| It's laughable how people on this board criticize how others choose a college. They get on a pedestal and self righteously criticize people for valuing prestige. Some people would sacrifice the best possible atmosphere for going to HYP or whatever. They are not wrong to do so. Anyway, at many colleges you can simply carve out your own niche, regardless of the dominant campus culture. For every campus inundated with alcohol there are likely teetolars. It's like in the book gatekeepers, where one kid criticizes others for going after ivys because he was bitter about his own rejection from them.
Also, with prestige usually comes strong students, a cycle of sorts. Generally, the more prestigious the university, the smarter the students. Some colleges are not famous but are still pretty prestigious among those in the know, like Webb, Cooper Union and Harvey Mudd (3 cool engineering schools). |