Most Prestigious?

TheGrabler · 04-13-2009, 11:55 PM

I'm having trouble choosing. As you all don't know my personality so you can't help me really in choosing a school, on a more basic level, which of these schools is the most prestigious?

Rice
Bowdoin
Davidson
UCLA
Carleton
Emory

happygilmore · 04-14-2009, 01:12 AM

I think it's a three-way tie between Rice, Bowdoin and Davidson.

TTwhite · 04-14-2009, 04:07 PM

im not very well acquainted with all of them. and some are more prestigious in certain fields, such as emory, i think. ranking-wise, ucla is pretty high, but i dont think as prestigious as rice or emory. not too familiar with bowdoin. davidson and carleton are similar, id say carleton more nerdy/focused on academics, but both very similar prestige. also you have to take into note... most places get different responses from people in different regions. prestige, i think, for the majority of schools is much a regional thing.

xSteven · 04-14-2009, 04:10 PM

I don't think Davidson has much perceived prestige at all. In order:
Emory
UCLA
Bowdoin/Rice
Davidson
Carleton

TTwhite · 04-14-2009, 04:19 PM

see, part of my point.. i bet if you lived in minnesota or wisconsin, carleton would be much higher.
if i had to do a list, id say:
rice
emory
davidson/bowdoin?/carleton
ucla

Dave_Berry · 04-14-2009, 04:38 PM

Prestigious to whom? Your friends? Employers? Parents? Etc.?

amplifiar842 · 04-14-2009, 08:59 PM

I'm pretty sure prestige is one of the worst ways to choose a college. There are a TON of kids here who turn down Ivy League offers for Davidson and it's clearly a better match for them.

Those are all really good schools. Keep in mind, as well, that it's really hard to compare universities to liberal arts, in terms of prestige. Davidson and Bowdoin are both considered top 10 liberal arts schools. Emory, Rice, and maybe UCLA are in the top 30 universities.

TTwhite · 04-14-2009, 11:44 PM

agreed with what amp said. i know youre just looking for a gauge, but its a bad thing to look at really, instead look at what makes it academically strong or prestigious and see if you like that. and what Dave was saying is the same general idea that i was expressing - its all relative. employers look at it differently, peers do, etc, and each do in different parts of the US. Davidson will certainly mean more to an employer in NC, UCLA on the west coast.

laxman1 · 04-23-2009, 05:01 PM

I decided not to apply to any LACs first time around because I was all caught up with the "prestige" of national u's (go to Gtown now). Now, I had to spend my whole freshman year applying to LAC's because I hated the graduate student focus and huge classes. Don't get caught up in names imo.