| DoctorB, as a fan of W&M and Georgetown in particular, I COMPLETELY agree with you that they get little respect in the forum and I'd place them ahead of the State U research schools listed consistently ahead of them (while by no means degrading those schools).
As for Tokenadult's point about Berkeley: I also completely agree that part of Berkeley's appeal in the West Coast is indeed the fact that it is (comparatively) low-priced for what you get, which raises its profile there (again, not taking away from Berkeley's general excellence at all - but it does seem as though Californians don't always understand that their view of the landscape is not universally shared across the country).
I also believe that the pricing system creates a different impression elsewhere ... even though (say) Stanford for anyone is more expensive than Berkeley OOS, knowing that some people are paying in-state prices for Berkeley has an impact on what I think I'd be willing to pay for it, when I have my own state school. That comparison doesn't come into play if I were just looking at Stanford - I wouldn't implicitly compare its price to my own state school. I think for those of us in states with good state schools to begin with, it takes a lot to consider paying OOS for someone else's state school. As an IL resident, I probably would still pay OOS for UCLA or Berkeley (but likely not the other CA schools), Michigan, Virginia, NC and possibly Wisconsin or Washington ... but I compare the price/value of Berkeley to that of my own state school in a way I wouldn't for a California private school. |