Why isn’t Case known anywhere outside the Northeast and Midwest? There are plenty of other schools in the same tier as Case which people in Texas have heard of, but not Case.
I think that’s accurate, and it’s better known in the Midwest than the Northeast. There are very few schools that don’t have big sports programs that are well known outside their region. There are a number that are working hard to change that, and changes in the college landscape (competition ) have caused many students to look beyond their own region for schools, but this happens slowly.
I know someone who relocated to Texas for work about 25 years ago who found great humor in the responses he got when he told people he’d gone to Tufts…
In the Northeast and Midwest Rice University is pretty much unknown. Also most people in those regions would not know the difference between Texas at Austin and Texas at Dallas.
It seems there are at least two aspects to ‘brand recognition’ to consider: 1) general public recognition and yeah, sports can help boost visibility to the broad populace and 2) recognition within specific industries/fields/etc.
It’s interesting to see where grads, especially in our kids’ field of study, are hired. That provides a good feel for the reputation that, in the long run, probably matters most.
The original poster’s suspicion seems to hold true for jobs. See page 7.
https://students.case.edu/career/resources/survey/doc/2015fds.pdf
“Of the 334 graduates who accepted full‐time employment, 96% (n=319) provided information about the location of their position. Sixty‐six percent (n=210) accepted positions in the Midwest United States. 2 Fifty‐three percent (n=169) accepted positions in Ohio. Of those who accepted positions in Ohio, 93% (n=157) accepted positions in the northeastern region. Outside of Ohio, many graduates accepted jobs in California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Four graduates accepted full‐time employment outside the United States.“
Anecdotally my DH was from NY and I am from NJ and we got jobs in NY and NJ after graduation.
It maybe that people are from the Ohio area and therefore want jobs there. We wanted jobs near NY/NJ and got jobs there (Ersnt and Whinney (a top 8 at the time Accounting Firm) and Bellcore (Bell Labs for the Local phone co).
So true @bopper, and the other side of this is the local employers are most willing to recruit on campus. Most companies do not have to travel far to find good candidates to fill their positions, and most have little reason to try to entice someone who wants to be in one part of the country that he/she should relocate to another region.
On tours a few years ago I was told that the most common city for students to come from is Cleveland, and the second most common is Beijing. I don’t know if that says anything about CWRU’s name recognition, but it was interesting.
The person on the street doesn’t know any schools except maybe Ivies and big sports schools, and schools in their local area. So there are many schools that are well respected by graduate schools and provide a very strong education, but if you stop someone on the street who is not local, they won’t know. Schools like Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams, Harvey Mudd, Reed, and Northeastern – they are not well known outside the geographic area.
But the school name on the resume isn’t generally what gets you a job – it is what you learned and what skills you have that matter from a college. Don’t worry too much about whether the school is known or not – what can they do for you in terms of educating you?
I’d say that Case is somewhat of a regional school since most people who come here are from the Midwest, but the school is doing more to recruit students from across the US and the world.
CWRU has a NATIONAL RANK of 37th in the USA, using one ranking methodology. I think that means it has a national reputation, or why would US News and World Report give it a rank of 37 in the Nation? Anyone in the fields of medicine, law, social work, nursing, engineering and business has heard of CWRU. Regional schools get regional ranks, by US News and World Report. CWRU is in the big league at 37 in the nation for a national rank. And that rank puts CWRU ahead of Tulane University, Boston University and hundreds of other American universities. Chinese students pay attention to ranks, apparently. Americans need to notice this too. High tech firms on the west coast routinely recruit at CRWU. Its always been a household name in New Jersey, where I am from. Its a known quantity in engineering, for many years, and ranked the best college in Ohio, ahead of Ohio State, by many ranking systems.
@Jpgranier See previous post about national rankings.
Here is ten years of state by state enrollment data. 60% of CWRU students come from states other than Ohio.
The number of students from Ohio has steadily gone down over the last ten years. Notice that Californians make up about 300 students in the class, lately, and Texas over 100 students lately. My Case son has friends on campus,from Texas. NY/NJ/PA are filling many seats at Case. California and Texas have well ranked public programs that are completely full, so students from these states take advantage of CWRU.
