<p>I met an old acquaintance this evening, someone I hadn’t seen for years. She mentioned that her daughter was just finishing her freshman year of college, so I promptly asked “where?” There was a hesitation, closely followed by a look that resembled a trapped animal trying to escape, and when she finally started to respond, evasively and in a hushed tone of voice, I knew the answer immediately: Harvard! :D</p>
<p>There really ought to be a support group for the parents . . .</p>
<p>@bopambo Have you heard comedian Mike Birbiglia’s story about staying at the La Quinta Inn (why does he have to use the Spanish pronunciation, he didn’t press “2”?) in Whya Whya Washington to perform at four colleges in the PNW. To this day I can’t read Walla Walla without hearing Whya Whya. And Walla Walla was a big topic in our household for awhile because Whitman was a top choice for my daughter. I think she would have been very happy there.</p>
<p>Whitman shared some similarities with where my D eventually attended & she would have gotten not only need based aid but the state governor scholarship, so I encouraged her to apply.
Unfortunately, her 7th grade Washington state history class took so much time for the Whitmans that she never wanted to hear their name again!</p>
<p>Lol, LibbyT, now that’s going to be stuck in my head!</p>
<p>There’s obviously a trade off when you accept a financial aid package from a lesser known school. You can’t complain that you can’t have your cake and eat it to. The name brand schools have an elastic demand that doesn’t need to bribe elite students to attend. You want the brand power, you have to pay for it.</p>
<p>Sometimes brand names aren’t the best fit for a particular student, S was accepted to 4 UCs, including UCB, the cost of attending UCB was the same as attending Whitman (yes, he received merit money at Whitman). He opted for the smaller, more personal undergrad experience, but he did make sure that the school had rigorous academics and produced high grad school acceptances. He didn’t care about brand names, it was only his mother that struggled with that. </p>
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<p>Somebody call the carnival supply store and tell 'em we ordered Whack-a-MOLE, not Whack-a-■■■■■. </p>
<p>Linden- The experience of many families here is that plenty of people haven’t heard of schools that are highly respected and well known by people in the know such as college counselors and people in academia. For instance, Bowdoin is widely known in the Northeast and is a school to which many kids who have the stats for Ivies but want a more intimate college experience apply. In many parts of the country, however, it’s not well known despite having a lower acceptance rate than Duke, Cornell and UCB, among others.</p>
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<p>Nobody chooses a LAC, elite or otherwise, for its “name brand” cachet. The vast majority of people have only heard of a handful of these schools, if that, even those within a relatively close geographic proximity. </p>
<p>If you want brand-name appeal, choose a school with a successful NCAA Div. 1 football program. Even the majority of the Ivies are unknown to most people.</p>
<p>^So true. Although before coming to CC I knew virtually nothing about the University of Alabama except that it was in Alabama, even I knew the expression, “Roll Tide!”</p>
<p>Yes, among the many upsides of my kid electing to attend Alabama is that I don’t have to explain what or where it is to the neighbors, all of whom are college-educated and much wealthier than we are. Grinnell, Macalester, Carleton, Reed? Complete blank stares. I’m quite certain that, even if they’ve heard of Bowdoin, they have no idea how to pronounce it! ;-)</p>
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<p>linden, it’s actually INELASTIC demand you are referring to.</p>
<p>I have presented the Wellesley Book Award at a number of those award ceremonies. One year, the student MC introduced me as the representative from Wesleyan. :-q </p>
<p>The Whitman story above (post numbers, where ARE you?) reminds me of what I say when people look blank about Dickinson, where D1 attended. I say, “It is a lot like St. Olaf, but in Pennsylvania” (we live in MN). That seems to work pretty well. If D1 had gone to Whitman or another comparable LAC, I would have used the same analogy.</p>
<p>I do the same thing @intparent. My son will be attending Rhodes College and we’re from the Midwest. Sometimes I say it’s it’s like “the Denison of the South.”</p>
<p>@intparent: Oh, dey got Norwegians in Pennsylvania now? Now dat’s different dere, you betcha. </p>
<p>@SomeOldGuy, you know what I mean. 
About the same size, similar ranking, liberal arts college. I am sure there must be some Lutherans at Dickinson, too!</p>
<p>Then why not just say Dickinson is a lot like Muhlenberg, which is also in PA? It’s REALLY similar to St. Olaf, from what I know. </p>
<p>Lol… I could make them even more confused, since none of them have ever heard of Muhlenberg.</p>
<p>Here’s a related question: Do you specify Honors College? As in, “My S goes to Indiana University Honors College.” Whenever I hear people say that, my first thought is that they are telling me that their child was qualified to get into a more competitive college. </p>