<p>More often than not, people think that my undergraduate alma mater, Bowling Green, is in Kentucky. (It’s in Bowling Green, Ohio. Western Kentucky University is in Bowling Green, Kentucky.) But I don’t just smile and nod, even though I probably should. I always feel compelled to correct them.</p>
<p>When I went to Mount Holyoke a long time ago, people would ask me if it was a Catholic “girls’ school,” and they frequently thought it was in Baltimore (huh?). So today, I guess it’s a college for Catholic lesbians.</p>
<p>My D got comments about Barnard and lesbians, too, but only from the high school boys who thought it was “hot” and wanted to come “watch.” (Yuck!) My D was always the kind of girl who had more guy friends so she did get incredulous looks.</p>
<p>C’est la vie.</p>
<p>She could handle it.</p>
<p>Love this thread!
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<p>Don’t think this confusion is related to the coasts! I’ve had four years of people saying “Pittsburgh - that’s in the east, right?”. And we’re outside Chicago! Having made the drive so many times, I do feel that once we get to the Ohio/Pennsylvania border that we’re almost there.</p>
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<p>CMU is one of those schools that someone either really knows or never heard of. Or they only know it as a tech school so I mention Zachary Quinto just for fun.</p>
<p>ZM: Considering what I read about GUGs & LUGs the other day (gay until graduation and lesbian until graduation; new to me!) maybe the “roving bands” theory is true (I kid! I kid!)</p>
<p>Re: grandparents. My mom can’t understand how I’m letting D go so far away (230 miles; she wouldn’t let me go away. Sigh.) Inlaws are in Florida; FIL is a Dolphins fan and loves to tease D with the “I’m not going to Alabama” quote that Nick Sabin gave the Miami press a few weeks before he left to go to Alabama. The sports radio guys down there apparently have it handy to play quite a bit. D smiles and nods (or ala Madagascar Smile & Wave, boys, Smile & Wave ;)</p>
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My father was born in Vienna (no, not the one in Illinois or Virginia). He was in Germany after WWII, being processed for immigration. The American soldier asked him where he was born. He said, “Vienna.” Without even looking up, the American said, “Where’s that?”</p>
<p>We’re from the East coast. D is in Rochester, NY. Now one might think that’s the “east coast,” too, since it’s still NY state. But it feels so much more midwest to us New Englanders!</p>
<p>I grew up in Pittsburgh and now live in the deep Midwest. Sometimes people will comment that I’m from the East Coast. Yeah, the East Coast og the Ohio River!</p>
<p>Both our Son & Daughter considered Hobart & William Smith. FYI, William Smith was once an independent women’s college that shared a campus with Hobart, but now, for all intents and purposes, they have merged. Anyway, our friends kept on asking, “You mean Williams College?”, or, “You mean Smith College?”, or, “You mean William & Mary?”</p>
<p>So we laughed big time when we saw this sweatshirt in the bookstore:
<a href=“http://collegestore.hws.edu/MerchDetail.aspx?MerchID=463647&num=0&start=1&end=9&type=1&CategoryName=Polos/Rugbys/Long%20Sleeve&CatID=2217&Name=Polos/Rugbys/Long%20Sleeve[/url]”>http://collegestore.hws.edu/MerchDetail.aspx?MerchID=463647&num=0&start=1&end=9&type=1&CategoryName=Polos/Rugbys/Long%20Sleeve&CatID=2217&Name=Polos/Rugbys/Long%20Sleeve</a></p>
<p>When I tell people I am going to Whitman, a third of the people have no idea what it is, half think it’s either Whittier or whitworth, and the rest are really happy for me</p>
<p>Instead, both our kids went to Hampshire College, so we have to endure endless ‘hippie’ and ‘weed’ comments and jokes from friends and relatives.</p>
<p>While probably not as bad as for kids who go to nearby Smith or Mt. Holyoke, we also get some lesbian comments as well.</p>
<p>D was seriously considering Haverford. When I mentioned this to a friend she said
“Haverford? Why?”
I said, “Why not?”
She said, “I didn’t think she would consider a school in Pennsylvania” Keep in mind that we live in NJ, and almost everyone in our area applies to at least 1 school in Pennsylvania, including this friend’s kids.
I still have not figured out what she meant by that!</p>
<p>The best comment about my son’s school, Bard, came from a young (mid-twenties) client of my husband’s. He said, “Bard? That’s the pot school, right? Can we go hang out with him next weekend?”</p>
<p>You’re all killing me with Rochester being in the “midwest”. The kiss of death for a skier, and I like it here. :D</p>
<p>As a future Carleton student from New England, I get a lot of “…Carleton? Where is that?” Upon hearing that it is in Minnesota, I get “…oh, is it cold there?” Um, no, it’s tropical. What do you think? </p>
<p>Or else I get “so does that mean you didn’t get into the other schools you wanted to go to?” Um, no. It means I liked Carleton. Either way, though, I take it in stride. For the most part, it’s funny and as long as I love my school it’s all I really care about.</p>
<p>rp - Ds will be attending Colorado College (small, selective LAC 2hrs from good skiing) and we try to take all the “so he just wants to ski” comments in stride as well. It is hard sometimes though. It was a high match/reach school for him and his top choice, so its hard not to comment back on the “Why are you sending hime to a state school so far away?”</p>
<p>skier - I agree! It’s really difficult sometimes, but for the most part, it’s funny for me because I’ve wanted to go to Carleton since I was a junior in high school. So I’ve been dealing with the “where are you going/where do you want to go?” question for a while.</p>
<p>I think my friend had a pretty good one the other day though - she’s going to Kenyon. Her mom’s friend looked at her blankly and said “why are you going to Africa??”</p>
<p>I say something about Stanford and they say,</p>
<p>“Stanford? It’s cold in Connecticut.”
“Oh. Well, I lived in Connecticut once…”
“Just think how close you’ll be to New York City!”</p>
<p>When D told someone she was going to Amherst, she was told that perhaps if she worked really hard she could tranfer to UT.</p>
<p>Back in the dark ages (mid '70s) I was a student at W&M. You got used to dealing with tourists with strange questions:</p>
<p>Are you a ** real ** W&M student? Can we take your picture?
Is W&M a Catholic school?
I didn’t know W&M was coed. When did they start letting girls in?
Is W&M a girls school?</p>
<p>But the winner for me was: How do you like it here at the College of Mary and Joseph?</p>
<p>robinsuesanders, you’ll appreciate this one from another W&M Dark Ages alum:</p>
<p>“Does the Busch Gardens monorail go to King’s Dominion?”</p>
<p>^^ LOL</p>
<p>Busch had just been open a few years when I was at W&M so that’s one that I don’t remember hearing.</p>