<p>im from south shore ma, and whenever i say im going to wake forest, half the people say they never heard of it. and the other half is impressed.</p>
<p>a lot of people really only know local schools, ivies, and big name sports schools</p>
<p>The schools you can count on anyone kowing: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Notre Dame, and the University of _____ (insert state name here).</p>
<p>^ I would say MIT is pretty well known.</p>
<p>RonPaul…</p>
<p>University of Pennsylvania…
I DON’T THINK SO! lol</p>
<p>But then again, most people think it’s a state school anyway so I guess that proves your point.</p>
<p>Not everyone knows Notre Dame. That can be pretty regional, though less so than, say, Rice or Emory. School popularity is weird like that.</p>
<p>I think I normally say “Uhm, Stanford.” I’ve gotten anywhere from “I don’t care looks” to “Wow! Congratulations! Please write to me in 2 months and tell me how it is!” from adults.</p>
<p>For me, Washington U. in St. Louis is actually known by maybe half the people that ask.
one time someone heard of it because a friend’s daughter recently graduated then went to Duke grad school.
two other times (by much older men, in their 60s to 70s) knew that WashU has a great pre-med program and a top med school. it really surprised me that people of their generation have heard of it, or have kept up with today’s universities.<br>
other times, people just go straight to “oh, cool, why did you pick that school?” It’s pretty obvious when people don’t know, so i’m hoping that since wustl is sending out around 2000+ grads every year, that eventually people will mention it in the same breath as its peer schools.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, most people I talk to in North Carolina have heard of UCF (University of Central Florida). Maybe it is because UCF has 50,000 students or because they are decent in college football.</p>
<p>“Where are you going?”
“WPI”</p>
<p>from here the conversation usually goes one of three ways
- “Ooh. Good for you. That’s a very good school.”
- “What’s that stand for?”
- “THAT SUCKS”</p>
<p>(Note that #3 is usually in reference to the belief that the student body is 90% male)</p>
<p>I don’t if someone already discussed this- got tired of reading…
I am going to University of Chicago next year and I am from Columbus OH- 15 mins from OSU</p>
<p>so most people go:
“OH Chicago, is that a good school? Why didn’t you go to OSU instead of their state school?”
“Chicago? Is that a public school? Why didn’t you go to Yale or Columbia- yale is a ivy!!”
“U of Chicago, why did you settle for that? What are they good at? OSU is good at everything!”
“Why Chicago? you got some many scholarships?!”
“I thought you were smart- you know whats her name got into Howard and your smarter than her”
“Chicago huh, wanted to start small”
or the occasional “Oh my gosh congrats, chicago has a beautiful campus”</p>
<p>my fav teacher said
“I don’t know why you chose chicago, you could have went to brown or yale…”</p>
<p>It really ****es me off, like big time!
U of Chi has done so much- atom bomb etc- and it is ranked </p>
<p>NUMBER 8!!! tied with columbia and duke!!!</p>
<p>Oh and I have heard of emory and WUSTL, awesome schools I was going to apply to.</p>
<p>I am ****ed that northwestern and Howard are even compared to U of Chicago- they are subpar
they bow to our greatness</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Oh and from what FOrumObserver said-</p>
<p>My sister goes to the very awesome very liberal arts Kenyon College in Gambier Ohio and noone- i mean noone from columbus knows what it is or where it is</p>
<p>they are like KenyAN college- you sent your daughter to africa
or they say it is in GamBIA in africa</p>
<p>even the schools have tees about the whole mix up’</p>
<p>its funny cause when i went there for a summer writing workshop all these rich kids from NY Conn Mass Cali and all over were gushing over Kenyon</p>
<p>it really ignorant b/c those who have even heard of it are like oh your sister wants to be a writer huh!</p>
<p>SHE is a BIO major!!!</p>
<h1>82</h1>
<p>pnb2002
Junior Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 136 During my senior year in highschool…</p>
<p>Friend: Hey, what colleges did you get into?
Me: Oh, (list of a few), Northwestern, and Chicago.
Friend: Good for you. Where you going?
Me: University of Chicago.
