And yet-- a kid who wants Notre Dame but gives pushback when a poster suggests Seton Hall or Stonehill… or a kid who wants CMU but isn’t interested in WPI or Wentworth, gets accused of being obsessed with prestige. So what exactly is “prestige thinking”? To me, it’s a shorthand for “preserving optionality down the road”. Folks on CC generally don’t like that shorthand, because we are supposed to believe that you can get a quality education everywhere. Which I absolutely believe.
But you cannot get the same education in every field everywhere. And pretending that you can is somewhat condescending to posters who show up here looking for help from us veterans.
Kids in my states regional U system can get a fine education in accounting, early childhood ed, K-12 education, communications, and some allied health fields. You cannot get a fine education in nanotechnology, robotics, any advanced engineering discipline, research based life sciences, philosophy, foreign languages beyond a few “service courses”, etc.
So a kid who thinks that U Michigan is a better option than local state college-yes, many more areas of academic excellence. Yes, much better connectivity with fellowships and employers across the country. Yes, much better lab facilities and opportunities for interdisciplinary work. So yeah- I’d call that “more prestigious” and I don’t have a problem with that.