What are the most underrated public/state universities?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Colleges that are worth going out of state for, even if not many people do.</p>

2

<p>I’d say Clemson University, Virginia Tech, SUNY-Geneseo, The College Of New Jersey, St. Mary’s College Of Maryland, Pittsburgh, UNC-Asheville as well as other small public schools</p>

3

<p>university of florida if your going to live in florida</p>

4

<p>Florida is definately not underrated</p>

5

<p>In addition to quality, considering affordability for non-residents…</p>

<p>Indiana University-Bloomington
Kansas University
Virginia Tech
U of Alabama-Birmingham
U of Wisconsin-Madison
U of South Carolina-Columbia
Ohio University
U of Nebraska-Lincoln</p>

6

<p>U of Minnesota - Morris is a terrific small public LAC that offers EVERYONE in-state tuition. Full tuition scholarships for NMF, too, and well-regarded regionally for academics.</p>

7

<p>U of Iowa…</p>

8

<p>Indiana University Hoosiers
Pittsburgh University Panthers
University of South Florida Bulls
Clemson University Tigers
University of Oklahoma Sooners
University of Kansas Jayhawks
University of Washington Huskies</p>

9

<p>csulb… as shocking as that may sound.</p>

10

<p>Be advised that the U of Washington, while a strong school, is pricey for non-residents and is not particularly undergraduate-focused.</p>

11

<p>There are MANY underrated state universities. Here is a partial list presented in no particular order:

  1. University of Cincinnati
  2. Truman State University
  3. Big 10 schools such as Ohio State, Penn State, etc.
  4. Towson University
  5. St. Marys College in Maryland
    6.Miami of Ohio
  6. University of Maryland ( although I am not sure it is that underrated)
  7. Salsbury University in Maryland
  8. James Madison University
  9. Virginia Tech,</p>

<p>and many others.</p>

12

<p>Some of the SUNYs from what I’ve heard</p>

13

<p>Taxguy:
You seriously think the Big Ten schools are underrated? Some of them have up to 30% OOS acceptance rates.</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>Are you arguing that this is high, or low?</p>

15

<p>^^ I thought it was pretty high. I could be wrong, but my impression was always that state schools were generally 90/10.</p>

16

<p>Some have higher non-resident percentages than that. </p>

<p>But I think that a relatively high acceptance rate could, in some ways, be seen as evidence of a school being underrated. That is, if you think about a place being not adequately known about. The OP mentioned these might be places where not many people try to attend from OOS, even if they should.</p>

17

<p>Although I believe that some of the schools mentioned above are over-rated, many state schools are underrated when looking at specific programs within the university. Many are overrated due to large class sizes, use of too many TAs to teach, underfunding & overcrowding and lesser students (and excessive partying at some such as Penn State & Wisconsin which typically receive acclaim as top party schools).
Several UCs are overrated due, primarily, to a lack of adequete funding that leads to huge class sizes & unavailability of classes as they fill up quickly.
It would be interesting to develop a detailed system of rating state school honors programs/colleges which try to correct many of the concerns mentioned above in my post.</p>

18

<p>I see your point, and it’s valid for a lot of places – I’m just not sure that a Big Ten such as Penn State or Michigan can really be seen as underrated when they are so popular for academics and athletics nationwide.</p>

19

<p>Yeah, I agree that I wouldn’t put U-M in that category at all–it gets 20,000 nonresidents apps for each freshman class.</p>

20

<p>Wisconsin has dropped out of the Top 20 party schools list. But reputations die hard. Arrests for drinking at Halloween, football games, etc are way down.</p>