In Texas. Definitely aware of Case Western Reserve. As someone mentioned earlier, the typical person is more aware of a school based upon athletics than academics. Even the more ‘prestigious’ academic schools tend toward liberal arts more than STEM. Trust me, employers are well aware of top schools even if they are not ‘name brands’ in social circles.
Case does seem like a great school, but I just don’t think for me.
Case would’ve probably been in the running had they had more national reputation and in a better location in Cleavland.
Case offered me fantastic merit aid, and I like that they put over 40% of their students in grad school.
On the west coast comment, their latest placement statistics say 12 in the Bay Area, 7 in Seattle, and 6 in LA. That means 6.5% end up on the west coast. Not a substantial amount.
@Jpgranier I think that the stats on where Case students land after graduation, does not take into account the 40% of students who attend graduate school. A lot of those are likely to land on the West coast, given how many academic, legal,and business jobs are on the west coast.
Cleveland has a rich history and wonderful architecture. Other advantages are the access to fine arts, top theater productions, and classical music. The neighborhoods, and the friendly people and the public transportation, both above ground trains and buses are all good. Good restaurants and good internships in Cleveland. I think its an ideal size, for a college location and much more interesting than small college towns like Boulder. Caveliers are fun to watch. Sports is a big part of Cleveland’s identity. I like the city a lot after visiting for four years.
In my experience, at least in the midatlantic state in which I live, Case has name recognition among doctors, engineers, etc, and also among the parents of college-bound, high achieving students. It’s becoming more well-known, in general, too.
I agree with @Coloradomama There are only 5 schools that the average lay person knows (HYPSM), most who will go “I have heard of that school” which means about…nothing. So to get to your answer its not about asking someone on the street in they have heard of Case Western, its more about who attends Case Western. So look at the breakdown of who attends, if its mostly in the state and surround states, then yes its a regional school, if they draw nationally (in significant numbers) than you could consider it a National school for what its worth. Personally I would still consider it regional since that is where most of its students come from (PA, OH, MI, NY and IL). Being a top regional school isn’t a bad thing, in some ways all schools draw from areas close by more than nationally.
Not saying that Case Western isn’t a great school, but Chinese international students often pay attention to rank because that is the only way they can gauge a school, often to a fault. Most other people in the United States know there are many qualities into what makes a school great or not outside of U.S. news, especially employers. So I don’t agree that American students should pay more attention to rank, as it is quite aribitrary, but the whole discussion of U.S. news and ranking methodology is a topic for another thread.
@CU123 Case is ranked 37th in the US News and World Report National, tied with UC Santa Barbara this year, not regional ranking system, and offers seats to a lot of international students, many from India and China.
My student came from Colorado and there are a lot of Texans, and West coast students at Case because
of the merit based awards. So middle income families get a great deal at Case Western, not much more than the costs of in state, if you are from a state that does not offer great deals to smart students, such as Colorado. So for instance, Colorado School of Mines in state tuition and fees is a few thousand less than Case with our scholarship. Thus Case has seen a huge surge in Colorado applicants, as well as California and Texas. Top Texas students just cannot get into UT Austin. Ditto on CA kids being rejected at most U of Cal campuses besides Merced.
US News has a regional college ranking system too, Case is not considered a regional school by US News, you can look up which schools in the midwest make that list.
Case Western has a national rank and reputation in many fields, including medicine, nursing, law, accounting, aerospace engineering, physics, polymer science, chemistry, and music. Cleveland Institute of Music resides on the campus and CIM musicians take all general education classes at Case Western. There is a separate audition and admissions process to get admitted to CIM, it is a separate conservatory with a very high rank too. With that, there is a nice midwestern feel to it, and a lot of Wisconsin students pick Case. And the states that CU123 lists are well represented.
Not bad mouthing CWRU, IMO, there just aren’t a lot of schools that are truly national IMO. I think its a great school BTW! 