Most OVERrated and or UNDERrated Colleges in your State ?

College Search & Selection
741

<p>Because California definitely hasn’t been overdone…</p>

<p>Underrated:
Caltech - It’s amazing how few people in California know what it is. My friend goes there and most people think she’s going to an ITT Tech type school. Californians don’t realize we have the west coast MIT over here. </p>

<p>Community College - At least at my local CC, any incoming freshman with over a 3.8W GPA is placed into the honors program. That means they get first choice registration, so they can be sure that they’ll transfer to a four year in two years or less. With tuition at a UC costing over $13k a year, taking the CC route could potentially save $58,000 in for just two years! </p>

<p>Claremonts - Very few people know what they are. Even my friends who are interested in engineering haven’t heard of Harvey Mudd, despite the fact that they live only about an hour away.</p>

<p>Non Stanford Privates - In California, the UCs are thought of as generally amazing schools. If someone goes to a private school that CC thinks is at least decent, like Santa Clara, Occidental, LMU, etc, people just assume that they couldn’t get into the UCs. I know plenty of people that turned down schools like UCLA, UC Davis, and others to realize this is absolutely not the case. </p>

<p>UCSC - Not all UCs are seen so highly. UCSC is often called UC Second Choice (or University of Cannabis Smokers Central, but that’s not important) because it’s seen as the school for Davis rejects. Very few people realize just how strong some of the sciences or humanities are at Santa Cruz, or just how beautiful the campus is. Plus there are only about 1,000 grad students, so getting research jobs that involve more than just lab cleaning is ridiculously easy.</p>

<p>USC - Unlike most other posters, I actually think USC is very underrated by SOME people. Quite a few people still cling to the images of the old USC as a place for dumb, spoiled, rich kids. While there are plenty of those there, USC has tremendously improved its academics and student body since the 1990s. It’s trying to attract professors at the top of their fields and pouring money into making the surrounding area not an absolute hell hole. Plus it’s the only true “rah-rah” school in California. For students that want that sort of atmosphere, their only options are USC or going out of state to a school like University or Oregon.</p>

<p>Overrated:
USC - Yes I know I put it as both under and overrated, but it’s because Californians opinions are so divided about this school. Many people see it as some sort of elite school and it’s not. It’s way too overpriced, especially when a nearby, better regarded school costs (for now) over $20,000 less. </p>

<p>San Diego State University (SDSU) - Many poorer students dream about attending San Diego State because they want to go to a school with good academics where they can party on the beach. No doubt you can party, it’s not called STDSU for nothing. However, from what a friend who was academically qualified to go to UCSD but couldn’t afford it, the academics aren’t challenging, nor is the school on the beach. </p>

<p>Cal Poly SLO - For people who want to study engineering, business, architecture, or agriculture, Cal Poly SLO is great. However, I know many people that want to study art or the humanities and choose SLO over some of the other residential Cal States like Sonoma or Humboldt with the misguided belief that they’ll get a better education. SLO gives very few resources to the non technical fields, and makes it difficult for a student to change majors. My friend transferred from SLO to Chapman because the school had almost no classes for his major (history).</p>

742

<p>Most underrated - the college I attend</p>

<p>Most overrated - the college that rejected me</p>

743

<p>New Mexico</p>

<p>Overrated: All of them. People convince themselves after four terrible years of high school that there is prestige in this state’s postsecondary education. So false.</p>

744

<p>

I’ve honestly never seen Wake Forest as being underrated. Maybe it’s because I live in Winston, but from my experience people are falling all over themselves to apply to Wake. They applied to binding EA admissions. They stressed for weeks about their interviews/auditions. I know very few high-achieving students at my school who didn’t consider it as a top choice, and for those who didn’t it’s usually because they wanted to leave home for college. </p>

<p>

I kind of disliked Wayne State’s campus (I only saw it once, and only to visit a friend, not because I was considering applying). But I’m a sucker for landscaping and architecture, and I’m not really ever a fan of campuses located right in the middle of big cities like Wayne State or South Carolina.</p>

745

<p>Mass.
People around here think that northeastern is of the same caliber as northwestern, so over.
The state university system, not umass, is viewed as CCs when they are actually pretty decent</p>

746

<p>Arizona: Not a whole lot here…</p>

<p>Overrated: ASU
Reputation as a party school, but lousy area and nothing to right home about for academics.</p>

<p>Underrated: Prescott College
Not the greatest college out there, but not bad either, and I haven’t found another Arizonan who’s heard of it, which is a bit disappointing. Certainly deserves more attention than it gets.</p>

747

<p>Overrated: ALL of them if your major is a high-demand major like computer science.</p>

<p>Underrated: NONE of them if your major is a high-demand major like computer science.</p>

<p>:-)</p>

748

<p>PA and NJ</p>

<p>PA Under: Muhlenberg (kinda overlooked), Lafayette, Gettysburg, Shreyers Honors College</p>

<p>PA Over: Haverford, Pitt, Penn State, West Chester, Temple</p>

<p>NJ Over: Rutgers (To an extent)</p>

<p>NJ Under: Stevens Tech (A gem in a big city)</p>

749

<p>

I forgot about that when I mentioned hating big-city campuses. Rutgers would be like aesthetical hell for me.</p>

750

<p>I’d have to disagree with all the VA posters who said that William and Mary is underrated. People are my high school are dying to get in to there as much as they are trying to get into UVA.</p>

