@scout59 East coast here. Have a neighbor whose D went to Lake Forest and she always got - you mean Wake Forest?
My nephew goes to boarding school at Lake Forest Academy and many people out here in California assume he’s down in Orange County.
I just always say Washington University in St Louis. Most will then say “In St Louis? Why is it there?” If the person is familiar with St Louis, I will just say Wash U.
It’s ok. I saw a video recently where they interviewed people off the street and they couldn’t tell the interviewer who won the revolutionary war.
I graduated from General Motors Institute. No, I am not a mechanic. And I have definitely been asked, “Where?” more times than I can count.
@kelsmom That’s a fantastic one!
Penn. Penn State? No, University of Pennsylvania. Oh, the other state school?
I think that’s mostly on purpose.
Well, nowadays, when I feel like confusing people I say “Glassboro State College”. Or when I tell people my son goes to Rowan, my alma mater and they say, “But I thought you went to Glassboro State College”.
There was the time a guy was trying to pick me up in a bar (ages ago!) over Christmas break and said, “I go to a small school near Boston. You probably never heard of it.”
Me: Try me.
Him: Harvard.
Doh!
Any school with “Washington” in the name gets confused:
University of Washington
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington and Lee University
Mary Washington
Washington College
Washington and Jefferson
Washington State
Western Washington U
Eastern Washington U
probably a few more I cannot think of
Ohio state. Miami of Ohio (that one must be tough) Ohio u. Ohio Wesleyan. Ohio Christian. Northern Ohio.
@kelsmom, I havd to admit I had to look up GMI but now I’ve learned something new!
@NJWrestlingmom, What a buffoon! At Harvard that’s called “dropping the H bomb,” sneaking the fact that you attend Harvard into a conversation to impress someone while feigning modesty.
I did once tell someone who was being particularly annoying and nosy about my kid’s college list that her top school was South Harmon. 
He didn’t get the reference.
@MomofWildChild already mentioned Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but no one has mentioned its almost equally deceptive sibling institution, California University of Pennsylvania. Note that they, like all of the so-called PASSHE colleges – the institutions that are 100% public in Pennsylvania, unlike Penn State, Pitt, and Temple that (like Michigan) are more or less public/private hybrids – they include the phrase “University of Pennsylvania.” Penn State isn’t the only college with which the University of Pennsylvania gets confused.
Then there’s Wheaton College, which means radically different things if you are in New England or the Midwest. Connecticut College and Colorado College, which are not, respectively, UConn or the University of Colorado.
I get it, I get it! 
I admit, I had to google.
I once had the student MC at an awards ceremony where I was to present the Wellesley Book Award introduce me as representing Wesleyan. Which does NOT offer a jr book award at that school.
I was actually rather ticked off, although I made a joke out of it.
West Point cadets often tell people they attend the South Hudson Institute of Technology. They crack themselves up.
My brother went to the university of Hartford in CT and would say Hartford when people asked him where he went to school. Cant tell you how many times people thought he said Harvard,which actually started to annoy him after a while
^I knew someone who said he wanted to go to law school there for just that reason. There were a whole lotta rolled eyes in the room.
@Deb922…the marketing slogan for Michigan Tech is “crazy smart.”
I just learned there is an Illinois Wesleyan. To go with Ohio Wesleyan. Wesleyan. Wellesley all around confusion :-??
Funny story…when my S was in 2nd grade, his teacher had a little class project to make and color pennants of favorite universities and hang them up around the classroom. (The student ratio was typical Silicon Valley 100% Asian.). The usual suspects came up as the kids raised their hands…Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, USC, Duke, etc). One kid raises his hand and says “Howard”! The teacher says, you mean Harvard, right? “No, Howard!” says the kid. So up went the Howard pennant.
Fast forward to a few months ago, the kid SIR’ed to Michigan (good friend of my S). I happened to be there in the classroom so I didn’t make this up lol.