Absolutely Penn State. I see a million Penn State/Nittany Lions bumper stickers in my state, which is not PA. I’ve heard random people wearing PSU gear say “we are” to each other in the street.
The Ohio State.
U Oregon. Go Ducks!
Being from So Cal, absolutely USC. I see people wearing Trojans gear everywhere in So Cal, and in other places too.
If we are talking about love for the school and strong alumni networks, Notre Dame, especially in the midwest.
All the UofM mentions are interesting. I live outside Detroit, and the ratio of car stickers and clothing swag around me is around 8-1 in favor of MSU over UofM. That said, there is a joke in Michigan, “How do you identify UofM alumni at a cocktail party? Just wait two minutes and they will tell you.”
And the “ring knockers” look out for each other, and not always to the benefit of the service.
How many Wolverines does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Just one: he holds up the bulb and the world revolves around him.
How many Spartans does it take to screw in a lightbulb"
Ten: one to hold the bulb and nine to drink until the room spins.
How many Illini does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Who cares? It’s Illinois.
the only UCLA people I know are very disparaging of USC too! Rich kids choosing to spend money to go to a worse school in a worst neighborhood;)
My guess is that this attitude extends beyond UCLA to other schools in the larger southern CA area. My husband attended UCI (for grad school, not even undergrad!), and when our first child S23 started looking for colleges, it was funny to see how disparaging H was of USC, and how often he managed to sneak in some comment about it. H took S on a college tour to see a bunch of schools in LA, and did not even want to take S to tour USC. Then when they actually went on the tour, S loved USC and it became his top choice for a while, and H was very grumpy about that! (Edited to add: As H learned more about USC he eventually came around and changed his attitude entirely!)
I am guessing that the historically bad attitude towards USC from other schools may have been one of the factors contributing to the phenomenon of USC alums being clannish and obsessively devoted to their school. Everyone says that it has a great alumni network.
I don’t know that Illinois ever got over the decades of being “the worst of the best”.
It’s interesting, Illinois doesn’t have the issues of Rutgers or the SUNYs - UIUC is a very popular college for Illinois high school graduates. However, on the other hand, Illinois doesn’t seem to inspire the sort of love in its alumni that the other Midwestern flagships do.
More than 80% of Rutgers students are in state, many may grumble and look for greener pastures, but end up staying in NJ.
I’d guess this has a regional bent to it too. I live in Virginia, and the Virginia Tech fans and alums are loud and proud. But there is probably a greater density of them around here than elsewhere. I’d also say we have more vocal Carolina and Duke supporters than I’m seeing mentioned, probably because of proximity (and 1980’s an 90’s basketball).
For non-vaguely “local” I’ve got to give it to Penn State.
I never heard that before. The school is among the best publics in the country with top CompSci, Engineering and Business programs. They do, however, have a history of weak sports teams which may partially explain the lack alumni enthusiasm.
A generation or so ago, USC’s academic reputation was significantly worse than it is now.
Back in 1989 when I applied to colleges, USC was one of our safety schools. It was pretty much guaranteed. But that all changed I’m guessing when Nikias became President. He definitely changed the USC reputation and rise to prominence. I didn’t even attend USC but one of the UC schools and believe that USC has a lot to offer especially with the Trojan family and network, although paying $100,000/year is just outrageous and mind boggling to consider.
My D24 was heavily considering USC Marshall/Leventhal, but my wallet thankfully appreciates her getting into and choosing Berkeley Haas at half the price! Although Math 16b this semester has been rough and hopefully she will pass!
It was a thing back in the 1980s. I started grad school there in the mid 1990s, so they were still talking about how they had changed. “Worst of the best” was the term that they used.
I was there for my masters 1992-94
So we almost overlapped - I was there for my PhD 1995-2001. I heard faculty who had been there since the 1980s mention things in that vein.
It’s still there, in many ways. It generally makes the lists of the “top public universities” in this or that, but it’s often coming near the bottom of that list. Except engineering.
And CompSci. And Business/Accounting.
Beloit alums definitely have a special love. We all talk about how our experience was life-changing and set us for future success.
General Fandom
Special Love
But I think there are a lot of people with a lot of love of their alma mater even if it’s not seen on a nationwide basis (some of those folks just aren’t straying too far from their colleges, I guess). My uncle has a basement dedicated to all things Purdue (whether it’s football or Neil Armstrong, or whatever). A cousin had season tickets to Ohio State games for many years, requiring a multiple-hour drive each way. A friend’s family has season tickets for multiple sports and the extremely frugal husband would rather send his kid OOS for a technical education than to send his kid to Purdue. My husband loves Michigan so much that folks have stopped asking what to get him for his birthday/Christmas and instead just get him UM stuff (and that people who work in the same building, but not in his office, notice that 80% of the time he’s wearing UM apparel). There’s the LSU fan who may have gone a bit over the top featured below:
Interestingly, my cousin who went to UIUC (for CS!) has no particular love for it (not that he dislikes it, but there’s no enthusiasm for it).
I haven’t seen that from people I know who went to UCLA…except maybe in the context of football rivalry or maybe good natured teasing. I have heard alums from all sorts of other universities call USC “University of Spoiled Children.” I think the admissions scandal didn’t help. The school I work at did see a decline in applications and enrollments at USC for a year or two after the admissions scandal. UCLA applications and enrollments didn’t change.
Not a specific college, but at my place of employment we have had many NESCAC graduates throughout my time there and share a common bond. It is awesome to see former Jumbos hanging out with Polar Bears, or past Camels making friends with Mules.
Two of my colleagues had competed against each other for three years one as an Eph, and the other at the time as a Lady Jeff…and they ended up great friends even with the spirited rivalry.