<p>Living in California, I had not heard of Boston College until I began my college searching. I think I knew about Vanderbilt before I learned about Vassar. </p>
<p>After college searching, it seems as though Vassar is the most prestigeous.</p>
<p>I agree that Vassar is the most prestigious of those schools. More important though for your son will be fit as Vassar and Vandy are very different from what I hear. I’m not too familiar with BC apart from rankings.</p>
<p>I think there’s a reason you’re getting so many people saying Vassar is the most prestigious school of your son’s choices: it is. Vandy is great, but it is not the Harvard of the South. That title goes to Duke, and if it didn’t go to Duke, Rice would be next in line, followed by Emory. 
Vandy is not the best in the south as the south actually has some amazing schools. Vassar is among the best LACs and has an extremely beautiful campus as well.</p>
<p>BC is not in the same league as Vassar/Vandy.</p>
<p>D.T.
Vassar is by no means a “sinking ship”. It remains one of the finest LA institutions, and you will love it there. But small note-- Vassar students are not typically called “vassarites”. If anything, it would be “vassarians”, as the yearbook is the “Vassarion”. Enjoy the beautiful campus and stellar education you will receive there.</p>
<p>Brand, Rice and Emory would NOT be above Vandy. No way in hell.</p>
<p>Perhaps Emory and Vandy are equal, but Rice has one of the best undergraduate educations in the nation, a large endowment per student, focuses primarily on its ugrad students, a lower acceptance rate (24% compared to Vandy’s 34%) and an SAT range that rivals that of HYP (1330-1540) compared to Vandy’s (1280-1460). I can’t think of anything else right now.</p>
<p>living in a very college-conscious/snobby area in the northeast, i’d say:
Vassar
Boston College
Vanderbilt</p>
<p>Stats mean nothing. Uchicago’s acceptance rate is 50%, so? Vandy’s endownment is huge, Vanderbilt was the second richest man ever. And SAT ranges really don’t mean anything either. Who was the last person to get into Vandy with a 1280? Everyone I know who goes there has a 1450+. If you want to look at SAT ranges, you could get into Penn with a 690V 720 M</p>
<p>These discussions have been had over and over ad nauseum on cc. Rice is a phenomenal school, as are Emory, Vandy and the others mentioned. They are (almost) all in the same league. Probably the only one that is below the others is BC, whose average SAT scores are in the 1200-1400 range. All the other schools mentioned have average SATs in the 1400-1500s.</p>
<p>“living in a very college-conscious/snobby area in the northeast, i’d say:
Vassar
Boston College
Vanderbilt”</p>
<p>I don’t know where you live in the northeast but you’re completely wrong.
Vanderbilt
Vassar
Boston College</p>
<p>“Stats mean nothing. Uchicago’s acceptance rate is 50%, so? Vandy’s endownment is huge, Vanderbilt was the second richest man ever.”</p>
<p>I think which school is better is subjective, it really depends on what a person is looking for. But if you want to talk about endowment, Emory ($4.8 million) and Rice ($3.9 million) both have bigger endowments than Vandy ($2.9 million), according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.</p>
<p>I can confirm the that many people are still unaware about Vassar having gone co-ed. Also, for a LAC, Vassar won’t be perceived as an “elite” institution compared to other LACs in the NorthEast. (Won’t really matter unless your S. has ambitions for top professional schools.)</p>
<p>I’d suggest Vanderbuilt or BC, depending on the “fit” for your son as their academic name recognition are (at best) regional. (i.e., does he want to stay in the South or in New England?)</p>
<p>I agree with Irap. It goes Vanderbilt, Vassar/BC tie.</p>
<p>And sorry grateful…million? I think you have it wrong…</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant billions. But my point was that Rice and Emory both have bigger endowments than Vanderbilt.</p>
<p><a href=“http://chronicle.com/premium/stats/endowments/endowment_results.php3?Year=2007&Order=1&State_Type=All_states&limit=[/url]”>http://chronicle.com/premium/stats/endowments/endowment_results.php3?Year=2007&Order=1&State_Type=All_states&limit=</a></p>
<p>no one goes to vanderbilt from my former high school, the guidance counselors dont push it, so people really dont know much about it. i’ve met several people who mix it up with villanova.</p>
<p>What region of the northeast doesn’t know Vanderbilt…and who mixes up Vandy with Villanova? Please, what kind of hs did you go to?</p>
<p>So, people mix up UPenn with Penn State…that doesn’t mean Penn isn’t prestigious…</p>
<p>And in terms of the overall argument, they’re all good schools. I, personally didn’t know about BC or Vandy until my college counselor put them on my list… And prestige is a very subjective… </p>
<p>And someone tried to correlate this argument to the difference between Bergdorf Goodman and WalMart… but these are all very good schools… so it’s not saying Bergdorf Goodman and WalMart, but maybe Bergdorf Goodman to Neiman Marcus…<br>
So name recognition in this case is actually not awful, but it really depends on your surroundings to determine name recognition… (NYers might think Vassar, people from the northeast might think BC, people from the south might think Vandy…)</p>
<p>“no one goes to vanderbilt from my former high school, the guidance counselors dont push it, so people really dont know much about it. i’ve met several people who mix it up with villanova.”</p>
<p>I’m sorry this isn’t really an issue of prestige anymore but a problem of ignorance at your school.</p>
<p>For all of you who have it confused… prestige = well known and good reputation.</p>
<p>Out of the three schools, Vanderbilt tops all of them.</p>
<p>Go where you want to live and grow up for four years. And when you get there have a killer fantastic attitude and appreciation for your school and the rest will fall in place.<br>
That said, Nashville is a fantastic place to live. I love Boston, but last time I was there for spring break I was pelted with freezing rain the entire week and not a dogwood or azalea blossom in sight. brrrrrrrr!<br>
Yeah the Symphony was sublime, but the Nashville Symphony Orchestra is also in a new gorgeous venue on the Cumberland River. Do not underestimate the great towns in our interior, ye coastal city dwellers! ha</p>
<p>Your point is well taken, Faline, but if the son of the OP wants to go to grad or professional school, then he probably will not end up living where he attends undergraduate school. I attended undergrad in the NE, but went south for grad school, originally thinking I’d go down for my tan and my degree and then return north. Didnt happen. I got used to not digging my car out of the snow.</p>