Wellesley or Northwestern?

Pizzagirl
Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:08:18 +0000

I think I’ve figured out the issue here (being a superior NU grad and all … ha ha, just KIDDING, people).

You can define prestige (or maybe cachet, that may be a better word for what we’re talking about) several ways.

One is based on raw intellect / “raw brains” of who goes there. (I suppose SAT scores could be used as a proxy for that, however imperfect, but let’s use it for now.) By that rubric – often used by international students who are ranking schools on very numeric, functional attributes – NU certainly yields to very few. I suspect this is how Sam Lee is measuring it, based on this statement: * I have already mentioned average SAT score does not equte prestige but they are closely related. If one school has so much “wow” factor, it should follow that that “wow” factor would draw the students with top scores. *

However, another way of looking at prestige – which is why I bring the word cachet in as a potential substitute – is in terms of social cachet. Regardless of what Wellesley’s average SAT scores (etc) are, Wellesley does have a certain social cachet – historically where the “better girls” from the “best families” went, blue blood, etc. I think it’s very possible for an international such as Sam Lee to not fully appreciate the historical prestige of W (and the other Sisters, of course, but let’s keep this at W for right now). And that prestige is rather independent of actual SAT scores, selectivity, and the like. And that’s where I think Marama is coming from, with this comment: * As for test scores as a measure of prestige, there are many schools in America with high average SAT scores, but I think I’m safe in saying that not all of them possess the “wow factor” of the Ivy League or Stanford, for example. *

I think both schools are prestigious, but in slightly different ways and among slightly different crowds. We were at the Chicago Wellesley Alumnae Club reception yesterday. I assure you, there were quite a few Wellesley u-grads who wound up at NU for grad work who clearly respected and thought highly of both schools. It’s a wash, really. This comes down to personal preference. I have no doubt that over the next 4 years, I’ll be seeing both of my kids get absolutely top-notch educations … just in different settings and with different flavors.