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[case_insensitive]

Just saw one of these and thought... huh?  Then, I got to thinking about some of the institutional names and how they are potentially confusing...

University of Puerto Rico at Carolina (no, this is not near where expatinuk grew up...  apparently there's a town called Carolina in Puerto Rico).

California University of Pennsylvania (where? California?  or Pennsylvania? Apparently there's a town called California, in... Pennsylvania).

Then, there's the whole Miami thing...

University of Miami, which is in Miami, Florida... and which most people confuse as a public institution (nope, it's private...).

OK, now let's stop for a bit of trivia...

What's the largest public university in Miami, Florida?  No, not university of Miami which is neither public nor large, but rather Florida International University with over 35,000 students is probably one of the largest universities that most folks have never heard of.

Of course, there is the confusion with the University of South Florida, which of course, is not located in South Florida (i.e. Miami area...) but rather Tampa (which isn't considered the Southern part of Florida by Floridians... go figure).

Back to the Miami thing... Of course, then there's all the confusion of U of Miami with:

Miami University, which is in Oxford, Ohio and on the Miami river...

Speaking of Oxford, there's also the University of Mississippi which is in Oxford... Mississippi...

OK, a bit more trivia... What's the largest university in Mississippi? Certainly not the University of Mississippi.  It may well be the University of Southern Mississippi, which is about the same size of Mississippi State University... so much for all that talk about points of the compass schools...

Back to the Miami confusion... Miami University (Ohio) has a couple of other campuses in other Ohio towns, and plus there is another confusing Miami related college:

Miami-Jacobs College, which is in Dayton, Ohio.

Of course, one of my favorites is Auburn University, which is neither northern, nor private.  I don't know why so many people think these things.  It's the largest public university in Alabama, and a land-grant university that happened to be started in a small town called... Auburn.  Coleridge, anyone? Auburn, loveliest village on the plain...

I'm sure you can think of others... That's all that pops to mind at 6am?

What geographically or otherwise confusing educational institution names do you know or find confusing?

[philnotfil]

IUPUI- Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

University of Pennsylvania- the reactions when you ask a graduate if that is a public school are most delightful

USC and USC- Southern California, South Carolina, also, they both sometimes go by SC

[case_insensitive]

IUPUI- Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

USC and USC- Southern California, South Carolina, also, they both sometimes go by SC

Can't believe I didn't remember these in my first post...

And then there's all those U of Californias and Cal States...

And  I have never understood the difference between these and who was the idiot (idiots?) who named them:

California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, California

California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, California

[trabb]

Well the one that came into my mind when I read the title of the thread was:

Indiana University of Pennsylvania


Also, much like Auburn is Clemson - another public, land-grant university that is often assumed to be a private school. 

[case_insensitive]

Well the one that came into my mind when I read the title of the thread was:

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

What's up with PA?

Indiana University... California University...

[case_insensitive]

Oh, I almost forgot...

The University of New England... How many of you know where that is?

Well, we have two of those (at least) on planet earth... one in Maine, USA and one in New South Wales, Australia...

[winterbourne]

I'm basically just posting to say how much I enjoy this thread.

Don't have many goodies to add.  Although I have always been confused by the fact that Northwestern University is located in what most people would call the Midwest of this country.

Also, I have a really hard time keeping DePaul and Depauw straight...

[prytania3]

Columbia College...in South Carolina.

[whiteknight]

OK, a bit more trivia... What's the largest university in Mississippi? Certainly not the University of Mississippi.  It may well be the University of Southern Mississippi, which is about the same size of Mississippi State University... so much for all that talk about points of the compass schools...

Actually, Miss. State has about 3,000 more students than Southern Miss.

[infopri]

We have Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, and Hamilton College, in Clinton, NY.  Makes sense, no?

[case_insensitive]

I'm basically just posting to say how much I enjoy this thread.

Thanks! I'm glad I provided some enjoyment! :o)

Don't have many goodies to add.  Although I have always been confused by the fact that Northwestern University is located in what most people would call the Midwest of this country.

Yes, Northwestern gets me thinking... about Illinois, which might be the most confusing state in higher education other than California, which takes the cake by far.

First, there’s the ubiquitous University of Illinois which is really three separate universities: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Chicago (which is not to be confused with University of Chicago, of course), and University of Illinois at Springfield. 

And then there’s Illinois State University (doesn’t every state have to have a “state university?”).

And, don’t forget Illinois College, which is private.  Also, Illinois Institute of Technology and Illinois Institute of Art, both of which are private.

Then we have the major points of the compass: Eastern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Western Illinois University and Southern Illinois University, which is really two universities (Southern Illinois University Carbondale and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville).

Also on the points of the compass are four Illinois Eastern Community Colleges in different cities but they have no Illinois Southern CC or Illinois Northern CC or Illinois Western CC… are they discriminating against 75% of the state?

However, just to show that you don’t have to be totally directional on the compass, there’s Illinois Central College!

And then, there are the minor points of the compass universities: Northeastern Illinois University, Southeastern Illinois College and Southwestern Illinois College. Note, there’s no “Northwestern” Illinois in there, I suppose so as not to confuse with the private Northwestern University?

Also, I have a really hard time keeping DePaul and Depauw straight...

Me, too. DePaul (where I once interviewed many years ago) is in Chicago, Illinois and private, I think.  I have a vague notion it is Catholic in heritage, but not sure if that's correct since they don't mention it anywhere obvious on their webpage...

And, Depauw is impossible to spell properly and is also private but in Indiana. It was founded originally by the Methodist church as Indiana Asbury University.

OK, a bit more trivia... What's the largest university in Mississippi? Certainly not the University of Mississippi.  It may well be the University of Southern Mississippi, which is about the same size of Mississippi State University... so much for all that talk about points of the compass schools...

Actually, Miss. State has about 3,000 more students than Southern Miss.

Ah, not according to the Carnegie lookup (which is old numbers, no doubt!), where they are about the same. 

[historywoman]

Of course, there are other confusing acronyms:

OSU-The Ohio State University
OSU-Oklahoma State University

Woe unto the foreigner down here in the Southwest that confuses the two.

HW

[vandoesborgh]

If you are from the East or South you may not understand the confusion over UNC (University of North Carolina) and UNC (University of Northern Colorado). 

The only people who I heard getting confused over this acronym were from other Colorado schools.

[case_insensitive]

Columbia College...in South Carolina.

Yup, Columbia is a town there...
Merciful heavens... I just did a search on Columbia... and came up with TWENTY colleges and universities in the US and PR.  Hello?! Can anyone say confusion?  And, of course, there's probably some universities with Columbia in their name in .... Columbia... you know, the country...

Let's see...

Ah, Columbia...

A Columbia College is found in Caguas, Puerto Rico; Columbia, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; Columbia, South Carolina; Sonora, California  and Yauco, Puerto Rico. And then there's a Columbia College-Hollywood which isn't even in Hollywood but is in Tarzana, California.

And, if Columbia College is too high for you, you can always go to Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington.

Just to add confusion, Columbia, South Carolina also has a Columbia International University as well as the aforementioned Columbia College. In Columbia, Tennessee, you have Columbia State Community College. For a bit of extra flavor, we have also Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia and Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Of course, we shall not forget Columbia University, in NYC.

Only slightly related are: University of Missouri which is in Columbia, Missouri and University of South Carolina   in Columbia, South Carolina, as well as University of the District of Columbia.

And, then... there's the country Columbia which has entries such as Universidad Autónoma de Colombia ...

*head spinning*

[case_insensitive]

For the record, I have always wanted to know why the University of Kansas is referred to as "KU."  Are they all dyslexic or what?