<p>"Everyone on CC" (uber-educated, self-enlightened, research-hungry academic zealots, it seems) is different than "everyone"...</p>
<p>Overrated: Notre Dame, Washington University-St. Louis, Brown
Underrated: Georgetown</p>
<p>why is brown overrated?</p>
<p>Overrated: Wash U.
Underrated: U Mich.</p>
<p>The most overrated university is always the one that you don't get into and continue to idealize as if it is "perfect" (no school is). The most underrated college is always the school you sniff at because it's "just a safety," and therefore never give a full chance.</p>
<p>If nobody has said it yet,</p>
<p>PEPPERDINE!!!!! is SOOOOOOO underrated! It's ranked #54 on USNews. But according to Princeton Review, it's got the #1 best campus, #4 best dorm rooms, #20 best quality of life, #19 least drinking. Pepperdine Is Amazingly Awesome.</p>
<p>That's because the faculty is distinctly mediocre as is the library system. You are not ranking resort hotels.</p>
<p>
[quote]
19 least drinking
[/quote]
Is that a good thing?</p>
<p>In Southern California, Pepperdine does not have a great reputation. It's similar to Chapman. The school is made up with wealthy kids who underachieved and very bright kids with full/close to full rides.</p>
<p>I have nothing against Pepperdine – the campus is beautiful and it’s in Malibu, but it’s a bit overrated academically.</p>
<p>Underrated: William and Mary</p>
<p>underrated: claremonts!</p>
<p>Underrated: Harvey Mudd, Pomona, Caltech, and U Chicago (to the average joe)</p>
<p>
[quote]
got the #1 best campus, #4 best dorm rooms, #20 best quality of life, #19 least drinking
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Now all it needs is top 20 academics. ;)</p>
<p>This thread is still around?</p>
<p>unfortunately...if it weren't for people like me, it would have died long ago.</p>
<p>UConn is very underrated....perhaps much more than some of the other schools mentions...</p>
<p>Most Overratted: Northwestern University, UC Berekley
Most Underated: University of Chicago</p>
<p>Chicago is overrated in the sense that everyone who goes there claims its more intellectual than every other school, without actually defining "intellectual" or having any way to prove it.</p>
<p>"Chicago is overrated in the sense that everyone who goes there claims its more intellectual than every other school, without actually defining "intellectual" or having any way to prove it."</p>
<ul>
<li>:) :) :)</li>
</ul>
<p>I define "intellectual" as somebody who chronically confuses work with play. I like to do schoolwork as much as I like watching TV or partying or going to a concert or sleeping (sometimes I like doing schoolwork more) and I have "nerdgasms" over little things all the time. I've met a ton of people like myself at Chicago.</p>
<p>Does that mean that Duke and Northwestern don't have people like me, or that Dukies and Northwesterners are incapable of searing debates and sparkling discussions? No, of course not. I think highly of both schools and I know brilliant people attending both.</p>
<p>Indications that Chicago's an intellectual school? The best hard evidence are those PhD productivity ranks, that puts Chicago over every other research uni besides CalTech and MIT, and over almost every other school save for Mudd, Swarthmore and Reed. Schools that similarly rank are Bryn Mawr, Oberlin, and Carleton. The people who go on to earn PhD's might not be the most BRILLIANT people in the universe, but they certainly REALLY, REALLY LIKE SCHOOL, otherwise there's no way they would sign themselves up for 5, 6, 7, 8 years of more academic torture.</p>
<p>And what do all the schools I've listed have in common? <em>gasps</em> They're the most commonly cited "intellectual" schools!</p>
<p>Underrated: Pomona, CMC, Georgetown
Overrated: Berkeley (for UG), Wash St. Louis</p>
<p>I agree with unalove; Chicago simply markets itself on intellectualism, and not once says that other schools aren't intellectual or as intellectual. And actually, Chicago markets itself on its 'play' aspect too, as in the Life of the Mind.</p>
<p>I think it's people on CC who promote the "Chicago is the most intellectual" theme, and they aren't even students there.</p>