<p>We lived abroad for a few years and I can tell you that EVERYONE we encountered had heard of NYU. People asked us about it all the time.</p>
<p>I did this experiment at a baseball game and at a Parade in a blue-collar steel town in Indiana. Everyone that I asked could name at least 10 schools that are in the state or located in Chicago (we live in da Region, so Chicago is our backyard). Tiny little LACs in the state were mentioned. Nationally known schools all seemed to be related to sports teams, such as Alabama and Florida. I did hear Harvard and West Point a few times. When I asked what school was probably the most well-known worldwide, Notre Dame was mentioned overwhelmingly. </p>
<p>I think people on CC tend to underestimate the brand power of Notre Dame. In the Irish areas of Chicago, Notre Dame is truly king of the hill. Then maybe Harvard and Northwestern. U Chicago is fairly close to these areas but doesn’t have high share of mind. The other Ivies? Vague knowledge. </p>
<p>And outside of Chicago? It might as well fall in line with the other colleges that are regionally recognized or known for their sports. </p>
<p>Johns Hopkins. Everyone seems to have heard of it, although they all assume it’s somehow medical only, like Mayo. Given that, there is name recognition.</p>
<p>Notre Dame is a big deal everywhere. The Notre Dame brand is money. ND football just extended its exclusive contract with NBC until 2025…ND has a big following nationwide. Too ND, just did a deal with Under Armor equipment worth about $90 million…biggest college deal in America for equipment and apparel association. No other college in America has the marketing leverage Notre Dame has.</p>
<p>Must have missed it. :)</p>
<p>" When I asked what school was probably the most well-known worldwide, Notre Dame was mentioned overwhelmingly. "
Right, and baseball and American football are the most popular sports worldwide.
For most people outside of US the idea that there may be sport teams at a University sounds completely absurd. </p>
<p>Before I came to this country 20+ years ago I heard about 2 US Universities - Princeton and U of Michigan. Princeton - because of A. Einstein and UMich had some affiliated publishing house that was printing literature that was illegal in my country that I got to read.</p>
<p>I think I already answered Harvard and I stand by it. A lot of people know about Yale, Princeton, etc. but I feel like Harvard is more universal.
My dad has been in the country for over 30 years, graduated from high school in California and he didn’t know Yale was one of the top schools. We were driving past New Haven and I joked, “Oh yeah, let me apply to Yale.”</p>
<p>He said, “Oh, is it a good school?” I thought he was joking! He then said, “If it’s so good, why is it in a crappy area?” 
</p>
<p>I’m from SoCal and honestly I didn’t know that Notre Dame and Northwestern are good schools academically until I started helping my daughter with her college application.</p>
<p>My husband and my dad went to Columbia, and I didn’t know it was sort of a big deal until I came to CC. Couldn’t name Ivies. </p>
<p>I went to Howard, and THAT was a big deal! :-" </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>United States {Military, Naval, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine} Academy
{California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon} Institute of Technology
{Rensselaer, Worchester} Polytechnic Institute
Colorado School of Mines
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Rhode Island School of Design
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But how many can spell it? :)</p>
<p>Or know the difference between Berkeley and Berklee?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Like these?</p>
<p>University of Pennsylvania
University of Southern California</p>
<p>But isn’t it the case that many “University of [city]” schools are private (often Catholic) schools? State schools with city names are more often named like “University of [state] at [city]”, “[state] State University at [city]” or “[city] State University”.</p>
<p>Of course, there are schools with a state name, but not in that state. For example, California University of Pennsylvania and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.</p>
<p>Before the age of the INTERNET, an acquaintance from India chose North Dakota because it was a very large state on the US map. He turned down Stanford because it was not named after a state. He had a fine engineering career which proves my long-held belief that it generally does not matter which engineering school one graduates from.</p>
<p>I hadn’t heard of Podunk University until I joined CC</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Ha - I suspect that Podunk University is still more famous than Podunk College.
My daughter is attending one (that is our inside joke).
</p>
<p>2018dad - likewise, didn’t know there were a bunch of other University of Californias in a bunch of cities I never heard of. I’d heard of UCLA (some sports rivalry with USC, they were sort of six of one, half a dozen of the other) and Berkeley with old-hippie vibes but who the heck ever heard of UC Davis or Riverside or Santa Barbara or about a dozen other locations, all of which are blanks to anyone who isn’t from CA? </p>
<p>I think Podunk U is from Rocky and Bullwinkle.</p>
<p>Faber College</p>