Friend: Why are you going to a state school over Northwestern. Did you get a scholarship or something?</p>
<p>Similar to the Penn story… </p>
<hr>
<p>I get that all the time. Not that Northwestern isn’t a great school but you can’t compare it in that way to U of Chi</p>
<p>I don’t go to one of those elite schools, but I hate the attitudes people develop towards schools like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, etc - they’re always like “Oh,that school is overrated!” or “They’re all rich spoiled kids living off of mommy and daddy’s money!” or “They’re all snobby elitists!” Those people are so rude and just make stupid remarks. I don’t know if it’s out of jealousy because they’re either too dumb to get in or got in but didn’t have the opportunity to attend, or if they genuinely believe these things. The only difference I’ve perceived in people I know who go to elite schools from the average person is that, well, they’re not morons. It must get annoying to be constantly stereotyped like that and have your school put down for illogical reasons. </p>
<p>I go to a large NY school which is well-known around here and considered good, but not elite, so I get neutral responses like “Ok” or “Do you like Manhattan?”. And LOL at the Columbia story, that’s pretty funny. 
“The country?” haha</p>
<p>and if you do go to a prestigious school and people make rude remarks, stop being awkward and just be blunt - say hey, I like this school and worked hard to get in, if you don’t like it simply don’t go. Tell them they’re being rude and ask if they would like it if you put down their school.</p>
<p>I always tell them Brown. The only time that ever really killed a conversation was when I was applied for one particular job. </p>
<p>I usually don’t ask where other people are going, though…</p>
<p>I agree with Alix. Some of my parents’ friends make very rude comments when I tell them I’m going to Duke. They say things like “private schools are so expensive”. Hello? You aren’t in a position to say that when your kids’ elementary school is 20k a year and when you always say how disgusted you are about public schools and Florida colleges and that you plan to send your kids out of state. And recently, when I told these people that I was considering UF because it’s cheap they gave me an attitude something like “oh…I actually thought you were smart and yet you worked hard in IB for nothing”. Such hypocrites! One guy actually gave this whole tirade about how he would never send his kid to Yale because living in dorms would corrupt him and make him “liberal” yet he supports his daughter applying to every single top twenty school.</p>
<p>But my classmates and teachers on the other hand are very nice and sincere in their congratulations. I felt embarassed telling them at first because so many people didn’t get into their top choices. But in the end, everyone is happy at wherever they go. Where you go to college is as big of a deal as some make it out to be.</p>
<p>The questions from strangers are the weirdest. I don’t know why but when I tell these people where I’m going for college they always say “Congrats! How do you feel?” What am I supposed to say to that?</p>
<p>Say something humble. I feel blessed/excited/happy.</p>
<p>Conversations do tend to get more awkward when you go to a well known school, but just keep saying thank you and acting excited about your future and you’ll get through it.</p>
<p>When I tell people where I go they either say:
A. Oh really where you there when it happened?
B. They joke about bringing a bullet proof vest
C. They say something like “Oh good school”</p>
<p>I’m from NY so telling people about Virginia Tech here is differently then when you are in Virginia since all they know about is the shooting or the footballl</p>
<p>cit- Isn’t it sad when adults make those rude comments? They must be jealous of your success, or just pitifully immature. To find insults like you described for both elite college and state schools is a skill best mastered by very unhappy grown-ups!</p>
<p>Maybe the parents feel guilty because they either did not provide their kids with an atmosphere conducive to academic success, or the genes to support it. Your achievement is a reminder to them that letting their darlings carouse on weeknights, or waste too many hours on computer games etc., might not have been a great route to success.</p>
<p>Sounds like the strangers are the most polite. Good luck at Duke!</p>
<p>I feel really awkward and embarrased everytime my friends tells me how good of a school my college is–especially when they are not going to well respected college. I try not to bring up where I go at all but for some reason the littlest things can trigger it to come up.</p>
<p>Friend: “Boy is the economy getting worse”
Me: “Yeah I know, it’s bad for everybody. I just hope by the time we get out of school it will get better”
Friend: “Dude, you go to Syracuse! Don’t worry”
Me: <em>really awkward and shy; don’t know what to say look</em></p>
<p>When this happens, I try as quickly as possible to change the subject. To be honest, I seriously am not a big fan of receiving praise. Sometimes I feel inclined to praise the person back even when they don’t deserve it–all in an effort to not bring the spotlight too much on me.</p>