For at least a few decades, I think Californians have held schools like UCSD, UCD, and Cal Poly in much higher esteem than USNWR or anyone east of the Mississippi. USNWR has recently elevated these schools though.

Still, I think many people here who think they need to go to a T20 to get a job in FAANG would be surprised to hear that local schools like San Jose State feed pretty well into Facebook, Google, Pixar, and other premier tech companies.

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of kids these days want a vibrant D1 football school.

This is hard for this forum to accept but this is exactly what kids want. JMU has a pretty good football team these days. It is clearly rising in desirability.

My kids go to a very good public in PA. Few kids are applying to smaller schools. Most of the time it is to play a sport. Or the kids are very smart and are headed to an IVY or an IVY quality school.

+100
This is exactly what we see at our NOVA public.