<p>It is foolish for some posters here to paint negative perceptions of those prospective students in preferring certain schools based on prestige. After all, prestige and brand name are powerful tools in this world. However, each individual has different personalities and goals in life. </p>
<p>If one can receive a high utility by attending high prestige school - whether it is because of the respect that the Ivy tag will give him by others - or better job prospects by attending an Ivy, then it makes a perfect sense for this individual to choose colleges largely based on prestige. Then, there are others who are not necessarily concerned about impressing others, who would not necessarily get emotional/psychological utility benefits from attending high prestige institutions. Maybe for these individuals, ‘fit’ should play larger role than perceived college prestige in choosing which college to attend. </p>
<p>Put this another way, if there is a guy who is very sensitive to the brand names of goods- it makes perfect sense for this person to buy a Rolex watch even if this would cost him a lot. He would get a lot of benefits/utility from the sheer fact that he is wearing very recognizable Rolex watch. On the other hand, if there is a guy who is not very sensitive to brand names, but rather is more keen about the style of the watch, he may choose to buy other brand name watch that carries much less recognition than Rolex.</p>
<p>So, my message to Pizzagirl is that you should not act to be the righteous person by pretending that college prestige should not guide some people in choosing colleges. Maybe some people value the brand name/prestige of colleges much more than you do, and these folks would be served well by attending high prestige schools.</p>