<p>Several years ago, a friend told me her daughter would be attending Tufts. Hadn't heard of it and it had a funny name. But I listened as my friend told me about Tufts and I learned. There are many, many colleges out there; most people become aware of colleges via D1 sports. Now my daughter is at Carleton, and I patiently try to educate my friends about Carleton. I enjoy telling people about what makes Carleton unique and special. I imagine I'll be doing the same with whatever college my son chooses in a few years.</p>
<p>When you get to your great LAC, or any of these schools, everyone at that school will be at that same great school. All your classmates will be at a school with the same level of prestige. Every single one of your classmates will be very bright. Most at the top of their class, and most will have passions and interests to bring to that school. Everyday you will be surrounded by classmates who know that school because they applied, were accepted, and choose to go there. So who are you concered about? Your high school classmates that you will see for a few weeks before you graduate. Most of these high school friends you will have less and less to do with each time you come home to visit. Your college friends will become your life long friends.</p>
<p>I understand you. I say I got into UCLA, but I'm going to Oberlin, and I get looks like "she's lying, why would anyone go to this unknown college if she got in UCLA"</p>
<p>Most of the Harvard grads I've met aren't that hesitant to "drop the H-Bomb." Most of them seem relatively pleased with themselves really, not that they shouldn't be.
As for the people who are telling the OP to stop whining, give me a break. It's not that we want a whole ton of attention or something, but when you work so hard for four years to get into the LAC of your dreams it's nice to have people at least recognize that effort. I'm going to an LAC in-state, which alone makes a lot of the anti-Midwest kids at my prep school think that the place is a waste of time. It's just a little annoying to get that almost sympathetic reaction.</p>
<p>I can understand the frustration, but look at it this way. It's 1978 and you live in Seattle. You turn down a job with Boeing to go with a little known company named Microsoft. Did you make the wrong move because friends and relatives said, "Micro who?"</p>
<p>Another way to look at name recognition in a practical, utilitarian way, as has been discussed in earlier posts -- suppose you are from the Northeast but you really do not know where you want to end up when you graduate. You can go to UMass or Amherst (yes, even here in the Northeast, people will sometimes think you mean UMass, which is located in Amherst, when you say Amherst). I guess it is true that if you end up wanting to move to Salt Lake City because you love skiing, UMass may be better known (although professionals out there will know the difference). Is that really a reason to choose UMass since if you stay anywhere in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic, there will be no comparison? Which is the real gamble? I also want to stress that you should not assume that professionals throughout the country will not know of you LAC (I travel out west quite a bit). Not everyone's knowledge of higher education is based solely on football and basketball.</p>
<p>If you go to a "no-name" school for undergrad, why can't you apply to a well-known place for graduate school? Then you can say that you went there, plus you satisfy the whole "undergrad doesn't matter; grad school is more important" dogma.</p>
<p>I think that the whole undergrad college experience is to be enjoyed and that one should be able to explore! One should be seeking knowledge, interacting with people, making personal life decisions, becoming independent, etc. That's what my parents have always told me. I think that the problem that most of us have with name recognition is just a reflection of one of those not so good human qualities....a little vanity?.....a little insecurity? I see us reaching for the big name colleges which for the most part are well known because of their graduate programs, research or sports. None of these things have anything to do with undergraduate education.</p>
<p>Now days, most careers will require us to go to grad school. Three years from now, some of us will be going thru this whole thing once again. I just want to go now to a place that I really like academically and socially and where I fit in. After everything is done, I will not be burned out and hope I will come out happier, mentally stable, more knowledgeable, intellectually and socially a stronger individual and ready to face the next years of graduate training with all the other challenges that life is likely to have for me then.</p>
<p>Amherst and Williams are above the lower Ivys, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Yeah I'm in the same boat of being in an area where LACs are unknown. I just take solace in the few people who understand what a big deal it is (my guidance counselor, a few teachers, a few peers) and knowing that the people who look at grad school apps and many employers will feel the same way. Besides which I'm not one who likes a lot of attention and fuss, so it's a relief not to have to go through my last few months here hearing "OMGZ YOU'RE GOING TO HARVARD?!?!?!?!?!" all the time.</p>
<p>Not knowing LAC's even annoys me, and I'm not going to a LAC nor did I apply to a LAC. People are SO ignorant. </p>
<p>I'm going to Michigan State and my best friend got into all these good school, such as UPenn, Amherst, Williams, UChicago, etc. She just basically kicked ass in the college application process. Then when I tell people that I'm going to Michigan State, their like "Hell Ya dude, that's an excellent school, wish I could go there." When I consider this an average-above average school, and wish circumstances in my life would of allowed me to have the opportunity to get into a better, smaller, and more prestigious school. </p>
