<p>I got this idea from another thread.</p>
<p>What is the first thing that comes to mind (for each school) when you hear the following names? Keep it to a few words.</p>
<p>Havard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
Caltech
Cornell
Columbia
Dartmouth
Upenn
Brown
UChicago
Duke
Rice
Northwestern
WashU
Johns Hopkins
Notre Dame
Vanderbilt</p>
<p>I don’t know much about these schools but since no one has said anything, I’ll try:
Havard- scarves
Yale- Harry Potter and Gilmore Girls
Princeton- The Rule of Four and John Nash
Stanford- stucco
MIT- starkness, math, and John Nash
Caltech- california + technology= silicon valley to me so silicon valley
Cornell- hats
Columbia- cold
Dartmouth- cold and camping. and ice climbing.
Upenn- liberty and 1776
Brown- interesting; a horrible name
UChicago- intimidatingly over-Hogwartsian
Duke- basketball
Rice- chinese food
Northwestern- mmm…Evansville or Evanston or something. Illinois anyway. I guess I think corn.
WashU- George, and “suckers!!”
Johns Hopkins- medicine and dirt
Notre Dame- the Hunchback, and Regis Philbin (he went there or something right?)
Vanderbilt-southern hierarchy</p>
<p>Harvard - Huge sense of self-importance, top of the mountain, and bustle of Harvard Square.
Yale - Oasis of classiness in rough city.
Princeton - Extremely clean and sophisticated.
Stanford - Elitism and California don’t fit well…you get a weird vibe there because of that.
MIT - Utilitarian, practical, sheer brainpower and few tulip gardens.
Cornell - Cold, isolated, little brother trying to keep up with big brothers.
Columbia - Only real urban types would want to spend college years in a place with so many distractions. If you can get in there, you can get in some place where you’ll have much more of a traditional college experience.
Dartmouth - Beautiful, peaceful vibe, probably best college on earth for someone who wants a small-town atmosphere.
Penn - Practical, professional, hectic, not even slightly bucolic.
Brown - Liberal, excellent, probably too good for Providence.
Chicago - Pure brainpower undistracted by usual college diversions.
Duke - Aggressive New York/New Jersey folks throwing their weight around amid polite Southerners.
Rice - Confident, superb, and content with its niche.
Northwestern - Beautiful setting next to Lake Michigan. Name in purple looks great on gray sweatshirts.
Wash U - You’d have to be very non-superficial to go there for the excellent academics and not be irritated by the prospect of explaining that you didn’t go to U of Washington of GWU for the rest of your life.
J Hopkins - Same as Chicago, but more slanted towards sciences.
Notre Dame - Incredible traditions and name recognition. Beautiful campus is well maintained but isolated from rest of “city.”
Vanderbilt - Classy Southern country club now being invaded by loud Mid-Atlantic Ivy rejects.</p>
<p>Havard - legally blonde / extremely preppy place / lawyers
Yale - lawyers, preppy place
Princeton - laid back top ivy
Stanford - cali!
MIT - geeks / losers
Cornell - beautiful campus
Columbia - new york city
Dartmouth - snow
Upenn - philly
Duke - sports(basketball)
Johns Hopkins - premed
Notre Dame - football</p>
<p>Havard- red bricks
Yale- castles, arches, ivies
Princeton- foggy overcast, castles
Stanford- desert and adobes
MIT- computers next to a lake
Caltech- white buildings, petri dishes
Cornell- waterfalls, bridges, dead people
Columbia- low memorial library. nostalgia. rich private kids
Dartmouth- colonial, grass
Upenn- ben franklin, slums
Brown- brown
UChicago- gargoyles
Duke- abercrombie hollister football
Rice- bowl of rice, cowboys (possibly gay)
Northwestern- newspapers, wind jackets, deserted
WashU- arch with flag, the south
Johns Hopkins- prison cells, sketchy baltimore
Notre Dame- church
Vanderbilt- wood, hay</p>
<p>Since I think tourguide hit the nail on the head, I’ll just play a game of word association!</p>
<p>Havard: Legally Blonde
Yale: Gilmore Girls
Princeton: Dunkin Donuts
Stanford: Taco Bell
MIT: Robots
Caltech: Nerdy kids in glasses
Cornell: Waterfalls
Columbia: Cocaine
Dartmouth: Snow
Upenn: Penn State
Brown: Poo
UChicago: Lake Michigan
Duke: JJ Resnick
Rice: Soy Sauce
Northwestern: Oregon and Washington
WashU: Laundromats
Johns Hopkins: A geeky dude holding a giant textbook saying, “Hi, my name is Johns Hopkins, and I’m going to rip the pages out of this book so I’ll get the highest grade!”
