<p>New Jersey</p>
<p>Overrated (from what I’ve seen): Rider, Rowan, TCNJ, and Monmouth are wayyyy overrated</p>
<p>Underrated: Seton Hall, Rutgers (hated for some reason), Kean</p>
<p>Illinois</p>
<p>Over: Northwestern</p>
<p>Under: Loyola UChicago or DePaul</p>
<p>California
Overrated: Stanford, CalTech, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC; this is being taken from the Bay Area point of view - at least in my view</p>
<p>Underrated: CSU Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, San Jose State, Loyola Marymount, Scripps, the “lower” UCs (i.e. UC Irvine, Merced, etc.), Chapman</p>
<p>Washington:</p>
<p>In my view: UW seattle is the most overrated
and basically all the other colleges are underrated.</p>
<p>Florida:</p>
<p>Overrated: University of Miami. It’s a decent school, but no better than the flagship state universities, and way more expensive. Also, contrary to popular belief, it’s NOT in Miami, it’s in Coral Gables, a typical gated community suburb.</p>
<p>University of Florida: Not by much. It really is a very good school. But it’s no better than Florida State, IMO.</p>
<p>Underrated:</p>
<p>New College of Florida: Small LAC, beautiful location, no grades, and dirt cheap. But most people hear have never even heard of it.</p>
<p>Florida State: Seen as number 2 to UF, but it’s just as good, or even better in some areas, and the location is better IMO.</p>
<p>Michigan:</p>
<p>Overrated:
Grand Valley- Really popular, but nothing special, really.</p>
<p>Michigan- for OOS students. Way too expensive for a state university, and they offer very little aid to OSS students.</p>
<p>Underrated:
Michigan- For in-state students. I think a lot of people here take for granted having such a world-class university in their own backyard. A lot of kids go out of state to expensive colleges when they could go to UM for A LOT less money. </p>
<p>Michigan-Dearborn- No, it’s not Ann Arbor, but it’s actually a decent school. It is a commuter school, but they offer a lot of merit aid, and it’s already really cheap so many kids go there for free. Fairly easy to transfer to Ann Arbor for students with good grades, and everything transfers to Ann Arbor. Students also have access to all UM libraries and sporting events. Seems as though kids would rather go to fashionable schools like Grand Valley instead of Dearborn, even though they’re essentially the same academically.</p>
<p>IOWA
Overrated:
Grinnell: It is in the middle of nowhere. Like literaly 2 hours from des moines which in itself is boring and near nothing. Expensive. Students think too highly of themselves.
University of Iowa: a lot of midwest OOS come here, bad campus, Nothing to do execpt drink. </p>
<p>Underrated:
Cornell: Small LAC, one course at a time, relatively large aid, not very much to do like all the other schools.
University of Northern Iowa: underlooked, cheap for in state, decent area, great professors.</p>
<p>Overrated: Bryant</p>
<p>Underrated: PC</p>
<p>Idaho
Overrated: Boise State - all they have is a good football program and its a nice location. As far as Keating, forget about it. Only 6% make it in 4 years.
Underrated: College of Idaho - great school you can graduate in 4 years with a major and three minors. It’s get great academics but there isn’t much outside of the campus.</p>
<p>Wisconsin</p>
<p>Underrated: UW-Madison. Some of the best STEM programs in the world. Doesn’t get as much credit as, say, michigan.</p>
<p>Overrated: UW-La Crosse. Literally everyone goes there at my HS.</p>
<p>california</p>
<p>Overrated:-USC, Pitzer (one of the claremonts), Loyola Marymount, </p>
<p>Underrated: Cal Poly SLO</p>
<p>California: I wouldn’t agree that Cal Poly SLO is under-rated. Everyone that I know treats it as a top university, especially if they are talking about where their kids go/went.</p>
<p>I would say that it is rated correctly for engineering, architecture, but over-rated for other majors.</p>
<p>I read half of all the posts on this thread and am surprised by the number of people saying that UCSD and Cal Poly are underrated. They are both good schools and their reputations are quite strong. Neither is thus underrated. </p>
<p>There are even some people who turn down both Berkeley and UCLA for UCSD. </p>
<p>Cal Poly is known as the top CSU and its special status makes it seen about as good as a mid-tier UC. </p>
<p>Looking at the main schools in California…
Stanford- Deserves reputation. Has been the Silicon Valley think tank and incubator for many of the world’s most famous companies (such as Google). I would even argue that Stanford is a little underrated, given its tremendous capacity for cultivating the very best innovators and business leaders in the world.
