<p>Although interestingly, according to the article it would seem Harvard grads would be the least likely to name drop.</p>
<p>All in all, you must be a pretty feeble master of the universe if you are even scared to say where you went to school.</p>
<p>I went to a college which has a similar name effect. And I do try to avoid mentioning it, though I won’t dodge the question if asked. Because a lot of people do react oddly: not many, but if only one in ten do that means quite a few awkward encounters.</p>
<p>And yes, where I’m from it is considered rude to ask straight out where someone went to college, unless it comes up naturally in conversation.</p>
<p>NewHavenCTmom: Was “Yalemom” already taken or were you uncomfortable with it? ;)</p>
<p>(totally kidding, but your name is just too perfect for this conversation, though)</p>
<p>“And yes, where I’m from it is considered rude to ask straight out where someone went to college, unless it comes up naturally in conversation.”</p>
<p>I agree with this. For us, it tends to come up because people ask what our kids are doing, and then we say - oh, they’re in college, one’s here in Chicago and one’s in Boston, and then people either seem interested and ask what schools and take it further to their own college days in which case it might be natural to ask them where they themselves went, or they say “how nice” and move on which says it was just chit-chat anyway. </p>
<p>Nrdsb4, ShawWife was just talking to a Harvard-trained architect friend who calls the “How long will it take before he says Harvard” syndrome Harvard Tourettes. </p>
<p>But, there is more snobbery afoot. There are those who say “I went to the College” to distinguish themselves from athe plebian folk who only attended Harvard for grad or professional school. </p>
<p>I knew a guy who used to say he went to the College of New Jersey, but he stopped when Trenton State took that name. 
I wonder why Princeton changed its name from that in 1896.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/mudd/news/faq/topics/name_change.shtml”>http://www.princeton.edu/mudd/news/faq/topics/name_change.shtml</a></p>
<p>^ Similarly, people who went to top prep schools will never quite regard those from other schools who got into the same college as being quite on their level.</p>
<p>Ah, the much-derided Harvard M.B.A., J.D., and M.D. crowd. Those losers…</p>
<p>@pizzagirl, I wondered if it was like a notch on the belt sort of thing. She was very pretty and had 10 times the social skills I had so I’m sure in retrospect whatever we did was what she intended. But back in the dark ages when I went to school, there were women’s colleges whose students seemed to be shooting to get a date / boyfriend from the relevant named school. So it would be highly valuable to drop the school name at a mixer. No reason to be shy there. </p>
<p>@FCCDAD It’s not that they’re “losers”… it’s just that there is, ah, a difference between those who went to one of the trade schools and the gentlemen who attended the College to acquire a grounding in the liberal arts. <em>sniff</em></p>
<p>That grounding and $2 will get you a cup of coffee…</p>
<p>I never tell people I attended UMD-CP for they might think that I’m not an elitist snob. Which, of course, I am.</p>
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<p>You delude yourself. There is only one college that has the “effect,” and it is Harvard. You can say “Yale” or “Princeton” or “Oxford” all day long and people will merely go, “interesting.” When you say “Harvard,” they literally shut up.</p>
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<p>You delude yourself, or at least you overestimate your own knowledge. For starters, I never told you what country I’m in.</p>
<p>“Similarly, people who went to top prep schools will never quite regard those from other schools who got into the same college as being quite on their level.”</p>
<p>Such people need to get over themselves, and fast. I’ve gone to school and worked with people who went to Exeter, Choate, Andover, Taft, etc. They’re people just like anybody else. They just happened to have had a different high school experience from most other people. They’re not uniformly smarter or more well-accomplished. They put their pants legs on one at a time just like the rest of us. </p>
<p>Ditto for people who have attended Harvard Business School. They aren’t some special race of people with superhuman powers. </p>
<p>“Such people need to get over themselves, and fast.”</p>
<p>Agreed, but nobody said that the rules of social class were fair or rational :(</p>
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<p>It doesn’t matter what country you’re in. That’s the whole point. Harvard is a world-wide show-stopping brand, as well known as Coke. What, you think people in France go gaga at “Sorbonne” vs when the hear “Harvard”? You owe it to the discussion to name the school you think has an effect on the conversation equal to or greater than “Harvard.” Then let the members of CC weigh in and decide. Let’s see you put your card(s) down.</p>
<p>@makennacompton Can you please take this spat somewhere else?</p>