<p>Plainsman:
**
New Jersey:</p>
<p>Overrated: every college and university except Princeton.
Underrated: None</p>
<p>Ohio:</p>
<p>Overrated: None
Underrated: Oberlin College and Kenyon College (two of the finest LACs anywhere)**</p>
<p>Perhaps we are twins separated at birth? Don’t know enough about the PA schools you mention, but I’m right there with you on NJ and OH.</p>
<p>I have to disagree with Plainsman on PA and agree with Rocket6louise & LHS11</p>
<p>Over rated: Penn State</p>
<p>Underrated: Ursinus (dwarfed due to PA having many good LACs such as Swarth, Bucknell & Lehigh/Lafayette); Pitt</p>
<p>Am rooted in 2 states:</p>
<p>MA
under rated: Clark, WPI
over rated: BU, BC</p>
<p>CA
under rated: Cal Poly SLO; Claremont colleges,
over rated: USC </p>
<p>from this year’s DS’s college research:
under rated: Schreyer at Penn State; U Rochester; Oberlin</p>
<p>New Jersey:</p>
<p>Overrated: Stockton – anyone can get in.
Underrated: Montclair – for those musical theater people like me, its a good campus, strong academics, and its a half hour drive to the big apple.</p>
<p>over: U of Washington
under: U of Puget Sound</p>
<p>TN
overrated: Vanderbilt, UT-Knoxville
underrated: UT-Chattanooga, TN Tech</p>
<p>Ohio</p>
<p>Overrated: Miami University</p>
<p>Underrated: Case Western</p>
<p>pa</p>
<p>underrated - Muhlenberg, West Chester, Temple, Haverford</p>
<p>overrated - Villanova, Dickinson, Penn, Penn State</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>UMich, in many parts of Michigan is seen as the be-all end-all. If you don’t get into there, you are a failure. It is WAY overrated, especially by alumni. THAT is why it is overrated. </p>
<p>And yes, many of us do see MSU and UMich as a toss-up. Maybe it’s because we couldn’t give a rat’s behind where USNews ranks them. Perhaps, just MAYBE, it’s more about the school than the prestige <em>gasp</em>! Btw, for me it was no toss-up. MSU won by leaps and bounds.</p>
<p>Considering I attended both Schools - NYU is definitely overrated in NY and SUNY Geneseo is definitely underrated nationally. </p>
<p>Geneseo was much more demanding than NYU. It may be that Geneseo just prepared me so well that I breezed thru NYU Grad.</p>
<p>I live in NorCal, and EVERYONE’S applying to the Claremont colleges.</p>
<p>Overrated: Cal, maybe UCSB (though for different reasons-- more as a “dream school” than for acaemics).
Underrated: Occidental! Probably the “other UC’s”, as well.</p>
<p>Texas (I went to a HS in SW Houston):</p>
<p>Underrated:
University of Texas Dallas - It’s not very well-known outside of the Dallas area, but it actually has some very good programs, especially computer science, and a lot of bright students go there.
University of Texas Austin - It’s a public ivy for good reason, but high school peers and teachers were disappointed to hear I was only going to the #1 accounting program in America.
Texas A&M - The out-of-staters at U Texas seem to all think this is a major hillbilly school full of people who talk funny and can’t read well, but half of the national merit scholars from my HS went there and it’s definitely a good university.</p>
<p>Overrated:
Rice - Sure it’s hard to get in, but it seems like that’s the main appeal.
SMU - This is what happens when you’re literally getting by on your family’s money.</p>
<p>IL</p>
<p>Overrated: UIUC: Seen as the be-all and end-all of college education. It’s a decent flagship school, but really not as great as everybody thinks.
Illinois Wesleyan: Not sure about this one, and it might be just my area. However, going to Illinois Wesleyan is seen as proof of great intelligence. Again, good school, but not all that.
Other public schools: They’re all big party schools with lackluster academics, yet kids drool over them.
Underrated: Bradley: Seen as a safety for those trying to get into UIUC. IMO, the two are roughly tied for academics.
Northwestern: Not sure about this one either, but it’s seen as something of a safety school for those trying to get into top schools, while it’s a top school itself.</p>
<p>^Agree with above MA threads - </p>
<p>underrated - definitely Clark and WPI…possibly Simmons and Northeastern (always in the BU/BC shadow)
overrated - BC, Harvard, MIT, Smith</p>
<p>Now, on to my current home state, Maine:</p>
<p>overrated: Bates and Colby</p>
<p>underrated: College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. Check it out. Unique programming and very small classes, certainly a very specialized school but so are others.</p>
<p>NJ</p>
<p>Underrated: TCNJ-- i don’t see how people are calling this school overrated. I know someone who got waitlisted at cornell and got into BU and Maryland, but got straight out rejected from TCNJ. Their standards have been rising annually.</p>
<p>East Coast-underrated-Holy Cross, Tufts, William &Mary.</p>
<p>"UMich, in many parts of Michigan is seen as the be-all end-all. If you don’t get into there, you are a failure. It is WAY overrated, especially by alumni. THAT is why it is overrated. </p>
<p>And yes, many of us do see MSU and UMich as a toss-up. Maybe it’s because we couldn’t give a rat’s behind where USNews ranks them. Perhaps, just MAYBE, it’s more about the school than the prestige <em>gasp</em>! Btw, for me it was no toss-up. MSU won by leaps and bounds. </p>
<p>That’s not my experience. Since it is the hardest school in the state to get into, it is rightly seen as a major benchmark to be accepted to, and it doesn’t make you a failure to be rejected. If you got rejected from MSU, then perhaps you might have a reason to feel disappointed, since they will take virtually anyone.</p>
<p>anywho,</p>
<p>Overrated: Probably Grand Valley, since some see it on par with Mich and MSU, when it is actually fairly average. MSU, since it appears some such as this poster seem to think it on par with Michigan.</p>
<p>Underrated: Michigan Tech is probably the 2nd best school in the state for engineering after UM, but you never hear of too many people going there. Kalamazoo as well.</p>
<p>Florida:</p>
<p>Overrated: University of Florida</p>
<p>Underrated: New College of Florida</p>
<p>TEXAS</p>
<p>OverRated - Rice University, SMU</p>
<p>UnderRated - UT Dallas, UT (especially its honors programs)</p>
<p>Maryland (Reply)</p>
<p>My location is 5 minutes away from UMCP, thank you very much. I think UMCP is underrated. It’s a great, solid state school for any major. </p>
<p>I think Towson is overrated. UMCP > Towson, IMO. </p>
<p>Johns Hopkins? Just right. People who go there siiice themselves.</p>