I don’t even think those 430 students are allowed outside. Never saw even one. I thought it was a business park, closed on Sundays.
Someone above in this thread said it was ‘growing.’ I don’t think so.
I worked at UCI from the time it was 10,000 students in the early 80’S. The mantra back then was UC Berkeley was the UC of the past, UCLA is the UC of the present, and UCI is the UC of the future. It is really interesting to see it blossom. Soka is really interesting to see it develop. It is a stunning campus just east of Laguna Beach. A campus focused on creating global citizens of character and values, I used to think it was a cult, but it is developed into a very progressive campus focused on international peace, knowledge and citizenship. I definitely think they have broken the mold of liberal arts universities and are a force to be reckoned with in the future.
Soka is indeed unusual: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soka_University_of_America
There have been a lot of interesting colleges mentioned, but I’ve seen a several posts now talking about colleges that are already prestigious. This is supposed to be about underrated colleges, so let’s try to stick to those please.
The problem for UCI is that a lot of their statistical improvement was due to increased enrollment of out-of-state and international students, who tend to be better qualified than their in-state counterparts. For example, CA resident enrollment was 97% at UCI as recently as 2009. Now it’s only 81%.
But UCI can’t use this strategy anymore, because the UC system has “frozen” its OOS enrollment at current levels. This is also the case at UCLA, UCSD, and UCB.
In contrast, the other UC campuses are still below their caps, so they still have the “green light” to add more OOS students. However, UCD is pretty close to its cap, and could hit it for Fall 2018.
So I see UCSB and UCSC as most likely to improve their standings in the short term. They have some significant room under their caps to add more OOS students. Any OOS applicants targeting UCs should be looking hard at those two campuses in particular, because they still have space, while competition for OOS slots at the “capped” UC campuses is going to be increasingly tough.
UCR and UCM are even further below their caps, and in the long run they will likely increase their OOS enrollments as well. But UCSB and UCSC seem like more attractive options at present.
OOS applicants considering lower or mid-tier UCs might be better off targeting private schools, like Santa Clara or Occidental. The test scores, locations, and four-year graduation rates of such schools compare very favorably to mid-tier UCs, the acceptance rates are relatively generous, and the cost of attendance will likely be lower, because they offer OOS financial aid.
Elon University is one of the few colleges/universities to really transform itself. It was a small regional LAC just a few decades ago. Now it’s a university that attracts good students from all over the country. A good friend is a prof at a top New England college. They said that over the last couple of years they’ve had several colleagues visiting/considering it, nearly as many as any school outside their region (New England). Beautiful weather, beautiful campus and facilities, great town, pretty dynamic region, and good leadership.
Also VCU in Richmond. Richmond (RVA) is a hot city, very popular now with students and young professionals. School has notable arts, communications, and pre-med programs (it has a med school). It’s a great choice for students looking for an urban college experience, with good weather and lots to do.
My well-qualified D was waitlisted at Skidmore and it clearly seems to be a hot school at the moment.
At our NJ public school, among schools that might be described as underrated, JMU is definitely hot and getting more selective, as already mentioned.
For very school that moves up, another school needs to move down or else they haven’t really moved up. I’m guessing total in this thread, there have been about 50 schools named that people think are moving up. I think people are being very optimistic. What are the 50 schools above them that are moving down? I’m sure there are a few high ranked schools that are losing favor for one reason or another, but not enough for all these schools to move up.
@me29034 , this is a thread for underrated colleges that people believe are getting more attention, etc… It can take a few years for movement to be definitively confirmed by a college’s Common Data Set, or USNWR (Northeastern being a famous example.) Feel free to start a new thread about colleges moving down. Might be an interesting comparison.
Movement happens.
My kid went to Boston University…enrolling in 2003. The school was ranked about 90 at the time. Not shabby but certainly not tippy top.
It is now 50 or maybe a lower number. I have no idea schools moved out of the top 50 for this school to get into it…but it happens.
ETA…found it…
Tulsa and University of Houston
I have been amazed at how competitive SDSU and CSU Long Beach have become for admission. I can’t include Cal Poly San Luis Obispo because I don’t think it is underrated. As the mid tier UC’s become more difficult admissions, I expect UCSC and the above will all see an increase in demand. Having been to Long Beach and SDSU this year for music auditions, I can see why some students might choose these colleges over many of the UCs.
On the private side, I agree that Santa Clara is highly underrated. However, the competition for good private colleges in California is pretty rough. It might be hard to distinguish itself against so many strong competitors.
@BearHouse What do you consider Santa Clara’s strong competitors in CA for private universities?
This is only true if you have a very narrow view of “moving up.” It does not necessarily mean climbing a certain number of notches on USNWR. It could simply mean a college is getting more name recognition, sending more kids to PHD programs, attracting more recruitment or that students are simply more excited to attend. It could be that the public starts to see the top 100 as excellent instead of just the top 50 etc. Or possibly, stops looking at the rankings altogether - although thats probably too much to ask.
I’ll add another vote for Denison - as an earlier poster said it was a “one that got away” for me (D accepted, got fantastic aide - but wanted a larger school) By far the most personal application/acceptance process we experienced.
As a teacher, I have seen a lot more students applying and attending UK and University of Dayton over the last couple years.
@ucbalumnus certain majors yes, but not all majors like Cal Poly. Like I said, great school but it’s not high on the list in our community just hours away specifically for this reason. You will just have to accept that people have different opinions and experiences than yours.
Case Western. Personally I had never heard of it until 5 years or so ago when some of my eldest son’s older peers in NJ started going there. I probably know at least half-a-dozens students going there now, despite being in a location way off the radar for most NJ students, and that’s just from our HS. My eldest ended up applying because they made it free and had no supplemental requirements and they offered and extremely generous merit scholarship. He didn’t go. The kids I see going were all very competitive students who didn’t get into their Ivy first choices but picked Case ahead of many other very competitive and highly ranked non-Ivys.
Is Gonzaga on the way up? I hope so, because it seems like a wonderful school. I’m still trying to find things not to like about it.
@Lindagaf I feel that way about Drew. I have no idea if it really is on the way up, but I hope so!
So funny…some of the schools listed here were not exactly on our A list in terms of favor.
I think Goucher has potential; the new (ish) president has a lot of plans for improving and redesigning the campus, and he has implemented a new curriculum already. He’s committed to staying on for at least another 7 years or so as well. Right now it kind of feels a little like a school in transition but it will be interesting to see how things shake out.