<p>Today I met a new parent at our school festival (an int'l HS) and was happy to learn that she thinks of Santa Clara University as a 'hidden gem'. S2 has applied to SCU.</p>
<p>Wondering what other schools out there are hidden gems that many people would be happy to know about.</p>
<p>Go ahead and tell us if you have come across any, thanks!</p>
<p>The NY Times has refered to SUNY Geneseo as a hidden Gem. Geneseo is a small public liberal arts college in western NY with a talended student body (Freshman Stats 94 GPA, SAT 1330), dedicated faculty, beautiful campus, and a college that continues to be recognized for its attention to undergraduate education. US News once again recognized Genesso as the “Top Up and Comming”, and “Best Undergraduate Education” college in the region. Forbes, US News, Kiplinger continue to recognize Geneseo as a Best Value college as well. Geneseo is always in the top 10 list in the Kiplinger report and top 2 list of best value colleges for out of state students. </p>
<p>This is a wonderful college that continues to do great things for their students. </p>
<p>I would check it out! </p>
<p>[SUNY</a> Geneseo | SUNY Geneseo](<a href=“http://www.geneseo.edu%5DSUNY”>http://www.geneseo.edu)</p>
<p>Take the virtual tour</p>
<p>[Geneseo</a> Virtual tour | by VirtualMedia360.net](<a href=“http://www.virtualmedia360.net/tours/geneseo/]Geneseo”>SUNY Geneseo Campus Virtual tour | by VirtualMedia360.net)</p>
<p>it all depends on perspective. On the East Coast, where I’m from, Grinnell College was a hidden gem to us (we discovered it through the Fiske Guide). If we lived in Chicago, it would have been right in our sights the whole time…I suppose if we had based our search on the USNWR, then Grinnell would have appeared on our radar sooner, but that’s not how we started the search. (My S attends Grinnell).</p>
<p>When people ask me where my son goes to school, I always preface it by saying, “he goes to school in Iowa, at Grinnell.” Otherwise, they think I"m saying Cornell.</p>
<p>The other thing I learned in the college search, is that there a ton of wonderful schools out there. To go just by the ones I’d already heard of, and assume those are the “best” would have been a terrible terrible mistake. I’d never heard of Wash U in St. Louis, for example, until we started looking through the guides and the mailings we received. Wow, was that a great place! To many on the East Coast, that’s a hidden gem, too! Oberlin College. Macalester College. I could go on and on to name the many schools that people in my local area know little about.</p>
<p>IMO UAB in alabama is a hidden gem…everyone hears about UA and Auburn,but not UAB</p>
<p>Tier 1 research university… Receives more research funding than all other alabama schools combined</p>
<p>about 10K cheaper than UA/Auburn (20-24K cost of attendance for oos students) great automatic merit scholarships</p>
<p>Wonderful honors programs. Very strong school for sciences/research/health professions</p>
<p>[Welcome[/url</a>]</p>
<p><a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found](<a href=“http://www.uab.edu%5DWelcome%5B/url”>http://www.uab.edu)</a></p>
<p>University of Denver.
It’s a wonderful school and off of almost everyone’s radar because it’s not on either coast.
It’s in that hard-size to find category of about 5000-6000 undergrads, with a lovely, defined campus in a great city with free light rail right at the edge of campus.
It’s also a school that good students can get in to, and it has good merit aid.</p>
<p>boysx3, that’s so wierd, I was just going to come on and say University of Denver.</p>
<p>It is getting more difficult to get into, and this year only 37% are from instate as opposed to the 47% they used to have. Above all, Denver is a growing city full of jobs and opportunities.</p>
<p>The student body is very dynamic and active.</p>
<p>I agree about University of Denver and I liked Hobart William Smith. HWS gets “lost” in that mass of NE colleges but I thought the college and the kids and what they do in college and after they leave was excellent.</p>
<p>If you are willing to look north to Canada: Mt. Allison</p>
<p>[Mount</a> Allison University :: Administration](<a href=“http://www.mta.ca/about.html]Mount”>http://www.mta.ca/about.html)</p>
<p>Ranked #1 in Canada for many years by Canada’s equivalent outlets to USNWR (as well scores very high on NSSE). About 70% of graduates go on to graduate school. Has produced 49 Rhodes scholars, including 8 in the past decade. </p>
<p>[Mount</a> Allison on a roll](<a href=“http://www.mta.ca/apply/whymta/rankings.html]Mount”>http://www.mta.ca/apply/whymta/rankings.html)</p>
<p>Small tight knit friendly campus that is known for its school spirit, warmth and safety (when we visited we loved that the students can just leave their backpacks out and lying around in a pile, no concerns about theft). Lots of international study abroad options, 150 clubs, </p>
<p>Flexible degree options (40 different liberal arts or science majors), and LOTS of research opportunities. Financially healthy with solid endowment. Rolling admissions and test optional (costs $50 to apply and takes about 15 minutes). </p>
<p>Total cost of attendance (tuition, room & board) for Americans is about $18k. But that is before scholarships, which seem plenty.</p>
