How underrated is Case Western Reserve?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Case Western Reserve University
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@merc81 "“Case is an excellent choice” (18)

For a lot of students and a lot of reasons, certainly so. However, this depends somewhat on how one feels about Connecticut."

Now I think you are thinking of another school and haven’t been to Case Western at all. It is nowhere near Connecticut.

As students explore and develop interests, a school like Case provides flexibility. Offering close to 100 majors. The school tries to meet your interests. This is attractive to many students. Many prospective students don’t realize how valuable it may be, depending on how their needs evolve.

LACs do have a high percentage of students in individual majors because in most cases, they offer much more limited options. Typically about half as many as Case. Students are more likely to find themselves shoehorned into what is available instead of what they want. There is no engineering so they major in math, there is no business, so they major in Econ. That is fine for some, but others prefer to choose a school that can meet their interests more directly instead of having to settle for less.

I think attending Case offers more benefits than many prospective candidates realize. :slight_smile:

22

“Now I think you are thinking of another school and haven’t been to Case Western at all. It is nowhere near Connecticut.” (20)

Well, perhaps I have under-recognized the currents of history. Connecticut once claimed CWRU’s section of present-day Ohio as part of their “Western Reserve,” hence “Case Western Reserve University.” As far as I know, Connecticut has never relinquished the claim.

“LACs do have a high percentage of students in individual majors because, in most cases, they offer much more limited options.”

A strong LAC will offer a choice of 700+ courses. This is 650+ more courses than a student could possibly take in four years.

“there is no business, so they major in econ”

We don’t know if this is true. However, if it is, it would apply to both LACs and some large, highly selective universities.

“There is no engineering”

This is often true, but 3-2 programs are available.

“Students [at LACs] are more likely to find themselves shoehorned into what is available . . . That is fine for some, but others prefer to choose a school that can meet their interests more directly instead of having to settle for less.”

This sounds a little harsh, but I assume you mean in terms of some students’ interests. Nevertheless, this could just as well apply to students at, for example, Emory who find themselves interested in geosciences, or those at CWRU who discover that geoarchaeology would be ideal for them, but who would find those majors unavailable at their universities, but available at certain LACs.

“I think attending Case offers more benefits than many prospective candidates realize.”

I have recommended CWRU online and off. However, in fairness, the caveat regarding Connecticut should be included in any discussion of the school.

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@merc81

“Connecticut once claimed CWRU’s section of present-day Ohio as part of their “Western Reserve,” hence “Case Western Reserve University.” As far as I know, Connecticut has never relinquished the claim.”

Perhaps you missed the newspaper that day, but Connecticut gave up that claim in 1786.

@merc81 "“there is no business, so they major in econ”

We don’t know if this is true. However, if it is, it would apply to both LACs and some large, highly selective universities."

I agree. My point is that Case Western provides a lot of valuable options to its students that may go unrecognized. LACs and some selective schools want you to take what they offer. In contrast, Case Western tries to offer what students want. Go Spartans!

@merc81 "“There is no engineering”

This is often true, but 3-2 programs are available."

This is just something that LACs say to encourage students to attend. Yes, they are “available,” in theory, but in practice, almost no one actually does it. In contrast Case Western provides outstanding engineering programs that are available to students who decide they are interested.

The truth is that Case is a hidden gem of a school. Although it is well known in academic circles, it is too often overlooked by students and parents. Case Western offers the benefits of a great city location, high quality of programs, amazing students, great facilities, a wide range of relevant majors, Greek life if you want it, good athletics, and is just the right size. A lot of students don’t want to attend a tiny little college that is smaller than their high school, but schools with 25,000 or even more students feel very impersonal. They really should consider CWRU more seriously. It is a very underrated option for good students.

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I thought that the hospitals have taken over some of the surrounding neighborhoods that you are thinking of.
I went there 30 years ago and had no issues…just took the “Greenie” bus home if going home late (they take you door to door anywhere on campus).

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“Connecticut gave up that claim in 1786.” (22)

Well, that’s a relief.

“A lot of students don’t want to attend a tiny little college”

Again, isn’t this a little harsh? LACs can come with incredible library collections and science facilities as well as pools, hockey rinks, golf courses and natural areas. By acreage, they may be more than five times the size of urban universities.

@Much2learn: Personally, I regard Case and other UAA schools highly. However, a comparison to NESCAC, and LACs in general, was invited by the statement that CWRU is in, “The best academic conference after the Ivy League, without question” (8). As opinion, this is fine, but it cannot literally be “without question.” As my opinion goes, I probably prefer the UAA athletic model itself to those of both the NESCAC and the Ivy League, for what that is worth.

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@merc81 You know this is a thread about why Case is a great school that is underrated right?

@much2learn “A lot of students don’t want to attend a tiny little college that is smaller than their high school.”

No, I think that is fair. I have heard many students say that they don’t want to attend a school that is smaller than their high school.

@merc81 "Personally, I regard Case and other UAA schools highly. However, a comparison to NESCAC, and LACs in general, was invited by the statement that CWRU is in, “The best academic conference after the Ivy League, without question” (#8). As opinion, this is fine, but it cannot literally be “without question.”

I admit that this is my opinion. In my opinion, the only NESCAC that I think is on par with the UAA schools is Tufts. I realize that wealthy New Englanders consider programs like business, engineering, and nursing to be declasse, but I am not wealthy. Thankfully, they did hold their collective noses and add Computer Science programs to maintain some level of relevance in today’s world.

Case, has much to offer students that these schools choose not to offer. I think many students would be well served to reconsider all that Case has to offer. Case is vastly underrated.

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@Much2learn: Based upon some of the criteria you emphasized, I’m not sure why you believe UAA schools, as a group, are second to those in the Ivy League. Princeton, Harvard and Yale, which are commonly ranked at the top of the Ivy League, offer no undergraduate business degrees, nursing degrees, or teacher certification programs – all of which, in contrast, can be found in the UAA – and a UAA school such as Carnegie Mellon has a higher rated engineering program than every school in the Ivy League.

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The issue is that there are a huge number of unemployed and underemployed college graduates out there. Many employers that are hiring are looking for specific skills in engineering, tech, business, and health care. For students who are not wealthy and need to be able to earn a living when they graduate, this matters. For them, Case Western offers a wide range of high quality engineering, tech, business, or health care programs.

Below is the Economist college rankings. For my purpose, I am only interested in the median earnings of students from each college. By that simple metric, Case Western is a superstar school with higher median earnings than all of the NESCAC and UAA schools except Carnegie Mellon and Tufts. A true hidden gem for top students.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/10/value-university

If you examine the median earnings by conference, the Ivy league students are doing the best, on average, followed by the UAA, and then the NESCAC is third. The UAA schools, on average, show median earnings that are about 10% higher than NESCAC schools. The Ivies, on average, are about 15% above the UAA schools.

Note: I only calculated a simple average and did not weight them by enrollment.