<p>A search of College Confidential on the term ['prestige'[/url</a>] will return hundreds of posts.</p>
<p>Many undergrad college applicants would be hard pressed to concretely define 'prestige' and explain its role in selecting a college to attend. </p>
<p>It should be illuminating that what might appear on the surface as an enigmatic concept reveals a lot about the human condition when viewed through the lens of science:</p>
<p>New research shows for the first time that we process cash and social values in the same part of our brain (the striatum)—and likely weigh them against one another when making decisions. So what's more important—money or social standing? It might be the latter, according to two new studies published in the journal Neuron...
<p>Developing the skills to use the multiple lenses offered by the sciences, arts and humanities (ala a compound microscope/telescope) to look upon and improve the human experience should be the primary goal when continuing one's education.</p>
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...What you really want is not the "best" college but the college that fits you best. For that, you need in-depth information, not statistical rankings...
<p>Prestige is important to a lot of people (especially those on CC, and more localized, on CS&S) some people care a lot about it, other don’t.</p>
<p>Prestige isn’t concretely definable because it’s a vague predicate. Something is a vague predicate, in part, when it allows borderline cases (e.g. lack of consensus on whether, in this case, a university is prestigious/unprestigious.)</p>
<p>Also, the ‘definition’ argument proves to accomplish little on reflection. What illumination does providing a definition really provide? people can know that something important to them without knowing exactly what it’s definition is. And many people, when trying to give the definition of a word that they believe they know, give a drastically different definition than the one in the dictionary.</p>
<p>Back to the point though, prestige isn’t everything, and neither are good looks, or financial resources. But they certainly seem to be factors that, at least, a majority of people take into account. I don’t think that’s very surprising.</p>
<p>Is it stupid to base a college decision solely on prestige? yes; is it stupid to base a college decision somewhat on prestige? no.</p>
<p>Prestige alone isnt bad. Its when people become confused and take on too much debt solely for prestige. That is when its problematic. </p>
<p>In all things, moderation. Balance debt with prestige. Many excellent colleges exist in lower rankings or tiers that one can attend while taking on a lot less or minimal debt. That is the preferred path for the rationalists.</p>
<p>I agree with beyphy that prestige as a college selection criterion is not inherently bad - as PizzaGirl said on another recent thread (I’m paraphrasing), a prestigious college is a luxury item, and if someone wants to spend their disposable income on that particular luxury good, who should criticize them?</p>
<p>But I’m going to qualify it somewhat - I don’t think that prestige as a selection criterion is bad if there’s an acknowledgement that the decision is being made on the basis of prestige, and if there is not an attempt to equate prestige with educational quality - there is in fact no such correlation.</p>
<p>And also, I have little respect for parents who insist their kids go to a prestigious school that they really cannot afford - and expect the kid to take on debt to do it. If the parent can foot the bill, fine; but otherwise, they’re doing the kid a major disservice, especially if the kid has other lower-cost alternatives.</p>
<p>A friend of my D just went through this. She was offered nearly a full ride to a well-respected but non-flagship OOS public. She was also admitted to a prestigious private university with a big net cost. She had a huge battle with her parents, who don’t have the money for the private and expected her to borrow money to help fund it. (In fairness, the parents were also willing to borrow to pay for it.) It went right down to the wire on April 30, with tears and recriminations, and finally the kid had to give in.</p>
<p>In most cases, prestige also equals a free ride for low/moderate income students. The high prestige schools have the biggest endowments and keep attracting more large donations. Getting into one on the other hand…</p>
<p>Your second sentence is correct. Your first sentence is not.</p>
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<p>Simply not true. There are a very few (four? six?) schools that give free rides to low-income students. There are a fair number that “meet need,” but need <> free ride.</p>
<p>If she wanted to go to the full ride, what would stop her, since her parents would lose the leverage of refusing to help pay for a college that was “below their standards”?</p>