Sick of the words Prestigious and Top

<p>Whenever I hear someone use snowflake, all I can think of is that line from Fight Club. Makes those posts a lot more amusing for me.</p>

<p>“hook” and “unhooked candidate”</p>

<p>weird imagery</p>

<p>I’ve always wondered what BUMP means?</p>

<p>It’s what you say when you don’t have a comment to make but you want the thread to go back to the top of the page so more people will respond.</p>

<p>Osserpusser,
“BUMP” = “Bring Up My Post”
Your post brings it to the top of the page</p>

<p>“My parents were going through a divorce.”</p>

<p>“IBanking”, or “Investment banking”
Why does it seem so many students on this site want to go into this field? Money?</p>

<p>“I hope to join you at this school in the fall.”“I hope to join you at this school in the fall.”“I hope to join you at this school in the fall.”“I hope to join you at this school in the fall.”“I hope to join you at this school in the fall.”“I hope to join you at this school in the fall.”“I hope to join you at this school in the fall.”“I hope to join you at this school in the fall.”“I hope to join you at this school in the fall.”</p>

<p>Obviously you hope to attend the school if you’re applying to it and you’re on its forum. And I guess it’s fine if someone says it once, but when they repeat it in. every. single. post. they make, I can’t stand it.</p>

<p>Ivy’s instead of Ivies.</p>

<p>^^^Yes, I’ve used the plural form Ivies for ages and just started doubting it, due to it’s lack of usage on this board. Any grammarians out there to verify or correct?</p>

<p>As for the original complaint–is the complaint about the accuracy or over-usage of the terms top and prestigious, or is the complaint simply sour grapes towards the bonafide members/acceptees of those college groups?</p>

<p>I don’t complain about the terms “onyx counters” or “Ferrarris”, but I sure will admit to envying those who can self-identify with them. ; )</p>

<p>I don’t buy that hiring managers and grad schools care very much which school you graduated from, beyong the momentary “oh, x college.” Whether you get to the interview stage depends more on your degree and experience. Once you make it to the interview they are going to go on how well you present yourself at the interview. And as for grad school, they care about what you’ve accomplished, not what undergrad school you graduated from. I know plenty of people from average undergrad colleges who went on to ivy graduate schools on full scholarship because they had accomplished interesting research/ projects in their field. Just having a degree from a certain undergrad college doesn’t impress ivy grad schools at all - they gets tons of applicants and that is par for the course. They want to know what you DID. I graduated from the #1 college in my field but my friend who couldn’t afford that school and went to an average college on full scholarship is much more successful than I am because she was more driven and ambitious and she worked her tail off.</p>

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<p>No. Top 20 according to whom? USNWR? What about when the rankings change? Then is a school no longer an Ivy? Of course the classification comes from the athletic league, just as the SEC or Big 10 are athletic leagues with certain schools in them.</p>

<p>Fauve: “As for the original complaint–is the complaint about the accuracy or over-usage of the terms top and prestigious, or is the complaint simply sour grapes towards the bonafide members/acceptees of those college groups?”</p>

<p>I’m sure there are probably some who think it’s sour grapes, but I absolutely am not interested in prestigious schools for prestige’s sake. They are not necessarily impressive to me. Some kids from there are probably great, but no better than anywhere else. When I hear people making lists of colleges to go to that include the top 20s, my first thought is the kids aren’t being very creative or thinking very hard about where they really should be going or what they should be doing. They are just doing what is expected of them. I’m NOT saying everyone, but the thought always passes my mind.</p>

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<p>Yes, that was a poor example. But, the point still stands, and I think UChicago is a great example of this whole mindset. Some people feel somehow lesser of themselves because they’re going to UChicago, which isn’t in the Ivy League. Despite the fact that UChicago truly is one of the finest universities in the world. I’ve heard people ask “when is UChicago going to join the Ivy League, and become TRULY prestigious?” This is a ridiculous question. The Ivy League is a sports league…UChicago will never, and does not need to “join” the Ive League. UChicago has nothing to be ashamed of in comparison to HYPSM. Personally, I would much rather go to UChicago than HYPSM.</p>

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<p>I think “Ivy’s” would actually be correct here. If one was referring to the variety of “ivies” in their yard, that would be correct. But given that the “Ivy League” is a formal name, I don’t think we would alter the spelling, but just pluralize the given spelling of the word.</p>

<p>I’m not positive of that though. I find myself actually spelling it both ways at times.</p>

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<p>I agree completely with this. It can come across sometimes that people really refer to the Ivy League as being an academic institution, rather than a sports league. But that’s what it is. A sports league. There are only 8 schools in the Ivy League…which means that the majority of the so-called “top” schools are in fact, not Ivy League schools. The name Ivy League does get used out of context frequently…but that doesn’t change what it actually is. MIT, Stanford, Caltech, UChicago, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins…none of them are Ivy Leagues. Are they lesser schools? Hell no. I would argue that most of them are “better” schools than most of the Ivy League schools. </p>

<p>But, the ranking of good, better, best is really biased, and completely pointless. There is some merit to prestige, and the connections that can come with the so-called “top” schools, but in most fields, it’s irrelevant. If you’re not going into politics or law…the connections aren’t going to make a whole lot of difference. One can make solid connections in virtually any field at virtually any college.</p>

<p>And not even important for politics. Look at Sarah Palin :)</p>

<p>I think you missed my point. Snobs like to remind us all it’s an athletic conference, but they all happen to be academically elite on the side, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people referring to the schools by the name Ivy League.</p>

<p>No, I got your point, and I disagree. The Ivy League is eight schools in an athletic conference (and which happen to have other similarities, as you point out). Other schools may be “academically elite” (and arguably better, in some cases), but they are not Ivies. Why have a category name for anything if it isn’t factually accurate? I guarantee you no one from Stanford, Duke, MIT, etc. refers to their institutions as members of the Ivy League.</p>

<p>However, there are many people out there that are under the impression that schools like Stanford, Duke, and MIT are in fact Ivy Leagues…when clearly they aren’t. They’re no better or worse because of that fact…they just are not part of the same sports conference. </p>

<p>A while back, I actually got into a discussion with someone who kept insisting to me that UChicago was an Ivy League school. When I kept telling him that it wasn’t…he almost got mad about it. He thought that I was trying to tell him that UChicago was somehow a terrible school because I was insisting that it wasn’t in the Ivy League. That’s the impression many people have of the Ivy Leagues. Personally, I’d rather go to UChicago than ANY of the Ivy League schools…and it is actually one of the schools I’ll be applying to when I’m ready to transfer from my CC. My desire to go there has nothing to do with the schools overall prestige though…it has to do with the how rigorous their physics and math departments are…and also a lot to do with the fact that I love the city of Chicago.</p>

<p>@fauve No sour grapes here. Intact, my son was accepted to what some people would call “highly prestigious” schools. I am an alum of one myself. But I would never ever use that term because I truly don’t care. If my son chooses a less “prestigious” school that’s a better fit, I’ll jump for joy for him. I think it’s obnoxious to use the p word when referring to college aspirations because like some said here, that means you only care what others think. It kills me to see kids strive for schools due to the name, especially when they know nothing about it and have never visited. As for top, top of what? Top of your class is a fact, so I can deal with that. But top tier, top ranked, top etc is all subjective. My kids’ top may be perfect for him, and it’s certainly different than your kid’s top. Why everything here has to be so about name dropping I’d beyond me.</p>