which is the most prestigious in your opinion?
Wesleyan, Wellesley, Middlebury, Berkeley, and Tufts
thanks!
Why do you ask?
They are all wonderful schools. Focus on fit. What are you looking for? Environment? Thoughts on what you might study? Student body profile?
to be really frank, and i hate saying this, but I am really concerned about ranking, general prestige etc.
Well, I’ll personally leave you to your own devices because I just don’t understand that mentality and can’t help you without you putting some thought into what you are looking for in an education. If it’s just perceived prestige, go google the US News rankings.
I know it’s the wrong mentality to have, it’s just that I come from a really competitive high school and ugh. Well anyway, thanks for the response and I would really appreciate your input on fit (see my other post).
I also think this is a ridiculous question in general, and these 5 schools are pretty ridiculous to compare.
But if I had to answer, Cal has the most national and international prestige. Many people outside of the northeast have never heard of Wesleyan or Middlebury, and Wellesley is a women’s school, so you probably lose points for that (even though it is a great school).
I’ll take a look at the other thread though since that sounds more interesting.
Advice—get outside the mindset of your high school, where you are spending a mere 4 years of your entire life. Think broader, wider, deeper. Get past the prestige mania, which is reductive and shallow. How can you compare institutions that don’t necessarily match up in terms of size, academics, culture? Prestige is not a leveler such a wasted effort. It is a ruse, a mirage.
Just saying!
To the OP, as Malcolm X famously said: “You’ve been bamboozled, hoodwinked, led astray, sold a bill of goods.”
Berkeley.
Good grief.
These are the schools that I thought would admit students that are least likely to care about prestige.
How do people get this far and get accepted to great schools without even a shred of caring about which one fits them the best or which one offers the stuff they will enjoy the most?
Micmatt, I feel the same as you, but it’s like I said earlier; students and their parents have been bamboozled, hoodwinked, led astray, and sold a bill of goods by USNews et al.
of course i care about fit, but isn’t it slightly naive to say that prestige doesn’t mater at all? especially after years of hard work? i want to give myself a chance to have great options after graduation. prestige certainly isn’t the most important aspect in choosing a college, but it definitely is a factor, at least for me, and i’m finding it difficult to compare these schools in that way.
Apply first, then worry about the decision later, when acceptances are in.
Prestige is always in the eye of the beholder…that said, if you subscribe to such things, CAL was recently ranked 4th in its global rankings (per the ARWU, the other schools were relatively well down on the list). I would counsel you to look at their specific methodology, as it gives a glimpse to what areas they are placing a priority…see: http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2014.html
I don’t know why people are hating on OP. Prestige is important! If 2 applicants for a job had identical resumes, but one went to Harvard, and the other went to Maryland State Institute (Does not exist, just an eg), the one that went to Harvard would get the job. For some reason, the college confidential community hates the concept of prestige. It exists in the real world!
There is a bold distinction between prestige (which has an ohhhh and ahhhh factor), versus that programs/departments that are more robust, better funded and have more recognized scholars. The former can drift into the territory dedicated to number of followers one has on twitter and what might be the newest club/cafe to hangout at–the latter, reflects, quantitatively, whether it produces better scholarly products and outcomes. Now, sometimes they mesh and overlap, and in other instances, this is about self-aggrandizement and institutional ego-stroking.
@jym626 i’ve been accepted to all of these schools, also wait list at dartmouth, nu, uchicago, amherst & barnard
i’m just trying to get a sense of how the lacs and women’s colleges match up in terms of prestige against bigger universities, especially in the eyes of potential employers off the east coast.