<p>lje62, You are correct it is so regional. I was flattered when asked to speak at Simmons. I worked at the hospital nearby. Simmons MSWs and RNs were always well respected. </p>
<p>@Pizzagirl ok maybe not 20 schools, but there are certain schools that MOST people will recognize regardless of where they live. </p>
<p>Yes, and most them are in the SEC and the Big Ten. The CC bubble is small compared to the rest of America. </p>
<p>When folks said “Williams College, I’ve never heard of that”’ my response was…“the people who matter have heard of Williams College” i.e med schools, employers et al… And then they would smile and say “okay, you’re right, they do matter more than I do”. </p>
<p>“ok maybe not 20 schools, but there are certain schools that MOST people will recognize regardless of where they live.”</p>
<p>SOG is exactly right. The schools that <em>most</em> people will recognize will be those that have big-time sports programs (or have had them in the past). Far more people have heard of Ohio State or UCLA than have heard of Amherst, Swarthmore, or Pomona. </p>
<p>Just because I have heard of certain school doesn’t mean it is a great school. On the other hand, if I am not familiar with a school, it is not as likely I will recruit and hire from that school.</p>
<p>@saif235, there’s nothing really wrong with applying to 6 Ivies, but each Ivy is so different that when a kid is applying to that many, it’s natural to assume that the motivation is status. I don’t fault a student for doing this, but I do wonder how much of this decision is family/cultural pressure.</p>
<p>My DS goes to a school that most on CC don’t really know either, but I don’t take it personally. After all, there are fewer actual graduates since 1832 than are members of a typical current Big 10 freshman class. I usually throw a fun stat out and praise the place. He is happy, I (as a parent) am happy. </p>
<p>I worked with someone who went to Cornell College in Iowa. It’s probably the only school where a misunderstanding works in your favor.</p>
<p>I think it’s the intent in the question/comment that’s important. Last year I had a similar conversation, but said, “I haven’t heard about that college before… Can you tell me more about it?” Well, it’s a year later and we have visited and my D is seriously considering applying there. 
It’s a good school with a regional instead of national ranking, though. </p>
<p>Make sure it’s not a negative comment before you give a “smart” answer – some of us are still learning about all these colleges out there. (And I had never heard of Williams, even with its high ranking, before starting to help my D look for schools. I think it’s a regional thing.)</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd College - Harvard Med?!? No…
Grinnell College - Cornell? (and not the one in Iowa)
If they are are only mildly interested, I explain " a small science and engineering school in CA" , or “a small school in the middle of the cornfields of Iowa” and that’s enough.
If they actually show some interest, then I explain a little more about the schools.</p>
<p>I didn’t know about the many, many colleges until I had a Junior and started looking at them. Now, there is probably one I haven’t heard of. I think the people that don’t know my son’s college are people in a different place in their lives. They haven’t been all consumed by the college search like Junior/Senior parents have. They haven’t been on so many tours they can jump on any campus and fudge a tour themselves. They haven’t “been there, done that”. After you tell them where your child goes, within a week or so, they will hear the name again and say, 'I just heard of that school". :)</p>
<p>I haven’t read the whole thread…obviously this is not a unique experience.</p>
<p>I would produce a genuine smile and say “You’re not alone…its a well-kept secret.”</p>
<p>The fact is that there are a lot of people who haven’t heard of a variety of things that the rest of us take for granted. Some of them should have, but they aren’t very curious, and some of them aren’t very bright. Others of them you can forgive. </p>
<p>My kid went to Santa Clara University. I can’t tell you how many folks asked us why we were paying OOS tuition for her to attend a UC. And most called it University of Santa Clara (which apparently was it’s name in the dark ages).</p>
<p>And lots of our friends right here in CT thought BU was a public university in MA.</p>
<p>We just smiled and nodded.</p>
<p>I had never heard of Santa Clara until CC. :)</p>
<p>In my younger and wise-apple days when folks occasionally tell me that they never heard of Columbia U, I would retort “The school that beat Stanford in the 1934 Rose Bowl!”</p>
<p>People think that University of Southern California is part of the UC system.</p>
<p>Personally, I would never admit that I had never heard of something–I might say, “I’m not too familiar with it–what’s it like?”</p>
<p>Even among the US news top 20, there are several schools that most people who do not live near it never heard of because they are not big sports schools. Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Cal Tech, and Brown University are good examples. Great schools but there are many people in the midwest, where I live, even college educated people, who do not recognize any of those names. Ask a few “regular people” around you if they have ever heard of these schools and you will see. Outside of a small percentage of the population, these schools have very modest brand recognition.</p>
<p>Well, if you’re talking to a person who’s never heard of Columbia, you don’t have to be defensive.</p>