<p>My son is going to Sewanee and it’s a really great school and he’s really excited about it and so are his parents.
I’m just wondering if anybody has any words of wisdom/snappy replies for when you’re out walking the dog and chatting to the neighbors and someone inevitably says, “Oh, I’ve never heard of that school” (which I’m taking to mean either “so therefore it’s not very good” or “so their football team must be really lousy.”) So far, the best we’ve come up with is “That’s okay. I doubt anybody there has heard of you either.” How do you all handle the ‘I’ve never heard of that school’ line, particularly when it comes from family members?</p>
<p>They once beat Texas, A&M, LSU, and Ole Miss in football – in the same week. </p>
<p><a href=“1899 Sewanee Tigers football team - Wikipedia”>1899 Sewanee Tigers football team - Wikipedia;
<p><a href=“SEC expansion -- Would conference consider Sewanee, its long-lost founding member? - ESPN”>http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/_/id/7001627/sec-expansion-conference-consider-sewanee-long-lost-founding-member</a></p>
<p>My older son graduated from McGill University In Montreal. When he was a student someone asked me:</p>
<p>“Where does your son go to school?”
“McGill”
“Where’s that?”
“Montreal”
“Where’s that?”
“Quebec”
“Where?”</p>
<p>Some people are very uninformed. Just smile and nod. </p>
<p>Smiling and nodding might save you a lot of heartburn in the end. Some people just are ignorant about how many great schools there are in the US, some may only pay attention to big-name college athletics, some may only be aware of what’s in their own backyards. I really don’t think that most people mean to give offense when they blurt out, “Where’s that? I’ve never heard of it.” I’ve heard it about my own kids’ schools. Or better: “Why would she want to go there?” from someone who thinks no one should ever leave the hometown.</p>
<p>Another approach is to educate people about the school. You can say, “Well, it’s known for how many Rhodes and Fulbright Scholars it produces and also for especially strong faculty-student relationships.” Add whatever factoid your son especially likes.</p>
<p>Or you can take the offensive: “You haven’t heard of Sewanee? Really? That surprises me.” </p>
<p>I don’t think most people mean anything negative by that remark. There are many great schools that I am not familiar with, and I would just be curious to know more about the school. They are probably just commenting, albeit in an awkward way, that they do not know that school and don’t know where it is. I doubt that they are thinking the school is no good. I think maybe you are being too sensitive. </p>
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<p>Reply of the week! Wish I had thought of it!</p>
<p>I like the offensive. “Really? It’s ranked #38th in the country by US News!?” People do tend to only know Colleges within 100 or so miles of where they live. I’ve mentioned Macalester to a few people and I get blank stares. Congrats to your son, it is a great school. It’s on my D’s list as well. </p>
<p>There are thousands of post-secondary institutions in the US. Even someone who spends time on CC probably doesn’t know them all, and most civilians know (perhaps) some of the Ivies, some big-time sports schools, and a few institutions that friends have gone to. More than likely, even if they recognize the name, they couldn’t tell you much about the school. </p>
<p>It might not be graciously stated, but “I’ve never heard of that school” does have the advantage of being honest, always a good start to a discussion. I would just take it at face value, and reply something like “we hadn’t heard of it either until we started researching schools, and we’re so excited that DS was accepted there, it’s a hidden gem and the small LAC environment is exactly what DS was looking for.” You know your neighbors better than I do, but I wouldn’t assume that they’re being anything worse than conversationally clumsy; I wouldn’t reply with snark (and for the record, I can be snarky at the drop of a hat 
). </p>
<p>Well some people might have heard of it if you call it The University of the South.</p>
<p>But I do think the best approach is to have the elevator speech ready about what you love about it.</p>
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<p>Well, if you go in with that attitude, that would lead you down the path of coming up with a negative reply and being defensive.</p>
<p>I just took a quick glance at the top 50 US News and there were a bunch I hadn’t heard about and more that I hadn’t heard a lot about (e.g. knew if they were in the top 50 vs. the top 25).</p>
<p>I would expect that if someone isn’t knee deep in reviewing colleges where they kids are interested in, they wouldn’t either.</p>
