Underappreciated Colleges

Pre-College Topics High School Life
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So, the purpose of this thread is basically to discuss schools that seniors in your school/community really aren’t applying to, for whatever reason. What schools are not getting the love that they deserve? And why? Note: These schools can still be selective.

I’ll start:

Case Western Reserve University: I only know one person who has applied here, and that was because I suggested it as a safe-er school. Excellent STEM school, but has some good offerings in other areas, as well. Maybe it’s because CWRU isn’t on the east coast. A lot of people are looking at schools like Bucknell and University of Rochester instead.

Rice: Now, I know that this is a selective school, but out in my neck of the woods, very few people are considering it. Fantastic institution, but a lot of kids are looking at Brown and Penn instead. You know, typical Ivy stuff.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: I think that I’m the only student in my school to apply here. It’s one of the best Engineering schools in the country. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t have the name recognition, or because it’s in Albany. Stevens IT seems attract more applicants.

University of Southern Carolina: Probably because it’s across the country. Very good school, but most people out near me are only willing to go cross-country for Stanford or Berkeley.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Very good engineering school, excellent robotics in particular. Most people look as Stevens IT, but not WPI. Not exactly sure why.

What other schools are in this boat out near you guys?

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Reed College- I am the first person to apply from my school since 2007. It’s very good in basically every academic subject it teaches, especially Physics and Math, and it’s good for preparation for a PhD. Few have applied from my school probably because Reed does not supply information to USNWR, and some kids from my school probably use that as a guide.

Carleton/Oberlin/Grinnell/LACs in general- My high school does not contain many kids interested in LACs, probably in part due to USNWR’s default ranking being the National Research Universities. A lot of the time, when I hear classmates talking about what they want to major in, some form of engineering is the answer. One reason that a lot of them give is that studying engineering can give them a higher chance at making a lot of money. That is an okay reason to have, and they are entitled to it, but usually that just seems to be the default major to pursue if they like math and don’t like any of the humanities. However, Swarthmore College and Harvey Mudd College both have great engineering programs, and I don’t think many students from my school apply to those schools either. If students from my high school apply to an LAC, it is usually a Jesuit LAC like Holy Cross, or it is a school like Middlebury/Amherst/Williams.

Caltech- This is kind of strange because so many of my classmates like the concept of studying engineering, but I guess the fact that it is all the way on the west coast, it is very hard to get into, and it is small dissuade them from applying. Few apply to UC Berkeley or UCLA as well.

Overappreciated Schools

NYU- It’s campus center is about 10 blocks from my high school (There are probably multiple high schools within that range, so it’s not like I’m telling you what my high school is), so I guess location is convenient for those who want to stay close to home. I find it strange given NYU’s poor financial aid, though.

Columbia- It’s an Ivy League school in the same city.

Cornell- It’s an Ivy League school in the same state, and it’s very good for engineering.

Fordham University- This is the most popular school among my high school. Usually 1/3 to 1/2 of the class applies, and we send about 5 to 15 kids a year there out of a usual class size of 230-270. I bet there is some special relationship which makes it a bit easier for students from my school to be accepted to Fordham. It’s also Jesuit, like my high school.

Boston College- It’s a pretty selective Jesuit university, and I bet kids who had my freshman and junior math teacher as a freshman and/or junior are persuaded to apply by the proud alumnus.

Scranton- Same deal as Fordham, and I bet it is a good safety for a lot of students at my school.

HYP- Usually 5-12 apply to each from my school each year, but few ever have a good shot at acceptance. The last kid who got into Harvard from my school got in 8 years ago, but the salutatorian this year has a very good shot. I think that a lot of the students who apply don’t have much to distinguish them with ECs, though I could be wrong.

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I’ve got some Overappreciated schools as well:

Penn and Brown: More than any other Ivy, these are attracting kids in my school. There are a lot of Penn and Brown alumnis in my area, and they seem to be swaying kids to apply to these schools. A large amount of the applicants really wouldn’t fit into those schools well, but they are still swayed to apply.

University of Chicago: It’s probably all of the junk mail that Chicago sends out. Enough said.

Penn State: Look, it’s a good school. But we’re talking OOS tuition here, and it’s not much (or just not, in some cases) better than UMD College Park. Again, a lot of alumni in my area.

