Other than 4-5 universities prestige will vary from region to region. In any ranking system you look at and on main street Vanderbilt is a 1 percenter when it comes to prestige in any region. Prestige is a funny thing on main street. On main street most have not heard of Cal-tech, think WashSL is in Seattle, mix up UPENN and Penn State, think NDU and USC are football schools, Duke is a basketball school, have no idea where Rice is, can’t name any top LAC’s, and think John Thompson is still coaching at Georgetown…wait I think his son is.
As for Vandy’s geographic diversity, outside TN the best represented states are:
- IL
- NY
- TX
- FL
- CA