<p>What do you think are the most overrated and underrated universities in the USNWR top 50?</p>
<p>I don’t know if this falls into the “overrated” category, but there are some schools in the US News rankings that I would not be that excited about if my son got into, even though they are highly ranked. For example:</p>
<p>Wash U
Notre Dame
Wake Forest
NYU
Boston College
Cornell</p>
<p>There are some schools ranked lower than some of these schools that I WOULD be excited about. I guess eveyone has their own personal biases and opinions about what is prestigious.</p>
<p>I went to Cornell, by the way. As Groucho Marx once said, I wouldn’t want to be a member of a club that would take me as a member.</p>
<p>The “top 50” are more likely to be overrated than underrated. (There is no way that #1 can be underrated, and the chance that #50 is overrated is a lot higher than the chance that #50 is underrated.)</p>
<p>But the answer to the question is very dependent on the particular student, and the subject(s) studied.</p>
<p>Most Overrated:
- USC
- Vanderbilt
- WUSTL
- Notre Dame</p>
<p>Most Underrated:
- UT Austin
- NYU
- Wisconsin
- Washington</p>
<p>Brandeis deserves more press, I think. So do Cooper Union and Harvey Mudd.</p>
<p>Harvey mudd is similar to cal tech on a smaller scale in my opinion. Same people same atmosphere. I visited both and hated both, so I guess I may be biased.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC App</p>
<p>Obviously, this is very subjective. </p>
<p>For example, I disagree with Outerspace about NYU being underrated.</p>
<p>If it were located in Omaha, would people think it is that great?</p>
<p>The same with Boston University.</p>
<p>
But it’s not. NYU is located in NYC and the university is able to take advantage of that, just as Stanford/Cal take advantage of their proximity to Silicon Valley. That’s one of the main reasons engineering/CS majors flock to Stanford/Cal. The same thing is true with UT’s location in Austin.</p>
<p>
I don’t think BU is THAT highly regarded in the first place.</p>
<p>NYU is probably overrated because students seem to be more willing to take on unrealistically large amounts of debt to attend NYU than other schools.</p>
<p>I totally agree with OuterSpace… USC, Vanderbilt, and ND seem to be really overrated and don’t really have any real academic prowess (professors in National Academy of Engineering and Sciences, Nobel Prize winning faculty, high US News departmental rankings…). They’re just somewhat selective so they perform well on the US News National Rankings. I do think WUSTL is an ok school though.</p>
<p>Like OuterSpace said, I think UT Austin is probably the most underrated university on the USNWR National ranking. I feel like it should at least be top 30-35. Wisconsin and Washington are good as well. They seem like really high-intensity research universities that don’t get much press.</p>
<p>I think it’s among the state flagships that one is most likely to find underrated schools. For instance, a number of big 10 schools (e.g. Purdue). Those school are true research universities with high quality faculties. It’s only because they are mandated to accept most of their students from in-state, they often don’t get enough high-caliber students (also they are so big, there are simply not enough highly intellectual students to fill their campuses). Compare Wake Forest with UNC-CH, the latter has a far more capable and influential faculty, but because it has to take 83% students in-state, including many from the poor mountain areas who do not necessarily have top-notch stats. Yet, Wake and UNC are similarly ranked. I am not saying UNC is underrated (it is very well respected), but Wake seems to be way overrated.</p>
<p>Also, the schools Sarah Palin went, whatever they are, must also be overrated :)</p>
<h1>2 post floridadad55–Glad not all Cornell alum feel as you do.</h1>
<p>Cornell Wins Campus Bid - WSJ.com</p>
<p>Cornell beat Stanford, Columbia and five other finalists.</p>
<p>I agree with OuterSpace… And I’m not biased because I go to NYU, I go to NYU because of the below reasons.</p>
<p>When it comes to business, arts, humanities and social sciences NYU’s departments are really very good. Taking a look at USNews, many of NYU’s departments are within the top 20 - just as good as many ivy departments. Certain departments at NYU are even at or above HYP level. </p>
<p>“But graduate programs don’t count”. The ranking of graduate programs displays the level of the faculty - i.e. how talented/renown the faculty is. In my opinion, being able to study as un undergraduate under said faculty is a very good opportunity. </p>
<p>In my opinion people tend to think NYU is overrated because of it’s location, it’s relatively poor FA, and the fact that Tisch attracts many Hollywood people. However, it’s academics are on par with schools like Michigan. </p>
<p>So, yes, I do tend to think people don’t recognize how good NYU’s academics/professors are and thus feel that NYU tends to be labeled as “overrated”, when in reality, I don’t think it is.</p>
Underrated:
Northeastern University
University of Maryland
University of Connecticut
Lehigh University
Santa Clara University
University of Minnesota
University of Oregon
George Washington University
Butler University
University of Denver
University of Washington
American University
Villanova University
Overrated:
Boston College
Norte Dame University
Wake Forest University
Cornell University
Dartmouth University
Case Western University
University of Rodchester
New York University
Brandeis University
I believe Georgia Tech is underrated.
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