<p>Exactly^, which is why you should never judge a school as a whole.</p>
<p>I think this whole thread is pointless unless itās done by region. </p>
<p>In the Chicago area, for example, DePaul and Marquette are two examples of schools that are generally well-regarded ā not necessarily the highest academic powerhouses, but turn out good kids with good levels of knowledge ā and hard-working grads from those schools will do just fine for themselves in the Chicago / Milwaukee metro area. I have no idea how they are regarded elsewhere in the country. But the fact that those schools may mean nothing in, say, Boston or LA, means absolutely nothing to said kid.</p>
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<p>Hereās a bright idea: why donāt you start your own thread instead of whining in this oneā¦</p>
<p>Ahhhhā¦at least I know that someone feels Iām good at something. </p>
<p>Iām Ignorance. Butā¦at itās best! YES! </p>
<p>Everyone has gotten so testy on such a little slip of a thread. Londonā¦please reconsider whether or not youāre proud of calling someone who disagrees with you - ignorant. And perhaps you can then try to play nice, at least when youāre with grown ups. That was uncalled for by any stretch of the imagination.</p>
<p>I havenāt looked through the entire thread, but Clarkson University has a 80% acceptance rate and is well respected among the engineering community.</p>
<p>Colorado School of Mines is highly respected at least in Colorado. The average ACT score is just 29, and admission is just based on test score and GPA.
According to PayScale, the school is ranked 2nd (behind UC Berkeley) in terms of starting salary for graduates from national top public universities, and 11th among engineering schools.</p>
<p>Miami of Ohio is one of those schools that I didnāt realize it was as (relatively) non-selective as it was (not to say that itās non-selective in the absolute!) until I looked into it.</p>
<p>any thoughts on University of Denver, University of Oregon, Chapman?</p>
<p>One way to approach this problem would be to isolate some features, other than high selectivity, that we tend to associate with highly respected schools. Then look for schools that have those features, but without being so highly selective.</p>
<p>For example, we could look for schools, among those that are not highly selective, that draw students from nearly every state and from many foreign countries. Or, look for schools with large per capita endowments. Premise: The ability to attract students from diverse places, and to attract money, are both signs of respect.</p>
<p>Examples of schools with more or less national/international student bodies and high per capita endowments that are not highly selective:</p>
<p>Smith College (EPS=$ 405,737 in 2006; states represented=43; foreign countries represented =33; Admit rate = 47.7%; USNWR selectivity rank > 75)</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr College (EPS=$ 322,261 in 2006; states represented=47; countries represented = 58; Admit rate = 48.8%; USNWR selectivity rank = 70)</p>
<p>Lafayette College (EPS=$ 324,594 in 2006; states & territories represented=33; countries represented >75; Admit rate = 37.2% ; USNWR selectivity rank = 68)</p>
<p>University of Northern Colorado particularly for voice, instrumental music and theater</p>
<p>Pizzagirlās point about the value of regional lists is well taken. Most parents and students are looking within 1 region and very few in more than 2. Regional lists will save them a lot of time and whether those schools which do not have prominent sports teams are well known 2000 miles away is irrelevant. Note, too, that schools with prominent sports teams sometimes find they are well known naitonally, but not as well respected academically as they should be nationally, because they are perceived as football schools.</p>
<p>TK, endowment, nationwide student bodies and foreign presence can be worth considering, but remember that many impressive per student endowments at smaller schools were the result of 1 large donor or a history of admitting underqualified rich kids; naitonwide student bodies are often more a reflection of a desirable location (Miami, Boston, NYC) or famous sports teams; and the number of foreign students often is a result of aggressive recruiting of full pay foreigners, including many recruited by dishonest middlemen.</p>
<p>Quote:Originally Posted by pizzagirl
I think this whole thread is pointless unless itās done by region.</p>
<p>Quote:Originally Posted by prodigalson
Hereās a bright idea: why donāt you start your own thread instead of whining in this oneā¦</p>
<p>And a hearty welcome to prodigalson, the cancer of any prestige vs. excellence thread.</p>
<p>St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY</p>
<p>Gorgeous campus in upscale suburban area with new Pharmacy school.</p>
<p>Link: [Home</a> - St. John Fisher College](<a href=āhttp://www.sjfc.edu/]Homeā>http://www.sjfc.edu/)</p>
<p>I was a 3.2 GPA student at an academically difficult high school where all courses were honors level (had tough times in life and would have made it to an Ivy if I went to a regular school).</p>
<p>I had a friend who had a 3.3 GPA and a high SAT score, he was accepted into Carnegie Mellon, a lot of kids from my school with B average grades were accepted there. For Carnegie if you have a B average and a high SAT score then you are basically in.</p>
<p>As for others:</p>
<p>University of Maryland At College Park
Penn State University Park
North Georgia College and State University
Boston University
University of Vermont
University of Delaware
and University of Alabama would be good names to add to the list.</p>
<p>University of Delaware is definitely a lock for the list.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech has a 60 percent acceptance rate, I am surprisedā¦</p>
<p>I would say Fordham but the acceptance rate is now at 40% and is dropping below that this upcoming year.</p>
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<p>I donāt know about most CC parents and students, but this parent (and his kids) concentrated the search, for the most part, on schools with national appeal. Many of my kidsā friends seemed to be doing the same. In fact, with my youngest, one of the factors that led us away from a much less expensive (but good) state school was that the large majority of kids were from our state. We wanted a little more diversity. I do acknowledge that many parents and students attend schools within a small distance from home (but this is often for financial reasons.)</p>
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<p>Hmm. I can think of one school, Grinnell, that apparently got a huge boost from one donor (Warren Buffet). Macalester College also got a big endowment boost from one source (the DeWitt Wallace family of Readers Digest fame.) So what? Is it a good thing, or a bad thing, for a school to have lots of money at its disposal to spend on facilities and scholarships? Is it not a sign of confidence in (and respect for) a school that someone would invest heavily in it? I donāt know that Grinnell or Macalester, in particular, have a history of admitting under-qualified rich kids. This is a charge that has been made against some undeniably excellent schools. Although I can think of two schools that, each in its day, was highly respected in some circles, yet failed to attract enough money to stay in business: Antioch College, and New College (which had to become a Florida public institution to stay afloat).</p>
<p>Many undeniably excellent schools with national & international student bodies are in isolated locations with cold, dreary climates. Most of the New England LACS, for example. Does Miami have a large concentration of schools with nationwide student bodies, or other signs of respect other than selectivity?</p>
<p>So anyway, what are some other features (besides geographic diversity or endowment size) that might indicate, objectively, that a school is āhighly respectedā? There are >3000 institutions in this country. How do we differentiate among the ones most of us have never heard of, if not by selectivity or some special feature of relatively narrow interest (ānew Pharmacy schoolā)?</p>
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<p>What? No shout out to Case Western?</p>
<p>I agree about Case WEstern, living here in the shadow of MIT and Harvard, never know much about Case, but with my son there I have become very impressed - excellent academics (heās in engineering) - heās incredibly happy - lots of opportunities for well rounded experiences, very smart kids who are much more laid back and not competitive.<br>
Canāt say enough good - and for Cleveland, itās okay, but itās the campus and students who make the experience.</p>
<p>brewerfan99 too luuurves Case Westernā¦</p>