Notre Dame: Rudy
Vanderbilt: Tequila</p>
<p>I don’t even know what part of my brain most of these were spawned from. :)</p>
<p>Harvard: old, extremely good, but maybe getting out of touch in its own ego
Yale: Harvard wanna-be
Princeton: In its own little world, Princeton offense
Stanford: best in the country, yet will never get the respect it deserves from blue bloods and east-coast bias
MIT: Extremely smart people, but maybe not well rounded
Caltech: students who would go to MIT but want to be “cool” by being in LA
Cornell: the Ivy that makes you actually work
Columbia: Alicia Keys, Second-best-rounded Ivy after Cornell, but being in NYC helps that out
Dartmouth: the “Is that an Ivy?” Ivy
UPenn: Just what is it that you do?
Brown: Chris Berman, Varsity Blues
UChicago: Good idea in theory
Duke: Basketball, elite school that knows how to best use its athletics
Rice: Hey, the South has to have a good school too
Northwestern: Haha, northwestern. Sportswriters
WashU: Div III? I’m going to a Div III school?
John Hopkins: Med school
Notre Dame: Wish they could beat 'SC
Vanderbilt: Oh yea, now i remember</p>
<p>Havard - Good Will Hunting, Boston, COLD, boo Red Sox.
Yale - even the name oozes “chin up, look down on you”
Princeton - Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (someone will get it)
Stanford - California! Beautiful weather.
MIT - Good Will Hunting, nerds who want to freeze in MA.
Caltech - nerds in California
Cornell - cooold.
Columbia - New York!
Dartmouth - aht Dartmouth (inside joke at my school)
Upenn - Wharton is damn good
Brown - “Not Brown, Brown, Brown, Brown…” - Lisa Simpson
UChicago - best. essay prompts. ever. But I didn’t apply because it’s got a little too much of a nerd rep for my tast
Duke - Duck Fu ke.
Rice - Texas, baby. Too hot, but a good school.
Northwestern - Purple. Good speech/debate program…top-notch journalism–friend is going there.
WashU - who wants to go to St. Louis?
Johns Hopkins - Baltimore, “the city that reads”…at a 5th grade level
Notre Dame - Catholic, football, football, football.
Vanderbilt - I’m told they have really hot girls.</p>
<p>Harvard - The Best.
Yale - Intellectuals/Broadway & Chapel/Secret Societies
Princeton - Preppy Eating Clubs
Stanford - laid-back, yet elite down-to earth kids
MIT - math/genius kids.<br>
Cornell - Cold, heavy workload
Columbia - emo/hipsters
Dartmouth - pretty campus
Penn - i think of wharton right away
Brown - extremely liberal Ivy/take classes P/F
Chicago - socially awkward intellectuals
Duke - basketball.
Rice - science kids/residential colleges
Northwestern - academic school with D-1 football
Wash U - a slightly better Emory
J Hopkins - nerdy Science/Math Kids
Notre Dame - Fighting Irish. The movie Rudy.
Vanderbilt - national “prep school”. good-looking kids who like to party.</p>
<p>Havard- Harvard yard in december
Yale- Not Harvard
Princeton- Nash and popped collar
Stanford- Heaven
MIT- Genius
Caltech- Nerd, math, poor hygein
Cornell- Wannabee Ivy League who arent quite smart enough
Columbia- Cool, Metrosexual. Urban ppl who are also smart
Dartmouth- Intellectual discussions
Upenn- Warton
Brown- Ditto Dartmouth
UChicago- Economics
Duke- The South, Basketball, beauty
Rice- Texas, engineering
Northwestern- That other Illinois Uni.
