Brag about your "lesser known" school!

Parents Forum
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<p>mootmom- my mother graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson in 1950. She became a special education teacher, and got a fabulous education there!
I hope your s loves it now as much as she did 57+ years ago!</p>

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<p>My niece is about to graduate from WWU with a BA in writing and a BFA in dance. It is the fifth college she attended, but the first that really engaged her and met her needs. She has done exciting things there and learned a lot. It’s definitely worth checking out for students that don’t quite fit the standard mold.</p>

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<p>Gee, this is refreshing!!!</p>

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<p>My beloved nephew graduated last year from FDU with his master’s in finance. With the generous aid he received, he has no debt and a wonderful job making serious bucks in the financial industry in NYC. He met his lovely fiancee who is a teacher and they are both poised, educated and wonderful people. He made a great choice and I hope as much success and happiness for your son!</p>

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<p>Here’s my plug for Kansas State University. Although K-State is ranked in the USNWR 1st tier for national universities, it’s near the bottom of that category. My daughter was a stellar student in high school (4.0 GPA, 31 ACT, magnet high school program, equestrian athlete, over a year of college/AP credit in high school, etc.). She could have gone just about anywhere, but she chose K-State because of the strong reputation of its college of agriculture, preveterinary program and vet school. Additionally, the campus is beautiful, everyone we met was incredibly friendly and helpful and it’s very inexpensive, even for non-residents. To top all that off, the academics aren’t bad:</p>

<p>K-STATE’S STELLAR COMPANY
K-State ranks first nationally among state universities in its total of Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, and Udall scholars since 1986. Our students have won more than $2 million in those five competitions and have earned K-State a place among the nation’s elite universities.</p>

<p>Rank among the 500 state universities

  1. K-State (#1 in all-time Truman and Goldwater scholars; #2 in Rhodes scholars since 1986; #3 in Marshall scholars since 1986; #5 in all-time Udall scholars)
  2. Penn State
  3. University of North Carolina
  4. University of Kansas
  5. Arizona State University
  6. University of Virginia
  7. University of Michigan
  8. University of Illinois
  9. Montana State University
  10. University of California at Berkeley</p>

<p>Rank among all 2,400 public and private universities

  1. Harvard
  2. Yale
  3. Princeton
  4. Stanford
  5. Duke
  6. Brown
  7. K-State
  8. Chicago
  9. MIT
  10. Cornell</p>

<p>So I second your toast to “lesser known” schools, OP. Go Wildcats!</p>

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<p>It is THRILLING for me to see all these posts! College is all about choice - whether you choose a local college, a large univ, a small private, a well known, or a lesser known - it is your choice and decision and hopefully a FIT for you (the student!).</p>

<p>There are many great choices out there - we as a family received a lot of flack when we left our Catholic private ed - D attended there preschool - 8th grade - for public high school. A choice we believed was good for her because we know she would be motivated and we felt we then would have more $$ options when college time came. I don’t know how many times she was told “I hope you have a good head on your shoulders” as she headed off to public school. Obviously, she did!!! But ANY of the choices she had then, could be good if the fit was right and the motivation was there.</p>

<p>I hope others will continue to post, so we can celebrate ALL the choices available - and celebrate all the great kids at great schools EVERYONE on CC has in their family!!!</p>

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<p>Georgia State University. If you’re looking for the same quality education as UGA, minus the whole “bulldog tradition” thing and over-selectivity, go here. It’s not as expensive as UGA in terms of tuition, but housing is around 5k a year. The only real drawback is it’s not just in a city
it’s the city. But they recently built brand new dorms like two minutes away, and they have a SotR rec center.</p>

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<p>Similar to what mezzomom mentioned about Methodist scholarships at Otterbein, Westminster College in PA has a Young Presbyterian Scholars program ($12,000/yr) that is worth looking into if you are a member of that denomination and are looking for a smaller school with great academic programs.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.westminster.edu/spiritlife/yps/yps_overview.cfm[/url]”>http://www.westminster.edu/spiritlife/yps/yps_overview.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Great to see this thread! I’m getting ‘flack’ from some of my friends about considering Clark University, Ursinus, College of Wooster and Juniata. Some people can be so dismissive of schools they’ve ‘never heard of’.</p>

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<p>I chose not to attend, but I have to brag about the school my dad attended: Kenyon College in Ohio. It has a very community-oriented campus, cutting-edge programs, and artistic disciplines. It’s worth looking into.</p>

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<p>From the parent of a rising HS senior, thank you so much for this great thread!</p>

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<p>I agree this is a great thread-</p>

<p>Even though older D went to another relatively unknown school, to me-I realize that it wasn’t unknown among people who were more familiar with higher ed.
( Melman- I don’t pay so much attention to what “people” * except on CC!* say- for example- one parent a few years ago- was dismissive re: Reed College as “ok, if you want a regional school”-* so when I found out that his kid was going to Pacific Lutheran University- I had to bite myself not to make a snarky comment*, not to mention- when older D was in high school, I thought Cornell was in Iowa & thought UPenn was a state school :o )</p>

