<p>Still, it would be nice once in a while to have normal ppl know that rochester is a good school. espcially among my utra-competitive chinese parent's friend circles.</p>
<p>Rochester is well known among science- and business-related graduate institutions, but not among the general public...and that's not necessarily an insult either...I mean, when you tell half of America about the University of Pennsylvania, they automatically think "Penn State."</p>
<p>In order for Rochester to become more well known, it must diversity upon its strengths. Currently, its strong liberal arts departments include political science and economics. The sciences and business have always been great at Roch. In order for Rochester to reach the "next level," it must become like a "Johns Hopkins," an equally strong contender in both the sciences and arts.</p>
<p>As an alum (class of '81), I can attest to the fact that in academic and business circles (particularly in the sciences), U of R is very well known and has been highly regarded as an ivy equivalent (or at least almost an ivy equivalent) for many many years before Newsweek named it as a new ivy. Its record with grad schools - not just in the sciences, but in law and the social sciences, is great - and among those who are really in the know, and don't just focus on name recognition, a U of R degree has always been respected on par with schools like JHU, Tufts, etc. What irks me is that someone would put U of R and schools like NYU in the same category. U of R has had this great reputation for many, many years - NYU is just a newcomer to the fold, in part leveraging its location to move up in the ranks.</p>