<p>in terms of name recognition and prestige?</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, best guesses are: reed, chicago, rice, dartmouth (???, seems relatively unknown amongst general public)</p>
<p>but I’m more interested in other peoples’ thoughts</p>
<p>USMA at West Point, USNA at Annapolis and USAFA at Colorado Springs.</p>
<p>The academies have enjoyed fine reputations forever. They certainly create one of the strongest networking groups out there. </p>
<p>I think some of the directional state schools will see an increase in reputation. Here in Maryland, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has been moving up. People used to joke that UMBC stood for U Made a Bad Choice–not anymore.</p>
<p>Same thing here in Indiana. IUPUI was known as Ewwee-Pewwee, and not just due to the initials. The shcool has created a niche for its healthcare education and become a solid alternative to IU ande Purdue.</p>
<p>I think the state flagships (that aren’t considered “Public Ivies”) and the strong directional schools as suggested by MD Mom and MizzBee are going to see tremendous enrollment growth in the next 5 to 10 year. Not sure if that is the “upward mobility” the OP meant.</p>
<p>More and more upper middle class families are balking at the idea of sending their children to a private college to pay $200,000+ for a degree, when their state flagship offers a degree for $80,000 or so. Just doesn’t make sense in this economy.</p>
<p>University of Houston and UT Dallas in Texas.</p>
<p>Probably TCU since it joined big east now which will provide better name recognition.</p>
<p>HKUST, U.Singapore, Beijing U. of Tech, U. Shanghai S&T, IIT Chenai, Technion, U. Cairo, Free U.Berlin</p>
<p>I wasn’t sure what the upward mobility meant either, olderwisermom. Perhaps the OP could clarify whether he/she meant name recognition and prestige of the college or the graduate.</p>
<p>As for the academies, in 5 to 10 years pretty much every graduate who stays in the military is at the same rank with a very small number getting early promotions.</p>
<p>^ True but what other school can you attend in which everyone is making $60K in base pay alone with 4 years experience (add subsistence and housing on top of that)? And those schools certainly have name recognition.</p>
<p>The privates for the most part aren’t on and have never been on huge “enlargement plans”…most are still the same size they’ve always been so unless they have historically name awareness they ebb and flow based on what students consider “hot” or “not” maybe slightly influenced by the USNWR simply because people see a name on the list they don’t recognize and they go and research the name (think Macalester, Grinnell, Reed etc. that have been solid colleges for two generations, not much as changed except there is more awareness by a broader audience) conversely some great ones (think Antioch) will fail or become weaker institutions of higher learning. Kids travel further chasing either money or desire to go “somewhere different” which isn’t all that much different than a generation ago except there are more of them, travel is easier, distances feel smaller and the cost of travel is miniscule compared to the cost of college. When a year’s tuition at a private cost $4000 but it cost almost a grand to get there and back cost relativity in the absence of legacy or some compelling family reason came into play.</p>
<p>I think I agree as the number of college bound kids has soared and kids have followed the money and apply all over the country and not just in region, the strong regional publics are the schools that will benefit in awareness and a rise in prestige from all angles.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what “upward mobility” refers to either. OP care to elaborate on what you are asking? If anything the OP that spoke of the foreign institutions has a kernal of truth to it especially in engineering. Many fine engineering schools outside the US these days so I guess that makes those colleges “upwardly mobile” at least in the context of the US. More people are aware at least within the engineering community of those schools…sort of like London School or Economics was in my generation.</p>
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<p>Doesn’t every ROTC officer make the same amount of money that an academy grad makes? In this case, the school doesn’t matter at all only that a person is commissioned as an officer. The Slippery Rock grad second lt. makes the same pay as the academy grad.</p>
<p>My husband is an academy grad who served 27 years in the military, so I have a decent grasp of the military system.</p>
<p>I think there are only 3 universities that people still reference years after one graduates:
Harvard, MIT, West Point.</p>
<p>Twenty years after someone graduates from these 3, you can still hear people / co-workers still say: ‘she’s MIT’, or ‘He’s West Point’. No one is saying, ‘She’s UMass’ or He’s 'UTexas".</p>
<p>'He’s West Point," not to take anything away from people who went there…isn’t that more of a “isn’t it interesting he went to West Point,” not, “he must have been really smart that he got into West Point?” I don’t think I have ever met anyone who went to West Point, and if I did, it would be of an interest to me, but it wouldn’t be a wow.</p>
<p>West Point grads are sought after for their leadership /management skills.</p>
<p>So are a lot of other grads.</p>
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<p>That depends completely on the profession. “He’s a Mizzou graduate” or “She went to Mizzou’s J-School” is referenced in journalism. Been true for me for 35 years, six jobs, three states other than Missouri.</p>
<p>Texas Christian moved up 11 spots in the rankings last year from 110 to 99 and has become more of a household name because of its great football program. Hopefully as football brings more attention to the school more attention will be brought to the good academic programs also. I think it has the potential to move upwards quite a lot in the next few years</p>
<p>“I think there are only 3 universities that people still reference years after one graduates: Harvard, MIT, West Point.” </p>
<p>Notre Dame has similar cachet in some circles.</p>
<p>I think that’s the case for most schools - they have resonance within certain circles. In the DoD being an academy grad can make a difference, Missou for Journalism, Oberlin for Music, etc.</p>
<p>“After 5-10 years the academy grads are all at about the same rank” True, but they outrank their civilian counterparts by leaps and bounds.</p>
<p>Where else does a 26-year-old get responsibility for 110 lives and $30 million in equipment?</p>