<p>My kid goes to Harvey Mudd, and people say, “Harvard Med??”. That’s okay… I don’t even bother with my favorite factoids, I just tell 'em it is in California and she likes the weather. </p>
<p>Most people haven’t heard of my tiny Midwestern college… I figure that I need to be on my best behavior so as to impress them with the type of quality student the college attracts 
If this is their first impression of the school, I want it to be a good one!</p>
<p>I don’t think responding snarkily is the best way to handle it - it makes you look insecure, and turns the tone of the conversation more to your rudeness than to theirs.</p>
<p>You could just say something very simple like “Oh, it’s a very great school, and a good fit for our son.” And leave it at that. What could anyone say to that that wouldn’t make them look quite silly and terrible?</p>
<p>I get this response, or some variation of it, occasionally when people ask me about my alma mater (Spelman College). People never mean anything negative by it. I usually just explain what/where it is and they just smile and nod. A lot of times I’ve never heard of their undergrad, either. It’s not a bad thing - there are 3,000 colleges in the U.S. and most of us have never heard of the majority of them.</p>
<p>"Oh, I’ve never heard of that school.”</p>
<p>“Well, with all the college scandals that have been in the news lately, I guess that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” (And smile.)</p>
<p>I think most people have probably just never heard of that school. I don’t think they mean for you to take offense from it. There are tons of schools that I have never heard of or know nothing about (including Sewanee, no offense), but that doesn’t mean I think they are less than any other school. You can’t expect people to know of every school in the US. Most people only know of schools near them, some Ivy’s and/or their state schools, and schools that friends or relatives go to. Back in high school, I had never known of schools like Rice or Bryn Mawr or Wellesley until I had friends that went there. I had never heard of other schools that people have gone to for med school or other grad schools because they don’t have an undergrad program, but that doesn’t mean they are bad schools. That certainly doesn’t mean that they are bad schools or that I think any less of them. Most of the time when I say I’ve never heard of a school, it’s a genuine request for more information to get a feel for what it’s like–like where it’s located, is it a small school or a big school, etc. </p>
<p>To be honest, if you replied with something snarky, I’d think you were rude and associate that with your son’s school. Not exactly the best way to spread the word about your son’s future school. You may be their only association with this school. No need to make it a bad one.</p>
<p>Just because they hadn’t heard of it doesn’t necessarily warrant a snarky reply.
Just say something like it doesnt have a big grad school that generates publicity and you are very happy to have discovered/ known about it.</p>
<p>I had a dad whose kid was going to Pacific lutheran university say to me about where my daughter was going, ( oh it will nice to have her at a little regional school).
( Reed College) I agreed. :)</p>
<p>When I mention my children’s schools, I’ll say the name of the school, and then where it’s located. That’s enough information to give folks something to chew on. Really, if you’ve never heard of the school your first question is going to be about location. Even better, you could say “Sewanee–it’s in Tennessee, and he’s very excited!” </p>
<p>One of the nicest side benefits of being on CC is that when folks tell you that their child/grandchild is going to Lewis and Clark, or Grinnell, or Guilford, you can say with a huge genuine smile “Oh, that’s such a wonderful school!” And then you get to watch their face change from that hangdog look of anticipating someone never having heard of L&C or whatever into grateful relief. </p>
<p>When people haven’t heard of Bowdoin and act as if it’s inferior I just tell them that I will think of them while on Bowdoin’s private island. Congrats on Sewanee. I live in TN and spent last summer at a science & math program there. </p>
<p>Here in NY the usual response to Vanderbilt is, “where’s that?” And when I say “Nashville” the response is, once again, “where’s that?” Doesn’t bother me or my son at all. Employers and grad schools get it and that’s what matters. People are provincial all over!</p>
<p>Well if they open with 'I’ve never heard of that school" . . .then you have the perfect opening to respond with </p>
<p>“Yes we were so excited to have our (son/daugher) accepted at such an exclusive school!”</p>