I couldn’t understand why half the room on my last tour of tOSU was from California. I figured it out pretty quickly after reading about all the impacted majors here on CC. CC has given me a much greater appreciation for the schools here in Ohio. Admittedly, I can usually find something to love about each of them, but my personal favorite…
University of Toledo which I think has an underappreciated engineering program. Mandatory co-ops which end up with astounding placement percentages, generous auto merit scholarships, and nice graduate school placements. They take advantage of their proximity to Lake Erie and strong Biology department for Environmental engineering. Bioengineers there have a great pathway to MD programs. More broadly, it is hard to find a major they don’t offer, they have a nice campus, an Honors College, 24 hour labs, and other nice amenities. They are building their on campus community by requiring first and second year students outside a 25 mi radius to live in dorms.
I think part of the reason OU could be considered a “Hidden Gem” is that it is mid sized public university that in many ways feels like a private university. It has a full complement of degree programs and research while feeling like a liberal arts university. Many who work there enjoy the atmosphere and end up staying inspite of it being on the edge of Appalachia. It’s not trying to compete with OSU and the closest comparison in size and looks is Miami University but neither school wishes to be like the other. It’s a school where a lot of people fit. The saying around here is that students are proud to go to Miami but love going to OU. It’s not for everyone but I do think it is a place that’s easy to love.
Davidson is little known even in North Carolina, and it’s criminally overlooked on CC. It’s a terrific school that deserves a lot more recognition and interest, in my opinion.
DePauw is nearly always overlooked for some reason, despite CC’s fondness for the midwestern LACs.
in terms of VCU please note it is in fact very highly rated nationally when speaking of the VCUARTS school as well as specific pre-med /science programs.
@stones3 is correct about VCUArts. Not sure about pre-med, that’s not my area of expertise, but the university has a respected medical school, MCV.
VCU is a large fairly urban school. In-state National Merit Finalists can basically get a free ride. The honors college dorm is all singles with private bathrooms (it’s a former hospital).
University of Cincinnati. Strong business programs with really special honors programs within the business school, co-ops, beautiful honors dorms, nice scholarships, and Cincinnati is shaping up into a very cool city. It doesn’t get any love on CC.
Just to be clear (as always necessitated by certain posts), there are NO established rankings for undergraduate fine arts programs. While VCU appears on many shortlists for undergrad fine arts, it is mostly by word of mouth, alums and general spread of repute that undergrad fine arts schools evolve their reputation. VCUArts is no more “highly rated nationally” than any other such program.
As for medical school, have no idea from whence the poster derives her information. VCU Medical is a top 80 school. Unfortunately in terms of cachet, this is out of about 85-90 such ranked medical schools. Since medical school admissions is so incredibly competitive, acceptance at almost any accredited institution is a pretty impressive feat. However, in terms of straight established ranking, VCU Medical is ranked at the very bottom of the USNWR system.
Someone mentioned Davidson. It is a fine LAC and worth consideration from students who want that classic LAC education on a beautiful campus. Added benefit is it’s in NC (part of it’s anonymity ironically as most think of LACs clustered in the NE), so much better weather! Doesn’t have the pipeline to Wall Street like many up north but lots of good jobs in the SE.
Although they have already been mentioned, I want to second (or third) Rhodes and Wooster. I have several family members who have attended Rhodes, and all truly enjoyed it and have been successful in many different career paths. Beautiful campus and connection to St. Jude’s for research possibilities.
Wooster has its independent study program and has a very significant percentage of its graduates go on to complete PhDs. Also a beautiful park-like campus with a new science building coming.
As a parent of an OU HTC grad, I can highly recommend the program. Your fellow students in HTC are talented, passionate, and driven to learn and succeed. However, it’s very selective. They enroll about 80 students per year across 35 majors, an average of just over TWO students per major!!
just to be clear. AS per USNWR RANKINGS VCUARTS is the #2 ( that is #2 out of ALL grad programs in the entire united states of America(including privates) with ONLY YALE mfa ranked higher at #1) Only one lady on here could possible try to spin that into a negative for undergrad all others KNOW its a huge positive.
just to be clear. AS per USNWR RANKINGS VCUARTS is the #2 ( that is #2 out of ALL grad programs in the entire united states of America(including privates) with ONLY YALE mfa ranked higher at #1) Only one lady on here could possible try to spin that into a negative for undergrad all others KNOW its a huge positive
I have found hidden gems at some well known prestigious schools. They are particular programs or schools within a university. Northwestern’s SESP & Georgetown’s SFS are gems that exceed the reputation of the university.
I am not a fan of CTCL. A couple of the schools have had significant financial problems, plus I am just not that convinced that the book couldn’t hype a very large number of schools when closely detailing any particular school’s strengths.
Almost any Honors College at large public universities are gems–just not so hidden any more. But many large public universities have multiple honors programs that are still somewhat hidden–such as the computer programming honors at the Univ. of Alabama.
Shouldn’t any hidden gem be relative to a particular students needs & interests ?
I see CTCL as schools for those without strong numbers who might be a bit unsure about their future course of study & need some TLC.