My kids go to Scripps and Harvey Mudd. If people know the schools I get “Wow! Those are great schools” or “Your kids must be smart!”. If they don’t (which seems like most of the time) I get “Where’s that?!”.
My D often gets “Oh! In San Diego?”
There’s a Scripps Institute of Oceanography part of UC San Diego. Scripps College students get asked this so much, they sell a mug in their student store that reads “We do NOT study fish”
“That’s far”
“How did you find that college?”
“She’s going to an Ivy??” Usually in a stunned tone.
(no, but the two namesakes were distant cousins)
Daughter who went to Wesleyan:
“Oh, that’s the women’s college, right?” or
“Oh, I know someone who went to one of them.” me: “No, it’s actually not part of a chain.”
Son who went to Columbia:
“Oh, he must be smart”
or, a neighbor who asked, “Oh, that’s the teacher college, right? I didn’t know he wanted to be a teacher.”
When he wears the school name hoodie, pretty much the entire world assumes it’s the sportswear company’s logo. 
My oldest just graduated from Case Western. Around here nobody has heard of it and assumes he wasn’t smart enough to get into Florida or Miami.
My middle son is at Belmont and surprisingly it is better known around here. People always ask if he is studying music (he is).
My youngest is interested in mostly small LAC in New England and the Middle Atlantic regions. He gets similar reactions as his brother. Other than a few Ivy League schools kids around here are very focused on UF and Miami. Nobody has heard of Middlebury.
@ClaremontMom, there is also: “My kid goes to Harvey Mudd.” “Harvard Med??”
My oldest son is a senior at Oklahoma State University.
We’re in the Pacific NW and with one exception, D is applying to HBCU’s. From well-meaning friends and relatives or casual acquaintances who are Caucasian: “Where is that?” “It’s so far away!” (when they learn where it is), “But she’s so SMART!” and my favorite, “There are good WHITE schools, you know.” “Will she be able to get a job?” “They aren’t as good as…”
From the African American side of the family, D’s church friends and teachers at her school: "Way to go! (on acceptances). “How cool is that!” “That was my top choice.” “I know a grad who loved it there.” “You’ll get so many opportunities at…”
@intparent - Yes, lol, I’ve heard that one, but not directly to us.
For my older kid, somebody said this to me - all at once: She is really going there? There are meth clinics in the area (maybe, but we have not seen them and they do not bother anybody). Oh, and there are no hotels within one hour (this is false). And there is nothing to do (my kid has plenty to do). And the work is too easy (not for my kid).
With my other kid somebody asked me if she was attending a commuter school.
This reminds me of the “smile and nod” thread.
I have a west-coast kid going to a SLAC on the east coast. We get one of two responses:
That’s an amazing college – how wonderful! (We only hear this from people who are knowledgeable about colleges that don’t have a football team on TV or people who are from the East Coast).
Huh? Where’s that? Why? (Then the look of pity and concern that she must not have been able to get to a a single UC or CSU).
Here’s some fun from several years ago.
My son went to our top tier flagship- only applied to two other (elite) schools and did not get in. He was 16 fall of senior year in HS. Wouldn’t visit Harvard when in Cambridge, would not finish the Princeton app., or visit Yale when Hand he were on their NE college visits. Of course he went there attitude for UW.
Okay, so it’s June one year and son in college at UW (Madison). His older cousin went to UW (U-dub, Washington- Seattle) and son was going there that summer for an REU. Another cousin (other side) was going to start at Washington U (in St Louis). It got a bit confusing with the UW’s and Washington’s for awhile- needed to use full names et al when mentioning, discussing schools.
Going to UW instate is the tops for most, Minnesota (because of reciprocity) second. Most do not consider either coast so most of the schools CC members discuss are not on the radar. Nor are Ivies. We moved to Florida for retirement and have gotten used to be in the southeast. I understand how regions go. And- outside of the northeast there are not the myriads of small private schools people think of. Usually the state flagships are tops.
My son goes to Olin. I get a lot of blank stares or “is that a good school?”
Well, is it??? Never heard of it except on CC. There is an Olin Ave in Madison… And park. It all depends on where you live. Her, on CC, I have seen NU stand, not for Northwestern (in IL), but some east coast school I had never heard of. Name recognition does not identify quality- could be from perennial sports top teams…
Olin is a very good, but fairly new engineering school in MA. Tiny. So I don’t think it’s surprising few have heard of it. Wait a decade or two.
D is at Pomona. Mostly she gets blank stares when she answers the “where do you go” question especially here at home. Sometimes people who are familiar with California schools think she means Pepperdine or Cal Poly Pomona. She has tried saying “Pomona College in Claremont, CA” but that doesn’t really help because hardly anyone has heard of Claremont either. So she settles for Pomona College near LA and leaves it at that.
My older son goes to RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, NY). I get things like “It’s cold in Rochester.”
My other son goes to University of Maryland, College Park. People usually want to know which school he’s in there.
@Corinthian, I usually go for “one of the Claremont colleges near LA”, and describe which one more specifically if there is a flicker of recognition. Which there rarely was in the Midwest, happens a bit more often now in the PNW.
DU (Univ of Denver) is one of the more popular mainland privates here, so I usually get, “Oh, that’s a good school; my [relative/friend] went there. What’s he studying? [or, how does he like the cold weather?].”
Two kids at CTCL schools.
The most common reactions:
“So, what would you say back to “She must be smart”?”
DS is a Junior at Georgia Tech. I get the “He must be smart”. I always have the same sort of response.
“Yes he is. My husband is smart he got it from him.”