<p>“Frankly, I don’t know which one would be harder.”</p>
<p>The Marines. It isn’t close, IMHO.</p>
<p>An acquaintance and Chicago native who worked her way up to an executive position at a Fortune 500 company, passed on U of Chicago for Iowa State instead (full ride). She said that she and fellow Chicago area students at ISU had a great time as undergraduates in Ames, something that they couldn’t have imagined happening at U of C.</p>
<p>Yep, I have heard from a number of people, including a few UofC grads, that “Chicago is a great university for graduate school, but not a good place for undergraduates.” I think my daughter’s GC even voiced that advice.</p>
<p>I’ve also wondered how a Northeastern University student from the Chicago area deals with the inevitable, “Oh, you mean Northwestern” assumption when they tell people where they go to school. Or, even worse, the sidelong glance that means that someone assumes they are going to Northeastern Illinois (a commuter school on—to make things even more confusing—the northwest side of Chicago).</p>
<p>@Pizzagirl, that doesn’t surprise me. U of C students when I was there (mid 80’s) were not at all the type to feel any sentimentality or closeness for the school. They may have enjoyed their college years greatly, but they would no more express loyalty to U of C as a result than they would go around waving flags and expressing patriotism just because they had a happy life in the US. Too cynical, maybe. </p>
<p>I want to make clear that when I talked about it being accurate that the University of Chicago was an unpleasant place to be an undergraduate, I was talking about 1974, not 2014, or even 2004. They have, indeed, made great strides in improving the undergraduate experience. There are people close to retirement in the administration who have been working on that their whole careers, and the results really began to show a decade or so ago. Both of my kids went there and had a great time, in and out of the classroom. </p>
<p>(I forget that not everyone reading the Parents Forum knows what a shill I am for the University of Chicago.)</p>
<p>DS attends Franklin Olin College of Engineering. It is a teeny new school outside of Boston. I often tell people, “It’s the best little school you’ve never heard of”. Sometimes I mention it does well in rankings (US News & World report, #4 for undergrad-only engineering schools)…not bad for a school that is only 12 years old. </p>
<p>^shout-out to Olin! I have worked with interns from there. Smart, smart people. The students seem to love it and have a lot of school pride.</p>
<p>“How do you all handle the ‘I’ve never heard of that school’ line, particularly when it comes from family members?”</p>
<p>How do you all handle “I’ve never heard of (whatever you’re about to do)” from family members?</p>
<p>If you go on vacation and say that you’re going to the XYZ Resort, and your family members say they’ve never heard of it, you don’t all of a sudden feel bad / ashamed that you’re going to XYZ Resort, right? </p>
<p>If you’ve become an aficionado of fine watchers or fine cars or fine (whatevers) and you decide to buy something that is known to people who are knowledgeable in those categories, you don’t all of a sudden feel bad / ashamed that people who aren’t knowledgeable in those categories don’t know that brand of watch or car, right?</p>
<p>It’s tough when parents buy into the propaganda that college admissions is when the exceptional worth of their spawn will finally be recognised by all, only to be met with a “never heard of it”.</p>
<p>
I think you’ve put your finger on it @keepittoyourself:</p>
<p>What parents want to hear: “Wow! Congratulations. That’s a great school!”
Which they can interpret to mean “how smart your child must be! You must have done a great job raising them” (or even, “how smart you must be if your child inherited such ability”)</p>
<p>What parents hear in “Never heard of it”:
“Oh. Just another school. Your child must not be special. Guess you aren’t either.”</p>
<p>I find myself secretly a little irritated by the opposite reaction,“Wow that’s a really good school!”, accompanied by a slight look of surprise. What, you didn’t think my kid was good enough to get in? This changes your opinion of him? It’s a well-regarded little LAC that turns down a lot of great kids from our area, but he’s the same kid he was before he applied. If you’re surprised perhaps it’s because you never had a clue about who he was and what he did in high school.</p>
<p>Much better than the reaction when one’s S or D is rejected from a school that used to be moderately selective but has become much harder to get into. It’s like, wow, what’s wrong with him, he couldn’t even get into blahblah?! My cousins all went to blahblah (in the 70s), and they aren’t that smart… </p>
<p>Even when you explain that blahblah is much more selective now, they never seem to believe it. And then there’s the added sting when you know that their cousins really AREN’T that smart!</p>
<p>At a college fair I went up to a table and told the woman from Colby College just because I never heard of you doesn’t mean your school isn’t a great school, it is but wasn’t right for my oldest child but maybe my middle one </p>
<p>My dad had heard of U of Chicago when I told him D2 was applying. He snorted, and said, “That place is for eggheads!” Then he reconsidered (thought about what D2 is like), and said, “But on second thought it might not be a bad place for her…” :)</p>
<p>My dad had heard of U of Chicago. In fact, he put it on our college tour (1983) … as we camped in various places, driving in a VW bug. He did have to give a student a ride to get help finding the place. I still remember seeing the area laying on my back on top of camping equpment, looking out the bug windows. </p>
<p>There are over 4,000 colleges in the US. You can’t expect your friends and relatives to know them all. The best response is to develop a short “elevator speech” that informs the questioner about the background and strengths of your son or daughter’s college. Some people ask questions to learn, not to offend. </p>
<p>When I told a friend where my son was going, he promptly told me that a girl in his son’s class went there and hated it. Gee, thanks! :-S </p>
<p>Well, my mother in law was able to find someone in her church whose nephew went to our kids school – so now it’s all good. Apparently now it’s reputable – if “so and so’s son” went there, then of course it’s a good school. LOL. Apparently she doesn’t trust my judgement or my sons, but that lady from church . . . Now she’s an authority on colleges!</p>
<p>Reminds me of the mom of one of my daughter’s good friends. The friend applied to Vandy and was waitlisted. When she got a text from her mom saying, “good news about Vanderbilt”, she was super-excited, thinking she had been taken off the waitlist. Unfortunately, the mom’s good “news” was that she had talked to co-workers and found out that “Vanderbilt is a good school. Being on their waitlist is nothing to be ashamed of.” (The girl is going to UCLA.) </p>
<p>I’m from Boston and I initially had reservations about going to Clemson since nobody in New England knew where it was (California? Nebraska?) or that it even had academics (oh I hear their football team is really good!). Good thing I work in North Carolina now and people respect Clemson as a solid engineering school :)</p>