<p>Why is it that I never hear anyone talk about this school, both on CC and IRL? It is ~top 50 in the US News national rankings and has some really well regarded graduate programs.</p>
Its probably because of the community you are in. Its a fairly self selecting group of kids who apply who want that religious atmosphere. For example at the college fairs organized by all my friends schools (my school doesn’t do a college fair) YU was a prominent figure and my guidance councillor has a fairly large flag from YU hanging in her office.
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Because it appeals to a tiny tiny minority of the population. Most Jews, myself included, do not agree with many of the religious tenants espoused by Yeshiva. Remember that Jews represent less than 2% of the US population, and [32% of millenial Jews](A Portrait of Jewish Americans | Pew Research Center) do not identify as having a religion. Among all Jews, only 10% are orthodox and many orthodox will still reject going to Yeshiva for various reasons. Among Orthodox Jews, there is a rather significant contingent that largely rejects traditional education and thus would not want to go to Yeshiva, no matter how Jewish the school is.
The Yeshiva education only works for a small number of students and typically these students already know from the get go that they will attend Yeshiva. Perhaps they will also apply to Brandeis and a few other schools but by and large, Yeshiva is their top choice, a fact reflected by yield data. Out of the 1299 students accepted in 2013, 855 enrolled. That [65.8% yield](http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2015/01/21/national-universities-where-the-most-accepted-students-enroll) was only bested by a few schools, one in an isolated part of Alaska where students quite literally have no other 4 year options for hundreds of miles, BYU which shares many of the same characteristics as Yeshiva, and some of the top schools like Harvard, MIT, and Yale.