IvyWise On-Demand: Beyond the Rankings: Discover Hidden Gems for Your College List
Join IvyWise college admissions counselors as they explain how students should consider their interests, goals, and preferences to begin the college search process and go beyond the most well-known institutions to find hidden gems.
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By Christine, IvyWise College Admissions Counselor
Families who scan only the marquee names when looking for colleges and universities risk missing campuses that deliver academic depth and lively communities in more intimate settings. Just because an institution isn’t listed in the best college rankings, that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked — it is often these underrated schools that offer the most opportunities for students to thrive and be successful.
Kenyon College, Bentley University, Harvey Mudd College, and the University of Vermont each marry rigorous academics with a vivid sense of place — exactly the combination many students say they want but may be challenging to find. These are just four of the many hidden gems that might be a great fit for your college list.
Kenyon College: Gambier, Ohio
The 1,800-student hilltop at Kenyon College feels like a retreat built for reflection, and that ambience feeds the college’s legendary writing culture. The English major’s creative writing emphasis layers genre-specific workshops with a capstone seminar that fuses scholarship and craft. Many students also intern at renowned literary magazine The Kenyon Review, watching editors sift through piles of submissions and debate emerging literary trends. Kenyon’s heavy emphasis on writing benefits students of all majors, whether they’re studying biochemistry or studio art.
Between classes, students spill onto Middle Path — the epicenter of Kenyon’s picturesque campus. The Young Writers Summer Residential Workshop turns campus into a two-week festival that mentors high school scribes while energizing the undergrads who serve as tutors. Add Division III athletics, a robust study abroad program, and lantern-lit walks between the gothic halls, and Kenyon manages to feel both focused on prose and welcomingly expansive.
Bentley University: Waltham, Massachusetts
Just west of Boston, Bentley University flips the “business school” stereotype by pairing a quantitative core with required courses in ethics, writing, and the arts. First-year students code in Python to analyze NBA ticket sales; by sophomore spring they’re visualizing ESG metrics for real corporate partners. The payoff shows in outcomes: 99% of the class of 2024 were employed or in graduate study within six months, and the median starting salary hit $72,000.
Students eager for deeper technical chops can tack on the STEM-designated M.S. in Business Analytics, gaining three years of OPT work authorization and electives in data science or finance. A state-of-the-art Trading Room, Division I hockey games, and shuttle access to Cambridge startups ensure that learning continues well beyond the campus green.
Harvey Mudd College: Claremont, California
Part of California’s Claremont Colleges Consortium, Harvey Mudd compresses world-class engineering into a 900-student community where professors know every name. Every Mudder, regardless of major, completes a Common Core that consists of courses from every department and an HSA (Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts) component.
Beginning junior year, the famed Engineering Clinic pairs teams of 4-5 students with NASA, Google, or national lab sponsors to work on projects. The teams own the intellectual property they develop while delivering professional-grade solutions. Weekends bring parties with the other Claremont campuses, spontaneous faculty-student board game nights, and mountain hikes — all within an hour of Los Angeles.
University of Vermont: Burlington, Vermont
The University of Vermont marries the scale of a flagship public university (11,000 students) with the walkability of a mid-sized campus overlooking Lake Champlain. Sustainability is not just a tagline: Through the highly respected Eco-Reps program, student employees support their peers in making sustainable choices on campus, and UVM strives to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Students can opt into residential learning communities based on common themes, such as sustainability, gaming, arts and creativity, and global connections, helping them meet peers with similar interests. Club skiing on weekends, Division I hockey in the winter, and Burlington’s indie music scene year-round keep students anchored to the Green Mountains long after graduation.
Each of these campuses knows exactly what it wants to be — an identity students feel in every class, dorm conversation, and weekend tradition. For applicants who light up at the idea of workshopping a story at Kenyon, building predictive dashboards at Bentley, prototyping robots at Harvey Mudd, or mapping pollinator habitats at UVM, fit will matter more than rankings. Pointing them toward a hidden gem could reveal the perfect academic home.
Here at IvyWise, we always help our students identify schools that align with their academic, social, and financial needs, whether they’re interested in large public research universities or small liberal arts colleges. There are more than 3,000 four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. alone, meaning your best-fit school school is out there. Contact us to learn how we can help you not only find your best-fit school but stand out from other applicants.
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