Which schools outpace their location and vice versa?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably not Penn, but Philadelphia drags down Drexel and Temple due to their location. Baltimore certainly drags down Johns Hopkins.

Conversely, Boston props up Boston University and Northeastern, while New York props up NYU and Fordham, but not necessarily Columbia.

There are a lot of mid-sized schools in depressing towns in New York and Pennsylvania that would have higher profiles if they were in nicer areas either in New England or the South. Hobart/William Smith, Bucknell, and Washington & Jefferson come to mind.

Have you been to Fordham? It’s in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of the Bronx. It’s far from the NYC glam that applicants expect. I have friends who live in other areas of the Bronx and try to avoid the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably not Penn, but Philadelphia drags down Drexel and Temple due to their location. Baltimore certainly drags down Johns Hopkins.

Conversely, Boston props up Boston University and Northeastern, while New York props up NYU and Fordham, but not necessarily Columbia.

There are a lot of mid-sized schools in depressing towns in New York and Pennsylvania that would have higher profiles if they were in nicer areas either in New England or the South. Hobart/William Smith, Bucknell, and Washington & Jefferson come to mind.

Have you been to Fordham? It’s in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of the Bronx. It’s far from the NYC glam that applicants expect. I have friends who live in other areas of the Bronx and try to avoid the area.

Do you realize Fordham also has a campus in Manhattan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rice, Vanderbilt, Wash U, Carleton--all great schools in less-desirable locations.

Vanderbilt? Seriously? Every single student I know who goes/went to Vandy cited Nashville as one of the best parts of the school. I can't imagine a better city for college kids, personally.

Northfield is small but really nice- with St. Olaf right there too it's a good college town. For the kind of kids who are attracted to a SLAC, it's ideal.

Rice- Houston isn't as cool as Nashville but it's a big, diverse, growing, thriving city. Rice is in a really nice neighborhood. Hardly less-desirable.

Wash U is in a GREAT part of St. Louis...St. Louis itself may not be a draw, but everyone I know who went to Wash U said it's in a great location.

Are you one of those "any city that's not in California or the Bos Wash corridor is automatically sh*t" types?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rice, Vanderbilt, Wash U, Carleton--all great schools in less-desirable locations.

Obviously, this is written with a certain perspective (i.e. Northern) - Rice/Houston and Vanderbilt/Nashville are both desirable locations for people South of the M-D line - and Rice/Houston should be desirable for anyone as long as they can withstand the heat.

[Anonymous]

Nashville is a huge draw for college kids. Yes, I think PP has it right- some people don't realize there is a whole big country outside of the Northeast with *gasp!* really fantastic, desirable cities. Go look at migration patterns if you don't believe me.

[Anonymous]

OK, I'm ignorant about Nashville. But Northfield? Middle of nowhere and COLD! The original question was, which schools are held back by their location. I'd argue that if any of those four schools were on the east or west coast, they'd be even harder to get into. Your opinion may differ.

[Anonymous]

As someone who went to school in a small Midwest town in the country, the location far removed from most of the chowderheads on DCUM made the location ideal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, I'm ignorant about Nashville. But Northfield? Middle of nowhere and COLD! The original question was, which schools are held back by their location. I'd argue that if any of those four schools were on the east or west coast, they'd be even harder to get into. Your opinion may differ.

Carleton College is ranked #5 in liberal arts colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, I'm ignorant about Nashville. But Northfield? Middle of nowhere and COLD! The original question was, which schools are held back by their location. I'd argue that if any of those four schools were on the east or west coast, they'd be even harder to get into. Your opinion may differ.

As opposed to Middlebury? Bowdoin? Colgate, Hamilton, Colby? (Which Carleton is ranked higher than, FWIW)? Cold and in the middle of no where is pretty typical of highly selective LACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably not Penn, but Philadelphia drags down Drexel and Temple due to their location. Baltimore certainly drags down Johns Hopkins.

Conversely, Boston props up Boston University and Northeastern, while New York props up NYU and Fordham, but not necessarily Columbia.

There are a lot of mid-sized schools in depressing towns in New York and Pennsylvania that would have higher profiles if they were in nicer areas either in New England or the South. Hobart/William Smith, Bucknell, and Washington & Jefferson come to mind.

How does a midsized city with great nightlife and many job opportunities drag down two practical-minded universities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And yet, some of these more remote areas help the campuses have a distinct feel (compared to urban campuses) and the lower cost-of-living helps their finances.

Yes, I think it depends on the kid...my child would've hated going to a school in a city and specifically sought out LACs in small areas with very distinct campus life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet, some of these more remote areas help the campuses have a distinct feel (compared to urban campuses) and the lower cost-of-living helps their finances.

Yet Notre Dame likes to pretend it is on the same financial level as Georgetown or Boston College (MUCH more expensive cities) and charge equally exorbitant tuition when, yes, of course, cost of living in South Bend is MUCH, much less. Blegh. Get over yourself, ND. (And I'm from a big, multigenerational, ND family.)

???? It's on a completely different financial level. Much better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washington elevates GW and AU. New Orleans is a big plus for Tulane. A remote, isolated location hurts many SLACs. Gritty locations like Waterville and Lewiston/Auburn are negatives for Colby and Bates. Same with Worcester, Mass., for Clark U.

I dunno. I think small/remote is a big part of the appeal for many LACs. I know my kid would've had absolutely no interest in Bowdoin/Carleton/Williams/etc. if they were located in big cities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rice, Vanderbilt, Wash U, Carleton--all great schools in less-desirable locations.

Vanderbilt? Seriously? Every single student I know who goes/went to Vandy cited Nashville as one of the best parts of the school. I can't imagine a better city for college kids, personally.

Northfield is small but really nice- with St. Olaf right there too it's a good college town. For the kind of kids who are attracted to a SLAC, it's ideal.

Rice- Houston isn't as cool as Nashville but it's a big, diverse, growing, thriving city. Rice is in a really nice neighborhood. Hardly less-desirable.

Wash U is in a GREAT part of St. Louis...St. Louis itself may not be a draw, but everyone I know who went to Wash U said it's in a great location.

Are you one of those "any city that's not in California or the Bos Wash corridor is automatically sh*t" types?

+1 totally agree. What is not to like about Nashville for a 20 year old, not sure a city could be cooler?? I have not been to Wash U but Rice's location is great and Houston is a big, reasonably safe city that is growing. Very strange that any of these would be listed but especially Nashville!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale-New Haven and Brown-Providence, although both cities are nicer than they used to be.

I can't speak about what Providence used to be like, but it was a major selling point for my kid to choose Brown over Wesleyan (speaking of towns that drag a college down, Middletown was pretty bleak). The areas adjoining campus are great and the downtown - while a little sleepy - is nice.