<p>Beaver College changed to Arcadia University. ¶</p>
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<p>Yeah, but now the poor kids who walk around with the acronym on their sweatshirts have to constantly respond to the question “Must what?”</p>
<p>That was my first thought, but it’s abbreviated M S&T.</p>
<p>every other post is about colgate and toothpaste hahahah</p>
<p>this thread is great</p>
<p>Haha this is actually a great thread! I can’t beleive I hadn’t found it before 
But I suppose I must contribute now…</p>
<p>Haha I like how Dartmouth sounds (part of the reason I first looked at it :P)</p>
<p>Skidmore has always left me with a weird image in my mind…</p>
<p>and Colgate is toothpaste of course ;)</p>
<p>USC connotes athletics, but the name University of Southern California always reminds me of Disneyland and make-believe—much too limiting for USC’s pretensions/aspirations.</p>
<p>Truman State University is touted as a good public LAC—it’s unfortunate that its name seems to limit its broader appeal.</p>
<p>Wake Forest is a fine name for a cemetery.</p>
<p>When Case Inst. of Tech and Western Reserve University merged, Western Reserve should have had primacy for the new name since it was the older institution and had more constituent schools; “Case” should have been retained just as the name for the school of engineering/applied sciences. “Case” is just the name of a forgotten philanthropist; “Western Reserve” has historical associations with the Northeast Ohio region (originally settled by New Englanders with the Western Reserve referring to lands claimed by Connecticut as its western extension).</p>
<p>Overall, however, there’s a large degree of consensus about best and worst names on this thread—unusual for CC…</p>
<p>It appears that “English” and “elite” sounding names have broad appeal—something developers of new subdivisions recognized long ago.</p>
<p>So, are all the good names already taken? If you were to found a new college or university, what would you name it? What would be your suggested names for a state uni, a private research uni, an LAC, and a tech school?</p>
<p>nyu
mit
usc</p>
<p>I tend to prefer names that denote where/what the college is(MIT, Penn, Caltech, Michigan, etc) or names based on founders/benefactors(Vanderbilt, Harvard). To do anything else is, imo, just pretentious</p>
<p>Liberty University. I find it incredibly ironic.</p>
<p>lol ive always thought of the cornell college v, cornell university conundrum. People definitely tell employers they simply went to cornell. i went to a camp at cornell university so i was thinking of going to cornell college that way if anyone asks how i liked tihaca, i can say it was awesome and not he lying.</p>
<p>Oglethorpe, Bob Jones, Ball State, and DePauw.</p>
<p>Swarthmore, Haverford, Yale, and Amherst all have a great ring to it. I visualize a beautiful campus with great architecture and students reading/studying on the quad.</p>
<p>Clarkson, Drexel, Carnegie Mellon, and RPI have some of the worst names.</p>
<p>St. Olaf is another college with an ugly name.</p>
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<p>Hmmm . . . wouldn’t most schools fall into one of those two categories? Among public flagships, the vast majority are named after their states (“University of X” or “X State”) or a combinatrion of state & city (UCLA, UC Berkeley), though a few are named for founders/benefactors (Purdue, Clemson). Among elite privates it’s more evenly split between those named for a place (University of Pennsylvania, Princeton [after the town in NJ], University of Chicago, MIT, Caltech, Amherst, Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr) and those named after a founder or benefactor (Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, Rice, Carnegie Mellon, George Washington, Tulane, Pepperdine, Williams, Bowdoin, Vassar, Smith, etc.).</p>
<p>I guess the major exceptions are religiously-based institutions which are often named after religious figures (Notre Dame, St. Olaf, Luther, Brigham Young), religions themselves (Southern Methodist, Texas Christian), or, more rarely, religious icons (Holy Cross). Then there are a handful of schools named “in honor” of someone not directly affiliated with the school—Washington University in St. Louis, Brandeis, and William & Mary come to mind, though King William and Queen Mary did sign the charter for the latter school without which it would not have existed, so to that extent they might be considered “benefactors.” </p>
<p>So I guess I’m puzzled as to which schools fit into that “pretentious other” category you suggested.</p>
<p>bclintonk seems to have them covered. I’m having a hard time finding exceptions. Schools not named for a person (founder/benefactor), specific place (state/city/town), or religious entity include: </p>
<p>Centre College (located in the “centre” of Kentucky)
Concordia College
DigiPen Institute of Technology
Evergreen State
Liberty University
The New School
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Polytechnic University</p>
<p>Leave Colgate alone. Its name is because the Colgate family (and toothpaste family) gave lots of money many years ago. Who knew, in 1800 whatever, that both would be so well known for different reasons.</p>
<p>I think Smith is hands down, the best college name…ever
its simple, classy, and sounds smart</p>
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<p>besides what tk mentioned, i would also include Columbia(and other places like King’s College¶ and Lafayette(which is pretty arbitrarily named after the general. the general had nothing to do with founding the school.) but i wasn’t saying that most college names were pretentious, i was saying that I basically respect all college names as long as they have some real significance such as location/founder.</p>
<p>Best:
Princeton (I love arrogance and royalty and this fits the picture)
Columbia (sounds like a medieval school for gifted students)
Syracuse (Has an Italian sex appeal sound to it)
Notre Dame (Sounds medieval as well) You can tell I have a thing for medieval. 
Duke (For some reason it has a leadership royal feel to the name)
Jiulliard (Sounds like a sexy artsy chick’s name)</p>
<p>Most Annoying:
Binghamton (I hate spelling and pronouncing it)
Susquehanna (If I was ever forced to go to this school, I would abstane from telling people where I go simply because of the difficulty in pronounciation)
Berkeley (Sounds too aggressive)
Upenn/Penn State (I would hate for people to mistaken me for attending Penn State if I really attend UPenn)
The George Washington University (Please tell me the purpose of adding “The” in the mix)</p>
<p>Lamest
Yale (Way too bland. Bears no flavor what-so-ever)
Tufts (What the hell is a Tufts?)
Stanford (Sounds like the name of a lame dude that never got none in his entire life)
Brown (Are you serious?)</p>
<p>Most Embarrasing:
SUNY or UMASS ________________(<fill in the blank)</p>
<p>DigiPen Institute of Technology???</p>
<p>I wonder when colleges will sell naming rights for advertising revenue.</p>