Northwestern University

See also Wikipedia's article about "Northwestern University".

Northwestern University is probably the most poorly-named institution of higher education in the US, after, of course UPenn. Located, as you might have guessed (not.) in the middle of the country (namely, near Chicago), its name not only poorly reflects its geographical location, but, being "directional," makes it sound like a state school, and gives rise to frequent confusion, on the part of East Coasters, with Boston's Northeastern University, a far less prestigious school. All this is pretty sad, given that Northwestern is a fairly solid school, although, to add insult to injury, it's not even the best university in the Chicago area - UChicago, its cross-town rival, is leaps and bounds ahead, intellectually. Columbians might appreciate the irony of the fact that, though it's located in a suburb, Northwestern has better transit access.