I’m not entirely sure what you are asking OP.

Is it this? I’m in VA, and there is a perception here that the current USNWR ranking underrate WM, because they stopped considering the places WM shines, like small classes for a public and undergrad teaching. And that outside of CS/engineering it should rank above VT. WM kids entering stats are almost identical to UVA’s and much higher than VTs, and kids that can easily get into VT Arts and Sciences often cannot get into WM. Really, WM should be evaluated as a LAC because who they are is a mismatch with the ranking criteria. But their law school and a couple other things prevent this.

Also that *for arts & sciences* JMU and VT are close to being peers and kid preference and specific course of study place a big role in a kid deciding which to choose. But, they aren’t ranked against each other at all in USNWR because VT is “national” under USNWR and JMU is “regional”.

So, in general, USNWR does kind of a hatchet job on the top 4-5 VA public colleges because kids consider WM and UVA side by side or VT and JMU, but USNWR ranking are out of whack with what’s happening on the ground.

For engineering degrees, the specific E school often matters much less than the choice of upper-level electives, especially for a first job. ABET means that nearly all E schools are rigorous and require a lot of hard work. The choice of upper-level electives translates into job skills and specific knowledge -- and those really are what matter for both first job and also future prospects.

Contrived example: I prefer an EE/CompE frim U. Nowhere with Verilog/VHDL courses and skills over an EE/CompE without those skills from Famous University.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Typo meant App State

Live in NC. After UNC and NCSU, most kids seem to prefer Appalachian state, I believe rankings like UNC-W, UNC-C etc. are higher ranked and on national list.

That’s because USNews has regional schools and national schools based on percentage of doctoral programs and mission. App State is classified as regional and quite high on that list.

If you look at other rankings like Forbes, App State is higher than UNCW or UNCC

Gotcha, thanks for explaining.

Anonymous wrote:Typo meant App State

Live in NC. After UNC and NCSU, most kids seem to prefer Appalachian state, I believe rankings like UNC-W, UNC-C etc. are higher ranked and on national list.

That’s because USNews has regional schools and national schools based on percentage of doctoral programs and mission. App State is classified as regional and quite high on that list.

If you look at other rankings like Forbes, App State is higher than UNCW or UNCC

Anonymous wrote:Most people go to college in state, and most people are more familiar with the colleges near them. Almost 70% of college students are within 50 miles of their home, and even among kids who go to private colleges, 46% choose one within 50 miles of home. The median distance to home only rises above 80 miles in the highest income quintile. The people who travel the farthest are in the highest income bracket attending private research institutes.

https://ticas.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/HIllman-Geography-of-Opportunity-Brief-2_2023.pdf

Exactly and that’s what I’m asking albeit poorly clearly. Locals wouldn’t necessarily classify same as us news rankings in my opinion. Not talking about oos perceptions of the schools.

Most people go to college in state, and most people are more familiar with the colleges near them. Almost 70% of college students are within 50 miles of their home, and even among kids who go to private colleges, 46% choose one within 50 miles of home. The median distance to home only rises above 80 miles in the highest income quintile. The people who travel the farthest are in the highest income bracket attending private research institutes.

https://ticas.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/HIllman-Geography-of-Opportunity-Brief-2_2023.pdf

Typo meant App State

Live in NC. After UNC and NCSU, most kids seem to prefer Appalachian state, I believe rankings like UNC-W, UNC-C etc. are higher ranked and on national list.

If you won’t name schools, how can we even answer this?

Live in NC. After UNC and NCSU, most kids seem to prefer NC state, I believe rankings like UNC-W, UNC-C etc. are higher ranked and on national list.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that’s rather obvious. If you want to be top dog at Edward Jones in St Louis, Mizzou is fairly well regarded and would be fine.

But if you have a degree from Colorado and want to be respected in St Louis you are going to have a harder time.

Sorry, not what I meant, I guess maybe I worded it poorly. What I meant was in state I live top two public are obvious, but I think school most kids would put 3rd is in a regional ranking versus other satellite campuses that do have good programs and are ranked higher.

The above post by the OP is unclear to me. Does anyone understand what the OP is attempting to communicate ?

Appears to be some sort of guessing game. Tuned it out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that’s rather obvious. If you want to be top dog at Edward Jones in St Louis, Mizzou is fairly well regarded and would be fine.

But if you have a degree from Colorado and want to be respected in St Louis you are going to have a harder time.

Sorry, not what I meant, I guess maybe I worded it poorly. What I meant was in state I live top two public are obvious, but I think school most kids would put 3rd is in a regional ranking versus other satellite campuses that do have good programs and are ranked higher.

The above post by the OP is unclear to me. Does anyone understand what the OP is attempting to communicate ?

Anonymous wrote:I think that’s rather obvious. If you want to be top dog at Edward Jones in St Louis, Mizzou is fairly well regarded and would be fine.

But if you have a degree from Colorado and want to be respected in St Louis you are going to have a harder time.

Sorry, not what I meant, I guess maybe I worded it poorly. What I meant was in state I live top two public are obvious, but I think school most kids would put 3rd is in a regional ranking versus other satellite campuses that do have good programs and are ranked higher.

My perception is that in much of the country, beyond the coasts and big cities, most people haven’t heard of many of the colleges in the country beyond the state schools and HYP. Or if they have, they have no concept of the rankings and just don’t care.
So yes, if you want a decent job in any given flyover state, go to the state university. If you want a job at a so-called prestigious employer in a big city, where you go to college matters a lot more. At least for your first job.

I think that’s rather obvious. If you want to be top dog at Edward Jones in St Louis, Mizzou is fairly well regarded and would be fine.

But if you have a degree from Colorado and want to be respected in St Louis you are going to have a harder time.

I think if you asked someone top universities in state (or maybe it’s more popularity at work) where I live they would not correlate with US news rankings. I know rankings are lacking in many ways, but despite that a resource many use so just curious if this is unusual or not.

And before everyone gets all bothered that I didn’t list state, I did it purposefully to see if anyone else mentions.