Those were the schools I got into that are ranked higher than where I go now (Stevens Institute - Hoboken). More people know them by name, but even beyond that lies CMU (I was waitlisted, and I'm hoping to maybe pursue a masters there).
People in NYC have warped perceptions of distance.
I grew up in Queens. My grandmother would pack us a lunch when my dad I visited my cousins in "Upstate" in Westchester county (probably a 30 minute drive on the weekend in those days). The Albany/Troy area to a New Yorker is somewhere between Mongolia and Boston.
The ironic thing is that millions of people in the NY metro area spend 1-2 hours commuting less than 20 miles every day!