It’s not just falling down that’s offensive. Tailgate state sounds derogatory to me. Also putting it in an absolute terms, no MIT will fall down to… Actually, yes they can.
There are occasionally students on CC who are applying to say, MIT, Harvard, Yale, and South Boise Technical College. Such a student may, indeed, “fall down” to South Boise. Such a student will get some advice here about how that isn’t a sensible list.
On the other hand, if a student who really has the stats for MIT is applying to MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, a couple of state flagships, and South Boise Technical College, he will still sometimes come onto CC to express fears that he will “fall down” to South Boise. He probably won’t.
@Iglooo Since I’ve already sent in a check to Penn State, I feel shame (not really!) that my kid is going to what I assume is a poster child for a Tailgate State (is there a definition? Google doesn’t have one). Far from feeling shame, I’m proud of my son for getting into Penn Tailgate State – it was a reach for him and his EC’s and improved grades helped him reach a goal.
Forgive me, as a west coast user, but when y’all are referring to UNC, you mean Chapel Hill, right?
"If the rest of the country doesn’t know about the UC system, that doesn’t detract from its overall excellence. "
Fully agreed. I wasn’t saying anything about the relative excellence of the UC systems, just commenting that the worry about “prestige” reflected a very specific group, since most people in this country wouldn’t know any of those schools if they tripped over them. Which doesn’t make them not perfectly fine schools. But in no way are they broadly prestigious.
I think there is a misunderstanding here… The “falling down” part simply implies continuity in the admissions process as it relates to entrance stats. As someone else said, if you have the stats to get into MIT, those stats would likely carry you to the “next level down” college. Rather than jumping 2 or 3 levels down to “tailgate state”, you would gain acceptance to the college with stats one level level down from MIT. Hence where the continuity part comes in.
It’s a matter of which colleges you can get into rather than which colleges are best for you.
@MaMoi77 Yes, UNC is always referring to Chapel Hill (the Tar Heels for sports fans). Similarly, we (well I) on East Coast get a bit confused when I hear “Cal” rather than “Berkeley” (I sometimes mistake it as short for Cal Poly…there are a heck of a lot of colleges in California!)
Interestingly enough, far, far more students apply to enter the top UC’s than apply to say, Harvard. I don’t know if non-Californians are aware of that. (Harvard had under 35,000; UCB 78,800; UC San Diego 78,000; UCLA 112,000) I don’t know if that implies more competition, maybe someone could run the numbers?
Are you implying Harvey Mudd or Carnegie Mellon is a step down from MIT? Whatever…
@brucemag, I am a bit confused why you are calling me out on this. I am all for state u’s. It’s better we broaden what’s good and not limit to educational aristocracy. Some people are stuck up and usually prestige isn’t what they like to believe it to be. BTW, at my kid’s prep school, the top ranked kid the year before my kid went to Penn State turning down Yale.
My euphemism for what I think everybody is calling “Tailgate State” is Podunk State U. I am proudly going to what some might consider a Tailgate State or Podunk State college.
Yes, MaMoi … UNC = University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
I find the term tailgate state offensive. That’s not all they do. Many of them are excellent academically.
^^^ Me, too.
I always figured “Tailgate State” was different than “State Flagship.” Like the difference between, say, The University of Texas at Austin and Terrell State University, which I happen to know has educated plenty of fine people. One of the best high school teachers I know graduated from TSU.
But I guess there is a certain segment that would die of shame if their kid “only” got into UT Austin.
These are the kinds of contests I have never cared about. Someone who thinks I am a lesser parent than the one whose kid got into Harvard is, to me, about as important in my life as a horsefly.
Funny thing is, I doubt many alumni from schools others might disparage as “Tailgate State” would be offended. They know the quality of their educations and that their universities contribute impressively to research, without the endowments other institutions can count on. I’m the proud daughter of a physicist from LSU (geaux Tigers!), where tailgating is a point of honor, not shame.
Damn all of you parents who do this to your children.
You should be ashamed of yourselves.
No child deserves this burden.
How do you expect your children to soar when you bog them down with all this crap? Between this and younger D’s friend (14) telling me her parents ASKED HER IF THEY SHOULD GET A DIVORCE, I’m so, so over selfish parents trying to hammer their kids into these homunculi of their failed hopes and dreams.
Shame on all of you who do this.
Just so pissed right now I need to step away from the laptop…
@MotherofDragons, I agree with you. I hate to be critical of the parents of a child who has posted, but I don’t think Mom’s past disappointments excuse her behavior. Hopefully she’ll do better now.
@MotherOfDragons The parents asked the kid if they should get a divorce? Why, so she would get better financial aid from Harvard?
@albert69, it speaks to the larger issue of parents placing impossible burdens on their children, either through their own weaknesses or just selfishness.
There seems to be differing definitions of “Tailgate U” on CC. Is UMich a Tailgate U? They tailgate a lot, and it’s a university. Yet no one I know would put UMich several levels below MIT (to do so would be a bit ludicrous). Is PSU a tailgate U? It’s another big tailgating school. LSU? Tailgating is huge there. Yet would anyone really be shocked if someone who applied to MIT went to school there. What about those top engineering schools with big-times sports? Stanford, Northwestern, Cal, UIUC, GTech, Purdue, Wisconsin, UT-Austin, UCLA? Don’t tell me they don’t tailgate at those schools. A kid who applies to MIT would never go to those places?