<p>45,
Re the location thing, you didn’t understand my comments before and you continue not to understand. My point was about ABC College’s name/reputation in its home city/region and how folks there appreciate ABC and accord it respect. </p>
<p>I don’t recall saying that U Penn is a regional power, but I have frequently said that all of the non-HYP Ivies lose or at best tie with the local powers, private and public, in terms of power and regard in their home regions. I continue to believe that. U Penn may have a more national student body than Rice, but I can flat out guarantee you that that does not translate into higher prestige to U Penn in the Southwest. People in Texas and in the Southwest probably care even less about U Penn and the Ivy League than people in the Ivy League care about Texas. There ain’t a ton of preoccupation (or prestige) either way. Unless maybe Joe Paterno can win another football championship. </p>
<p>My reading of two years of comments on CC is that virtually all Ivy posters are extremely reluctant to accept schools beyond Stanford, MIT and maybe Duke as their peers. It is a rare post indeed where an Ivy poster directs a student to any of the colleges that I (and probably many others) consider its peers-U Chicago, Northwestern, Wash U, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts. Maybe I’ve got you wrong and if so, please forgive and I will look forward to your future positive comments about these colleges and your recommendations to some students that these might be better college choices for some of them. </p>
<p>As for your comments about denigration, I continue to assign high marks to all of the Ivy colleges. My hope is to expand the view of CC readers beyond the historical powers and recognize the great college quality that exists all over the country. </p>
<p>Colleges like Rice, Emory ,Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Georgetown, etc. are perfect examples of this. As a result of the student demographic swell, these colleges are naturally coming more into view for more top students in other regions. But are these students well informed about these colleges? Have they visited any of these and actually understood the differences in undergraduate offering, in and out of the classroom, with what is offered at the non-HYP Ivy? In most cases, I doubt it, but I also think it is true that these colleges will often look better and better and maybe even superior to students who actually make the effort to visit and compare. </p>
<p>Information is power and I believe that expanding the conversation to include more colleges (and encouraging students to more actively visit and evaluate these alternatives) is the best route for high school students. They may ultimately decide that U Penn or some other Ivy or maybe Rice is the best choice for them and that’s great, but then it is a decision based on one’s personal investigation concluding that ABC college best met their needs, inside and outside of the classroom. IMO, that’s the way it should work and which results in the best selection for the student.</p>