Most Disrespected:

Rochester Institute of Technology: Look, it’s a really good school in a lot of ways. But it seems to be a casual throw-in as a safety for a lot of kids. Most of the people that I know who applied aren’t considering it in any way, shape, or form. In that sense, they’re doing the school a disservice. They just applied because a friend told them to.

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Harvey Mudd - People in the Midwest and East Coast are often unfamiliar with it (“What? Harvard Med?”).

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@intparent‌

Yeah, I’d say that falls into the same category as USC in my original post. As far as the west coast goes (just in general), it seems to be Stanford or nothing (well, maybe Berkeley). It’s kind of sad.

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Not to start an argument… but Mudd is a much stronger school than USC (look at average SAT scores). I wouldn’t necessarily have encouraged my kid to go cross country for USC. Don’t really think they are in the same category in academics and graduate school admissions. But I know that is not what your thread is about.

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Keep in mind that all the schools you mention are very popular for students in other schools or other geographic areas.

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@intparent‌

I wasn’t trying to lump the two schools together or start a direct comparison. They’re both excellent schools that suffer from the Stanford effect (that’s what I’m calling it now). Frankly, there are probably a ton of other schools that share this characteristic.

@lostaccount‌

That’s why I thought that this thread would be a good idea, to see which schools may not draw a significant amount of applications from certain areas or certain high schools.

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Most, if not all LACs are underappreciated, among the general populace. While CC does advocate LACs as great universities, most of the nation doesn’t know about them.

I didn’t hear of any LACs before I got on this website. Now I’m applying to almost exclusively LACs.

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Sure… in the public’s mind, Big Time Sports = Good School.

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Historically students on the east coast (and particularly those in the northeast) stayed there for colleges. Why wouldn’t they? That is where most of the oldest (and seemingly most prestigious) private schools were. The colleges in the other regions worked hard to attract what they considered to be the elite east coast students. Interestingly the relative lack of private colleges in the middle of the country and the west probably encouraged the development of state schools with the result that flagships outside the northeast tend to be far stronger than those in the northeast and mid atlantic states.

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@intparent‌

Yeah, it’s part of the college experience!

I didn’t mention USC because of its athletics. I know a lot of engineers near me at quite a few major companies, and they’ve had a lot of good interns and hires from USC, and have been really impressed with where the school’s been heading and what it’s been doing.

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Hungry, agree with you on RIT. We looked at it. It is an amazing school. I know several people who have received outstanding educations there.

There are a lot of LACs that deserve more respect. Sewanee/Wooster/Earlham/Centre and many others have incredible strengths, but because they are away from the east coast and are small town/rural, they don’t get as much buzz. The upside is that B students can actually get into these schools, get merit scholarships, and have the same top-notch educational opportunities as at the elite privates.

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I feel a bit embarrassed. Originally, I was talking about it is 10 blocks away for NYU, but then I changed to talking about something it possesses, and I did not change it’s to its. I’m probably overreacting.

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From my school, most LACs are underappreciated–even the tippy-top ones. Most people are drawn to schools by their name appeal, and we live pretty close to some very good schools (i.e. Berkeley), so a lot of people go there. But more people went to MIT from my school last year than to all the Claremont Colleges combined (5-ish vs. 3-ish). That being said, we do have people who go to Wellesley/Pomona/Swarthmore/other LACs, just not many for a big school.

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The problem with Rensselaer is that it has nothing beyond STEM. What counts as humanities and art at RPI is an embarrassment. Students can hardly even take a foreign language without cross enrolling at other colleges. http://www.hass.rpi.edu/pl/foreign-language

I suggest it be renamed Rensselaer PureTech Institute.

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@NROTCgrad‌

What I was saying is that a lot of kids who ARE only interested in Engineering/Other Stem Fields look at schools like Stevens instead. I don’t expect a humanities major to look at RPI. Just like I wouldn’t expect an engineering major to look at Yale (not a great example, but still valid).

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LACs are completely underrated by the kids and parent’s at our HS. The college counselors like them, but most of the students only want a larger U.

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I’m in Southern California and I’ve never heard anyone at my school talk about Harvey Mudd so I don’t think it is really well known anywhere.

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After looking at Stevens website, I have to admit that I would prefer it over RPI. It appears to have a respectable history degree as well as pre-law program. Plus its access NYC is a major advantage.

I guess what I am saying is the RPI is very much a specialty school for STEM majors. In other words it is narrowly targeted. So, I cannot think of it as underappreciated. They only want a particular type of person, and that is what they get.