What is the most overrated school popular among the dc metro area crowd?

[Anonymous]

There is a limited set of schools I would say are popular overall for the DC metro cloud. UMD, UVA, VT, and perhaps Georgetown come to mind. Perhaps JMU. I wouldn't put schools like JHU and W&M in the popular category because they are smaller, don't get as much attention, and in the case of JHU are drawing a lot from outside the region. The ambitious families with kids with high stats are pretty much just looking at rankings (Ivy, Ivy+, top LACs, etc.).

I think Georgetown is a good option if you are interested in the federal government, but there are clearly a lot of better schools if you are interested in STEM, and as good but less expensive options if you are interested in business. So I think it is overrated in the general sense. UVA also isn't among the strongest in STEM, and the data some people have posted suggest it doesn't really have any earnings advantage over schools like UMD. I think part of the appeal of Georgetown and UVA is that they are better than schools like UMD and VT in social circles and prestige, but I don't think it really makes that much of a difference in career options (while a school like Princeton may).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a limited set of schools I would say are popular overall for the DC metro cloud. UMD, UVA, VT, and perhaps Georgetown come to mind. Perhaps JMU. I wouldn't put schools like JHU and W&M in the popular category because they are smaller, don't get as much attention, and in the case of JHU are drawing a lot from outside the region. The ambitious families with kids with high stats are pretty much just looking at rankings (Ivy, Ivy+, top LACs, etc.).

I think Georgetown is a good option if you are interested in the federal government, but there are clearly a lot of better schools if you are interested in STEM, and as good but less expensive options if you are interested in business. So I think it is overrated in the general sense. UVA also isn't among the strongest in STEM, and the data some people have posted suggest it doesn't really have any earnings advantage over schools like UMD. I think part of the appeal of Georgetown and UVA is that they are better than schools like UMD and VT in social circles and prestige, but I don't think it really makes that much of a difference in career options (while a school like Princeton may).

I think you missed the biggest factor.
Most of the colleges you mentioned are popular because they are state colleges for VA and MD.
I am sending my magnet high school DD to UMD not because it is popular here,
But it is the best value for my family.

[Anonymous]

UVA is a good value, but it is overrated in the sense that it returns similar value to other schools in the area that don't get nearly as much attention.

[Anonymous]

The two private schools I see consistently overrated by the DC UMC crowd are Duke and Georgetown. Georgetown is simply not remarkable in any way outside of SFS (and even then, there are plenty of schools better for IR and poli sci), but some treat it like it's right behind HYP, and I've met one too many snooty Georgetown alums. Funny that so many people think Georgetown Law is impressive when it's concisely ranked last in the T-14.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The two private schools I see consistently overrated by the DC UMC crowd are Duke and Georgetown. Georgetown is simply not remarkable in any way outside of SFS (and even then, there are plenty of schools better for IR and poli sci), but some treat it like it's right behind HYP, and I've met one too many snooty Georgetown alums. Funny that so many people think Georgetown Law is impressive when it's concisely ranked last in the T-14.

Duke and Georgetown shouldn't be grouped together. Duke is strong across the board, including STEM, and is regarded as being at a similar level of prestige to a mid-Ivy school (e.g. Penn). Georgetown is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The two private schools I see consistently overrated by the DC UMC crowd are Duke and Georgetown. Georgetown is simply not remarkable in any way outside of SFS (and even then, there are plenty of schools better for IR and poli sci), but some treat it like it's right behind HYP, and I've met one too many snooty Georgetown alums. Funny that so many people think Georgetown Law is impressive when it's concisely ranked last in the T-14.

Duke and Georgetown shouldn't be grouped together. Duke is strong across the board, including STEM, and is regarded as being at a similar level of prestige to a mid-Ivy school (e.g. Penn). Georgetown is not.

Both schools are woefully overrated, Georgetown just significantly more so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The two private schools I see consistently overrated by the DC UMC crowd are Duke and Georgetown. Georgetown is simply not remarkable in any way outside of SFS (and even then, there are plenty of schools better for IR and poli sci), but some treat it like it's right behind HYP, and I've met one too many snooty Georgetown alums. Funny that so many people think Georgetown Law is impressive when it's concisely ranked last in the T-14.

Duke and Georgetown shouldn't be grouped together. Duke is strong across the board, including STEM, and is regarded as being at a similar level of prestige to a mid-Ivy school (e.g. Penn). Georgetown is not.