WashU- Tries too hard for US news
Johns Hopkins- Medicine, Baltimore
Notre Dame- Football, tradition, catholic
Vanderbilt- RIch preppy southern kid</p>
<p>Havard - everybody’s dream school
Yale - everybody’s second dream school
Princeton - arrogance
Stanford - North Cali
MIT - my dream school
Caltech - my second dream school
Cornell - MIT rejects
Columbia - liberals
Dartmouth - beautiful New Hampshire
Upenn - Wharton
Brown - is it even ivy anymore?
UChicago - ivy wanna-be
Duke - basketball
Rice - Texas
Northwestern - offencive football
WashU - Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals that is)
Johns Hopkins - lax and research
Notre Dame - irish
Vanderbilt - good school in a poor state</p>
<p>Havard–that fact that i really really don’t like it
Yale–the best school in the country
Princeton–stuffy
Stanford–sunny
MIT–beautiful campus
Caltech–a beach (no idea why)
Cornell–cold!
Columbia–new york weather, dirtiness of the big city
Dartmouth–rural, bucolic
Upenn–the gorgeous campus
Brown–the first thing that comes to mind is the au bon pain near campus
UChicago–pretentious
Duke–good old Duke 
Rice–texas. i’ll pass.
Northwestern–the lake near which it is situated and into which it should fall
WashU–beautiful campus
Johns Hopkins–cold
Notre Dame–catholics
Vanderbilt–white southerners</p>
<p>Please don’t flame me. These are the first things that come to mind. I KNOW that most of them aren’t true at all. I myself don’t agree with most of the things that I put down here…but you did ask for what came to mind first, not what I really thought of all those excellent schools.</p>
<p>I’m just going to say one thing I noticed, in general, about all of these schools. They’re all private…why no publics?? hmmm…</p>
<p>Havard - snobs
Yale - snobs, dingy city
Princeton - preppy kids
Stanford - palm trees and lush fields
MIT - fun nerds, geniuses
Caltech - not fun nerds, geniuses, homework
Cornell - suicide, cold
Columbia - NYC
Dartmouth - forests
Upenn - streets of philadelphia
Brown - really preppy kids
UChicago - boring
Duke - dbags, rich southern kids
Rice - cool southern kids
Northwestern - parties, awesome midwestern kids
WashU - overrated
Johns Hopkins - lots of premeds
Notre Dame - golden dome, fighting irish
Vanderbilt - south? nothing really comes to mind…</p>
<p>
I love House!!!</p>
<p>Havard- boston, red sox, quad, crimson
Yale- hale, gothic architecture, blue money
Princeton- eating clubs, toni morrison
Stanford-basketball, try to give off the laid back feel…
MIT- ugly architecture, boston, interesting nerds
Caltech- cali, silicon valley, uneven female and male ratio
Cornell-hotel school, middle of nowhere, tough curriculum
Columbia- South America, NYC, the core
Dartmouth- gargoyles, darts flying in a person’s mouth, remote locations
Upenn- philly cheese steaks, city of brotherly love, wharton
Brown-brownstone houses, the color brown, open curriculum
UChicago- sears towers, having fun literally die, weird essays
Duke- royalty, duke wellington, basketball
Rice- chinese food, chopsticks, lots of trees
Northwestern- why would they call it northwestern when it’s not even in the northwest??/, purple, train rides to chicago
WashU- friendy, midwest, high U.S. news rankings, generous with fin. aid
Johns Hopkins- medical school, stressed medical students
Notre Dame- nuns, football, Catholicism, parties
Vanderbilt- country music, country clubs, popped collars</p>
<p>I like this thread. Its fun.</p>
