<p>To me, this is by far the biggest downside of Grinnell. The first person outside my family I told about my acceptance to Grinnell gave me the "Oh, Cornell?" response. Another asked if the college was accredited and asked me to make sure the credits would transfer when I moved to a "real" university. These were both teachers at my high school, for the record. Everyone else gave me a blank stare or just asked "Oh? Where's that?" I have literally not talked to a single person that has heard of the college. I know the college is great and certainly well known by the right people, but honestly, how much would this hurt my job prospects if I tried to get a job with just a bachelor's degree from Grinnell? Grinnell gave me an amazing financial aid package, but now I have another similarly jaw-dropping financial aid package from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a much, much larger college with enormous name recognition.</p>
<p>So, just give me your input. What's your opinion? Am I blowing this out of proportion?</p>
<p>you can always put on your resume where Grinnell is ranked in USNWR I suppose… this might help the unitiated, or don’t you think people can google the college if they’re thinking about hiring you? </p>
<p>Look, I’ll be honest, my kids picked their schools for where they felt they wanted to get their education and spend these four unique years of their life.</p>
<p>Who knows what the heck you’ll want to do when you get out of school? And even if you think that you know with certainty now, don’t be surprised if your mind changes while you’re in college.</p>
<p>We always preface the name by saying, “he goes to school in Iowa at Grinnell College” to forestall the inevitable, “Oh Cornell, what a great school.” When people have already heard of Grinnell, their faces light up, and they say, “Oh that’s a fabulous place!”</p>
<p>just be like, “I go to a prestigious liberal arts college in Iowa.” When I was considering Grinnell for college, people were like that to me, too. Yeah, I second SDonCC - I think people will google the college if they haven’t heard of it before.</p>
<p>Do yourself a favor. Are you near a university? Go to pretty much any professor in any department. Say, hey, have you heard of Grinnell? Most probable response.</p>
<p>Wow, do you know somebody from Grinnell who wants to come do graduate work here? We don’t usually get students like that here. Do me a favor, give me his or her number, I’d like to give them a call. Is there anything you can tell me about them? I’m pretty sure we can get them a full fellowship. Are you sure you don’t have their phone number. You know we have a really strong program here. Did I mention I can get them money?</p>
<p>Then watch their face fall with that “I knew it was too good to be true” look when you tell them you were just asking about the school.</p>
<p>Who really cares if your friends know Grinnell. People usually know schools based on televised sports - other than the Ivy League, and that’s mostly from novels and movies.</p>
<p>One last great story. Years ago I was having dinner with a family in Iowa. I said a friend of mine had gone to Cornell for some reason.</p>
<p>The woman said, “Oh Cornell, that just a litte ways from here, good little school.”</p>
<p>“No,” I said, “the one in New York.”</p>
<p>They looked at me quizzically. “You mean there’s also a Cornell in New York?”</p>
<p>Sounds to me like name recognition ‘on the street’ is very important to you, Kudryavka. Nothing wrong with that, but if it’s true, then maybe Grinnell isn’t the right place for you. You are correct that a lot of employers outside the midwest are probably not familiar with Grinnell (most people aren’t familiar with LACs unless they know someone who attended one, live near one or go to a private school that targets them). I grew up on the west coast and had never heard of most of them until my kid started looking - and I have 20+ mispent years in the corporate world to my credit. Maybe I was just more poorly informed than most, but I suspect I’m typical. That said, part of the reason I was ignorant was because neither I nor most employers care where you went as an undergrad after your first job and especially if you go to grad school. I notice only when it’s an alum because I’m paying forward all the alums who helped me get my start. And in that respect, I think you’ll find that the alums at many LACs go out of their way to help.</p>