<p>Oh, not a problem. The definition of prestige I’m using is simply common renown. Pull a man off the street and ask him to name the ten best universities he can think of, and U of C will likely not be on that list (although his state’s flagship school likely will be). Tell a man in Turkmenistan that you’re at U of C, and he’ll likely go “oh.” Tell him you’re at MIT and he’ll go “wow.” This is my definition of prestige. It’s the quality of renown that’s not necessarily related to anything other than how well known the school is, and how desirable it seems to people with common knowledge.</p>
<p>Meaning, basically, pick your random guy in the world (let’s say Peru) and ask him who he’d rather marry his daughter off to, someone from Harvard or someone from U of C. Chances are he’ll say the guy from Harvard, even if, living all the way in Peru, he knows nothing of the actual education at both schools.</p>
<p>That’s prestige. It’s “commonly associated worth.” Harvard’s is greater. Does this mean it’s a better school? Not necessarily. I don’t think so. But it’s commonly associated worth is very, very, high.</p>
<p>EDIT: I do not mean to be sexist with the “marrying the daughter off” thing, it’s just that in some places of the world, women don’t typically get educated. I figured I’d be safe statistically.</p>