schools truly are local in nature and rarely appeal to people from outside the area (or possibly one state over). You seem to want to greatly inflate the appeal…</p>
<p>There’s a difference between “not well known outside its home geography, but has a good / strong reputation within that geography” and “obscure even within its home geography.” An example might be a place like Marquette, which has a perfectly fine reputation in Chicago / Milwaukee, but isn’t widely known outside that. The first, to me, is fine for a student who is content with staying in a given geography (at least for the first job). The second scares me.</p>
<p>MomofWildChild–again, visit the schools, see what they have to offer. You have an issue with anything MN, obviously and especially Catholic schools in MN. Just because YOU are not interested in these schools doesn’t mean others would not be. I can say the same thing for “mid south” schools and the lack of appeal for pretty much anyone coming from a state that doesn’t rank 48th in education…</p>
<p>I have no agenda but when people post about a school and what they are looking for and a LAC in MN happens to fit the bill, I will post about it. St. Thomas has great regional appeal and is a recruiting hotbed for most local local employers, including the 26 Fortune 500 companies based in MN. I can take a poll here and guarantee that NO ONE has ever heard of University of the South and would not be considered a good school as a result. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a good school, just that know one knows anything about the school.</p>
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No one has heard of Sewanee?? I can tell you right now that you would be wrong. Not only have many of us heard of it, we probably have an opinion about it.</p>
<p>I think the obscure college does not really exist on this forum. Most people IRL don’t know of the colleges that any of my three kids attended (with the exception of my daughters grad school) but they were great colleges with very good merit aid.</p>
<p>Marquette is a very well known school, at least to those who follow college basketball – or who are subject to periodic barrages of ESPN emanating from the family room. Gustavus Adolphus might be a better example, although I’m not sure how widely known the school is even within Minnesota.</p>
<p>I have spent a lot of time in MN on business and socially and have a lot of friends there. My former employer had a large facility north of Duluth. I am familiar with the schools in MN and, as you know, have spent some time at the obscure (truly) St. Benedict. As I said, it would be fine for the right student, which, for the most part, would be a Catholic from MN. Nothing wrong with that, but don’t try to sell the place to a liberal from California!</p>
<p>kathiep – I’ll get back to you after I run a test on some of the locals. And after I figure out how to drop “Sewanee” into a casual conversation. I suspect, however, that the number of people I encounter in our part of NYS who have heard of Sewanee will just about equal the number of people who have heard about my niece’s alma mater, the previously mentioned Gustavus Adolphus. That number, if I recall correctly, was zero.</p>
<p>kathiep-I probably should have quantified that and said “in the general public”, not people that post regularly on CC. 3/4ths of the schools talked about here I have never heard of and I can bet that everyone here can say the same for any school outside of their geographic region that isn’t a NCAA powerhouse.</p>
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<p>It’s my understanding from Minnesota friends that St. Thomas is pretty obscure even within Minneapolis/St. Paul. The analogy seems to be to Elmhurst College or North Central here in Chicago – it’s not even well known within the immediate geographic area. I’m sorry, there’s a huge difference between the Carletons/Macalesters of the world and the St. Thomases.</p>
<p>Well, there you go - people IRL are NOT the same as we posters on this forum! 
I don’t know about the NCAA powerhouse criteria. In my area of the country, you can’t drive 30 minutes without running into a college and many of them are not known for their sports teams. You kind of get used to looking at a college without judging their sports, or at least that’s how it is in my kids circle of friends.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl-your understanding would be wrong. Ask anyone in a hiring position in any MN company and they will ALL know St. Thomas. The difference between Mac/Carleton and St. Thomas in the corporate world here is not as big as you would think. I know far more unemployed Carleton grads than St. Thomas grads.</p>
<p>I know far more unemployed Carleton grads than St. Thomas grads.</p>
<p>Thats pretty good for a school with an 85% admission rate ( what the grad rate?)</p>
<p>I can’t find St. Thomas here to find the grad rate - [College</a> Navigator - No Search Results](<a href=“College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics”>College Navigator - Search Results) That is pretty obscure. Seriously, what am I doing wrong??</p>
<p>I found it on wiki
The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul is Minnesota’s largest private university or college[5] with a fall 2010 enrollment of 10,815 students.</p>
<p>kathiep-the site has it listed as the University of St. Thomas, not Saint Thomas…with a 77% graduation rate, WELL above national averages of 55% and MN as a whole ranks 13th overall for graduation rates for all colleges in the state [HigherEdInfo.org:</a> Graduation Rates](<a href=“HigherEdInfo.org: ERROR”>HigherEdInfo.org: Graduation Rates)</p>
<p>There is nothing scary about going to a good school that no one has heard of, even within the geography. How many times have I told a Floridian the name of my public undergrad school, New College of Florida, and heard the response “never heard of it.” So what. It’s a great school. I don’t think the lack of prestige hurt my life, and the education was great. Oh, and don’t say you can’t get into top grad schools or international banking from there cuz its not true. Someone should study the relationship between prestige-seeking and fear.</p>