<p>You need to learn the big difference between prestige and name recognition. You mentioned that schools like Northwestern, Tufts, and Vanderbilt are not as known as publics such as UNC, UTexas, etc… I agree that bigger, sports-oriented public schools may be better known to the average joe, but they are definitely not as prestigious are the previously mentioned privates. You are basically saying that you would prefer to go to Syracuse because it has more name recognition than say, Vanderbilt or Tufts, which I am not even sure is true. However, Vanderbilt and Tufts are much, much more prestigious than Syracuse.</p>
<p>i do know the difference between name recognition and prestige, and i also realize that basing a decision on name recognition alone is dumb. The fact that I have Vandy and Tufts on my list (at the top of my list) indicates that I obviously respect them and that I’d like to go to those schools.</p>
<p>My goal is to go to (probably) the most prestigious school i get into. Now, by adding schools with name recognition to that list, the chances of the school i get into being a recognizable one are increased.
logical?</p>
<p>Please don’t apply to NU. Your attitude is terrible.</p>
<p>George Washington
Boston University
USC</p>
<p>What’s so bad about Northwestern?</p>
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<p>I hope he applies and gets to NU so his “terrible” attitude will ruin your life</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins…HECK, why not try the ivies. Your SAT is really good. Cornell maybe?</p>
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<p>Actually, of the schools you listed, that’s one of the ones where your chances are lowest. Why? Because of your GPA. With your GPA, Berkeley would be a reach in-state. Since you’re out-of-state, Berkeley’s an even bigger reach – even with scores like yours.</p>
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<p>Nothing. Arbiter was referring to the OP’s way of approach with college admissions. </p>
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<p>Wanting to go to NU or any school, for that matter, simply based on prestige may turn out to be a mistake in the long run. You’ve got great stats, make sure the schools you apply to are places where you’d be happy to spend four years of your life.</p>
<p>Consider fit, atmosphere, location before profile. Obviously you’ve worked very hard in school to have a shot at almost anywhere you would like to attend, don’t put that to waste. My two cents.</p>
<p>Remember that prestige isn’t everything. Going to college based on the name alone may be an extremely costly mistake. Plus, name recognition may be a misleading indicator of the quality of a university. Look at somewhere where you will be happy for the next four years. If that place happens to be prestigious, then good for you.</p>
<p>Make sure that “prestigious university” you want to go to actually fits you and your needs… And yeah, I wouldn’t necessarily pick a university simply by its prestige. There’s more to a university than that alone!</p>
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<p>Maybe you could also learn the difference between prestige and name recognition. It’s not just that “sports-oriented” public schools are known to the average joe - they are definitely respected in the academic community. The reality is the opposite - many “average joes” think of publics as LESS respected then they actually are in academic circles.</p>
<p>Peer Assessments:
Northwestern 4.3
Tufts 3.6
Vanderbilt 4.0</p>
<p>UNC 4.2
UTexas 4.1
UWisconsin 4.1</p>
<p>With those scores, you can get into places with name recognition. I would say that Berkeley will take you. How about USC- that is a place whose prestige is going to increase over the years. The west coast needs and can support another major prestigeous university. Vanderbilt is a good option. NYU sounds good. I think that you would do well at places like JHU, Chicago, and Cornell, even though they are workaholic places and may frown on lower grades.</p>
<p>JWT, You are matching some of the best publics in the nation with schools like Tufts and Vanderbilt. When you consider name recognition, places like UConn, Florida, Ohio State come to mind. Not exactly top-of-the-line academics.</p>
<p>blah…this whole discussion turned into a huge mess.</p>
<p>First of all, I don’t want people thinking that
I’m going to base my decisions purely or even largely on name recognition/prestige (whatever you want to call it)</p>
<p>The reason I made this thread was to get some suggestions to add some of the above mentioned schools to my list.
Out of the hundreds of possible colleges out there that might provide me a great education, it is impossible for me to know which one “fits me” or my needs. Heck, I don’t even know what my needs are. Let me ask a question. How the hell am I supposed to know whether i would rather go to a small school or a large school? My high school has 2000 kids and i’ve never known anything else. it’s stuff like this that most people narrow their search by, but for me, well I have an open mind. I have no preconceived notions about college or what I want in college. I do not know what major I am interested in, I do not know where i’d learn best or where i’d be happiest. Therefore, as a general way of whittling down my list (which is basically the US news like…top 40 at this point…) I made this thread. Seriously, it’s not a big deal</p>
<p>In recent news, following one previous poster’s advice, I looked into UChicago and found it very appealing. I read somewhere that the student faculty ratio is 4:1, which is absolutely ridiculous. The pursuit of the intellectual interests me. anyways…</p>
<p>This is an old post but… Duke?</p>
<p>Whats your rank, that can actually change stuff. If you are in the top 10%, maybe a top college might not hold your gpa against you as much.</p>
<p>nope, def not top 10, but my school doesnt rank, which might be good (or bad? iono…)</p>
<p>got deferred from chicago and michigan, into bc and uNC. im starting to see in baby blue sometimes…</p>
<p>actually berkeley is your biggest reach since it’s a gpa whore. you are more likely to get in with lower scores but good gpa instead of good scores but relatively low gpa</p>
<p>^ And OOS…can’t blame it for being picky and having excellent taste ;)</p>