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applejack,
I'm still hoping you are going to explain what you meant by "social prestige." It sounds like you think that "social prestige" is related to what college offers the best social life, regardless of the academic strength. Is that your meaning? If not, would you please expound a little and help me/us understand where you are coming from?
Pizzagirl introduced that phrase to describe schools that attract people because, in their circles, it's fashionable to say, "I went to X school", even if X school isn't really that great academically.
I was simply responding to her post, pointing out that I have never noticed people doing that in the Northeast and Midwest, but have noticed it in the South. Perhaps it happens in the Southwest as well, now that i think about it.
I didn't really have a specific thing in mind, so feel free to invent all kinds of meanings :-). SMU came to mind, because it appears to have a lot of social prestige in Texas. Tulane comes to mind as well, as I have found there are certain circles where Tulane carries as much prestige as Duke and Vandy even though academically I think T isn't in that same circle. (Which is not a slam on Tulane, btw. I think it offers some unique things.)
I remember reading the Preppy Handbook and I would say there are some colleges that have social prestige but not academic prestige in some circles. Sweet Briar comes to mind for some people.
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