Thumper, most Catholics have heard about SCU, but that’s probably because as all of our kids go through private school, the Cath colleges are recruiting there. That’s my theory.
Because I live in Mississippi, when I say that my daughter goes to Ole Miss, I either get a disgusted face (meaning whomever asked is a MS State fan) or “Oh Good!” reaction (Ole MIss fans) followed by “Doesn’t she just love it?” And yes, she does just love it. But the rest of the story is that we are LSU fans from LA. originally and she chose Ole Miss because they recruited her to run cross country and track. Otherwise we probably wouldn’t have looked at Ole MIss. But, I’m really glad they did. Because it has been WONDERFUL in every way for her. Now our senior daughter is trying to decide between TCU and Ole MIss…honestly don’t know what she is going to decide but when I say she’s choosing between the two, people are always impress by the name “TCU”.
Living in Wisconsin, people here know Twin Cities, some of the UW schools (Madison, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Oshkosh), and MSU-Mankato is hit or miss. That’s about it.
Some people might know Notre Dame or a few Big 10 schools if they’re in to sports but half the people I know don’t a single thing about the LACs in WI, let alone colleges like Macalester, Middlebury, etc. I wouldn’t expect a lot of people to know the schools that are common on this site.
Garland, Are they referring to the well known Teachers College of Columbia University. I bet in the 1930s and 1940s it was probably as well known or better known than the undergraduate program. It remains a separate entity from Columbia University and has a really interesting past.
Pizzagirl, my experience has been quite different from what you are describing. My career relates to education and history so I usually know more about schools than others I have casual conversations with but among college graduate acquaintances, the knowledge level is certainly not grossly deficient. Could my friends order the California schools according to how they’d appear in the well known ranking system, or could they tell me which has the best CS program-probably not. But they certainly know about the quality of that system in general. They’d also know about Berkeley (as noted above due to to its role in the politics of the 60’s and Stokely Carmichael & the SDS, etc). But they would also know about Irvine and Davis, and well…most of them. They’d know CalTech. They’d know the quality of Georgia Tech, etc. They would not know nearly as much as posters on this site but their knowledge goes way beyond what could be gleaned from college sports. Those who have not been to college probably wouldn’t know CalTech. In terms of why Harvard is still top of the list-most people can’t answer that.
But most such families are probably not willing to pay list price to other than maybe in-state public schools, and their kids probably do not have the stats to get big scholarships at out-of-state flagships or get into the private schools with the best financial aid.
“My career relates to education and history so I usually know more about schools than others I have casual conversations with but among college graduate acquaintances, the knowledge level is certainly not grossly deficient.”
One more time. Average PERSON. Not average college graduate, which is a minority of US adults who are, by definition, better educated.
lostaccount–I"m sure that’s what they are thinking of. I just think it’s amusing that that is what comes to mind. Really no idea about Columbia itself, even again, despite the fact that we live in NJ, supposed the place where EVERYONE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT ALL COLLEGES. Which is nice; S flew under the radar in many cases.
There are so many factors that go into whether a group of people not in the midst of the college application process know about a schools selectivity. For example while Notre Dame is known among many in Chicago to be highly sekective in my highly Jewish suburb many people while well aware of its existence have no idea that it’s hard to get into. Most people here were perplexed When one kid transferred from the local Catholic HS to our excellent public school because it would he felt be easier to get into ND where he was the only one of 450 kids applying vs one of almost 75 in the catholic school. " is ND hard to get into?" People would ask.
The whole “prestige” angle is fascinating. Prestige among whom? Graduate and professional schools? Companies looking to hire? The person you meet at a party?
I grew up in the northern NJ suburbs where the social value of the elite schools is real. I have since lived in the midwest and southeast where there is less of an emphasis on HYP but a recognition that many flagship state schools have a lot to offer.
maya that’s crazeee. I’m way over on the left coast and everyone here knows UND is highly selective and this USC country. I mean come on, Notre Dame practically has a national ad that runs for 12 weeks every Saturday afternoon for cornsakes. Some people live under rocks I guess
I have a daughter at Duke and a son at UNC. You can imagine the reaction to that if you are a sports fan at all.
One son just graduated from Hampshire College “oh, you mean UNH”? Um, no. And my younger son attends Bates. If they’ve heard of Bates, we hear what a good school it is; we have family in the south who don’t know it at all.
anonymous26, Many people in places like NY would be astounded by the resources and quality of the flagships in some states. If you know the history of education in the US you understand why there is such a difference in quality (and prestige) between different system. The goals, missions and driving forces of the state schools in places like Michigan and California were completely different from those of places like NY. It isn’t a put-down of any system to say that. It is just fact. But if you were to take some people from the Northeast and plop them onto the campus of, say, Wisc, they’d be blown away.
At S’s magnet school the parents and students were aware of almost all competitive schools including the schools my kids attended/attend. When speaking to parents whose kids attended the local public HS (where D went) they politely ask, nod and then end the conversation.
Whatever…
Lostaccount I agree that many in parts of the northeast would be blown away by the resources at many flagships in states such as Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan, etc. That being said, one of my kids is at one of our state schools and has had an amazing couple of years. I was blown away by some of the OOS flagship schools that I saw.
Most I tell have not heard of Duquesne as we live in NY, but we could care less. He was accepted to some very well known and highly ranked schools, and money wasn’t the issue. He just liked the school and loves being in a city. Good enough or him, good enough or us.
With toured Duquesne with DS1 and really liked it. Pittsburgh’s a great town.
When I was growing up in suburban Los Angeles, the students knew some of the UC’s (UCLA, UCB, UCSB, and UCSD), plus USC and Stanford as rich-kids’ schools. Caltech was for brainiacs. They didn’t think a lot about going out of state. They would sooner consider going to some of the state colleges, but in my crowd they thought about those colleges pejoratively, a small step above junior college. A couple of kids from my HS went to Santa Clara, a couple to Reed. They didn’t know much about Pomona, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd. I never knew anyone who applied there. I myself was put off by the fact that Pomona College had a $20 application fee some 50 years ago.
Then there was the rest of the world, such as Notre Dame. Nobody knew about Swarthmore, Amherst, or any of the Ivies except Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. MIT? Not on their mental map. An uncle of mine who was a college professor told me about Grinnell, Oberlin, and some other small schools, including Reed (which I ended up attending; but I only first saw the college when I showed up for freshman orientation).
It is a manageable size city for an 18 year old to navigate and is ranked safest big city in US. He goes to concerts, sporting events, museums and occasional exotic eats. Loves that he can walk to almost anything or take a $5 über ride or public bus or the T.