level of Brown's name recognition?

[von_herrs]

<p>I have heard that Brown has among the Ivies the least name recognition and that it actually has less name recognition than several non-Ivies. Is this true?</p>

[KY_Crusader_75]

<p>I’d say that all the Ivies are well known but that Brown has lower name recognition than the rest of the Ancient Eight. The apt metaphor could be that Brown is the 6-10 guy next to a bunch of 7 footers. The 6-10 guy is the shortest of the group but by no means short compared to everyone else. Sure some othher schools have higher name recognition, but don’t equate name recognition with prestige. I’ll bet every state named university has higher name recognition than, say, Amherst, Williams, or Carleton College, yet they are prestigious schools.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>I’ve known about Brown’s existence since President Carter’s daughter went there, but didn’t know it was part of the Ivy League until more recently than that.</p>

[slipper1234]

<p>Brown has incredibly high name recognition in the northeast and in influential circles on the west coast. In my experience, in educated circles it edges out Cornell and is about on par with Dartmouth, Columbia, and Penn.</p>

[BIGTWIX]

<p>it’s definitely not as high as the others.</p>

[Columbiahopeful_1]

<p>Slipper once again tries to promote his own ivy…with that said, Brown is a great school but if we are talking about name recognition, Columbia and Cornell are probably more well known than UPenn, Dartmouth, and Brown. Penn is often confused with penn state, more than you would think.</p>

<p>I think that Brown is one of the better ones, and clearly edges out Cornell in areas where it matters. But let’s face it, Dartmouth and Brown do not get much name recognition outside of the east coast. Cornell is a universally well known university.</p>

[Tarhunt]

<p>Lisa Simpson made it famous, “Oh no! Not Brown!”</p>

[vogon_bard]

<p>who cares? it’s known where it matters and that’s all that’s important</p>

[norcalguy]

<p>I agree with columbiahopeful! (for once). Brown is an excellent university and should take you wherever you want to go. However, relative to the other Ivies and a few other top schools (Stanford, MIT, etc.) it is lacking in name recognition. I didn’t even know it was a college (muchless an Ivy League college) until senior year of HS.</p>

[redcrimblue]

<p>For Brown it is inherent colorlesssnes, I think. I always wondered (despite the overtones) if Cornell had been named after its co-founder White, whether a good rivalry qould have grown. U of Pennsylvania has spent millions trying to carve out a brand identity separate and apart to avoid what I think a poll of regular folks would show was the belief that it is the Keystone State’s state univerisity, like Michigan/Michigan State or that it is fact Penn State itself, just located in Philadelphia, or perhaps a branch. Again, despite the unfortunate initials, it probably would have been better off calling itself Franklin U (ignoring the fact that Franlkin had little to do with its foundfing.) Penn was for decades the Ivy doormat, perhaps in part becasue of this confusion and prior to the marketing blitz focusing on “Penn” as if the nickname were the real name.</p>

<p>Somewhat similary, tucked against the Atlantic in our tiniest state and unknown internationally; dwarfed reputationally by surrounding schools, especially the crunch of H and Y; and with a vibe many more PC scoff at as what now counts as “diversity”; Brown finds itself the lowest ranked Ivy on almost any measure, including consistently with USHWR. Still, it is likely the fact its a color, like Colgate is an oral hygeine aid, that hurts the worst.</p>

[2331clk]

<p>“in educated circles it (Brown) edged out Cornell”</p>

<p>I can’t imagine that in educated circles anyone would remotely care about such a thing.</p>

[Alexandre]

<p>Brown is one of 10 or so universities that immediately follow Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale when it comes to “name recognition”. In other words, it is extremely recognized. Obviously, there are people out there who have never heard of it, but that would not be something to brag about. One would have to be pretty ignorant not to respect a university like Brown.</p>

[afan]

<p>At this level, name recognition differences don’t mean a thing. </p>

<p>That said, here is the PR survey of parents’ and students’ “dream schools”. For both groups, Brown was in the top 10. Among the Ivies, it trailed H, P, Columbia, and Y for students, and came after P and H, but ahead of the other Ivies, for parents. </p>

<p>This is about as close a pure “name recognition” survey as one can get.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a00xg.dB1eQI&refer=us[/url]”>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a00xg.dB1eQI&refer=us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[tokenadult]

<p>

according to the unscientific survey

</p>

<p>As it says in the news story, there is nothing about that survey design that shows that the survey results represent the views of the population surveyed.</p>

[ncram65]

<p>…the fact is that except for the big state universities, schools that play basketball on TV and Harvard, Princeton and Yale, most colleges (even the most selective) have very low name recognition outside their geographic areas. I can’t imagine why anyone would care about such a thing.</p>

[tetrisfan]

<p>Dude, who cares? Just go to a place because you like it, don’t worry about the name! (at least not for undergrad)</p>

[45_Percenter]

<p>

@redcrimblue

Again, despite the unfortunate initials, it [Penn] probably would have been better off calling itself Franklin U (ignoring the fact that Franlkin had little to do with its foundfing.)

