<p>I admit I am provincial in that I am not a big traveler.
I like to go deeper into a place- so deep I am taking a soils class next qtr ;)</p>
<p>But I have spent the last few days listening to parents who are from the east coast- but who themselves attended schools on the west coast- live on the west coast for over 30 years ( even if their jobs entail a bit of traveiing)- but are all hot and bothered about east coast schools- virtually ignoring schools outside of new england.</p>
<p>I don't hear any talk about what school is most advantageous for this or that major, and even when the applicant is applying to good fit or even sure thing schools in the midwest or west coast, those schools are totally dismissed as even worth attending except in worst case scenario by parents.</p>
<p>One student applied ED apparently to a top LAC and already is wearing his sweatshirt. Another student has been attending an IVy so of course he has several sweatshirts-but to the kids credit it is the parents who are going bonkers.</p>
<p>I had to stick in that I had no idea where my D was at on her apps & the sister of the ivy student asked if she was stressed- I said no cause she was taking a year off.:)</p>
<p>The student who has Mini's alma mater as his first choice is also applying to where my older D attended, but apparently that is just a back up as he wasn't interested in asking her any ?s at all- which puzzled me since he is still interested enough to apply.</p>
<p>One student who is a junior at an east coast college majoring in English doesn't even have an interest in a particular area when I asked to make conversation- just lit.
She doesn't even have to study over break and my D didnt get to read for pleasure till she had graduated, but this east coast school is supposed to be superior in academics? ( as noted by the student from the Ivy who does have studying to do)</p>
<p>Oh well- these people don't need aid & while I think their kids could get a comparable education at less expensive schools... It's their money :rolleyes:</p>
<p>EK4: while I went to an east coast school and sent one kid "back east" to MIT nd one to Reed... I'll take a shot at "why the east coast?"</p>
<p>Primarily: the density of well-known colleges is HIGH in New England. One count has 63 colleges in Boston and its suburbs. If you grew up in the east--you think of those colleges first.</p>
<p>My mother was fond of reminding people that Stanford was "a junior college." </p>
<p>Even those people who have moved west... still think of east coast colleges first, because of their reputations. One study shows that applications and desirability are directly related to how long a college has been around. By that standard, even the best west coast colleges can't compete.</p>
<p>My (NY-based) sister (whose son is at Skidmore) asked me today if Whitman is "any good?" There are hundreds of good colleges within a thousand miles of her house in NY--but that's not true in the west. Thus... even adopted westerners look east, often.</p>
<p>I also think those of us who live in the west are much more comfortable with long-distance travel than easterners. My sisters (NJ and NY) complain about 200 mile drives; my husband and I drive that distance regularly and easily, to supervise our business in Portland. (In all fairness, 200 miles on the east coast involves a lot more hassle than Seattle->Portland... but still.)</p>
<p>sometimes I think east coast schools get more attention because it's such a highly dense region... there's less travel between larger cities, as opposed to other parts of the country. So within a relatively small geographical area, there are more options with more diversity. </p>
<p>For example, we are from the Midwest; 90% of the schools both my kids applied to were on the east coast (and they both ended up there). Most of the east coast is easily accessible by plane if you're from another part of the country and you have more travel options. If you're at school on the east coast, even if you're in a rural area, you're probably no more than 2 hours or so to the closest major metropolitan area with lots of culture and entertainment options, as well as outdoor activities. Take any other region within our country and you just won't find the diversity of offerings in such a small area as the east coast. </p>
<p>I had never lived anywhere outside of Texas when I got engaged and moved ot the Midwest; it was a culture shock for me, and it took me years to adapt (now I'd never go back to Texas). My family also never traveled outside the U.S., and I regret it (however, I've made up for lost time as an adult). I really had to push myself to make those first couple of long trips because being so far away from home wasn't something I was comfortable with. So I wanted to instill the passion for new places, new travels and new cultures to my kids early - they both traveled to Europe by middle school, and now as college kids, have not a hesitation in the world to pick up and go somewhere new. I look at some of the people in our town who have never left and experienced the world, and they kind of seem frozen, as if leaving our state would be traumatic. </p>