Duke sucks. Totally d-bag applicant pool to alums. I once watched a POS dookie make a crack about a “lame public school for people with no hope” in front of a group and, as it turned out, the Fortune 500 CEO in the group replied “you just confirmed all my worst suspicions about your school as you made fun of mine.” I think he wanted to jump out the window.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The two private schools I see consistently overrated by the DC UMC crowd are Duke and Georgetown. Georgetown is simply not remarkable in any way outside of SFS (and even then, there are plenty of schools better for IR and poli sci), but some treat it like it's right behind HYP, and I've met one too many snooty Georgetown alums. Funny that so many people think Georgetown Law is impressive when it's concisely ranked last in the T-14.

Duke and Georgetown shouldn't be grouped together. Duke is strong across the board, including STEM, and is regarded as being at a similar level of prestige to a mid-Ivy school (e.g. Penn). Georgetown is not.

Duke sucks. Totally d-bag applicant pool to alums. I once watched a POS dookie make a crack about a “lame public school for people with no hope” in front of a group and, as it turned out, the Fortune 500 CEO in the group replied “you just confirmed all my worst suspicions about your school as you made fun of mine.” I think he wanted to jump out the window.

I can think of no school with a higher d-bag quotient than Duke. They win by a wide margin.

[Anonymous]

It's remarkable how unanimous and ubiquitous the disdain for Duke runs in pretty much every circle I run in, across every possible demographic. I also feel like Duke has become shorthand for "snobby d-bag" in pop culture as well. The consensus seems to be it's a good school (but not, like it loves to kid itself, HYPS-level), but overwhelmingly outputs d-bags and pretentious types by the bucket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The two private schools I see consistently overrated by the DC UMC crowd are Duke and Georgetown. Georgetown is simply not remarkable in any way outside of SFS (and even then, there are plenty of schools better for IR and poli sci), but some treat it like it's right behind HYP, and I've met one too many snooty Georgetown alums. Funny that so many people think Georgetown Law is impressive when it's concisely ranked last in the T-14.

Duke and Georgetown shouldn't be grouped together. Duke is strong across the board, including STEM, and is regarded as being at a similar level of prestige to a mid-Ivy school (e.g. Penn). Georgetown is not.

Duke sucks. Totally d-bag applicant pool to alums. I once watched a POS dookie make a crack about a “lame public school for people with no hope” in front of a group and, as it turned out, the Fortune 500 CEO in the group replied “you just confirmed all my worst suspicions about your school as you made fun of mine.” I think he wanted to jump out the window.

I can think of no school with a higher d-bag quotient than Duke. They win by a wide margin.

Do you think this is true for both men and women? I feel like most examples on here are about men. I'm genuinely curious. I like most of the women alums I know. Can't say the same for all of the men.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you make of this? From a NPV perspective, GWU hangs with the University of Chicago!!! WRONG.

University of Chicago $1,420,000
George Washington University $1,418,000

Also, a number of specialty schools have a higher NPV than Harvard. Better apply now!! WRONG.

UChicago's 20 year ROI on Payscale is just woefully and embarrassingly low compared to its peers, like on the same level as state schools like U Arizona, San Diego State, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. But it's got the highest total cost of any school in the country.

Every ivy and ivy+ (Stanford, Duke, MIT, Caltech) school is about 1.5-2 times as high in terms of ROI.

[Anonymous]

Crazy pay scale poster is back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Crazy pay scale poster is back.

Please argue with facts instead of calling names. If there's been a bunch of threads on this forum (and many others on the internet) highlighting the problem with U of C undergrad's low ROI as opposed to other "elite" schools, that definitely is worth some concern for potential applicants, especially those from non-affluent backgrounds.

[Anonymous]

Fact is the website you mention does not conduct any analysis. It is based on a limited sample that is self-reported, as all those other threads mention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fact is the website you mention does not conduct any analysis. It is based on a limited sample that is self-reported, as all those other threads mention.

There's also a very thoroughly done Georgetown University report done based on the DOE's College Scorecard that estimates 10, 20, 30, 40-year ROIs. U of C is not ranked as low as in the self-reported Payscale ROI ranking but not high either compared to its peer schools; this clearly does not correspond to its current ranking or perceived prestige.