CCollegeUncovered
Portrait of Hayden Cunningham
Founder

Hayden Cunningham

I'm a Bates College student, a Midwestern kid, a competitive hockey player, and the reason CollegeUncovered exists.

My admissions results
Bates College
Where I chose to attend
Attending
Also admitted to
  • Colgate University
  • Colorado College
  • Rhodes College

I grew up in the Midwest, and I know firsthand how easy it is to overlook outstanding colleges simply because you have never heard of them.

Throughout my own college search, I realized that many exceptional liberal arts colleges — especially those in the Northeast — receive very little attention in Midwestern high schools, despite offering incredible academics, close faculty mentorship, strong career outcomes, generous financial aid, and powerful alumni networks.

Once I discovered schools like Bates, Colgate, Colorado College, and Rhodes, I realized they aligned much more closely with what I was actually looking for than many of the universities I had originally considered.

During my admissions process, I applied to Bates College, Colgate University, Colorado College, and Rhodes College, and I was admitted to each of them. Those experiences reinforced for me just how many opportunities exist for students who know where to look.

I founded CollegeUncovered to help ambitious students discover colleges that may be a better fit academically, socially, and professionally than the schools they initially have in mind.

CollegeUncovered exists to make sure talented students don't miss life-changing opportunities simply because they were never exposed to them.
Why CollegeUncovered was created

The information gap costs students real opportunities.

So many high-achieving students in the Midwest grow up hearing about the same handful of large public universities and nationally recognized private universities.

Meanwhile, dozens of exceptional liberal arts colleges receive little attention, despite producing graduates who excel in consulting, finance, medicine, law, technology, research, public service, and graduate education.

As someone who nearly missed these opportunities myself, I created CollegeUncovered to bridge that information gap — helping students discover colleges where they can truly thrive, not just the schools they already know about.