<p>Overrated: HYP, the UC's</p>
<p>Underrated: Most top LAC's, Catholic Schools (BC, Notre Dame, Georgetown)</p>
<p>Anyone care to speak of some State or U of?</p>
<p>The College of New Jersey is definately underrated... That's probably b/c not that many Non-Jerseyans go there...</p>
<p>I believe that the University of South Dakota is under-rated and overlooked. They are a small-sized university with a liberal arts focus. Excellent journalism program, pre-med is good, social sciences are strong. Costs are very reasonable for out of state students, they're generous with merit aid and financial aid, and they are really trying to attract out of state students. </p>
<p>Another public school that I think is most definitely under-rated is St. Mary's College of Maryland - It is about as close as you can get to a private liberal arts school and still pay public school tuition (very reasonable even if you're out of state). It has a beautiful water-front campus with stunning red brick buildings. Sciences, English, psychology, history, even art programs are strong. Lots of personal attention. Really, a bargain when you consider the level and quality of academics provided.</p>
<p>Take a look at Bemidji State in Minnesota. My nephew is having a very positive experience there so far. He's a music major, plays tuba and sings. I googled it just out of curiousity, because to be honest, I'd never heard of the place before he decided to go there. It looks very pretty on the website, right by the water. The cost for tuition/room/board is $10,600, according to the website, and that is for in-state and out of state students who live on campus. He got a $2000 scholarship, which makes the cost even less. </p>
<p>He was thinking of going to Concordia in Moorhead, MN, which has a very good music program (esp. choir). But so far, he seems happy with his choice.</p>
<p>My list of underrated:</p>
<p>Rice
Vanderbilt
Davidson
New College (FLA)
St. John's College
Pomona</p>
<p>These schools are not well known out of their region, but all are places where you can receive a wonderful education.</p>
<p>I wonder whether if UCLA and UCB took in more out of state students, if the number of applicants would boost up, making them one of the two schools to receive the most applicants and I'm pretty sure their admit rates will drop down to 10 percent? Do you guys th ink so?</p>
<p>University of Washington</p>
<p>Rice- totally underrated and not well-known in the northeast. Daughter goes there (soph) and loves it. Top academics, great cultural opportunities and warm weather. Some top sports (baseball, track, women's soccer). The music school is one of the best in the country.<br>
Case Western is also underrated, in my opinion. It has some strong programs and also a lot of cultural opportunities in that part of Cleveland.</p>
<p>Overrated: PENN, Duke
Underrated: WASH U, Rice</p>
<p>To KJOFKW: My D's experience at CMU has all to do, I think, with the college she is in. She is in the Mellon College of Science and NOT the computer science school that everyone touts. One of the reasons why she attended this school came on the heels of her experience from the sleeping bag weekend. She was impressed with the professors at CMU! They all knew the student's names in the small classes and even in the larger lecture halls. We cannot really speak for the computer science school. She is even planning now on volunteering for one of the Mellon professors in a chemistry lab and plans on working in this lab as an intern in the summer doing research. she is so thrilled at this thought! By the way, all the science labs have been refurbished...they broke out the brick walls and have state of the art chemistry labs with floor to ceiling windows which run the vertical height of the building. Truly impressive! I do believe Mellon School of Science has been underrated by some. I hope your son at some point finds his classes at SCS more to his liking. I do believe though it is too early to tell. Have faith!</p>
<p>To ROBYRM: Yes, we did attend the MIT orientation and YEs, they did say those things about every third seat in the freshman class will be empty due to lack of performance. My S was accepted to the freshman class 1994 there and did NOT attend due to the sense of pressure and also the lifestyle was much more difficult. They could not provide enough dorm rooms near campus and fraternity living was pretty much the rule. You had to trek over that G-d-forsaken Harvard Bridge every morning in all types of weather to make it to your first morningclass. Lots of roller bladers went by the morning we went to visit. My S went to Harvard instead and had a great experience even if he did major in comp scie. His freshman dorm was in the middle of Harvard Yard and he could fall out of bed into the Square! Sometimes he felt he was living in a museum there were so many tourists visiting. In addition, he had a female friend who had attended MIT the year before his acceptance and left after 3 months. She could not get acclimated to the high pressure environment and received little counselling prior to her withdrawal. she claimed it was very bureaucratic and not very accommdating to the femle sex at that time. Just our opinion but based on our personal experiences.</p>
<p>Underrated-Davidson,Holy Cross,Colgate,and Bowdoin.</p>
<p>sgiovinc1,
i had left the site for 4 or 5 days, I presumed permanently. I returned when my son asked a question I knew had been answered on the site, and was scanning, but found your comment. </p>
<p>I feel compelled to refute your innacuracies about MIT...perhaps only I will care but your "personal experiences" are not actual experiences at all. I sense a vendetta instead. I interviewed for MIT for more than 20 years up until 2 years ago when my children began to apply to college(and as such received statistical updates and new information about MIT very regularly) and 4 members of my immediate family are also alums. I visited MIT this summer with my son as well-as I have many summers in the past to catch up with friends who are still there. This year we took a tour and attended an information session. Since then, with my son, we have done more research about what is new at the Tute. I believe, therefore, that I have "personal experience."</p>