<p>Then I'm like "I'm so proud of my friend she got into Upenn, Amherst, etc." and people are like "WTH I thought she was smart, why is she going to those no-name schools, dude your lucky, you didn't even do as good in school as her and you got into better schools than her, the valedictorian."</p>
<p>I just have a dumbfounded look on my face. How can you not know of those schools and their prestige. I could see Amherst and Williams because their small LAC's that no one outside of academic-oriented student circles, companies and others have really heard of. But UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, when I mentioned this school, this person got a disgusted look on their face. Like eww, what a bummy school. HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW UPENN. </p>
<p>When I try to explain how good the schools are they just give me a look like "If I ain't heard of it, it can't be a good school" Mind you they have only heard of Michigan State, U of M, other sports teams, and some HYPS, and they don't even really know those. If this complete ignorance greatly annoys me, I know it must **** her off.</p>
<p>People in general, and especially in school, are very dumb concerning topics on the world around them, and are only concentrated on doing very stupid things in school, such as getting drunk on saturday, getting laid on saturday, or going to go see a movie on saturday. While these can be fun, their importance in high school is put on a much higher scale than it should be. Even adults can be very stupid and narrow-minded on topics concerning college.</p>
<p>It disappoints me greatly that my friend worked her ass off in high school, sacrificed SO MUCH, and accomplished so much more than all of our other classmates by FAR, and her accomplishments aren't acknowledged or recognized by our classmates, AT ALL. She should get a little praise for all the work she's done. </p>
<p>People in my School are ESPECIALLY dumb, and about 75% to 80% of my classmates in my grade are going to the local community college, which has been dubbed, 13TH GRADE, due to the high percentage of my classmates that are going there,that its basically like an additional high school grade. Many of my classmates didn't even apply anywhere, just absorbed in their little lives, and then their like, "I should prolly start applying to college" Even though it is WAY to late to start. This should give you the general intelligence level of my classmates.</p>
<p>I'm in the Northeast and I get many, many people not knowing Swarthmore. Sometimes they'll just ask, "where is that" and "what do you want to major in" and clearly not know anything about it, which doesn't really bother me (most of the time). If they know how good of a student I am they will sometimes say, "But you got such good grades/etc. You could have gotten into HPYS!" And I politely explain that I wanted a small school. It doesn't bother me because these people are usually quite well-intentioned. </p>
<p>The worse scenario, in my opinion, is when they think they know the school but don't.
"Swarthmore...that's in New York, right?"
"Actually it's in Pennsylvania. You might be thinking of Skidmore."
"Right, Pennsylvania. It's an all-girls school, isn't it?"
"Actually it's coed."
"Well it used to be all-girls, right? Just until recently?"
"Actually it's always been coed..."
"No, I'm pretty sure it used to be a girls school until the '70s."
...at this point I just give up.</p>
<p>Kensh,</p>
<p>I wouldn't really care about those students. Thank God that you're leaving them behind. Who needs them anyway? They'll be pumping your gas.</p>
<p>There's a reason why Harvard is more well known then Williams, cuz its much better!</p>
<p>
[quote]
There's a reason why Harvard is more well known then Williams, cuz its much better!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A</a> bit of context.</p>
<p>Using Harvard as an example is not very useful -- Harvard speaks for itself. Instead, maybe you can explain why the University of Oklahoma is better known nationally than Williams and whether that makes the University of Oklahoma the better choice.</p>
<p>I was so tired of being labeled "a smart kid" that it was refreshing when no one knew anything about Rice in my home town. I used to say that I went to a very small school in Texas that "you probably haven't heard of". I find that I still say that to people, but now everyone has heard of it. I think it would have been horrible to me to drop the H bomb. I was so self conscious about being too smart and not fitting in. I didn't choose Rice because it was prestigious; I chose it because it had warm weather and engineering, it was inexpensive and I could drive there. What a relief it was when I got there not to be an egghead anymore, and to finally be popular.</p>
<p>re: ricegal</p>
<p>sorry to derail, but i have never understood the logic of not wanting to be "too smart." i've been labeled that way all my life, and i'm actually very happy to be pigeonholed like that. admittedly, i'm quite antisocial, but to you, does happiness really require you to lower yourself?</p>
<p>heh, i'd think that harvard did a good job of capitalising on its headstart as one of the oldest universities in the nation. the best people in that age went there because there was little choice - and the best succeeded the most, gave back the most, and Harvard perpetuated itself. it's not always true for all the colonial colleges, but many of the best and famous are the oldest.</p>
<p>The lack of name recognition from the general public can certainly be an initial downer. However, once you graduate with your great education and academically well-respected degree, you'll find it's not a big deal.</p>
<p>No one in Wisconsin gets it when I say I'm going to New York University. They think it's just the New York public university, and wonder why I'm not going to the more prestigious UW. Everyone else just gets excited because Mary Kate and Ashley went there. x_x;</p>