<p>Washington and Lee is pretty underrated though.</p>

751

<p>Washington, for in-state residents:</p>

<p>Overrated: University of Washington. (Lately, there’s sort of been a frenzy for in-state students questioning and re-questioning whether they will even get into the flagship, due to an increased number of out-of-state students being admitted. But here’s the thing: the school isn’t even really that great. Sure, there’s research going on there. Sure, Seattle is a great environment and city. But with 400-person lecture halls, classes taught by TAs, and in-state tuition still rising, as well as a limited enrollment by major, there’s little reason to even consider this place anymore. You could push into a fifth or sixth year for just an undergraduate degree. It’s not worth it.)</p>

<p>Underrated: Seattle University. (Quickly rising in the ranks of regional universities, this Jesuit university in Seattle’s vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood is making a name for itself in engineering, physics, and several other in-demand fields. While it has a long history of athletic excellence, they’re recovering from a rough patch. But they’ve made the steps of going back to Division I and joining the WAC. It’s a school on the rise, for sure. And the neighborhood couldn’t be better. Walk to placements at Swedish Medical Center. Or hit up a quick coffee downtown. Walk to Pike Place for lunch and see a live show at an all-ages venue after dinner. Intern at Microsoft, Amazon, Google, T-Mobile, etc. The list goes on. And the cost is actually on-par with UW, considering the likelihood of a fifth or sixth year at that school and the double-major/minor possibilities in just four years at SU.)</p>

<p>Washington, for out-of-state residents:</p>

<p>Overrated: Gonzaga University. (Look, it’s a great school. It really is. But it’s not the end-all, be-all. It’s excellent in men’s basketball and other athletics, but beyond that, there’s not a ton to offer. The school’s strengths are engineering and business. And they succeed where they succeed. But the campus in some respects is a tad bit dated (I’m looking at you, COG. And you, Crosby) and Spokane isn’t exactly a thriving metropolis. It’s perhaps a pretty good college city, but there’s not much arts and culture if you’re after that. Too many Californians come here expecting to find something amazing and end up being depressed after their first semester. It’s good. But it’s not THAT good.)</p>

<p>Underrated: Seattle University (Quickly rising in the ranks of regional universities, this Jesuit university in Seattle’s vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood is making a name for itself in engineering, physics, and several other in-demand fields. While it has a long history of athletic excellence, they’re recovering from a rough patch. But they’ve made the steps of going back to Division I and joining the WAC. It’s a school on the rise, for sure. And the neighborhood couldn’t be better. Walk to placements at Swedish Medical Center. Or hit up a quick coffee downtown. Walk to Pike Place for lunch and see a live show at an all-ages venue after dinner. Intern at Microsoft, Amazon, Google, T-Mobile, etc. Then your horizons expand from there. San Francisco and New York suddenly become accessible. The list goes on. It’s just not worth the trouble that is possible at the UW when you can go somewhere like here and get individualized attention and a great list of connections.)</p>

752

<p>Most overrated German university is the FOM, Germany’s biggest private university. This private economics and business university is actually suing one of its students for lost income after he finished his Bachelors and Masters degrees in about a quarter of the normal time. </p>

<p>Most underrated, Everybody will name his own. I only recommend TU Dresden for organic and molecular electronics, biology, biophysics, traffic psychology and international relations.</p>

<p>The German federal state of Saxony is where Audi was founded, today BMWi, Porsche, Volkswagen, including VW Phaeton (not sold in the US but big time in China), Bentley and Rolls’ Royce produce in Saxony.</p>

<p>The more you know - the more you dare.</p>

753

<p>Overrated: UGA (ugh), Mercer (at least in south GA it is), SCAD</p>

<p>Underrated: Oxford College, GA Southern- my brother got an awesome job in another state right after graduation.</p>

754

<p>New York:
Overrated: Cornell
Underrated: University of Rochester</p>

755

<p>MA.
Overrated: BU and BC
Underrated: Brandeis</p>

756

<p>A general consensus from my school in So Cal.</p>

<p>Overrated: UCLA, Cal, USC, UCSD (multiple people have told me that SD is better than UCLA and Cal in everything. Long Beach State- Just because budget cuts made it harder to get into does not mean it has become some flagship state school.
Underrated:
UCSC- I get so many disgruntled looks when I say I really want to attend SC. It isn’t Cal by any means but it has an awesome campus, great faculty, and it is actually on the cutting edge of research in the sciences. People think I just want to go eat shrooms in the forest and waste away.
Stand-out CSUs such as Humboldt, Sonoma, Stanislaus- Smaller, less impacted schools with pretty decent programs and faculty but are unfortunately still grouped in as lame CSUs.</p>

757

<p>North Carolina</p>

<p>Overrated: UNC (By In-State Students), Campbell University, Meredith College, Elon University, Wake Forest University
Underrated: Davidson College, East Carolina University</p>

758

<p>South Carolina</p>

<p>Overrated: Furman (People seem to think it’s the Harvard of the South, yet the admit rate is ~80%), USC & Clemson because they are the big two publics.</p>

<p>Underrated: CofC (Some good programs, nice location, etc.), and Winthrop (Decent academics, beautiful, close to Charlotte)</p>

759

<p>California:</p>

<p>Overrated: Cal, UCLA, UCSD, SDSU</p>

<p>Underrated: Caltech, Claremont Colleges</p>

<p>People in California seem to get so caught up in how many students go to a certain school or how much of a “party school” it is.</p>

760

<p>Underrated: Trinity University </p>

<p>Overrated: UT-Austin! I know it has good academics, but everyone at my school only wants to go there for football, partying, and rooming with high school friends</p>