<p>As an MIT alumna I know how to read statistics and interpret them. MIT has a very high student retention and graduation rate..98/92% for the past year. During my years at MIT I worked in the dean for student affairs office where the motto was "if we accepted them, we want to graduate them." MIT assumes that everyone they admit can do the work...not that 1/3 will fail. By the way, I also have heard the 1/3 statistic. when I was applying to medical school (and by the way 100% of my MIT classmates who applied were accepted to medical school) and attended information sessions we heard the "look to your left, look to your right, one of the 3 of you will be admitted" statistic. Never heard anything like what you are suggesting about MIT however, never.</p>
<p>As far as quality of life...the aforementioned male members(3/4) of my family all CHOSE to live in fraternities in Boston and loved it. I would guess that none of them would trade the experience for 10 minutes of sleep or the chance to roll out of bed into Harvard Yard. The housing crunch that you alluded never resulted in students being forced into frats, it was always a choice and now there are a lot more dorm choices as well. The walk across the bridge- g-dforsaken...really??? I made it nearly every day for a year and I loved it- cold, wet, whatever...I cleared my mind, I saw the real world, I put space between me and the library and I brought myself closer to Fenway park. Not all bad. I loved my living group on campus as well. IT was spirited, fun loving, academically supportive and an absolute highlight of my college experience. I would tell you what some of the people I lived with have done since leaving MIT, but hey...that would be bragging..</p>
<p>MIT is now 50% female. When I was there is was 25% female. MIT has had issues related to female advancement among faculty. These, like most controversial issues at MIT have been discussed in public and are being addressed. As a female student I couldn't have felt more supported, more included, more welcome. </p>
<p>I entered MIT from a very small private school. I had been the only student in my school taking calculus or physics. I was completely overwhelmed my first semester- everyone I knew had come from Bronx Science, Exeter, places like that. But, I had a great advisor and a wonderful student advisor...and like everyone else I was graded "pass fail". I passed that semester, and then went on to have an A- average for the rest of my career. Not shabby. </p>
<p>You know, there are a lot of great things about Harvard I hear, a lot of great things about CMU. There are also a lot of great things about MIT. I don't know if my son will decide to apply, the decision is up to him. When he thinks about going, he knows why he would want to. Everyone he knows who went to MIT takes on challenges head on, analyzes issues clearly and isn't afraid of hard work. If it is not your cup of tea, so be it, but I just can't let yours be the ultimate posting on this topic...at least for now.</p>
<p>It's ridiculous when people say on this board that Princeton and Dartmouth are underrated. I think more appropriate examples of underrated schools include:
Hampshire College
Carnegie Mellon
U of Iowa
U of Pittsburgh
U of Illinios
U of California-Irvine
U of Kansas
Northeastern
Grinnell
Brandeis
Earlham</p>
<p>I am openly and unashamedly biased towards liberal arts colleges. However, there are quite a few public liberal arts colleges that are largely unrecognized by the public. At many of these institutions, a student can receive the benefits of a private liberal arts college (small class size, professors dedicated to teaching, rigorous academics, a tight-knit student body) yet pay public education prices. Even if a student comes from out-of-state, these schools tend to be a bargain compared to private colleges. The Council on Public Liberal Arts Colleges exists to promote these schools. Their website is very interesting. The link is: </p>
<p><a href="http://www.coplac.org/index.php4%5B/url%5D">http://www.coplac.org/index.php4</a> </p>
<p>Three public liberal arts colleges that I believe are underrated include:</p>
<p>University of Maine at Farmington -- With a student body of just over 2,000, this public university feels like a liberal arts college. Tucked in the foothills of a mountainous region, this university is located in a very scenic area of Maine (though the campus itself is not terribly attractive). There is a real focus on writing and creative writing is one of their strengths.</p>
<p>New College of Florida -- a very selective public liberal arts college where the students enter into an academic contract and receive written evaluations instead of grades. Known to attract a very eclectic mix of students.</p>
<p>Truman State -- a very selective (though not as selective as New College) public liberal arts college that tends to attract a hard working and intelligent student body. I believe that Truman State has a pretty strong reputation in the sciences.</p>
<p>Rice is underrated??! oh.. I dn, in Texas, many of us consider it as the 'dream school'. Which brings interesting point, how do people up in northern states (MA, NY) view colleges such as Amherst, and Williams? It's funny cuz down here, many ppl think they are community colleges.</p>
<p>The MOST overrated schools on the face of this earth have to be the UC's....seriously....LA is so hyped...its not even funny. It's all about the U.C.'s..</p>
<p>sophia, I think you meant to say the most UNDERRATED schools are the UC's. I sound like I am joking but seriously they are among the most underrated schools (as far as US News go) in the United States. Most other rankings dont agree with US News.</p>
<p>UCs are really overrated... I dn, but when I lived in Korea all those Berkeley graduates made UCB sound like a best university in the world... I have a friend over there studying premed. He says its prolly worse than many state universities' honor programs cuz only teachers he see are TAs.</p>