<p>Op,
As for what the “layman” thinks (or people who have not fully reasearched a topic thinks) is due to branding and publicity. Therefore, you should buy a ton of brown tshirts and distribute them among family and friends in your country to increase the brand awareness for Brown in your country.</p>
<p>Brown is fantastic</p>
<p>Seriously, my smart alecky suggestion is not necessarily mutually exclusive to the great advice to take pride in your college choices and to not let the naysayers and jerks get you down.</p>
<p>Just suggested that so the OP can employ the turnabout is fair play maneuver on naysayers’/jerks’ negativity for her own amusement. :D</p>
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<p>My son, a 3-year high school graduate, used that quote in one of his college essays and noted that there is apparently a reason it is the road less traveled – it can lead to a swamp of trouble, trying to get all the necessary approvals in place in time. ;)</p>
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<p>Agreed. Then again, as a HS kid and to some extent…even now, if I’m not irking those in authority or those who are part of the “in-crowd”, then I must be doing something wrong.</p>
<p>And yes, that’s one reason why if one wants to use Historical references, I’d rather be the Goth, Hun, Vandal, or Viking crashing a Roman/“Civilized” party than one of the fancy schmancy Romans. :D</p>
<p>op,
Both for UG and grad, the worm turned down ivies for tech schools. When he went to Caltech for UG, his principal asked why he would go to a CA state school. Very few people from around my area had ever heard of Caltech. Then later, family surprised he turned down 2 HYP’s for a tech school. By then he had built up a thicker skin. </p>
<p>I love Brown, and know one prof there, and spent time on campus. Brown was one of my top choices for the worm. I’m impressed with your areas of interest. The worm also took classes in CS, NS, and econ, and had a hard time specializing. Any route would work out well, professionally and financially.</p>
<p>One of the posters mentioned buying and distributing t-shirts to friends and families. I think this is a terrific idea. I can see no downside to Brown; just enjoy.</p>
<p>To the poster who questioned wash-u; this surprised me, as this school is highly thought of in my area. It just shows how regional reputations are.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “the worm”? Is that your son? It always throws me for a loop.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl,
yes, “the worm” is the expression I use for my son. Pretty awful of me. I think in the future, I’ll just say “son”.</p>
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<p>Angry girlfriend: “Why you little worm!”</p>
<p>Son of bookworm, unfazed: “Yes, that’s me…” ;)</p>
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<p>Also depends on the school culture. </p>
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<p>At my STEM-centered public, Caltech was right up there with MIT, CMU, Berkeley, and Stanford as being regarded above HYP because they all had much stronger engineering/CS programs. </p>
<p>If your son had attended my HS, he’d be highly respected and regarded as a “real nerd*”.</p>
<ul>
<li>Highly complimentary and only used for really smart academically high achieving students…especially those going into STEM fields.</li>
</ul>
<p>Lorem,
I loved your joke. His g/f is a very proud Carleton grad, and her younger brother followed her footsteps. </p>
<p>Cobrat, you have a select family and group of friends. Honestly, neither the principal, the GC, his M.D., ever heard of Caltech. Absolutely no bragging rights down here in SE. He was the first from his HS to apply there.</p>
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<p>At my HS, being admitted to/graduating Caltech conferred greater bragging rights than HYP. As I said, high school culture may also play a huge role. :)</p>
<p>I am also a bit biased as the most academically capable/intellectually inclined cousin I have is a Caltech graduate who taught engineering at the university level for several years before co-founding a successful engineering startup that’s still running strong and profitable after several years. </p>
<p>What’s more funny is if you spotted that cousin on the street, he’s the last person you’d think who fits the hardcore engineering/CS nerd/academic Professorial type. Most would probably mistake him for a UCLA/USC jock, aspiring actor trying out for romantic leads/action roles, or a well-built Californian beach bum. :D</p>
<p>No high schoolers really know much about anything, so what “impresses” at a given high school isn’t what we should encourage our children to care about.</p>
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<p>Really? The way I heard it, you should always hire them as teenagers while they still know everything. ;)</p>
<p>About Caltech, again it’s all about branding and publicity.