That’s not quite correct:</p>

<p>

Benjamin Franklin was instrumental in organizing and shaping Penn from its inception. He was President of the College, Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia from 1749 to 1755, and served continuously as trustee until his death in 1790. Franklin was responsible for the hiring of William Smith as the first provost in 1754.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/franklin/welcome.cfm[/url]”>http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/franklin/welcome.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

Penn was founded on unique grounds in the history of education. In Philadelphia Benjamin Franklin sought not only to create a local institution of higher learning, but also to provide an education that did not fit the models already established in New England and Virginia. In Europe and the colonies up to that time, such schools had emphasized the training of new clergymen. The goal of Franklin’s nonsectarian, practical plan would be the education of a business and governing class rather than of clergymen. His ideas found a receptive audience in the prominent men of Philadelphia, who saw a need to prepare young men to lead the government and businesses of their growing city, the largest in the American colonies.
Franklin articulated his educational vision for the Academy and College of Philadelphia in his 1749 essay, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsilvania. Classes in his proposed schools were to be taught in English rather than in Greek and Latin, and the curriculum would include useful subjects such as natural history, geology, geography and modern languages. </p>

<p>Franklin spelled out his aims in concise form in July 1750, in a “Paper on the Academy,” which he placed before the city council of Philadelphia. He hoped the Academy would offer “a good Education at home;” he said that the students would “be qualified to bear Magistracies and execute other public Offices of Trust;” and students “of the poorer Sort” would be “qualified to act as Schoolmasters in the Country, to teach Children Reading, Writing, Arithmetick, and the Grammar of their Mother Tongue.” </p>

<p>In 1751 Franklin penned his “Idea of the English School, Sketch’d out for the Consideration of the Trustees of the Philadelphia Academy” which provided an overview of his preferred curriculum and teaching methods for each of the six classes of the Academy. Students were to begin in the first class with the study of English grammar and spelling and the reading of fables and other short stories. By the sixth class, the young scholars would learn history, rhetoric, logic and philosophy while reading such English authors as Milton, Locke, Addison, and translations of Homer, Virgil and Horace. Franklin asserted that youth educated in this manner would leave the Academy “fitted for learning any Business, Calling or Profession, except such wherein [classical] Languages are required.” </p>

<p>Although Franklin’s vision would be tempered by Provost William Smith’s dedication to classical languages and by the large number of Anglican trustees in the 1760’s and 1770’s, his ideas were important in shaping Penn as a unique institution. Franklin’s concept of higher education was new in the mid-18th-century western world, but is what a liberal education has now become.</p>

<p>Unlike many other colonial American colleges, at Penn, the College was preceded by two schools aimed at younger students, the Academy and the Charity School. The three schools were part of the same institution and were overseen by the same board of Trustees. The Trustees’ Minutes give a firsthand account of how Franklin’s vision played out in these three institutions during the first fifty years of Penn’s existence. The first concrete manifestations of Franklin’s plan were the Academy and Charity School of Philadelphia, chartered in 1749 and opened in 1751. In a few years the Academy had been successful in producing suitably educated young men interested in pursuing an even higher level of formal education leading to a degree. Thus, in 1755 Ben Franklin and his board of trustees secured a charter for the College of Philadelphia, to be led by Provost William Smith. The Class of 1757 was the first class to graduate from the College.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/penn1700s.html[/url]”>http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/penn1700s.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Franklin was deeply involved in shaping Penn from the very beginning, and his unique vision and ideas have continued to permeate the school’s DNA throughout its history and up to the present day (e.g., first medical school in the US, first law lectures at a university, first university teaching hospital, first collegiate school of business, etc.).</p>

[Tarhunt]

<p>You know, these threads always come down to the same thing. So, before everyone goes there, let me just try to summarize.</p>

<p>Name recognition/reputation are not the same things. Name recognition varies by geography. Name recognition varies by subset of the US population. It is not necessarily important for everyone to know about a school, but it might be important for “those who count” to know about a school.</p>

<p>Did I miss something?</p>

[slipper1234]

<p>Columbiahopeful,</p>

<p>More and more I think you are b-ball. </p>

<p>If you are trying to impress someone internationally the big universities with graduate programs tend to have more prestige. Therefore, a school like Cal is more well-known than half the Ivies even though its undergrad is in my opinion much weaker. However, if you are talking about lawyers, doctors, venture capitalists, and powermakers (who primarily reside in NY, DC, Boston, NoCal, SoCal, and Chicago) Brown is higher than Cornell and on par with Dartmouth, Columbia, and Penn. To illustrate: most other Ivy grads recognize Brown as an extremely selective school. They are likely to think of Brown in the same light as all the other Ivies and above Cornell, which is less selective.</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>It would be interesting to see the results of a scientifically designed, carefully conducted pure-play study of college name recognition, especially if the sample size were big enough to yield valid data on regional variations in name recognition. But yes, this reply above nails it: </p>

<p>

@Tarhunt

Name recognition/reputation are not the same things. Name recognition varies by geography. Name recognition varies by subset of the US population. It is not necessarily important for everyone to know about a school, but it might be important for “those who count” to know about a school.

</p>