<p>At my school, most everyone has given up the thought of going to UF saying that “they would never get in.” (But they all still applied to it.)</p>
<p>Most people want to go to FSU or UCF (where they say that they probably WOULD get in… and a lot of them do.)</p>
<p>Schools like UNF, USF, UWF, UTampa, FAU: people apply to those schools, but most of them would never go there unless they got rejected by every single other school they applied to.</p>
<p>Clearly overated George Washington University and to a lesser extent Georgetown University. Vastly underated is American University with highly rated 2009 entering class,
excellent faculty, new facilities and new programs.</p>
<p>Overrated: UNC-CH for sure. Maybe it’s just because I live in Chapel Hill, but everyone idolizes UNC, and it sickens me. All I ever see any of my UNC friends do is drink - they say the academics are easier than their high school work, and they learn less. </p>
<p>Underrated: I’d say NC State… great engineering program, and just really nice people. There are so many colleges in NC that deserve to be more known than they are, though. Davidson and Elon are pretty underrated as well.</p>
<p>Overrated: Princeton (kind of - nowadays a lot of people talk more about Yale and Harvard)
Underrated: Rutgers - New Brunswick (Its very very underrated IMHO by too many New Jersians)</p>
<p>Overated-Baylor…by far 40K+ in tuition and add on the packages of water bottles a student needs to buy because the water in Waco DEFENITELY stinks and tastes weird (Note Baylor is in no way affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine)</p>
<p>Underated-Trinity University in San Antonio and certain departments at Sam Houston State</p>
<p>Overrated- University of Southern California (USC)</p>
<p>Underrated- Whittier College</p>
<p>UC system:</p>
<p>Overrated-
University of California, Berkeley;
and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).</p>
<p>Underrated-
University of California, Davis (UC Davis);
University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine);
University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara);
and University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego).</p>
<p>CSU system:</p>
<p>Overrated-
California Polytechnic State University (chauvinistically known as Cal Poly, but commonly referred to as Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly SLO).</p>
<p>Underrated-
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona).
San Diego State University.</p>
<p>Overrated: University of Central Arkansas
Underrated: Lyon College</p>
<p>The University of Arkansas is a typical big state school and is regarded as such (although, I think its creative writing M.F.A. may be underrated).</p>
<p>Hendrix College is the top school academically in Arkansas and is recognized as such, I think. Most in-state kids avoid it because of its private school pricetag.</p>
<p>If I may put in my $.2 for neighbor Tennessee…</p>
<p>Overrated: Rhodes College
Underrated: Sewanee</p>
<p>I agree, but some W&M folks really have a “Jan Brady” complex for some reason, especially when it comes to UVA. I never have been able to figure that one out, but it has definitely been a source of amusement from time to time.</p>
<p>Blame it on the Bright Futures Scholarship Program and great sports. It means most students in FL don’t go to school anywhere else, don’t grow up thinking about anywhere else, and never even consider anywhere else. Thus, there’s a very myopic view of higher Ed here, and in that universe, UF is considered the pinnacle of all possibilities. But I don’t really knock it too much; seems to work for most folks here …still overrated though.</p>
<p>As a Florida native and FSU alumnus with family who graduated over the decades from both FSU and UF I hardly consider UF the “pinnacle” of anything except areas like agriculture and engineering. That may be UF marketing and wishful thinking but it is not reality.</p>
<p>^^^ Yes, I understand that doesn’t apply to everyone - certainly not loyal FSU alums. I was just referring to the general sense of irrational exuberance where UF is concerned.</p>
<p>Overrated (in a specific way) for Illinois …</p>
<p>First a caveat. Since the vast majority of selective U.S. colleges and universities have resources, faculties, and facilities which far exceed the undergraduate wants or needs of all but one in a thousand undergraduates, I have a real problem with using an incredibly narrow and subjective label like overrated or underrated to define something as complex and subjective as a college. Of far greater importance is that ubiquitous issue of “fit.” Certain schools are better fits for certain students.</p>
<p>So, when I’m talking about “overrated,” I’m talking about it in a very specific way. In that way, I think Northwestern is overrated on a national level, although somewhat appropriately “rated” here in the Chicago area. NU is a great school in every conceivable way. For the right kid and for the right reasons, it’s as good a school as any school in the country (and could be just the right springboard to take a given student wherever they want to go in life). Having said that, the CC hype machine often makes it sound like each and every student attending NU (and not picking on NU by the way – this same comment can apply to scores of other top universities) is a Val or Sal, with 99% standardized test scores, and with incredible EC’s (cured cancer last week, on to greater challenges this week). Within the Chicago area, some Vals, Sals, and 99% percentilers do indeed attend NU and feel privileged to do so. For many, this is the best school for them. But, at many quality Chicago high schools, 8-10 kids a year attend NU who were quality but nowhere near top of the class kind of students – many of these are top 15-20% of the class, 2000-2100 SAT type students (29-31 ACT), that sort of thing. Nothing at all wrong with that and many of these kids flourish at NU and go on to do incredible things. Where the overrating is concerned is that some kids don’t even consider applying to a NU (or similar schools around the country) on the misguided belief that students of their caliber wouldn’t stand a chance of being admitted. They’re wrong.</p>
<p>(PS – Do keep in mind that for many elite schools, admissions practices are a bit quirky: They may traditionally enroll a base or core group from a feeder geographical area or set of schools, with certain admissions criteria (and often ED plays a significant part in this), but will use somewhat different criteria elsewhere (ED is often a lot more “predictable” than RD)).</p>