<p>Blah midwest pride - don’t use “average american” as your metric. If that was the case, there are maybe 5-6 schools that would be “strong” (harvard, stanford, MIT, etc.). </p>
<p>Many americans haven’t heard of UChicago, UPenn, Williams, Amherst, etc. etc. - and these are all great schools. </p>
<p>Just because someone hasn’t heard of a school or doesn’t think the school has “much” of a reputation might not equate to reality, and there’s no reason to be misled by it, especially in today’s internet era where information is at your fingertips. </p>
<p>Be better than that.</p>