“I want to go to a college that everyone has heard of.”

I still remember the first time I heard those words. It wasn’t from one of my students—it was from one of my son’s friends as their high school class was beginning the college application process.

Over the years, I’ve heard countless students say the same thing.

It’s an understandable way to think. At seventeen, it’s easy to believe that a college’s name says something about your success. Parents sometimes feel the same way. We all recognize names like University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin, University of Notre Dame, UCLA, University of Southern California (USC) or New York University (NYU) because we see them on television, hear about their athletic teams, or know someone who attended.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with applying to well-known universities. But it’s wrong to assume that if you’ve never heard of a college, it can’t be just as exceptional. And just because your teen hasn’t heard of a particular college doesn’t mean that it’s not familiar to peers, grad schools and hiring managers across the country or even around the world.

After planning hundreds of college visit trips over the years, I’ve learned that some of the most transformative campus visits happen at colleges that weren’t even on a family’s radar during our initial conversations.

Name Recognition Isn’t the Same as Fit

There are outstanding colleges across the country that don’t have household-name recognition but offer incredible academic opportunities, engaged professors, impressive career outcomes, and vibrant campus communities.

Take Grinnell College in Iowa, for example. While many families may not be familiar with the college, graduates are consistently accepted to top Ph.D. programs, and it is known for exceptional undergraduate research.

At the University of Richmond, just minutes from downtown Richmond, Virginia, students can benefit from exceptional leadership opportunities through the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, the first leadership school of its kind in the country, and a beautiful residential campus. Or consider Scripps College in Southern California, where students enjoy the close-knit environment of a women’s college while having access to the academic, social, and extracurricular opportunities of the entire Claremont Colleges consortium.

Students interested in international affairs, public policy, or politics are often drawn to American University in Washington, D.C., where internships, networking, and real-world experience are woven into the undergraduate experience from day one. Likewise, the University of Denver combines a nationally respected business school with strengths in international studies, entrepreneurship, and experiential learning, all while giving students access to the cultural and outdoor opportunities of one of the country’s fastest-growing cities.

These colleges may not dominate weekend football or basketball broadcasts, but they offer extraordinary opportunities for the students who attend them.

Something Changes During a College Visit

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is watching what happens after students have visited several campuses.

By the end of the trip, the questions students ask may be completely different from when they started. They are more apt to ask themselves:

“Can I picture myself here?”

“Did I connect with the students?”

“Can I see myself walking across this campus every day?”

“Would I be excited to go to class here?”

Those are the questions that matter.

I’ve heard about students who walk onto a campus expecting very little and leave talking about it nonstop for the rest of the trip. Sometimes the college they were least excited to visit becomes the one against which they compare every other school.

It happens more often than you might think.

Families are often amazed by how quickly perceptions change. Yet, these discoveries rarely happen by looking at websites or scrolling through social media. They happen by walking across campus, talking with current students, meeting professors, eating in the dining hall, visiting the area around the campus, and imagining everyday life at each college they visit.

That’s when a college stops being just a name and starts becoming a community.

Keep an Open Mind

I always encourage families to include at least one or two colleges on their itinerary that weren’t originally at the top of the student’s list.

Not because I expect those schools to become favorites—but because they often do.

Sometimes they become the measuring stick for every other campus the student visits.

Sometimes they help students realize what they truly value.

And sometimes they completely reshape the college list.

By the end of these family college tours, I’ve noticed something interesting. Shared feedback reflects that students rarely continue to talk about whether everyone has heard of a particular college.

Instead, they talk about where they felt comfortable, challenged, inspired, and excited about the next four years of their lives.

The right college isn’t the one that impresses everyone else. It’s the one where a student can thrive academically, grow personally, build meaningful relationships, and confidently say, “This feels like the place for me.”