<p>HARVARD- entire student body clad in lawyer apparel/carrying briefcases, hustle and bustle of Boston, Byerly (heh…), arrogance.</p>
<p>YALE- New Haven PD, residential colleges (harry potter), grey/spooky in wintertime, G-Dubs.</p>
<p>PRINCETON- quintessential “college” feel/campus, gentlemen’s club, orange, socially apt ivy, Cornel West.</p>
<p>STANFORD- try too hard to come across as hardly trying, Cali (duh), maroon crewneck sweatshirt.</p>
<p>MIT- nerrrrrrrrds, and graphing calculators.</p>
<p>CALTECH- " "</p>
<p>CORNELL- hotel management, cliff-jumping, cold/dead town of Ithaca.</p>
<p>COLUMBIA- designer handbags, political protests, NYC nightlife, worst athletic program of the ivies.</p>
<p>DARTMOUTH- animal house, frat boys playing beer pong @ 10 am, wilderness haven for the outdoorsy types.</p>
<p>UPENN- preprofessional student body, philly cheesesteaks, Wharton.</p>
<p>BROWN- intellectual hippies, Out of Ivy, pseudo-radicals, Ruth Simmons.</p>
<p>UCHICAGO- party=dressing up as Plato and reciting lines from the Republic, Academia.</p>
<p>DUKE- JJ Redick is a ■■■■■■■, Cameron Crazies, glorified athletes, and inevitably, men’s lacrosse.</p>
<p>RICE- funloving, bright Texans who want a good education, but can’t bear the idea of stepping foot over the TX border (pledge allegiance to its flag every morning…)</p>
<p>NORTHWESTERN- purple, journalists, *****-of-an-application.</p>
<p>WASHU- Nelly (st louis), definitely not superior to the likes of Brown (though US News would fail to concur), overzealous tour guides.</p>
<p>JOHN HOPKINS- all the premed horror stories meshed into one.</p>
<p>NOTRE DAME- cult, Charlie Weiss, clovers.</p>
<p>VANDERBILT- fake blondes with Louis Vuittons (rhyme unintended), VandySucks.com</p>
<p>Harvard - Cambridge, Crimson
Yale - Skull and Crossbones
Princeton - Eating clubs, undergraduates
Stanford - Ivy of the West
MIT - Nerd club
Caltech - Nerb club of the West
Cornell - Cold, suicides
Columbia - City folk
Dartmouth - frats, cold
Upenn - boring Ivy
Brown - tea drinking frats
UChicago - Nobel fans
Duke - lacrosse, you know the rest
Rice - Ivy of the South
Northwestern - Somewhere in Ohio, maybe, don’t even know
WashU - marketing madness
Johns Hopkins - doctors
Notre Dame - catholics, football
Vanderbilt - the old south</p>
<p>HARVARD- random</p>
<p>YALE- Gilmore Girls</p>
<p>PRINCETON- Guy at my school.</p>
<p>STANFORD- Psyyyyyyyyych</p>
<p>MIT- the boyfriend</p>
<p>CALTECH- $$$$$$$$$</p>
<p>CORNELL- flipping freezing.</p>
<p>COLUMBIA- this is ivy?!</p>
<p>BROWN- med!</p>
<p>UCHICAGO- amazing essays.</p>
<p>DUKE- lacrosse.</p>
<p>RICE- my lover</p>
<p>NORTHWESTERN- hey…you’re not in Chicago.</p>
<p>WASHU- You should change your name…</p>
<p>JOHNS HOPKINS- my other lover</p>
<p>VANDERBILT- girls. (and I’m a girl… -_-')</p>
<p>Havard-overrated
Yale-pmpous, sweater vests
Princeton-new jersey is dirty
Stanford-asians
MIT-geeks
Caltech-computer science
Cornell-cold; ice cream store
Columbia-new york city
Dartmouth-small, white buildings
Upenn-next door to drexel
Brown-i hate them…b@sta@rds
UChicago-windy city
Duke-blue devils; basketball; north carolina
Rice-texans
Northwestern-what state is it in again
WashU-seattle; depressing location
Johns Hopkins-DC, CTY kids, high achievers
Notre Dame-football
Vanderbilt-pretty school colors</p>
<p>wow, someone should submit this thread to WashU to further convince them of how misleading/awful the name is.</p>