<p>The concept of under-rated is not the same thing as a “safety”…it’s more about unis that offer great value to students and are “rated” lower than might be if the “ratings” game was not based on less subjective criteria.</p>
<p>momofthreeboys – I agree. I was responding to a prior comment that UNC is a safety for NC’s top students, which is incorrect. I think many, maybe most, schools not at the top of the rankings are underrated. There are no “best” colleges, only best colleges for individuals.</p>
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<p>That’s how I was thinking of it, too. For instance, IU-Bloomington made sense to me in the context of the kids I know. It’s an excellent school with one of the most beautiful campuses I’ve ever seen…but it’s often overlooked for some reason when our local students who want a big-uni experience are putting together their college lists. </p>
<p>My D applied to four of these and will be attending one. I agree, though, that there are some curious inclusions - College of Staten Island?</p>
<p>I wonder what specific criteria was used in coming up with the list, or if it just came off the top of someone’s head. I don’t agree with any of those that I know, but then I am thinking holistically too, not using objective solid data. </p>
<p>I think it’s probably like a lot of the “best of” lists we see online. Some columnist or reporter or blogger wants to get something out and an arbitrary list is created and then disseminated…with little or no basis in fact. </p>
<p>But it is fodder for discussion, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either. </p>
<p>I thought I pretty much knew every school in the NE and especially NY and I’ve never even heard of College of Staten Island. It’s more like completely off the radar than underrated. </p>
<p>Michigan Tech is definitely underrated–great school, great education, great resources, great location for the right kind of student (the kind who enjoys getting out in the great outdoors). Others on the list seem out of place. </p>
<p>Knew it was going to be Michigan Tech.</p>
<p>But UIUC, UW, IU? These are the state flagships, how are they underrated?</p>
<p>And Virginia Tech? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>UCSC underrated? No. Maybe to out-of-staters. Everyone I know thinks highly of this school.</p>
<p>This is a disappointing list. Virginia Tech? UNC Chapel Hill? The topic is actually a great- and very interesting- one. I just was hoping they would have some hidden gems here, not some of the biggest, best known, most highly lauded schools already on the radar of everyone in the region. Can we fail them on this project and tell them they need to re-do it? :)</p>
<p>I agree that this article just fails. There are many hidden gems and families looking for them would be very disappointed reading this. Also, I think it takes some serious research to find them, something this article does not reflect. </p>
<p>Well…I learned something. I didn’t even know there was a campus for University of North Georgia in Gainesville. I thought the only campus was in Dahlonega. So I guess maybe it is underrated or at least under advertised.</p>
<p>I also agree with Michigan Tech being underrated.</p>
<p>You have to understand what underrated means. The list is saying that of the schools in a given state the chose the one that was MOST underrated compared to where it should be according to whatever rating criteria was to be used. Yes UF- Florida- is better than most people in the country would give it credit, more so than other schools in the state which may also be underrated but not by as much. Same thing for Illinois- its reputation is not as great by a larger margin than other Illinois schools. UCSC- don’t even know which one that is (hmm- Santa Clara?, wherever that is), obviously it is the one of hundreds of schools in CA that were considered and it is getting the least amount of respect compared to what it should. You have to twist your brain around the relative reputation compared to what it should be (according to the site’s evaluation), not any absolutes. Locals may not realize how the rest of the country sees their flagship. We know ours is darn good, better than more highly touted schools, but the rest of the country is unaware.</p>
<p>This article is to be used to validate choices, not to find schools. eg- Wisconsin is a good choice, even if “common knowledge” says Michigan is (marginally) better. An elite school can be underrated when compared to its elite peers.</p>
<p>Think of Rodney Dangerfield- don’t get no respect. </p>
<p>Now- the methodology remains to be defined. We don’t know that school X is actually more underrated than school Y. Just a fun list.</p>
<p>I still don’t see that making sense in my state, wis. Seton Hall has a national reputation much larger than the school warrants, pretty much solely because of its basketball team. There’s nothing about it to remark on academically (and I’ve taught there). It’s an okay school with a recognizable name because of sports. How does that make it under-rated?</p>
<p>I think we can all agree they criteria used (acceptance rate?) to form this listing was less than optimal. Let’s make our own list!</p>
<p>Let’s use momofthreeboys’s criteria: Universities that “offer great value to students and are “rated” lower than might be if the “ratings” game was not based on less subjective criteria.”</p>
<p>Michigan: Michigan Tech?</p>
<p>Florida: New College of Florida: A great public liberal arts honors college with fairly low tuition cost and fairly generous scholarships.</p>
<p>In Utah, it’s Snow College, hands down. It consistently ranks in more top-ten 2-year colleges than any school in the country. Tuition and room/board are cheap by anyone’s standards. And because of state regents policies, if you complete your generals, you can transfer them as a block to any public university in the state. Most professors are full-time, not adjuncts. Many excellent high school students attend for the first 2 years and then transfer to the state flagship or BYU. But you’ve probably never heard of it, even if you live in Utah.</p>
<p>For NC, I’ll go with UNC-Wilmington. UNC-Asheville, NC’s liberal arts college, could also be considered “underrated”. I think NCState is also underrated, but it gets some recognition.</p>