Mascots and sports teams rarely matter a hoot to many in the science crowd. My favorite line from last week’s URochester graduation came when a researcher was praising a student athlete who had worked in his lab. It went something like:
“We learned a bit from ____. She encouraged us to attend one of her swim meets. That was very enlightening. We found out the University has a gym.”
Several of us could easily identify. That crowd easily recognizes the name even when one is thousands of miles away.
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Mascots and sports teams rarely matter a hoot to many in the science crowd.
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Hmmm…rarely? I think that’s overstated. I come from a family of STEM majors and they all know their mascots’ names, attended games, and still follow the teams decades later. My own STEM kids follow their team. My nieces and nephews follow their teams and went to games. While some STEM students may not care, and that’s fine, to say that STEM students “rarely” care is an exaggeration.
I’m sorry. I know several people who have been to each of those schools, I know something to a fair amount about each of them. I have no idea what any of their mascots or team names is. Nor do I care. It’s not remotely important.
(OK. I think I remember that the University of Rochester has Yellowjackets. Which probably means their mascot is some sort of wasp. Yay.)
That’s not to say that sports are unimportant. I like sports. I like college sports just fine. But I would never, ever tell someone to choose a college on the basis of its sports teams. And I would certainly never tell anyone to choose a college on the basis of the nickname or mascot of its sports teams. Completely not relevant. Even if it only means that you have heard of the college’s sports teams before, it’s completely not relevant. When you get to the college, you’ll learn what the sports teams are called, and what the mascot is.
To answer the original question, my D (bio major/French minor) failed to get into dental school a few years ago. She is now in art school (doing great, one of the top students in her class). Almost anything is possible. . .
@JHS “I know several people who have been to each of those schools, I know something to a fair amount about each of them. I have no idea what any of their mascots or team names is.”
I was not suggesting that sports is or isn’t really important for these schools. I was only observing that while all of these schools are very good, they may not be widely recognized by people outside of their area, because none of these schools are very large, and none of them have nationally known sports teams. It was not meant to put down any of these schools. A student who has the opportunity to attend any of them should take it.
There are students that may choose a college because they want to go to a school big on sports.
There are also those students who are not really into sports and are more interested in the type of stem program offered and what research opportunities are available. If they are premed they might look to see if the college is affiliated with any hospital or medical school. I could tell you about the local colleges and how good their stem programs are but I couldn’t tell you anything about their sports because it’s not something I’m interested in.
My kid is currently a premed/engineering student. During the summers she has worked on research internships and at hospitals but this summer I have asked her to explore other careers in health so she is looking for opportunities that are health care related but not necessarily something one would be looking for as preparation for med school. We were just discussing other career areas related to healthcare so that she is aware of them if possibly she finds herself interested in them. A student may start with one goal in mind but as they get more knowledge of different opportunities they discover all the different career possibilities that are available. In her exploration she may discover an area that she is really excited about.
I went to a STEM school (with a STEM major) that had major sports (Va Tech). I attended home football games and one basketball game. I occasionally follow them on TV.
I still stand by my statement that for many science types, sports/mascots and science are not connected. They will know the science schools regardless of what kind of sports they have going on and they don’t tend to care what anyone’s mascot is. Many in my IRL circle can’t even tell you who won March Madness or was #1 in football this past year and won’t apologize for not knowing. They aren’t anti-sports (well, some are), they tend to just be indifferent - very much like those on The Big Bang Theory (which we love).
It’s different for the average person on the street who feels a school is only as good as it’s sports team, but those aren’t the type science folks need to have any approval from (for grad/prof schools).
Oh please. Name the mascots of all eight Ivies. All these schools are known beyond just their state, and have a national reputation. Has Everyone in the World heard of these schools? No, but getting a degree from one is not detrimental to one’s career, nor does it limit the graduate to the school’s immediate region
Emory is especially known for for its connection with the CDC…
Sports are only important to those for whom sports are important and vice versa. What difference does it make who likes what? For my D. the pretty campus was much more important than sports. What important is to choose the school that matches YOUR PERSONAL CRITERIA in the best possible way and has a strong pre-med committee. If sport is criteria #1 on your list, so be it, respect only YOUR wishes and desires, nobody else is important. You will have to live there and make those As in classes, you better be happy. The misery usually does not produce good results. Being highly ranked colelge is pretty redundant and irrelevant when applying to medical schools. But if it happen to be one of YOUR PERSONAL criteria, then go for it. Whatever is important to YOU, respect it and ask everybody around you to respect it also.
For many years Carnegie Mellon’s mascot was a piece of Tartan cloth. It was one of the things that endeared me to them - I find mascots creepy. But while my son was there they switched to a Scottie. The only other mascots I know are ones that appear regularly in the New York Times crossword puzzle because they have useful letters.
I don’t think anyone is criticizing individual likes or preferences - only noting that certain schools some thought were “unknowns” are very known within their fields, and it’s really only within their field that counts (job/grad school-wise). I doubt mascots are very known in general, but who knows? Maybe there are some out there who consider it their “thing” to know them all.
I can think of several top schools, but the number of mascots I could name I could probably count on one, maybe two, hands. No regrets, nor plans to start studying.
ANY college will do if one wants to go to Med. School. To attend at YOUR cheapest option and a definite advantage. But it is important to attend where you actually like to be for 4 years, that will make it easier to get the top GPA. If one wants to attend at the “top” school, go ahead, but it is not required at all for the medical school.
I agree that many folks, even outside of STEM, can maybe only name 10 schools’ team/mascots names, even if they’re interested in sports. Usually, it’s the more unusual names we remember…Nittany Lions, Boilermakers, Crimson Tide, Ducks, Trojans, Illini, Hurricanes, etc…after that, it seems like a good many are Tigers! lol
That said, I don’t think a person has to know the name of a school’s team in order to know the school’s academic reputation. I have no idea what the team names are for: UChicago, WashU, NYU, G’town, NEU, Boston Univ, etc. The only reason I know the funny team name for Tufts is because my nephew played there.
“Oh please. Name the mascots of all eight Ivies. All these schools are known beyond just their state, and have a national reputation.”
Please, this is cc: you know:
Penn Quakers
Columbia Lions
Yale Bulldogs
Harvard Crimson
Cornell Big Red Bears
Dartmouth Green (unofficially Keggy)
Brown Bears
Princeton Tigers
I agree that Lehigh, Case Western, Emory, Rochester and William and Mary are known nation wide academically, and are all probably in the top 50 colleges in my opinion. But the percentage of average people who know them outside of their region is limited to HR people, academically focussed people, and cc: geeks like us. That was kinda highlighted why @wis75 said she had never heard of Lehigh outside of cc:, in spite of the fact that @wis75 is extremely knowledgable about UWisconsin and Lehigh is the very next school on the US news ranking. lol
As a geeky sports lover, I did also know the Leigh Mountain Hawks, because they beat Duke at basketball once a couple years ago.
I know a bunch of @mom2collegekids ’ unknowns! UChicago are the Maroons (and their mascot is a phoenix). NYU are – hold on to your seat – the Violets! (I think their mascot may be David Johansen.) Georgetown are Hoyas. Like you, and like everyone else, except for maybe some Georgetown students and alums, I don’t have any idea what a “Hoya” is. I think they use a bulldog as their mascot. And I think BU are Terriers. No kidding.
re post # 74. No, those schools are not commonly known in all areas of the country. Nor are they on the radar of many top students (especially when there more elite flagships around them).