<p>However- Reed is no longer a “hidden gem”, and I along with many here are trying to a school which could be a great fit for their less than national merit scholar progeny .</p>

<p>( yes I know that many NMS, go to schools like WWU- in fact one of Ds friends did, but they don’t hand out much money for that)</p>

<p>I also have to give a shout out to USNEWS
no I think the rankings are not so helpful- as they make totally neurotic parents out of what used to be normal people- worrying that their kids school isn’t as high ranked as the next.
But the online resource loads fast ( I have dial up) is easy to search and gives lots of info at your fingertips.</p>

<p>Currently I am thinking about Pacific University- WWU, Oregon State- U of Oregon- Humboldt State and possibly Monterey Bay- D isn’t so interested yet- she is sleeping getting ready for her next session as a counseling intern.</p>

<p>Also Melman- one of older Ds roommates when she was riding staff at her summer job, attended Wooster and loved it.</p>

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<p>We know someone who attended Clark and has had nothing but good things to say about it!</p>

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<p>Debruns,
One of my closest friends is a graduate of Drew and has gone on to become one of the foremost experts on certain plant diseases. His expertise is valued world over. Agreed that this is quite a refreshing (and calming!) thread!</p>

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<p>Even though University of Maryland is not as prestigious as JHU or Cornell, I got an internship at NASA! and we won like 4 NATIONAL NCAA championships in my two years at UMCP :D</p>

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<p>One of my good friends attends Simmons College in Boston. It’s a small women’s college with liberal arts and professional offerings. She chose the school over many more recognized colleges because she wanted to do a double major in English and education, she wanted the city of Boston. She doesn’t feel the strains of competition, and she adores her professors.</p>

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<p>Hinman, I know plenty of folks who turned down JHU for UMD, esp. in the sciences! Add a nice merit package and the opportunities at NIH, NCI, NASA, JPL, and political involvement, etc. and UMCP has a LOT to offer.</p>

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<p>DD goes to Santa Clara University. Even <em>we</em> had never heard of it before her college search began. Folks from CA probably know it, but here on the east coast, folks think it’s a CA state funded university. It’s not. The size is great, the climate is great, the facilities are great, and it has a great engineering school (dd’s current interest) which is great. Their business school is also highly regarded. Being smack in the middle of the Silicon Valley is a plus as well. Maybe it’s not a “hidden gem” or “lesser known” but it’s right up there amongst “less familiar” private schools, particularly for those out of its region.</p>

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<p>I tell people my daughter is going to “a small college in Illinois that no one has ever heard of”. Actually, it’s Millikin University in Decatur, IL. Small, liberal-arts college with 2300 students. She is studying Theater and Dance, and loves it. I talked to her part way through her Freshman year to see if she wanted to re-audition at any of the colleges that turned her down, including a college in the same town as then-boyfriend. Nope, she really liked Millikin. And I have been thrilled with the helpful the administration is with parents. Especially parents two states away!</p>

<p>And as a side note, she is on 50% merit scholarship, which brings her costs down to about the same as her brother’s, who is going to a State university.</p>

<p>Peg
whose money is going to Millikin University and University of Michigan (I need to change my name to MU/UMMomma)</p>

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<p>Thanks for starting this thread. I’m new to the discussion board, and one thing I noticed right away, was the emphasis on big names. My husband has worked for colleges and universities for 30 years now. He’s worked for big, highly ranked names like Rice and Washington University in St. Louis as well as lesser known colleges. </p>

<p>Our younger son will be a freshman at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, which is one of 40 lesser known small liberal arts colleges featured in Loren Pope’s book Colleges that Change Lives (<a href=“http://www.ctcl.com/)%5B/url%5D”>http://www.ctcl.com/)</a>. Pope is a former New York Times education editor who has recently charged a new author with updating the book’s new editions. This would be a good place to start to discover some “hidden” gems.</p>

<p>Hendrix is a bit of a strange duck since it’s smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt and yet has a reputation for having a liberal (in general) student body, good academics and a caring faculty. <a href=“http://www.hendrix.edu/[/url]”>http://www.hendrix.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Husband’s new school, Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, is another hidden gem from what I know so far. There’s an emphasis on global education and the university was one of the first to get on the sustainability bandwagon. The school has a wonderful architecture program and business is strong. Plus, I really like Springfield.</p>

<p>Our older son attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and loved it there before transferring to Loyola University Chicago.</p>

<p>There are just so many fine schools. Guidebooks are a place to start, but remember some of the authors and compilers have been lobbied and cajoled and I don’t see how relying on them is a good idea.</p>