Underrated schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all of them after the top 50 are under-rated.

Most colleges are great places with excellent teaching, and every college is perfect for someone.

Don't be afraid to seek them out and measure them up against the students goals.

Agree. The whole rating system creates a false devaluing of schools, especially regional schools. It's a huge country with a lot of colleges. Ranking them is a silly exercise.

Ranking is useful when there are a lot of colleges like 2500+
Thanks to the information, my three kids found great schools fit them well.

The choice isn't ranking vs. nothing. I very much prefer the Princeton Review approach that selects under 400 schools it considers strong and then rates schools on a variety of features, and gives qualitative description of the schools. This helps people find a "good" school on the aspects they care about without getting into this horse race mentality that where one school is ten spots above another because they have 1% more research grant funding and 1% more Pell grant recipients or whatever--distinctions that matter so little about whether the school will be a good fit for your student.

What about other 2100 schools
Those were ranked lower and eliminated.
You were interested in top 400 schools.
My kids were interested in top 50 schools.

But the PR doesn't think there are top 50 schools--or doesn't orient that way. They list them in alphabetical order not by their average rating. You can look at what is highest rated on the variables that interest you rather than thinking that you can identify a precise order among institutions that are very different from one another. The schools that are included (the number varies--it's 388 right now I think) are all the ones that meet their benchmark. It's a different philosophy and method than rank-ordering, it's benchmarking for inclusion and then rating.

I would use USN&WR as initial list and then PR.
In fact you should use various references.
These are all parts of references.
You don't make a decision relying on a single reference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all of them after the top 50 are under-rated.

Most colleges are great places with excellent teaching, and every college is perfect for someone.

Don't be afraid to seek them out and measure them up against the students goals.

Agree. The whole rating system creates a false devaluing of schools, especially regional schools. It's a huge country with a lot of colleges. Ranking them is a silly exercise.

Ranking is useful when there are a lot of colleges like 2500+
Thanks to the information, my three kids found great schools fit them well.

The choice isn't ranking vs. nothing. I very much prefer the Princeton Review approach that selects under 400 schools it considers strong and then rates schools on a variety of features, and gives qualitative description of the schools. This helps people find a "good" school on the aspects they care about without getting into this horse race mentality that where one school is ten spots above another because they have 1% more research grant funding and 1% more Pell grant recipients or whatever--distinctions that matter so little about whether the school will be a good fit for your student.

+1 Princeton Review is a much better tool for top students when making their list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all of them after the top 50 are under-rated.

Most colleges are great places with excellent teaching, and every college is perfect for someone.

Don't be afraid to seek them out and measure them up against the students goals.

Agree. The whole rating system creates a false devaluing of schools, especially regional schools. It's a huge country with a lot of colleges. Ranking them is a silly exercise.

Ranking is useful when there are a lot of colleges like 2500+
Thanks to the information, my three kids found great schools fit them well.

The choice isn't ranking vs. nothing. I very much prefer the Princeton Review approach that selects under 400 schools it considers strong and then rates schools on a variety of features, and gives qualitative description of the schools. This helps people find a "good" school on the aspects they care about without getting into this horse race mentality that where one school is ten spots above another because they have 1% more research grant funding and 1% more Pell grant recipients or whatever--distinctions that matter so little about whether the school will be a good fit for your student.

My kid thought the Princeton Review guide was very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all of them after the top 50 are under-rated.

Most colleges are great places with excellent teaching, and every college is perfect for someone.

Don't be afraid to seek them out and measure them up against the students goals.

Agree. The whole rating system creates a false devaluing of schools, especially regional schools. It's a huge country with a lot of colleges. Ranking them is a silly exercise.

Ranking is useful when there are a lot of colleges like 2500+
Thanks to the information, my three kids found great schools fit them well.

The choice isn't ranking vs. nothing. I very much prefer the Princeton Review approach that selects under 400 schools it considers strong and then rates schools on a variety of features, and gives qualitative description of the schools. This helps people find a "good" school on the aspects they care about without getting into this horse race mentality that where one school is ten spots above another because they have 1% more research grant funding and 1% more Pell grant recipients or whatever--distinctions that matter so little about whether the school will be a good fit for your student.

My kid thought the Princeton Review guide was very helpful.

Ours too. PR, Fiske, and USNWR (more for the data and granular ranks in things like undergrad teaching, research, and writing than the overall rank.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all of them after the top 50 are under-rated.

Most colleges are great places with excellent teaching, and every college is perfect for someone.

Don't be afraid to seek them out and measure them up against the students goals.

Agree. The whole rating system creates a false devaluing of schools, especially regional schools. It's a huge country with a lot of colleges. Ranking them is a silly exercise.

Ranking is useful when there are a lot of colleges like 2500+
Thanks to the information, my three kids found great schools fit them well.

The choice isn't ranking vs. nothing. I very much prefer the Princeton Review approach that selects under 400 schools it considers strong and then rates schools on a variety of features, and gives qualitative description of the schools. This helps people find a "good" school on the aspects they care about without getting into this horse race mentality that where one school is ten spots above another because they have 1% more research grant funding and 1% more Pell grant recipients or whatever--distinctions that matter so little about whether the school will be a good fit for your student.

My kid thought the Princeton Review guide was very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't mind catholic colleges, I think most of them are underrated except t Georgetown, Notre dame, and Villanova.

Most have small-mid size classes and generally are located in areas that have access to big cities.

+1 And many offer decent merit packages for strong students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't mind catholic colleges, I think most of them are underrated except t Georgetown, Notre dame, and Villanova.

Most have small-mid size classes and generally are located in areas that have access to big cities.

You forgot BC. Boston College is definitely not underrated!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Consider UMass! My DC is there now, got merit aid, and is happy with the quality of classes. Lots of activities and opportunities, and the school has been fantastic in terms of keeping kids informed about what’s going on.

What area of study is your DC pursuing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider UMass! My DC is there now, got merit aid, and is happy with the quality of classes. Lots of activities and opportunities, and the school has been fantastic in terms of keeping kids informed about what’s going on.

What area of study is your DC pursuing?

Makes sense: top rated public schools for 25 years would have strong flagship state school. Their (marketing) problem: Harvard is in their yard / no pun intended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thinking about the vast amount of schools to choose from. On this board I don't hear much about the SUNYs, I find that a bit surprising. Some of them are excellent. Impressions of SUNYs? Topic is too broad I know bc many schools are overlooked. Guess I'm also wondering aside from prestige, which schools perhaps are a bit overlooked?

If your stats are good enough for T15 but you want a more personalized experience, look at top 10 Slacs! I have two kids, one in T5 and one in one of the top slacs, their experience has been so different. Both are super happy but my SLAC kid has so so so many friends since day one, and contact with the advisor over and over with questions and advice.

[Anonymous]

UVA

[Anonymous]

Schools that score relatively higher in Princeton Review ratings compared to USNWR rankings are likely underrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA

It'll show up right away in an "Overrated schools" thread. Divisive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. Agree Rochester is underrated. Rigorous and intense, but excellent.

But it’s in Rochester. Nuff said

[Anonymous]

UNC Charlotte