@cptofthehouse awesome post. Thank you. Love Iona.
Lots of the UNC schools get attention…but we were very taken with UNC Greensboro. Nice location, smaller size. Beautiful campus.
Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (pronounced IUIPUI, LOL) and Butler University, both in Indianapolis are two very different schools that offer some choices for kids who may not have the super high scores for selective colleges and offer a lot as great campuses in a fairly large city setting. I’ve toured both schools. Olympic Trial Natatorium at one, award winninng basket ball at the other.
Chico state and Sonoma State for on campus experience at Cal state admissions reps and prices. USanDiego, USanFrancisco great cities, great schools again without steep entry requirements in. cA but with great amenities. Catholic schools, offer some good premiums that way.
Texas has some wonderful small schools that one doesn’t hear much about—Austin, Southeastern, Trinity, to name a few.
Hofstra, Wagner in Long Island. Hofstra gives good merit. money. If you want the NYU experience but without NYY stats, check out Pace University.
The Maritime colleges get kids with 500 SAT math scores out with an engineering degree and great jobs at low prices. Another hidden engineering gem is Manhattan college in NYC in the lovely River dale neighborhood.
Kettering, Rose Hulman other schools that have turned out some great kids.
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Great point about the maritime schools.
Mass Maritime was recently listed in the top 5 roi schools in the USA. Forbes or someone.
It’s located on cape cod and has a wonderful service academy feel but obviously less intense entry process. And the post grad outcomes and careers are excellent. Beyond being the captain of a cruise ship. Even though that sounds pretty cool to me. The bridge on those ships are like the starship enterprise.
And King’s Point on Long Island. That’s a true service academy for the merchant marines on the level of the Coast Guard Academy in New London CT
Haven’t checked out personally , but Mercy College of Ohio is a college specializing medical field careers. I know a number of kids getting a degree of certificate in a practical program leading to jobs. Private college at s very good price for directed studies in the field
SUNY Maritime offers tuition breaks to Neighbors in some mid Atlantic states. Join the Corp of Cadets— no obligation but extra money. Guaranteed high pay summer work, and a high paying job upon graduation. Stats don’t have to be up there
Roger Williams University in Bristol Ri. Right on Narragansett Bay in a historic New England seaport town. Dorms and classrooms overlook the bay. National champion sailing teams. School of architecture is awesome and available to many good students. Up and coming Law school. Full slate of majors. Kids from all over.
University of Rhode Island doesn’t get a lot of love either. Very affordable for OOS too. Great and somewhat rural campus minutes from the great beaches of South County RI. Fantastic schools of pharmacy and nursing. Oceanography and marine biology are world class programs. Oyster farming and marine horticulture programs which are very popular now and focused on sustainable food supplies. School of business is solid. Atlantic 10 hoops with some March madness appearances and decent football team. Nice and fun campus life.
University of Maine ar Orono. They take kids from a number of states at in state tuition. It’s the state flagship and offers pretty much everything, but it’s smaller than many flagships so feels much more personal.
Wilson College in PA has a great nursing rogram.
McDaniel in Maryland is a CTCL school that nobody talks about and is very student centric.
I had a featured thread on this similar topic. The first page or so isn’t about underrated colleges, but stick with it.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/2079079-which-underrated-colleges-are-on-the-way-up-p1.html
I am a PA resident so the hidden gems that I know are local to here.
-Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)
-Juniata College
-Susquehanna University (*mentioned here on CC by a few regular users but basically unknown)
-Lycoming College
-Franklin and Marshall (used to get a lot of love but have not seen anyone mention anything in a few years of lurking)
-West Chester University
This one is mentioned sometimes…but I think deserves another mention.
Flagler College in St. Augustine. Very small college…but also a very small cost of attendance, and good merit aid. Campus is small but lovely, and St. Augustine is a neat place.
I would add Allegheny College to that PA list. Well respected Environmental Sciences program among others.
Is the University of Rochester heavily mentioned?. I have a sense that it is both very good and underrated.
I know very little about Christopher Newport other than it seems to be a popular safety for friends of ours still living in the NoVa region. Gorgeous campus, but financials worry me a little. Their endowment is less than $30 m
Mcdaniel, Duquesne are among s group of colleges that will pick up the costs for ROTC scholarships not covered by that grant
@shawbridge U Roch is very good, but not underrated, at 33 in US News national universities.
UTampa, UTulsa, UDenver, James Madison
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Christopher Newport is a Virginia pubic college and the newest in its portfolio. It’s supported financially.
It is a public liberal arts college. Which is a nice option to have for those looking to have a lac experience and the public cost and admissions availability. I don’t think their endowment as an issue. @ucbalumnus here’s another public lac.
@Lindagaf Thanks for connecting your thread!
Slightly different thought on this one for me.
These are more schools that are happily and successfully where and what they are, with terrific reputations/post grad outcomes regionally or among grads themselves. Not necessarily looking to move up the ranking or selectivity scale. Awesome options for the millions of students.
Dang, I got the city in Wisconsin right, but the name of the school wrong. It was Carthage. Thanks for the correction.
College of Wooster is a good LAC with a good outcome for premeds that is rarely mentioned on CC. Wabash is supposed to be pretty decent, although rarely mentioned since it’s one of the few males only school remaining in the United States.
In California, Occidental College is a good school that seems to fly under the radar when LACs are mentioned. St. Mary’s in Moraga as well.