<p>Yea, sometimes I hate that my kids are so far away, and can't come home on weekends, but I know that by living far away, they are gaining experiences that others who live closer to home, may not. And I think these experiences will be of huge benefit to them later in their lives. </p>
<p>Both my kids picked schools that are highly respected for their majors. When you are talking about as many schools as are condensed on the east coast, you can be sure that there's at least two or three that are nationally respected in almost every possible major. I think it's sometimes more about logistics and opportunities than it is "I want to go to school on the east coast because their schools are better, and non east coast schools are inferior."</p>
<p>"The student who has Mini's alma mater as his first choice is also applying to where my older D attended, but apparently that is just a back up as he wasn't interested in asking her any ?s at all- which puzzled me since he is still interested enough to apply."</p>
<p>Don't worry - he'll graduate, and either no employer - on the east coast, middle of the country, or west coast will ever have heard of the place (as has been the case for me for the past 35 years - not a single one!), or it will take up the first 20 seconds of conversation to ascertain that the employer (even on the east coast) really has no idea where it is, and they'll move on.</p>
<p>dmd77, we vacationed on the west coast last year and the traffic in Portland rivaled anything on the east coast. However the International Rose test Garden was spectacular!</p>
<p>But to the point. A very high percentage of highly regarded and lesser regarded private colleges are located on the east coast so it is not surprising that families wishing to have their children attend a private college end up on the east coast.</p>
<p>On the other hand, east coast student desiring to attend flagship public universities attend out of state colleges, typically in the mid-Atlantic states, in the midwest or on the west coast.</p>
<p>These decisions are based on name recognition as much as anything. Few east coasters have heard of highly regarded colleges like Reed, Harvey Mudd or Grinnell just as west coasters may not have heard of colleges like Williams(nods to a healthier mini) or CMU.</p>
<p>I think there is an element of snob appeal.</p>
<p>There are loads of books, short stories, memoirs, movies, etc. where the protagonist is involved in activities like taking the train to Northampton for school at Smith, joining an eating club at Princeton, renting a cheap apartment in Somerville and hanging out in Harvard Square, having summer love affairs on the New England coast, taking the train into NYC, etc. etc.</p>
<p>In many cases there is also a prep school involved.</p>
<p>Some people want their kids to be part of one of these storylines.</p>
<p>There are loads of books
oh good point -my H read one mystery author for a long time- even though I don't think the books were that well written & a big selling point was they were set locally</p>
<p>&- one young woman( who attends a school in the boston ma Consortium) was given Run by Ann Patchett by her mom & is mentioning how much she likes it because she is familiar with the places mentioned in the book.
Including Harvard & did I say Harvard? ;)</p>
<p>( I felt the 14 yr old come out and it was all I could do not to say that one of my instructors at the community college was the keynote speaker at a recent conference @ Harvard.)</p>
<p>Its supposed to be a good book & I really liked Bel Canto</p>
<p>EK4 -- The most provincial people I have known have been some of my fellow NYers. You don't have to live west of the Hudson River to be provincial.</p>
<p>"Few east coasters have heard of highly regarded colleges like Reed, Harvey Mudd or Grinnell just as west coasters may not have heard of colleges like Williams(nods to a healthier mini) or CMU."</p>
<p>Few EAST Coasters have heard of my alma mater, or such is my direct experience (and of those who have, the most usual response is, "oh, isn't that in Virginia?")</p>
<p>(The real reason they are on the east coast is the same reason folks want to attend them - re: Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class - "old money".)</p>
<p>I'm an east coaster who spent three very happy years on the west coast when my dh to be was a grad student at Caltech. I encouraged my rather provincial son to apply to schools in CA. Unfortunately he didn't get in to any of them. So that was that. Personally, I think college is a good time for kids to get to know another part of the country from where they have grown up. That said, there are an awful lot of name recognition type schools on the east coast. :)</p>
<p>And at Thanksgiving, I had to educate relatives who thought WPI, RPI, RIT, and Rose Hulman IT were places that advertise on late night television.</p>
<p>Let's face it, if the college doesn't play DI football (on a big scale), then it's probably not well-known.</p>
<p>I have two Ss who did not consider West Coast schools seriously. One applied to Stanford under maternal pressure (because the application deadline was the same as the notification deadline for his SCEA school) got admitted but decided against it on the grounds of "no snow." The other vaguely considered going "far away" but when push came to shove, decided to attend schools within a 2 hours driving distance. That seemed far enough from home. And there were tons of schools that fit that description.<br>