<p>I would say Truman State, but I’m not so sure it qualifies any more for the “nobody knows about” category - at least not on CC.</p>
<p>Cal State Fullerton. The Cal States get scant love in the first place, and Fullerton is not as famous as say San Diego State, Long Beach State, and San Jose State. But from what I’ve seen you can get a pretty decent education at Fullerton.</p>
<p>I agree, SDonCC, that it depends on your perspective. We also live on the east coast and only coindentally heard of WashU. When I started to research it further and thought my son would love it, he wasn’t convinced. I sent him there for a weekend, and got txt messages like, “WUSTL is awesome”. If you’re from the midwest, WashU is fairly well known, but it is known as a hidden gem around here.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg! We toured it twice and loved it. It’s a small LAC near Allentown, PA with a lovely campus full of exceptional facilities, especially the new science building and the theater complex. A high-performing student body and nice merit aid program (at least in 2008 - I realize things change quickly on that score).</p>
<p>Here’s a thread that asks a similar question: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/370873-brag-about-your-lesser-known-school.html?highlight=dallas[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/370873-brag-about-your-lesser-known-school.html?highlight=dallas</a></p>
<p>The problem with “brag about your lesser known school” was that people never bragged specifically enough, and it ended as a long list of schools with little information. This thread is starting off with some fuller descriptions of the schools and the education they offer. It would be great if we could keep that up. (D has a friend who chose Muhlenberg over some higher ranked schools and is having a wonderful experience there, btw.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Maybe not so much. We live about a four-hour drive from St. Louis, and while I knew that the school existed, I had no idea that it was one of the most selective universities in the country until fairly recently. At least in the greater Chicago area, it’s not considered to be in the same league with Northwestern or UChicago - and I’m only speaking here of reputation, not any evaluation of quality.</p>
<p>Thanks for this thread. I’m always surprised when the discussion is about west coast schools that Whitman College seems to be off everybody’s radar. I suppose the reason being that it’s in a relatively remote town with a funny sounding name, Walla Walla. It offers rigorous academics, a responsive administration, a gorgeous campus, and it’s in the middle of a great little town where students can walk to find whatever they need. </p>
<p>Whitman’s on the eastern side of Washington state so it doesn’t get the constant rain of Seattle and Portland. The outdoor program is a national standout, as is the environmental studies program, and biology and theater and geology, etc. It attracts a well-rounded, energetic, friendly student body who form an amazingly close knit community.</p>
<p>People get fixated on Reed when the discussion turns to LACs in the NW, but Reed is a more hipsterish uber-intellectual environment. Whitties are intellectual and studies come first, but their lives tend to be full and balanced, with high participation in IM sports, music, outdoor adventures, clubs and community service.</p>
<p>Finally, while admitting that it takes more effort to get to, I’d like to point out that Walla Walla has it’s own airport and there are daily regional buses (called the Grapeline, it’s wine country) to the Pasco airport an hour away. Lots of students live in the Seattle and Portland areas and drive to campus, so after the first semester it becomes increasingly easy to fly into one of those cities and hitch a ride to school with friends. </p>
<p>I’ve referred to it as a hidden gem on numerous occasions.</p>
<p>Iowa State University</p>
<p>Solid across the board but especially strong in STEM fields. Very active career center that brings in lots of employers from Minneapolis, KC, and Chicago.</p>
<p>Instate tuition/fees/room/board is a whopping $15,000 per year.
OOS is only $27,000 per year and they offer merit awards to OOS students.</p>
<p>I’m sure Wash U is a fine school. It’s one of those schools that get alot of “air time” on CC but aren’t that well known. Macalester is another. Great school and gets alot of CC airtime. There are other CC favorites. So yes, they might be “hidden gems” only because they aren’t well known outside of the CC bubble. I always find it fun to discuss the schools that don’t get the CC airtime.</p>
<p>Denison U. really impressed me. I completely agree about Whitman --one of my all time favorites (and grandmother attended in late 20’s!)</p>
<p>Is one really tough, fantastic school! Very highly ranked nationally in the small liberal arts rankings out on US News and World Report. Acceptance rate overall about 25%. Superb preparation for graduate school/professional school programs after Davidson graduation, about 1920 kids total at the school. Classes taught by professors and not graduate students (no grad school there)!</p>
<p>Check it out!</p>
<p>[Davidson</a> College Home](<a href=“http://www.davidson.edu%5DDavidson”>http://www.davidson.edu)</p>
<p>the kitesurfer.</p>