<p>^^Duke is NOT underrated. We have people on CC claiming Duke is pretty much on the same level as Stanford. Duke is a solid top 15 school and most know that. Rice, on CC, is not underrated… but, in general, in the US outside of Texas, it is. I’ll tell you which schools are underrated: Tufts, Brandeis, W+M and Wake Forest.</p>
<p>Most Underrated: Top Liberal Arts College such as Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Pomona, Grinnell, Bowdoin, Carlton, Middlebury, Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Most Overrated: Cornell, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Reed College</p>
<p>Rice , William & Mary, Davidson, Wake Forest are all underrated.</p>
<p>“Clever remark. About as clever as your analytical skills.”</p>
<p>Ummm… I can see why you cant defend your beloved Michigan without using some sarcasms, insulting remarks, or mean comments. This really shows why Michigan is really overrated in CC. While some of the graduates like Alexandre can think and argue peacefully, many of them are just too aggressive in defending their school. Btw, your posts really show your level of intelligence. ;-)</p>
<p>These three all seem quite underrated to me:</p>
<p>RPI
U of Iowa
U of Washington</p>
<p>Underrated: Carnegie Mellon (i’ve been taking some crap for committing here…<em>sigh</em> Very little name recognition in the pacific NW)</p>
<p>Overrated: WuStl (very good school, but don’t go around throwing that ranking in other people’s faces), Berkeley (good quality education and top-notch programs in sciences and business, but it’s suffering with the economy)</p>
<p>To the above poster: U of WA is overlooked often, but I don’t think it’s quite “underrated”. Decent quality of the student body, but unless you’re going into premed or BME, it’s forgettable at best.</p>
<p>^ Udub has some really strong departments in a wide variety of fields.</p>
<p>The top, elite PUBLICs are very underrated on CC.</p>
<p>@noimagination: True. I recognize UW’s esteemed programs but from an instate perspective, I believe that the overall quality falls due to lax selectivity, large classes, and more recently, budgeting issues.</p>
<p>UC’s in general. Its IVY’s or fail here lol. At my school, there were like 2 people who chose Berkeley over some Ivies.</p>
<p>I agree with the nomination for RPI being underrated.</p>
<p>Northwestern, U Washington (the state) and Rice are really good suggestions, I think. Maybe Rice is this way to a lesser extent, but at least for NW and UW, I rarely hear people discuss them as options.</p>
<p>There are many “overrated schools.” But I am not into school bashing so I won’t go there.</p>
<p>Among the “underrated” I would nominate Fordham. A lot of people who trash it because its Jesuit, Catholic and in the Bronx. Its in the shadow of NYU and Columbia. Its generally regarded as being lesser than Georgetown and BC, though its faculty have degrees from those schools, have taught at those schools and often Fordham faculty move to the those schools. </p>
<p>But for those really “in the know”, Fordham is an extraordinary school. My only complaint is that it is getting very, very pricey at 37,500.00 per year for tuition alone and another 10-11 for room and 4-5 for board, depending on which dorm you stay in and what food plan you pick. New York is a very expensive city. </p>
<p>No school is perfect.</p>
<p>Carnegie Melon
John Hopkins
William and Mary
Davidson
Georgia Tech
Rice</p>
<p>^Its soooo underrated that people don’t even know its actual name: Johns Hopkins</p>
<p>I have to agree that Virginia Tech is very underrated here. It usually sits right around 14 in Engineering which is a huge part of the school. Also William & Mary. Awesome LAC.</p>
<p>^^LOL! 
My son’s surgeon is at JohnS Hopkins so we go there frequently. People try to correct me when they hear the ‘s’ on the end. So strange.</p>
<p>Penn is also severely underrated, with the exception of Wharton. So is UIUC.</p>
<p>I’m pleased to see that several others agree with me about Davidson.</p>
<p>Agree with being underrated
[ul][<em>]Carnegie Mellon - Most discussions center around Tepper or the arts.
[</em>]Case Western - Usually considered as a safety or for merit aid on CC.
[<em>]Colorado College - tk21769 has given this school attention lately, but it is generally overlooked. It does, however, receive much more attention than its fellow block plan school (Cornell College).
[</em>]Georgia Tech - Great school in a great city.
[<em>]Illinois - Gets much less limelight than it should relative to its quality.
[</em>]LACs (certain subsets)
— Southern LACs
— Occidental is overshadowed by the Claremonts.
— Barnard gets bashed for its association with Columbia.
[<em>]Kalamazoo - Occasionally seen on the parents’ forum but otherwise not too popular.
[</em>]Notre Dame - Georgetown is frequently mentioned; ND is not.
[<em>]Rochester - Its weather may perhaps play a role in being overlooked.
[</em>]Wake Forest - Great school with great quality of life.
[li]Washington - Gets overlooked in favor of the UCs and Whitman/Reed.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Debatable
[ul][<em>]Emory - Not mentioned as much as the Ivies but not ignored either.
[</em>]Iowa - Any writing thread will have 26787 suggestions of Iowa. Overall it is one of the weaker Big 10 schools.
[<em>]Johns Hopkins - The first school mentioned on any premed thread, and it’s worshipped for this by many posters. Its strengths in other areas, however, often go unnoticed.
[</em>]Northwestern - Chicago vs. Northwestern threads are popular each spring, but Chicago has rapidly outpaced it in popularity on CC. Interestingly, it used to be the other way around.
[<em>]Rice - slik nik and others represent Rice quite ably. UT Austin is likely the most underrated Texan school on CC.
[</em>]RPI - Mentioned a fair amount. Self-selection should not be confused with being underrated.
[<em>]William & Mary - See Rice.
[</em>]Wisconsin - Plays second fiddle to Michigan but has vocal representatives like Barrons and Stooge.
[li]WUStL - Gets bashed way out of proportion to its academics. Still, it does get mentioned quite a lot.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Disagree with being underrated
[ul][<em>]Berkeley and the UCs - The mods had to create a special subforum for the UCs because those posters were taking over the main forum.
[</em>]Duke - Receives a fair amount of attention, though it is second only to WUStL in being bashed.
[<em>]LACs (certain subsets)
— Elite northeastern - A/W/S, Midd, Wesleyan, etc. get plenty of attention given their size.
— Claremonts - Scripps and Pitzer are perhaps underrated, but the consortium itself is certainly popular.
[</em>]Michigan - We can all name at least one Michigan poster…it has managed to make its presence quite known on these boards.
[li]Penn - LOL. Not hardly.[/li][*][Insert state school here - Delaware, FSU, Kansas] - Most people in those states apply to that school if it’s the flagship. Outside of those states, they’re generally not strong enough or generous enough to garner much attention.[/ul]</p>
<p>Warbler – I do not have a kid attending KU, nor did I attend (I did visit and my D did apply) but, look at the Fiske ratings, and look at the USN&WR counselor ratings, plus the peer review scores, and then think about how often KU is mentioned in CC threads. Seems completely overlooked, perhaps due to location.</p>