As well, for East Coasters, going to the West Coast or the Midwest is not a bargain. It would have cost nearly as much for Ss to attend Berkeley or UCLA, or Reed or Chicago as to attend a private school on the East Coast.</p>
<p>While I think the obsession with "rankings" plays into the tilt towards the east, at least among affluent/ambitious west coasters (and internationals), there is also just the basic historical fact that for decades in the East and even Midwest, post-high school education was only private and thus there were many small private schools established, often because teachers and clergy were needed and valued. By the time the western frontier was "settling" (being colonized...) and developing, public education was coming into play and so, at least in California, local educational resources got directed into the UC and junior college system almost as soon or before a network of smaller liberal arts colleges could develop. I wish we had the wealth of LAC choices here, given my kids are not looking for cold weather and I'm for shorter distance travel if possible. That said, I grew up in California and went to undergrad here, then spent 4 years in upstate NY and 10 years in Chicago and value everything I learned about living in different climates and regions.</p>
<p>My younger D is interested in florida schools actually- even with recently visiting with a couple who spent an extended trip in Florida ( they were orignally from NYC)
It sounded like they were quite disappointed in the attitude of their Florida relatives.</p>
<p>So- the womans elderly mother had her not so elderly sister living with her in Florida her.
When my friend came down, after mom had a stroke, she asked what the housekeeper ( who came a few times a week) name was ( of her aunt).
Her aunt didn't * know*, she said " I think it is a different woman each time". So when the housekeeper returned- my friend asked her name. She said she had been the housekeeper for several years!
As far as the aunt was concerned she was interchangable with anyone in that position. :rolleyes:. Im not saying that is associated with Florida- but I don't know many people quite that obtuse, thankgoodness.</p>
<p>( I also have several friends from NYC and they are very friendly- but they do also admit that the more established nature of the east coast makes " who are your people?" much more prevalent)</p>
<p>Be it east or west coast, I do hope me two kids will chose out of state colleges when the time comes. I personally would see them somewhere east of Utah (and it includes midwest, believe it or not:-), for the simple reason - I want to visit them in the places I do not know. For that plain reason California is not as attractive to me, as I have grown to know it quite well.</p>
<p>Also, being from Europe, east coast seems more magical for the sheer reason of having more history behind. Big names of people and places, history speaking to you from the streets. For the same reason I will be persuading my kids to spend a semester in Florence when they are old enough.</p>
<p>Depending on which circles you travel in, Emerald, the whole branding thing of an East Coast college is the most important thing. It says that you may have the $$ to pay full freight, that you're sophisticated enough to know to go there, that your parents (and grandparents) may have gone there, and that you want to be part of the lifestyle (mentality, really) that the East Coast can provide. If you say, "I'm at Yale" (Bowdoin, Williams, whatever) it says ALOT to certain people. It also says to them that you're intelligent which, there, is worth its weight in gold. I'm not saying its all true, it just "is what it is" as H would say. If you want to stay in the East and go to one of those places, many think you'll have a leg up when the job hunt starts because of instant name recognition, plus you'll know Suzie Q. or whoever's brother who's already there and can put in a good word for you before your interview. I live in the Southeast now, and that whole East coast thing means nothing down HERE, but there it means alot. Its regional. Having said that, do I want my kids up there for college? I'd love it for them because H and I loved it. Its up to them but its so different from where we are that I'd like them to try it.</p>
<p>I have friends who can't seem to alter their belief that NE (northeast and/or New England) schools are better than those in other places. So much the worse for their kids. There are great schools all over the country and my son responded most positively to the friendliness and unpretentiousness (as well as the academic rigor) of the midwest schools he visited. I will say that travelling in the winter between the NE and the MW has been a royal pain so far, but our son's college experience in the MW has otherwise been a pure joy. I'm not at all disparaging any NE schools here--just saying they are not inherently superior to those in other parts of the country.</p>
<p>I"m with you, Bethievt, that there's a good education to be had in many different places. We have a bias because we're from there and most of our friends are still there, but if my kids wanted to go to Kenyon, Stanford, U. Chicago, Northwestern, etc. I'd be thrilled. Its their call.</p>