Now that Caltech is the college where the “Big bang theory” takes place (a sitcom on TV) I bet it becomes more well known to the “layman”. The people with sophisticated knowledge of awesome STEM colleges already know about Caltech though.</p>
<p>Cobrat,
Everyone is SoCal looks like this.</p>
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<p>No need for the whole thread to slam Asian culture, the OP’s entire situation and reactions could EASILY have happened 100% within the US.</p>
<p>Of course it could have just as easily happened in the US. Witness the old newmassdad thread about how entry into places like Wellesley, Rice and U of Chicago were “sloppy seconds” because the teenagers of Newton, MA apparently think that the world revolves around Harvard and MIT and by golly, if that’s what they think, you’ve got to take their opinions seriously because peer pressure and all.</p>
<p>I took a sampling of a few international schools and listed some of the U.S. universities the graduates were attending. OP, youd be glad to know that for graduates of international high schools there are other good schools here aside from HYPSM.</p>
<p> Shanghai
Shanghai High School International Division
Grade 9-12 tuition: RMB ¥ 55,000 per sem/est. US$ 8,948 per sem
Class of 2012 (265 students):
Brown- 0, Columbia - 1, Cornell- 1, Dartmouth- 1, Harvard 1, Princeton 0, UPenn 2, Yale 1
Stanford - 0, MIT - 1, Northwestern - 4, USC - 16
Penn State & UCLA - 23 each, Michigan State & UIUC - 17 each, UCSD - 19
[Shanghai</a> High School International Division](<a href=“http://www.shs.sh.cn/inter.action?method=list&ccid=601]Shanghai”>http://www.shs.sh.cn/inter.action?method=list&ccid=601)</p>
<p>**Shanghai American School Puxi Campus **
Grade 9-12 tuition: RMB ¥ 201,850 per year/US$ 31,798 per year
University Matriculation 20092012:
Brown- 3, Columbia - 6, Cornell- 6, Dartmouth- 1, Harvard 0, Princeton 7, UPenn 1, Yale 0
Stanford - 3, MIT - 2, Northwestern -12, NYU - 16, USC - 47
UC Berkeley - 14, Wash U in St. Louis - 7</p>
<p>Shanghai American School Pudong Campus
University Matriculation 20092012:
Brown- 2, Columbia - 2, Cornell- 4, Dartmouth- 2, Harvard 0, Princeton 4, UPenn 2, Yale 1
Northeastern - 10, NYU - 12, USC - 20
UCSD - 10, UIUC - 7, Penn State - 5
[All</a> Downloads - Shanghai American School](<a href=“http://www.saschina.org/?page=Downloads&hhSearchTerms=matriculation&#rescol_83620]All”>http://www.saschina.org/?page=Downloads&hhSearchTerms=matriculation&#rescol_83620)
3,300 students for both SAS campus (elementary, middle, HS)</p>
<p>Concordia Intl School China
Grade 9-12 tuition 2013-2014: RMB ¥ 201,000 per yr/est. US$ 32,702 per yr
From 2007-2012, graduates have matriculated to the following universities:
Brown, Cornell, Princeton, Stanford, Northwestern, NYU, USC, Vanderbilt,
Penn State, Michigan State, UIUC, UCs, Pomona College, Claremont Mckenna, etc.
[High</a> School Profile %%sep%% Concordia International School Shanghai](<a href=“http://www.concordiashanghai.org/academics/high-school-profile]High”>http://www.concordiashanghai.org/academics/high-school-profile)</p>
<p>Dover, Singapore
United World College Of South East Asia
Grade 9-12 tuition 2013-2014: KRW 23,270,000 (est US$20,919) plus US$9,370 per yr<br>
Class of 2012:
Brown- 6, Columbia - 0, Cornell- 2, Dartmouth- 2, Harvard 0, Princeton 20, U Penn 2, Yale 1
Stanford - 1, MIT -1, U Chicago - 3, Tufts 13, Northwestern - 4, NYU - 27, USC - 16
UVA - 16, UCLA - 13, UCSD 26, Colby - 7, U Michigan - 15
[United</a> World College of South East Asia: University Placement Data](<a href=“http://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/page.cfm?p=1390]United”>http://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/page.cfm?p=1390)</p>
<p>Seoul, Korea
Seoul Foreign School
Grade 9-12 tuition 2013-2014: RMB ¥ 201,000 per yr/est. US$ 32,702 per yr
Class of 2012:
Brown- 1, Columbia - 0, Cornell- 0, Dartmouth- 1, Harvard 0, Princeton 0, U Penn 3, Yale 0
Tufts 3, Northwestern = 4, NYU = 19, USC = 6
UC Berkeley = 9, UCLA =25, UCSD 28
<a href=“http://www.seoulforeign.org/uploaded/High_School/University_Acceptances.pdf[/url]”>http://www.seoulforeign.org/uploaded/High_School/University_Acceptances.pdf</a></p>
<p>Edit post #78:
United World College Of South East Asia
Grade 9-12 tuition 2013-2014: SGD 10,830 per term (3 terms per academic yr)/est US$8,732 per term </p>
<p>Seoul Foreign School
Grade 9-12 tuition 2013-2014: KRW 23,270,000 (est US$20,919) plus US$9,370 per yr</p>
<p>I’m not sure what the above proves? Where international students go or don’t go, or are impressed by vs not impressed by, has nothing to do with the fact that the OP got into one of the top schools in the US and should be proud of that fact.</p>