<p>Doesn't matter. If I got accepted to somewhere like Cornell or Brown, people would still just stare into my face and ask me if LA rejected me. People at my school are so ignorant about everything. </p>
<p>In the end, the people around you now won't matter. What will be important is when you come back to the reunion twenty years later wearing ten thousand dollars worth of clothes.</p>
<p>With the exception of some very specific fields (engineering, for example), how do you know who your employer will be? You can guess on type of employer and location, but it is hard for an 18 year-old to bank everything on that. Another thing to keep in mind -- if you live in the Twin Cities and think you want to stay there after college, for example, the University of Minnesota will definitely be very well known and probably pretty well thought of, but U of MN graduates will be a dime a dozen in that market.</p>
<p>So what does it mean? For the third or so of students attending upper tier schools who move on to graduate school, how famous a school is on the street will not matter. If you go to work for a major employer, it also will not matter (believe me, their HR folks will know all about schools and reputations and rankings). After that, it may be somehwat regional. For example, there is no doubt in my mind that UConn is far more famous than Bates. No disrespect intended to UConn, but when you go out looking for a job in Boston or NY or Philly or D.C., which degree would you rather have?</p>
<p>From a job perspective, alumni might also be taken into consideration. For example, I went to a large and pretty well thought of SUNY school many moons ago and there are tons of the school's alumni in the NY metro area. However, it is not the kind of school that has a loyal alumni base and tradition and I doubt there are many alumni who will care less, past the "oh, that is interesting" stage, about the shared connection when another alumni interviews with them for a position. There may be fewer Hamilton grads in the NYC metro area compared to my SUNY school, but the ones who are there are far more likely to feel a real attachment to the school and to want to help one of their own. If you want an indcation (albeit imperfect) of the the loyalty and success of the alumni base, look at endowments.</p>
<p>Someone for example who knows they may very well want to work on Wall street and their family lives in the northeast and they are likely to return to school in the northeast may want a school that has more recogition in that part of the country. Someone who is from the south and knows that all their life they planned to return to their hometown or a southern state nearby that has a big city might choose a school that has more name recognition there</p>
<p>Tis the problem that will plague me. The only colleges people around here have heard of are Vanderbilt, Harvard, and Univ of Tennessee. Arrgh, I say.</p>
<p>Yeah... i have a similar situation. Prestige wasn't a factor when I applied to college and I try not to let the opinons of others affect me but nevertheless it's definitely obnoxious when someone comes up to you who knows that you're a relatively good student, asks you where you're going for college, and then replies something along the lines of "really? I've never heard of that. Are you going there because of a scholarship you got or something?"</p>
<p>just hope that you get into cornell, adn choose it over all your small colleges nobody's ever heard of (no offense)</p>
<p>I think what I hear being said is that what is wanted is an acknowledgment of all the work it took to be accepted to the fine schools from which a choice must be made. Recognition of one's school can often be a proxy for that. It is normal to feel a little down when this fails to happen. Just remember that the feeling does not alter the fact that these are very selective and excellent schools. Once there, one will find that there is more prestige and recognition than is currently experienced simply because one begins to travel in more educated and knowledgeable circles. The qualities of being a well educated person will soon have their effect as well. Life will be good.</p>
<p>brownplease, I can tell you this is a "problem" not limited to fine LACs. As often as I get "great school", I'll get a blank stare when I tell some people Carnegie Mellon> it's still a little annoying to me that son got a CS degree from a top 5 or so CS school and that's the reaction. But if people haven't heard of it, oh well there's nothing you can do. </p>
<p>I'll actually just say to someone who I think will give that answer :"oh some small school out in Pittsburgh". You get used to it. The people who matter (grad schools and employers) will certainly know the excellence of Swarthmore and Middlebury.</p>
<p>Don't worry about it. Those are all good schools. Most people will not be jumping up and down and praising you - not because you're not smart, just because they don't know much about universities/colleges and have only heard of the big names.</p>
<p>I kind of agree with DeltaRoyale. I'm not sure how good of a fit you think it is for you, but if you can get in through the waitlist...</p>
<p>What is an LAC????</p>
<p>Liberal Arts College</p>
<p>So explain again why you applied to these schools in the first place if your concerned with a having a big recognizable name?</p>
<p>Name recognition wasn't that important to you when you applied to these LACs, so why is it important now that you are accepted? You're the one going to college, and you're not doing it (I hope) to meet other people's expectations or approval. Now, if Cornell was your first choice because of factors <em>other</em> than name recognition, then I hope you are doing all you can to get off their waitlist. Otherwise, those LACs are all great schools, even if they are less known to the people on the street.</p>
<p>I think it's all about the peer group. I would go to the place at which the dominant student culture is the closest to that which you aspire to be, and the rest will work out.</p>
<p>BrownPlease, 25% of the souls in the world will support you, 25% will bash you and the rest won't give a flying fish. :) You said it ALL in your first sentence: People Who Matter. Focus on People Who Matter and let the rest go. </p>
<p>You've been accepted to some GREAT schools. People Who Matter know that. Your future friends for life that you'll meet at college will know that. Deep in your heart YOU know that.</p>
<p>Stop whining, grow some backbone and change your screen name. And by the way, congratulations, you have some wonderful choices.</p>
<p>My son attends one of those prestigious LACs that most of the world has never heard of. It's even worse for us because we live overseas. After a while the blank look (or worse the sympathetic look) becomes amusing. There's a kind of reverse snobbery in knowing what we know. Don't worry, you'll enjoy the secret society membership.</p>
<p>And if it still nags at your self-image, then start at one of those excellent LACs, do well and transfer to Brown or Cornell. Come back in a year and tell us how you feel. My guess is you'll be happy as a clam at Midd.</p>
<p>There's something to be said for going to a great school that doesn't have huge man-on-the-street name recognition. People who went to Harvard often have a real ambivalence about what they call "dropping the 'H bomb,' i.e. telling people they went to Harvard. Other people rarely respond with unalloyed admiration on hearing the news; most react with a mixture of jealousy and awe; some are downright hostile.</p>
<p>Greybeard, that is exactly why I didn't apply to a bunch of LAC's and not any Ivy League schools. I'd rather that people I might only know casually form their opinions of me based on my personality and my actions, not the name on my diploma.</p>
<p>I told some kids at my school I got into Tufts. Besides those in the top 10 in my class, and certain teachers, no one has a clue about it. My school, for the most part, only knows in-state schools, or HYP. I bet most couldn't even name the entire Ivy league. So yes, it's frustrating, but whatever. :-)</p>
<p>"People who went to Harvard often have a real ambivalence about what they call "dropping the 'H bomb,' i.e. telling people they went to Harvard. Other people rarely respond with unalloyed admiration on hearing the news; most react with a mixture of jealousy and awe; some are downright hostile."</p>
<p>Very true! As a Harvard grad, I try to avoid dropping the H bomb in social situations. I've had too many people hear the word "Harvard" and decide that I am snooty, conceited, condescending, intimidating or too smart for them to talk to. Sometimes as a result, I have not been able to form friendships with some nice, but insecure people.</p>
<p>S -- who is, frankly, smarter than me, and will be going to a LAC that most people haven't heard of -- fortunately doesn't get that kind of negative reaction when he mentions his college plans.</p>