<p>I posted this on a general forum a few days ago, but didn't get a great response, and I'd love a parents' views, anyway. </p>
<p>Please rank these 6 schools in terms of prestige (subjective, I know, but that's what I'm looking for):</p>
<p>RIT
Drexel
Penn State University Park
University of Southern California
Northeastern
Skidmore</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Well it really depends on who's doing the assessing and what they're assessing. Best for film? USC. Best for arts? Probably Skidmore. Best co-op program? I'd give the nod to Northeastern over Drexel. Most prestigious worldwide? Probably USC. Most prestigious as viewed by Pennsylvanians? Well, you get the picture.</p>
<p>Just apply to them all, hope you get in and then make your decision next year....</p>
<p>Thanks. Specifically, looking for a computer science / digital art program.</p>
<p>My guess would be RIT and USC for a computer science / digital art program. (But it is a pretty baseless guess...)</p>
<p>RIT has amazing co op opportunities and networking you will be more than likely to do well there.</p>
<p>Prestige is really hard to rank. Some people just KNOW which colleges are more prestigious, although I don't know if it's purely intuitive knowledge or maybe they just memorize the USNWR rankings. </p>
<p>It can be helpful to just try them out. Recite the following lines and see how you "feel" after each one. Better yet, gather some of your parents' friends and see how they react to each line. OK, here we go...</p>
<p>" I go to RIT"</p>
<p>oh really? what's that?</p>
<p>"I go to Drexel"</p>
<p>oh really? Don't they make furniture?</p>
<p>"I go to Penn State (University Park)"</p>
<p>oh dear! Don't they just drink and play football?</p>
<p>"I go to USC"</p>
<p>oh my! another football school, but so near the beach!</p>
<p>"I go to Northeastern"</p>
<p>how nice! Do you like Chicago? (I know where it is.. others don't) </p>
<p>I go to Skidmore (pronounced, Skid MA)</p>
<p>how nice, your mommy must be so proud!</p>
<p>In other words... don't worry about "prestige"</p>
<p>I'm sure RIT would have a pretty good program since they've got good industrial contacts, a good art program, and a good engineering program, but I think they've got a pretty high attrition rate, so be aware of that.</p>
<p>Skidmore was ranked one of the "new ives" by Newsweek in the last year. It is also selective. Only mentioning because you wanted prestige. It is also on the Newsweek's top 50 LAC'c (I do not think any of the other schools you listed are) which by CC standards= prestige.</p>
<p>Oh, and by many others as well.</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant "USNews top 50 LAC's."</p>
<p>Find companies who hire people in your field, computer science / digital art , or people in that profession. Ask them which of those schools they are most impressed with, or in the case of human resources departments, which schools they hire from. </p>
<p>But I agree with kathiep: apply and get accepted first. Then decide.</p>
<p>You asked us to rank them ONLY by "prestige", which is basically a gut-level subjective, unscientific reaction to the name. Here is my ranking, with the explanations in parenthesis:</p>
<p>1) Skidmore (sounds like Swarthmore)
2) USC (sounds like it might be similar to UCLA)
3) Penn State. (sounds like it might be similar to Penn)
4) Northeastern (may be similar to Northwestern)</p>
<p>The others are tied for bottom. </p>
<p>Do you really want to rely so much on prestige?</p>
<p>As the others have commented, prestige is subjective. Regionally, some of those schools may not be known at all. In the industry and by department, major, specialty employers, grad schools, other schools are considered more prestigious. The way things go in this country, nationally USC and Penn State win the name recognition prestige awards because of their football teams.</p>
<p>RIT definitely, if you are OK with the fact that it is not in as exciting a city as most of the others. That would be important if your were looking at a full college experience in addition to what you are actually studying. The co-op opportunities are great in the general area here - it will be interesting to see with the economy as it is whether companies will hire less co-ops (because of limited funds) or MORE co-ops (for the lower rate)</p>
<p>Average person on the street won't have heard of any of them apart from USC and Penn State. People on the east coast will think Penn State is better people on the west coast will think USC is better... but this isn't how you should be choosing colleges anyway.</p>
<p>
[quote]
3) Penn State. (sounds like it might be similar to Penn)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think you've got how most people mix those up backwards. ;)</p>
<p>Yes... most people think Penn is Penn State not the other way around.</p>
<p>RIT
Drexel
PSU
USC</p>
<p>the rest.</p>
<p>But you can argue these.</p>
<p>USC
PSU
RIT
Drexel</p>
<p>Son goes to Penn State - if you're strong enough to get into USC, you might qualify for the honors college. And BTW, plenty of our OOS family members and friends think he goes to Penn. LOL - it goes both ways.</p>