<p>I am a prospective grad student in CS, and came across UofR, it looks very awesome. $1.3 B endowment, amazing alums/faculty, what not.. but I came across it accidently, I had never heard of it before, why isn't it famous? in national ranking it lies above several very famous schools, but when I talk of UofR to my friends, they don't know about it.. </p>
<p>Also, if anyone knows apart from Washington, MIT, Rochester, which other univs offer ONLY Phd, and no masters in CS.</p>
<p>It is a highly regarded university in a field I’m associated with, but no idea about your field of interest.</p>
<p>There is often a big disconnect between the perceived prestige of a school held by students (who go by popular magazine rankings geared to the general population), and the perceived prestige of a school held by academics. For the latter, prestige is field-dependent. </p>
<p>I believe, as a general rule, when looking for schools in which to do a research oriented grad degree, it makes a lot more sense to seek out the guidance of faculty members working in your field of interest, and to ignore magazine rankings and friends’ opinions.</p>
<p>But they are famous, at least in music. The Eastman School.</p>
<p>One reason U of R is not “famous” is that is has small time athletics. No big football or basketball programs. </p>
<p>For most Americans, the college rankings that count are Sports Illustrated, not USNWR.</p>
<p>well stated tom. I fully agree. Rankings are a fool’s errand. </p>
<p>URochester is highly regarded and also highly ranked in USNWR…but kids often overlook it because its in Rochester…the rust belt and very very cold in Winter and somewhat remote…they prefer NYC or Boston.</p>
<p>We looked at it and considered it and they were after my D1 bigtime. But the distance was too much and too hard to get in and out of in the winter months. So no go.</p>
<p>I disagree. Rochester is plenty recognized for its rank. This is rank #37 we’re talking about. Rochester is in the same tier as obscure names such as Rensselaer, Lehigh, and Brandeis. The USNWR ranking list is long and you can’t expect to know about every college on the list. Most people don’t even recognize colleges past the top 25 and students knowledge get really patchy after the 50s. There are many students who don’t even know the entire rank 25! Washington in St. Louis? Emory? Vanderbilt?</p>
<p>At Rochester’s rank, its enough to just know its name. Most schools around that rank are respectable but not particularly outstanding schools, and Rochester is no exception. Unless you are willing to admit you have a solid recognition of all other rank 30 through 40 schools, you really don’t have a case. </p>
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I disagree. The list of notable Sports Illustrated colleges is much shorter than USNWR. Furthermore, many athletic schools are (1) already prestigious institutions or (2) huge state schools. State schools are particularly recognized for matriculating so many students and being integral parts of their respective communities (be it a city, town, or the entire state).</p>
<p>“There are many students who don’t even know the entire rank 25! Washington in St. Louis? Emory? Vanderbilt?”</p>
<p>None of these schools have big time athletics either. Duke on the other hand is widely known due to basketball.</p>
<p>Duke is top 10. Most people recognize the USNWR top 10 at the very least. Caltech has literally one of the worst athletic departments in all of the United States. You’ve probably heard of Caltech.</p>
<p>I believe Vanderbilt actually has a decent football team…</p>
<p>I don’t think UR isn’t well known just because it has a lack of big time athletics. It’s underrecognized even amongst top colleges with no prominent sports teams. It probably has to do a bit with how a college has marketed itself in the last decade.</p>