<p>NESCAC: great, small, liberal arts colleges and universities yet not very well known to the uneducated/nonCCer. Ever mention Amherst College to a grandparent or friend and been given that <em>uhhhhhh ok</em> face? </p>
<p>Ivies: great schools, obviously, and are almost all Universities (only dartmouth is not I believe?). Mention Harvard to the most delirious bum on the side of a street and they know what it is...</p>
<p>The question I pose to you is WHY?!?! Why is the ivy league so much more prestigious. Both groups center around an athletic conference and both hand out amazing diplomas but one is much better known than the other. Sure, Ivies are older and larger. Size shouldn't matter though. This leads me to believe only the old age would lend this thought. Oh, but wait! Williams College is the second oldest college in Massachusetts! They even had a lawsuit with Harvard because Harvard felt there was not enough students for both schools. So old age can't be it!</p>
<p>Why are the NESCACs so much more obscure in comparison to the Ivy League Schools?</p>
<p>A large portion of a university's reputation can come from graduate or professional programs, even if people don't realize it. Ivies have these schools, whereas LACs do not.</p>
<p>They are not more prestigeous to people in the know. Lots of employers understand it took more to get into Amherst than Cornell. Does the average man on the street know the difference between Segruva and Osetra caviar?</p>
<p>But that was my point. I said that this question was in respect to people that do not frequently educate themselves about modern schools. I was asking in reference to the masses.</p>
<p>its mostly athletics(Ivy D-1AA)(NESCAC-D3) and movies and stuff. There are always movies that have Harvard or Princeton in it but i have yet to see a movie with a NESCAC school in it</p>
<p>Perhaps, another part of the reason is because Div. I sporting events are nationally/regionally televised, while NESCAC games are not.</p>
<p>People make associations that often equate hearing the frequency of a name/entity being used or refered to in the media (does not matter if it's positive or negative to an extent) with popularity/goodness/success. And, who does not want to be associated with those desirable characteristics/connotations, even if it based on assumtions made by the masses?</p>
<p>"um, why does it matter if a bum on some street recognizes your school? or even your friends, for that matter?"
im curious about why people do not know the NESCACs...so that is an example of how "obscure" they can be for some people.</p>
<p>It's because the average person might not have had a NESCAC school on their college list, although they might have had a big football/basketball university on it. And, since different regions of the country sometime prefer different types of schools, the University of ____________ (fill in the state) is easier to locate geographically than, say, Bowdoin College.</p>
<p>That is why people still make mistakes with Penn State and UPenn, even though one is a Big 10 school and the other is an Ivy League university. They assume that since Pennsylvania is in both schools names that they are public institutions and mistake one for the other.</p>
<p>It is a common misappropriation that having heard of something is necessarily better than something that gets less coverage. The sticking point in the OP is the use/definition of "average". :)</p>
<p>PS--BTW my friends in WA, OR, HI, ID, and CA have heard of schools like Trinity, Hamilton, Connecticut, Tufts, Williams, Amherst, etc...but they went to better public schools and private preps.</p>
<p>When I picked Tufts over Cornell and Dartmouth (and virtually assured acceptance to UPenn b/c my school is a feeder and kids with lower grades and ECs got in; I didn't apply because I really didn't feel it it any way), many people were like, "WHAT WHY?" At first I told them, "It's just as good." "The IR program is top-notch." "I wanted a medium-sized place wehre undergraduate ed is emphasized." "Suburban" "Internationally and civically-oriented" etc... But honestly, to employers and people who go to the best schools in the country, they know that the NESCACs (esp. the top ones -- Williams, Wesleyan, Tufts, Middlebury, Amherst, Bowdoin) are excellent schools. So it doesn't matter. And I echo the fact that the Ivies' graduate schools accoutn for a great deal of their fame and notoriety (except at a small place like Dartmouth, which is more of a NESCAC than an Ivy when you think about it).</p>
<p>First of all, not everyone can name all eight Ivy League colleges (they almost always get stuck on one or two of them.) And "NESCAC" sounds too much like the race car association. But, if you say, "little ivy league" most educated people will know which colleges you mean.</p>
<p>well its not like the average person knows that Cal Tech is more than just your average technical school either. just off the top of my head i'd be willing to bet that most people wouldnt be familiar with any D-3 schools.</p>
<p>
[quote]
great schools, obviously, and are almost all Universities (only dartmouth is not I believe?).
[/quote]
Dartmouth is a college in name only. </p>
<p>
[quote]
But that was my point. I said that this question was in respect to people that do not frequently educate themselves about modern schools. I was asking in reference to the masses.
[/quote]
Down here in the South, many people haven't heard of Dartmouth, Brown, Williams, Amherst, etc. Shocking, I know. :p In any case, do not confuse name recognition with prestige; they are not at all the same thing.</p>