<p>Tonight I was chatting with an acquaintance who has a child also entering their senior year. When she asked where D was interested in, I named a few of D's favorite LACs. The woman had a blank look, then said, "They must be small."</p>
<p>Given that many of y'all are looking at LACs (and thank heaven we have this board to discuss these great colleges), are you going through similar discussions? What is your typical response?</p>
<p>The cheesiest and most effective response is to say: OF course you know that: Paul Newman went there (Kenyon); _____________ went there (School B) etc.</p>
<p>I like Dave Barry's response to the same question about his alma mater, Haverford: We've never heard of you either.</p>
<p>If you do come up with a snappy rejoinder, let me know. It doesn't get any easier after they;re accepted. I can't tell you how many times the name of my son's LAC has met with total blankness. The worst are the sympathetic and uncomfortable looks that imply, "Too bad he couldn't get into a good school." </p>
<p>All I can say is those who know, know! :)</p>
<p>"Oh, it's very exclusive."</p>
<p>Don't feel bad, fireflyscout. We had the same conversation with someone who gave us a blank look when he heard the name of the school my daughter hoped to apply to ED - and he was her GUIDANCE COUNSELOR :)</p>
<p>As long as your child is satisfied with his choices, who cares what busybodies think? I just agree with them, "Yes, it is small."</p>
<p>I like to say ( although this isn't as effective in Seattle as it might be in say Oklahoma or Texas)- yep- its so small they don't even have Homecoming!</p>
<p>If the school isn't an Ivy or one of our flagship state schools, most people around here will never have heard of the place. At the end-of-year, city-wide awards banquet, the superintendent of schools, when announcing my D's name and where she would be attending school in the fall, referred to Bryn Mawr College in a hesitant and halting voice. He called it "BBrrr-ine Mar?". I almost fell off my chair, laughing.</p>
<p>When people ask about where my daughter ended up, I usually just say a tiny college in Illinois. They often ask why she's going there and I'll say it's the only one like it and it fits her perfectly.</p>
<p>"If the school isn't an Ivy "</p>
<p>... named Harvard, Yale, Princeton (maybe Brown and/or Columbia)...</p>
<p>I, too, would love a snappy rejoinder for when this comes up. It's surprising how many folks haven't heard of truly outstanding schools, LACs and universities included. (From which I can only deduce that they're spending their time reading something other than CC.)</p>
<p>Not that I've said this out loud (yet), but I usually turn the situation around in my head and think, "Really! You've never head of Emory or Vanderbilt or UVA or W & M or whatever it is? I thought you were more sophisticated than that!" </p>
<p>And a SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS who doesn't know about Bryn Mawr? I mean, ??? Though, to give the guy a break, perhaps he's just really bad with pronouncing unusual names. The most entertaining part of attending high school assemblies is watching our principal struggle with certain last names. The awards night is especially cringe-worthy, since there's a preponderance of Indian, Cambodian, and Russian names for him to deal with, and several kids in the same family usually get awards. The notion of actually LEARNING how to pronounce the name, and then retaining that information for the next year's assembly, has apparently not occurred to him.</p>
<p>"Where will your daughter be attending next year?" Unknown LAC. "Oh........What in God's name is is that?" . LOL. For Heaven's sake, now don't be embarrassed you've never heard of it! It's the kind of school that only appeals to a certain type of student.;) (Leave them thinking.)</p>
<p>My wife had to have D write down the schools on her "list" so she could read them out to people.</p>
<p>Frazzled1 - The exact same thing happens with the the Indian, etc. names at our awards ceremony (mangled by the Assistant Principals). They are not difficult to pronounce if you take the time to read them, and these kids have been highly involved throughout high school so the names should be familiar in the school.
As far as colleges, an Assistant Principals have said a kid going to Middlebury was going to "Middleburg" and someone going to University of Pennsylvania was going to "Penn State" This was done when the names of the colleges were projected on a PowerPoint screen right in front of the Assistant Principal and the audience.
My son's friend's mother didn't understand what I was saying when I said that my son would be very far from our home in Pennsylvania when he was at Stanford. She looked confused and asked me, "Why? It isn't that far away - isn't it in Connecticut?" (She was thinking of Stamford, CT!!!!)</p>
<p>well it doesn't really matter if the school impresses the relatives or not in our family-my inlaws think we are crazy for sending D to college period.h</p>
<p>the only other grandchild- who attended school in a smaller district in a bedroom suburb and whose parents make at least 3 times what we do, attended a tech program at a community college. according to relatives- there isn't any reason for any other course of action beyond pretentiousness</p>
<p>
[quote]
"If the school isn't an Ivy " ... named Harvard, Yale, Princeton
[/quote]
Sad but true. I remember having to explain what a Cornell was time and time again back in my HS days -- I didn't attend, or I would have spent 4 more years explaining it during school breaks -- and explaining why I hadn't gone to LSU instead.</p>
<p>I admit when our neighbor said her grandchild was going to Cornell- I had only heard of their basketball team ( this was when D was one) and I remember a woman I had to train once a long time ago- my boss told me she was from Brown or Smith or one of those names that came out of Hop on Pop like I was supposed to be impressed- I had no idea what he was talking about but I just smiled and nodded ;)</p>
<p>The fact that they are totally unaware of a fine LAC says much more about them and their limited knowledge of the many great colleges we are blessed with.</p>
<p>No need for a put down though. Just a, "Yes it is a small college but she fell in love with it when we visited and it seems to be a perfect college for her."</p>
<p>
[quote]
"If the school isn't an Ivy " ... named Harvard, Yale, Princeton
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'll never forget the young man from Appalachia who was attending Harvard. He told me he and a friend were the first in their community to go away to college. Nobody had heard of Harvard there, so they were totally unimpressed. They knew where his friend was going--Princeton--but they thought he was going to a town nearby that bore that name, and wondered why he wanted to go. It put the "Ivies" in their proper place.</p>
<p>As others have said, it's not just the LACs that bring the blank stares, but you do get used to it and really appreciate it when someone has some familiarity or at least has heard of the place. Besides the famous schools they know the local schools, that's it. One person told my son he thought Carnegie Mellon was a bank. </p>
<p>Another said to me why would you send your son all the way out to Pittsburgh? (meaning are you stupid...don't you know he could have gone to Rutgers/TCNJ/ Rowan/Delaware/St. Joe's/LaSalle/Villanova).</p>
<p>I think Originaloog has the best answer! Thank you.</p>
<p>I suppose I've been spoiled with this board where most people know the various LACs. More of last night's conversation - Woman #2 joins in and tells #1 about a wonderful small college just 3 hours away, which just happens to be my alma mater. #1 had never heard of it. #2 starts talking about how special it is, listing all the typical LAC characteristics, apparently without knowing WHAT an LAC is.</p>
<p>My guess is that most people think prestige is attached to "University". If it's a "College", then it's the same as a community college.</p>