Berkeley - Deserves reputation. Its best days may be behind it, but it still generates some of the best business/political/cultural personalities.
UCLA - Very slightly overrated. Many students see UCLA as equivalent to Berkeley but I disagree. It will take some more time before that happens, mainly because Berkeley still has the momentum of its longer, more storied history.
UCSD - A little overrated. Everyone knows this school as a highly ranked UC, but it really doesn’t match up to the two top UCs.
USC - Grossly overrated. Aside from a football team, the school has nothing to match UCLA with. USC is a cultural desert in one of the most crime-ridden areas of LA.
UC Davis - A little overrated. Its was always seen as next-tier to Cal and LA, but other schools have caught up.
UCI, UCSB - Underrated. Both are very good institutions that don’t have a lot of history, but are now completely on par with UC Davis.
UCSC - Overrated. The naturalistic environment doesn’t make up for the school’s other shortcomings. Hard to believe that people turn down even Berkeley or LA to go to this school. There is really no difference between the academics at Riverside and SC, but SC is seen as better.
Riverside - Grossly underrated. Now with a medical school, and with the opening of UCM, UCR should finally climb in the rankings.
Pomona and the Claremonts - Underrated, as everyone else has mentioned before me.
Cal Poly - A little overrated. A fine institution, but I dont think it is as good as a mid-tier UC.
UoP - Overrated. Why go here if Sac State offers a better education and is located in a better area. Stockton is one of the most culturally lacking, run-down cities in California.
SDSU and Chico - Overrated. You can get the experience of either at other CSUs.
Most of the Cal States - Underrated. Many are pretty good schools with no reputation.</p>
<p>Massachusetts.
Over-Rated: Harvard, BC (majorly: thought of as another Ivy in my school), Tufts
Under-Rated: Williams, Amherst (less so than Williams at my school), WPI, Olin College of Engineering.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>According to Parchment, only about 8% of students turn down Berkeley for UCSC, while about 14% turn down UCLA for Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz’s Jack Baskin School of Engineering is far less competitive than UCB or UCLA in terms of who gets accepted. I suspect that many students who may have been admitted into a less competitive program opted to go with UCSC. Additionally, Regents at Santa Cruz is far easier to obtain than at UCLA or Berkeley, making the cost difference between the “top-tier” UCs, and a lower tier one like Santa Cruz, far larger. </p>
<p>Finally, many people just like Santa Cruz’s environment more. I’ve been to every UC besides Riverside, and bar none, Santa Cruz had the nicest campus of any of the UCs (for those desiring a “college town”). Though I’m not sure how the academics compare to UCR, of the current Riverside students I know, all seem far less happy with their school than current UCSC students.</p>
<p>Massachusetts
Over-Rated: BU, Tufts, and Northeastern
Under-Rated: Boston College (^lol at contrast to above post), Olin.</p>
<p>BC is taken for granted at our school… safeties for many people. But the place is really nice and they do provide a solid education. Olin is just not popular enough imo but the academics there are also first class (along with a small LAC-style feeling).</p>
<p>For those of you who are saying Harvard & MIT are overrated, They deserve their spots. imo if someone had to choose between Harvard/MIT and MANY other colleges (not all) they would pick Harvard/MIT 99% of the time.</p>
<p>Michigan</p>
<p>I pretty much agree with the last Michigan poster.</p>
<p>Overrated-
Hillsdale (I know a few people who go there), Grand Valley (The most overrated school in Michigan), Eastern Michigan</p>
<p>Underrated-
Michigan (underrated for in-state students for how cheap it is comparatively), Dearborn</p>
<p>New Jersey:</p>
<p>Overrated: RUTGERS
Underrated: Not many, Jersey isn’t known for its schools…</p>
<p>Overrated: Boston University
Underated: Smith College, Brandies University, Tufts</p>
<p>Yeah, this guy really has an axe to grind. His son goes to CPSLO, didn’t apply to Berkeley (wonder why? Not a good fit? Maybe just an excuse for wouldn’t have been admitted anyway? We’ll never know.). So now CPSLO is the greatest school ever!</p>