<p>University of St Andrews is much better than UCLA, FYI.</p>
<p>informative:</p>
<p>glad to hear that, but why do you say that?.</p>
<p>Read through the thread.</p>
<p>informative, care to share any fact-based support to your claim that St. Andrews is “much better” than UCLA? UCLA is widely considered one of the top 5 public universities and one of the top 25 universities overall in the US. Are you suggesting that St Andrews would compare favourably with one of the top 5 US universities? Afterall, only they could be described as “much better” than UCLA.</p>
<p>I’m sure the University of St. Andrews is a fine university. I wouldn’t (and doubt that most would) consider it to be much better (or better) than UCLA. At best, both universities are peers, and i’d have to be given quite a convincing argument to agree that the University of St. Andrews is a peer of UCLA.</p>
<p>As far as the OP is concerned, LACs are smaller, and hence will have a smaller alumni base, and hence, less prestige. Make sure to note that LACs lack layman prestige, not recruiter or academic prestige.</p>
<p>Arcadia I believe, noted in contrast to Middlebury and Duke that the latter fell into the “more likely to find your sweater at Macy’s” category. But that makes essentially no difference in one’s academic or professional career. Your focus should be on your education, and I have no doubt that you’re getting a fantastic one.</p>
<p>I do think University of St. Andrews is a college that a fair number of US people have heard of (ahem… I believe William met Kate there). 
But my neice applied (and was accepted), and almost attended a couple of years ago. It is one of a handful of UK universities that has some name recognition here.</p>
<p>Alexandre, read through informative’s posting history and you might understand.</p>
<p>OP, you will do well at Bowdoin, a great LAC…
My H hires a lot of people, when a group gathers around the conference room table, he said no one even mentions the name of the applicant’s college/university.</p>
<p>UCLA is a top 25 university in the US. St. Andrews is a top 5 university in the UK.</p>
<p>I agree Bowdoin is a great school, regardless of the fact that Nathaniel Hawthorne is its most illustrious alumnus. I considered going there myself after reading House of the Seven Gables and his biography.</p>
<p>That said, a friend of mine transferred from Pomona to USC because, as he told me, “no one’s ever heard of Pomona.”</p>
<p>I would only go to a LAC if you want to be in a very close knit setting. If you feel overwhelmed by the size of a larger college, stick with your first choice.</p>
<p>One of the interesting things is that with the Bowdoin alumni magazine, there are pictures of wedding parties all over the place. Many of those photos contain the same people, lol, which is a reflection of the small but close student body. I would definitely choose that school if I were struggling with some personal issues as well. For example, if I were uncomfortable being around a large group of people or wanted a more intimate social environment. Had I attended a very large high school, for example, Bowdoin would have been a good fit for me. But because I attended a small private school, I wanted a larger social environment. </p>
<p>Furthermore, at the professional and grad school levels, everyone has heard about Bowdoin. On the other hand, if you’re into sports, it definitely helps attending a D1 school, especially in business and social circles where men, in particular, enjoy talking about their schools.</p>
<p>Think long term in making your decision. Ask yourself, what will the impact of your school have in whatever you end up doing in a career. If, for example, you plan on attending a grad or professional school, then you should go to a name brand school after college. Assuming you matriculate at Bowdoin, you’ll have the LAC and a larger school on your resume. You will have the best of both worlds, and two bites at the apple, so to speak.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Informative. St Andrews top 5 ranking is very debatable. Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, UCL and LSE typically make up the top 5. St Andrews is on par with the likes of Bath, Bristol, Durham and Warwick. Those are great universities, but I would not say that they are “much better” than UCLA. </p>
<p>Also keep in mind that the US is five times larger than the UK, has far more universities (2,500 vs 120) and the drop-off in quality in the UK is much steeper. The difference between #6 and #25 in the UK is far greater than the difference between #6 and #25 in the US.</p>
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<p>I never seen anyone in the US even discuss William and Kate, and I doubt they know their alma maters.</p>
<p>I highly doubt most people in the US know of St. Andrews given that they probably haven’t heard of LSE, UCL, or Imperial either. The only UK universities with good name recognition are Oxford and Cambridge.</p>
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<p>UCLA is a top 15 world university, University of St Andrews isn’t even in the top 100</p>
<p>[World</a> University Rankings 2012-2013](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking]World”>World University Rankings 2013-14 | Times Higher Education (THE))</p>
<p>“educated by one school that’s only prestigious among Jews”
If it’s any of our business, was it Yeshiva University?
