<p>^ I would have guessed the other way around, that people in the region have heard of it more. I’m from the Northeast and have heard of most Northeastern colleges, whether elite or not, but I didn’t hear of elite Southern schools like Emory and Rice until I joined this site. I guess it’s since not as many people apply to them here, and there are so many elite Northeastern colleges that the smart students here end up applying to Ivies and not other elite schools like Rice. </p>
<p>NYU and Cooper Union are not considered particularly good at all in Manhattan, and even Columbia is considered less prestigious here, since everyone around here applies to them and so many people go to them. If you don’t believe me, watch Gossip Girl hahah :p</p>
<p>mk,
Just because its prestigious doesn’t mean people automatically know about it. Ive read stories by Dartmouth alums who mentioned were they went to school to people on the west coast, and theyre given blank stares while colleagues who have gone to UCLA and Cal are admired.</p>
<p>In most cases, outside of the ivy league, it boils down to how well known the football and basketball team are to impress someone. The school Im heading to is considered more selective but by no means is it an elite school, and I still get oohs and aahs when people find out Im going there. But I know that mostly has to do with its football team being the most popular in the state.</p>
<p>^^^
Probably true, up until recently I thought it was in NC, must have been confusing it with Elon. Like I said outside of the Ivy League, the general public doesnt know about elite schools that arent in a BCS conference.</p>
<p>i hated when people asked me that question especially when i was with friends and they’d ask me first. usually i didn’t mention it until someone asks in which i usually just tell them or wait for someone else to do it. most people are like wow, some don’t believe me.</p>
<p>I never knew about Emory either, until this year. When I say I go to USC, I get a lot of positive comments even when I go to the East coast too.</p>
<p>I goto USC but alot of korean people don’t really know about it. Actually alot of korean people don’t know about alot of colleges besides the really well known ones.</p>
<p>my brother interned at Samsung during the summer in korea (he goes to Cornell) and alot of people were like “where’s cornell at?” and he was “oh… it’s an ivy” and somebody was like “what’s an ivy?” and we were like o_O seriously???</p>
<p>I’m in the School of Cinematic Arts but I think alot of people don’t know about the significance of that unless they are interested in Cinema schools to start with >_<;; oh well not my fault.</p>
<p>Somehow korean people don’t know about USC and such but knows the UCs alot more. They are all in cali and have alot of korean people so I don’t know why they know more about the UCs…(well the top two, not really the rest)</p>
<p>I usually just get “Where’s that?”, and then sometimes they ask if it’s a good college or not. Similar to others, I typically follow it up by immediately saying “it’s a small women’s college in Massachusetts,” and then the subject changes. I also regularly get sympathetic comments like, “Oh, too bad you didn’t get into [our state university],” which always make me giggle a little inside.</p>
<p>Name recognition, especially for liberal arts colleges, is a funny thing. Names like Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr, and so forth mean a lot in academic circles, but to the vast majority of people, they don’t register at all. Unless you go to an Ivy or a school with good Division I sports, no one cares. :p</p>
<p>I just say NYU, though it’s not really “prestigious” in a traditional sense. A lot of employers in NYC like NYU students because we’re acclimatized to living in the city and are generally pushy and aggressive.</p>
<p>different reactions- half the ppl have no idea what Cornell is
some people would gasp and then ask Are you sure you’re going to Cornell?
The worst are the ppl who say, You mean the state school?
In the end, other people’s reactions shouldn’t mean crap to you. Choose a school because it is the best fit, case closed</p>
<p>I’m going to Tufts and when people ask me, I usually say something rehearsed because a.) no one has ever heard of tufts here; b.) I pronounce it wrong; and c.) they think i’m messing with them</p>
<p>As someone who goes to Penn people who are family friends or from Philly usually know that it’s an Ivy and know I’m smart and whatnot for going there. However, I get the following reactions from people who don’t know what Penn is:</p>
<ol>
<li>Penn State, they have a great football team. Joe Pa talk. Rose Bowl talk. etc. (I usually correct them after this).</li>
<li>Penn State, thats a really good school. (I usually let this go)</li>
</ol>
<p>I’m reaching the point where I tell people I go to school in Philly. So long as they think I’m smart enough to get into PSU’s main campus, I’m happy.</p>
<p>Sorry for the late reply but, to whoever argued the case that most people in the South should know Emory, I beg to differ. I am a Bulgarian immigrant so I don’t have any problems with bashing the South. That having been said, most people down here are not too focused on “ELITE” education but rather college sports like basketball, football, and others. This is why people down here will know about one or two of the Ivies and possibly, if you are very lucky, one of the Southern elite schools like Rice, Emory, and WUSTL. People in North, on the other hand, are much more likely to be focused on elite education and thus will know most of the nation’s top 20 colleges. To reinforce my point a bit further, the majority of Emory students come from out of state (a lot from the North, West Coast).</p>
<p>Btw, MHC2011, sounds like people in your area are very mean. “I’m sorry you didn’t get into ______ state school”. That just sounds a bit ignorant to me.</p>
<p>I usually spend a half-an-hour explaining where and what Claremont McKenna College is. No one has heard of any colleges aside from HYPSM and the instate colleges in Iowa. I kinda wish CMC was a bit more well known, but everyone is usually just shocked when I tell them that I’m going to SoCal for college that they do not care about the college itself (you must understand that 99% or more of Iowans stay in Iowa for college–and half of that 1% go to a neighboring state)</p>
Similar to others, I typically follow it up by immediately saying “it’s a small women’s college in Massachusetts,” and then the subject changes. I also regularly get sympathetic comments like, “Oh, too bad you didn’t get into [our state university],” which always make me giggle a little inside.</p>