^^^@lostaccount, the people who know what Caltech is usually say, “Wow!” but most people think it’s a Devry type of school.
I have twin step-daughters. One is at UW-Madison, the other at UW-La Crosse. Both are very happy with their school choices and are attending their top choices.
Step-D who goes to Madison:
-Something about how Miinesota or Iowa is better in some way
-You know Madison is a huge party school, right?
Step-D who goes to La Crosse:
-Did you not get into Madison?
-Climb Granddad’s Bluff yet? (Yes, she has, several times, everyone on campus has.)
My son is a senior in HS and will be attending USNA next fall. We almost always get comments about how the Army is better, they didn’t know that the Navy had a service academy, Navy Boys are sissies, etc. Or, they casually mention that there’s no way he’ll survive a service academy. He attends a military boarding school. I think he’ll be fine!
I am curious as to why a student at West Point or any other Military academy would be bothered by someone thanking them for their service? Do they not graduate as an officer and have a five year commitment to serve our country?
Is it perhaps that they don’t feel as if they are serving yet? Otherwise being bothered by someone who is demonstrating appreciation and respect seems peculiar to me.
There are some selective schools with amazing financial aid, but most people think attendance means you are rich. This is especially troubling when this misconception is held by high school guidance counselors who push state schools that actually would cost more for those with incomes under $65k (point at which the selective school is free) or $150K (point at which selective school costs $15K).
@Badgers21 When they say that Army is better. Tell them , “Tell that to the Marines. That’s where they graduate.” In terms of a school being a party school , tell them " You and your daughter have already started shopping for flasks and lampshades."
@lostaccount Another name that confuses geographically challenged folks is California University of Pennsylvania! 
I’m so surprised! I figured Caltech had a much bigger name…makes me feel better about Harvey Mudd! LOL!
re: “better school” - My son had a similar experience - “at least you’re going to college”
^Well, as I said earlier, I had a neighbor who thought Columbia was a teacher’s college. (I think her thinking was, why go out of state in that case?)
@greatkid The west Point cadets perhaps feel that they have not earned the gratitude yet. That will come I the future.
DD16 is increasingly asked questions about where she plans to go-sometimes in the weirdest situations. She was bowling with her BF a few days ago and the people next to her overheard her talking to her BF (who is a senior and has been having college acceptances roll in from very diverse colleges, which leads to lots of discussions about where to go). She was talking about a computer science thing (her BF wants to be a lawyer and knows little about CS), and the people in the next lane over overheard her and asked where she was planning to apply.
Since she finds this incredibly nosey, she always responds with Georgia Tech, since that’s where everyone assumes in-state nerdy kids want to go, and she doesn’t necessarily want people to know where she’s applying. The dad (who was with his daughter) responded that his daughter was studying CS at “UT”. DD16 asked me where that was and I had to laugh because there are several colleges that could be UT!
We’re guessing University of Tennessee just for proximity-we have no idea about the quality of the CS program, but since they mentioned it, and that the daughter loves it, we’ll probably look at what it offers. DD did not ask the people more about it since, well, she was bowling and didn’t want to have a discussion about college with strangers, lol.
I like to think that people ask about where kids go to school in order to learn about places they don’t know about where the kids are happy or flourishing, those are good discussions.
Some people are competitive and like to one-up through their kids-those people we either lie to or avoid totally.
Last year when a friend/neighbor asked where our oldest daughter would be going to college in the fall I replied Middlebury College. She asked the usual …where is it and why does she want to go there…
I replied it is in Vermont, that she wants to attend a Liberal Arts College, and that Middlebury is in the mountains (which is important to her). Friend replied, “Oh an arts school! What type of art will she be studying”?
The service academy cadets and midshipmen have not ‘earned’ the gratitude yet as they are being paid all expense to attend one of the most prestigious institutions in the country. Some of us veterans are still embarrassed by the “thank you for your service” thing as many of us don’t feel we did anything special.
“aunt bea, I would think Caltech would be another one that would elicit"He/she must be smart”."
Seriously?? You seriously think the average person has heard of Caltech?! The AVERAGE PERSON doesn’t know anything beyond the colleges in their area and big sports schools. They couldn’t name more than 2-3 Ivies if you held a gun to their heads.
I had heard of Caltech before our first college search. And I live in the Midwest. I only knew a few schools outside our area, but that was one of them.
I’d heard of Caltech, but that’s partly a function of growing up in a STEM environment.
I imagine the list of people who recognize the name may have grown recently thanks to the sitcom Modern Family. (It’s the college coveted and then attended by the family brainiac.)
We’re all kind of limited by what we’re exposed to. Which is why it’s best just to inquire further rather than to speculate and assume if you’re not familiar with a place.
Exactly. My kids had an advantage since I knew of all the east coast schools having grown up there.
Between the Big Bang Theory and Modern Family, the profile of Caltech has substantially blossomed (get it!!!) in mainstream consciousness.
Caltech is not known in the SE, at least to our HS principal and most friends. Son was the first from our HS to apply there.
Growing up in the NE, I felt I could be of help to many students. Son’s math teacher recommended CMU’s SCS, but it was much later that I realized how good a program that is in CS.
@MotherOfDragons, you would think that with that TV exposure, people would have at least heard of Caltech. Nope, they think he’s “learning how to re-tred tires or some thin’ like that”. Even at his high school, he had a teacher who knew nothing about Caltech! FL teacher: Where is that school? I thought with your grades, you would get into the UC’s.
No biggie, but it’s been quite an adventure.
And meanwhile, the UCs mean nothing outside of California. Its all regional.