Because in a similar problem to the OP’s, I’m considering it, because I can probably get a decent scholarship and I really like the school, but I’m also worried about the “fame” factor depending on what I decide to do after- it’s ranked #46 nationally by USNews, nothing to sneeze at, but will people know? Or, like you said (assuming you really are referring to it), is it only prestigious to Jews?
If it’s not, then sorry… but if anyone knows anything about YU in this regard I’d appreciate it.</p>
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<p>Well… I live in the US, and am aware of it. So I guess you have “seen” someone discuss it and who is aware of it. But what I was really saying before is that when kids from the US consider going to college in the UK instead, St. Andrews is a college that is often mentioned if they think they are NOT going to get into Oxford or Cambridge. My neice applied essentially as a match/safety because she was not sure of admission at Oxford. I personally think “world rankings” are just silly anyway… but I also think US News rankings have a high element of “silly season” to them as well.</p>
<p>Obviously UCLA and St. Andrews are vastly different types of colleges. But honestly, I would encourage my kid to go to St. Andrews over any “directional” state college in my state, and many other colleges that have discussion forums here on CC. I would be confident that my kid would get a reasonably good education, and as discussed above… once you have your first job out of college, the working world is 99% about what you have done since leaving college, not where your degree is from.</p>
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<p>Sorry for derailing this thread (not that it wasn’t already), but the school in question is Brandeis University. Outside of the Boston area, it seems to be only well known among Jews, who typically hold it in at least moderately high regard. Yeshiva is only prestigious to a small subset of the Jewish population, the very orthodox, much as BYU is only prestigious among Mormons. I wouldn’t be too concerned about “fame” of a school if you want to go to Yeshiva. My aunt went there, and the alumni network, much like BYU’s, is absolutely fantastic, since the extremely orthodox often see it as an obligation to help out younger ultra orthodox.</p>
<p>Also as has been discussed on this thread, after the first job, the name of the school probably won’t matter. If you feel like Yeshiva is a good fit (and it’s one of those schools where you need to be absolutely sure you do), apply.</p>
<p>Holy Cross and perhaps Colgate benefit by Division 1 sports programs. Both schools also enjoy good relationships with the Ivy League.</p>
<p>Well, but that is sort of the frustrating thing. Holy Cross and Colgate are undoubtedly more well-known by the public than Bowdoin, even though most people “in the know” would place Bowdoin on a tier above those two fine institutions.</p>
<p>The whole idea that your college doesn’t really matter once you are out in the working world…does that hold true for law as well? Because I know that law is a pretty prestige-drawn thing.</p>
<p>For the love of God, bs_hopeful. You need to get out of your bubble. You have been obsessed with prestige for at least five years, when you were applying to boarding school. Where are your parents in all this? Are they putting the pressure on you? If I were you I would defer Bowdoin for a year and go do something that gives you a little perspective.</p>
<p>My parents are oddly not at all concerned with prestige. I think it’s just a result of attending a highly competitive high school. People at my school sort of judge one’s self worth based on college admissions. </p>
<p>I appreciate the advice. I am already lining up something very similar to what you have suggested.</p>
<p>My young friend in Texas had the name recognition problem when neighbors heard she was going to NYU. Bowdoin is a top LAC. No matter whether your acquaintances know it or not. Their loss.</p>
<p>So you are willing to make a major life decision based on the opinions of a bunch of teenagers?! Not on objective data (granted a little hard to quantify for higher ed) or even the subjective data of knowledgeable people, or your own opinion of quality and value based on what you have learned about colleges, you’re going to go with what a bunch of clueless 17 year-old kids say? Do you wear designer clothes too?
Wow…
Well, the good news is that some kid will be ecstatic when they got off of Bowdoin’s waitlist because you want to go in search of greater prestige. Perhaps that is for the best. I’m sure Bowdoin wants kids who want to be there.</p>