<p>emmybet, this one made me laugh. I hope he is not taking massive loans to learn to be a sharecropper, or is that part of the curriculum?</p>
<p>I’m in New England, so this what I get all the time:</p>
<p>“Where are you going to college?”
“UNC”
<em>blank stare</em>
“It’s the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill”
“Oh. A state school?”
“…”</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted into Elon last year.</p>
<p>I think it is a great school, but wow even in the short time the school came up in conversation (before my daughter got into a school she favored over Elon) I normally got a completely blank look. </p>
<p>If you don’t go to a recognizable school and you are from the Northeast/NYC area, people really don’t know how to react.</p>
<p>Honestly, and maybe it shows I am a shallow prestige seeking stooge, I was glad when she was accepted to her reach school which has 100% name recognition.</p>
<p>It’s sad to say, but there is a lot of pressure and comparing which goes on around these parts.</p>
<p>To match QM’s comment: When my S was choosing between Vassar and Williams we often got this comment, even from a psychiatrist we know:</p>
<p>Oh, he’s gay. Has he come out?</p>
<p>He chose Williams, but not because he’s homophobic.</p>
<p>Now when people ask his major and I say Classics and they ask, “What’s they?” they’ve usually backed away before we can answer.</p>
<p>He grandmother has asked once a week for a year and then says, "Remember when he wanted to be a doctor? (When he was 4.) What happened?</p>
<p>GorgesDad, at least it is a crossword school…I am good at all the little schools on the Sunday crosswords!</p>
<p>mythmom, my DD mentioned becoming a vet when she was about 7 and Gma still asks about that all the time!</p>
<p>My d is at University of Rochester.
“Why did she decide to go to a SUNY?”
“Isn’t that a public school?”
“Well, at least it’s cheap.”
“Why would she go to Minnesota?”</p>
<p>When I told someone my son was looking at Vanderbilt:
“Where’s that?”
“Nashville.”
“Where’s that?”
“Tennessee.”
“Why would he want to go to Tennessee to go to college?”</p>
<p>I don’t know who has it worse, me or my brother but I think I’ll give my brother more credit.</p>
<p>I went to Smith for a year so… I still hear the lesbian comment every now and then. And actually I DO think people think the lesbian atmosphere at Smith is the BIG reason why I transferred out (not at all, actually) so I usually clarify my specifics which had nothing to do with sexuality.</p>
<p>And Colgate…
Person: “Where is that?”
Me: “Get a map of NYS and put your finger in the dead center and move it ever so slightly. That’s Colgate.”</p>
<p>Person: “Wait, in Hamilton, NY? Isn’t that Hamilton College? Where is Hamilton College if not in Hamilton?”</p>
<p>Then onto bullying toothpaste jokes…</p>
<p>Now for my brother who goes to Miami University IN Ohio.</p>
<p>Family: “He’s at Miami.”
Person: “In Florida? Oh that would be SO much fun with all the football, beaches, and sun!”
Family: “…in Ohio.”
Person: “What?! Why couldn’t he have gone to Florida?”</p>
<p>My brother will usually respond in typical Miami student manner: “We are actually older than the state of Florida!” (Miami was founded in 1807 and Florida became a state in 1845) or the fact that Miami is #1 in hockey (it is a serious powerhouse).</p>
<p>D is at NYU</p>
<p>I have had several people point out that we have to pay out-of-state tuition.</p>
<p>Son goes to Colorado College. We get blank stares, embarrassment, and then, “Is that in Colorado?” or “In Boulder?”</p>
<p>A friend of mine whose son went to Vassar got the comment, “I hear they have a lot of lesbians there.” Her response became, “We’re not worried that he’ll become one”.</p>
<p>That’s funny, FallGirl, but I believe NYU charges out-of-this-world tuition!</p>
<p>cpt - I love the Vassar retort your friends used!</p>
<p>My dad called last week to say that he was sending my son some Ole Miss items as a graduation gift. A t-shirt, a football jersey, a hat, a mug.</p>
<p>Me: “Wow, that’s really thoughtful! He’ll love it.”
Dad: “It should arrive in the next few days. I’ll call to make sure you got it.”
Me: “Okay, great.”
Dad: “All right, talk to you later.”
Me: “Bye.”
Dad: “They’re the Bulldogs, right?”
Me: “Uh, no, that’s Mississippi State.”
Dad: “Oh. Where is he going again?”</p>
<p>I suspect a lot of grandparents have probably done this kind of thing. D’oh.</p>
<p>I have a relative who has been telling the world that UMBC (Univ of Md at Baltimore County) is equal to Harvard and Stanford (because there was one category in this year’s US News and world report, about independent research, where UMBC got mentioned in a group of 50 schools, including Harvard and Stanford)</p>
<p>I do get confused with some schools. Gettysburg and Dickinson are similar schools very close in distance from each other. One is in Carlisle. The other is on Carlisle Street or avenue. Hamilton and Colgate (?) are confusing too. Isn’t Colgate in Hamilton? There are two schools that have that mix up, I know.</p>
<p>We get the gay remarks a lot. Son was a musical theater major. There is that old joke, what do they call a straight musical theater major? Answer: Freshman.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I love that line! I may use it next time.</p>
<p>LMAO at cpt!</p>
<p>Another friend has gotten this remark: “Oh, Kenyon. Isn’t that where Obama went?”</p>
<p>Cpt: I believe that your son’s retort is now #2 on the list (sorry, but I think QM is still #1)</p>
<p>I used to joke with my kids that I wanted one of them to go to Purdue & one of them to go to Rice so I could have both stickers on my car (chicken & rice, you know. yeah, they didn’t think it was funny either ;)</p>
<p>So here is a serious question.
If your D or S is going to a school I am not familiar with, what is a question that would not offend you or cause you to mock me?<br>
If I haven’t heard of a school, or don’t know much about it, I usually ask what drew him/her to that school, before saying “that sounds great”.</p>