<p>
</p>
<p>yep.
10char</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I take issue with those kinds of direct comparisons. Caltech is the MIT of the west coast? So there’s no reason I should go to Caltech if I could go to MIT, that’s the message I get. </p>
<p>It’s not good advertising. It’s like, if there’s a commercial for a Ford and a Chevy, and the Chevy commercial says it’s as good as the Ford, I’m more inclined to go for the Ford and not the self-proclaimed imitation.</p>
<p>Maybe we should say MIT’s the Caltech of the East coast. 
Caltech’s academics are arguably stronger than MIT’s.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Meh y’all know what I meant. They’re both excellent schools, particularly in science and engineering. One would be lucky to attend either one.</p>
<p>
Honestly, I’m telling you from my experience of growing up in South Carolina.</p>
<p>I didn’t know what MIT was until a few years ago. My dad (a lawyer, not at all uneducated) didn’t even know that Columbia was an Ivy-league until I visited the campus my sophomore year of high school.</p>
<p>People in this area of the country could care less if you went to MIT or wherever. They’re way more impressed if you go to a good school here in the area. The exception to that rule would probably be Harvard because everyone and their mother knows what Harvard is. Where did Elle Woods go? Harvard Law. Even though that’s now the third-ranked law school in the country. It’s just universally recognizable. The same just can’t be said for most other schools in the Northeast.</p>
<p>CRINGE!</p>
<p>“could care less” implies there is still room to care</p>
<p>the proper phrase is" could not care less</p>
<p>I am just being an annoying grammar Nazi</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s accurate. If a school is “Ivy League”, I wouldn’t think of it as being a public school. I’m not sure whether an “Ivy League” could also be a public school at the same time.</p>
<p>Well the Ivy League is an actual sports conference composed entirely of northeastern/mid-atlantic (Princeton and UPenn) private schools.</p>
<p>That said, there are plenty of public universities that are just as good or even better than Ivies in certain fields.</p>
<p>PRE-RANT:
In my opinion kids who are caught up about rankings / prestige of their schools are usually pretentious pricks. They’re all over the place on this forum. There are some schools that aren’t in the Ivy League that can provide better educations than non Ivies for some kids and for some varieties of studies. I picked my school over several Ivy League schools because I liked it better and it was more affordable for me.</p>
<p>I go to the Schreyer Honors College at Pennsylvania State University (University Park). It’s called that term sometimes. The term meaningless to me. Why not just say it’s a respectable public university? One capable of preparing you for any field you want? Sure, having some fancy name on your diploma can help, but if I were an employer, I’d take a community college grad over a Harvard student if he’d make a better employee. Sure, the Ivy League schools are great, but there are so many other great schools. I’m not trying to diss these schools, but when somebody says he went to an Ivy League school, that alone means nothing to me.</p>
<p>That doesn’t matter. It still means something to a good portion of employers. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I’m saying that idea is too foolishly idealistic.</p>
<p>And ideally a good candidate from any school could get the right job; but that’s ideal.</p>
<p>@Sparkles21:
Hahahah, your description fits perfectly with UNC and my high school, even though I know you’re not talking about it.</p>
<p>It’s just that the phrase gets thrown around way too much and somehow every state school finds a way to call itself a public ivy. Ridiculous. If we’re actually talking about the top tier of public schools in the country that are clearly a cut above the rest, that makes the public ivy’s:</p>
<p>UCB
Michigan
UVA
UCLA
UNC</p>
<p>That’s all folks. The next three are probably UT Austin, William and Mary, and Wisconsin if you want to get to eight to make it like the actual Ivy League, but I think those five pretty much distinguish themselves. Of course, just as with private schools, there are plenty of good public schools that aren’t a part of the “Ivy’s.” It’s just a bit of a stretch when you start having places like Maryland or Washington calling themselves “Public Ivy’s” which I’m sure happens all the time. Good schools but if we have to distinguish the top tier, this is it.</p>