<p>First, please learn to spell regarded and regardless, you are driving me crazy. Second, you are kidding yourself if you think most east and west coasters know a lot about Iowa compared to schools closer to them, of which there are very many. Of course they have heard of it, and as I say they probably even know about their famous writing program (although many not in the humanities will not). But most don’t have a clue about most other departments at Iowa and their reputation except MAYBE their own field of study. Do you think they know Nebraska? Oklahoma? Idaho? That’s a lot to expect that these people know enough to really rate these thousands of schools they likely have little to no interaction with other than possibly within their own field of study. So how are they really supposed to rate the school? Based on a few vague impressions and maybe a colleague or two they know there?</p>
<p>But that’s OK. You can keep kidding yourself that the PA scoring really means something.</p>