<p>yea this is a big prob in my school, i decided not to tell ANYONE my sat scores, gpa, etc and i only tell few ppl where im applying.</p>
<p>i did tell this one lady where i was apply bc she kept grilling me. she told me it was a dumb idea to apply to private schools and out of state schools, she knew nothing abt my academic background and my chaces of getting money at even oos/private school, how rude</p>
<p>Don't even get me started, I go to an okay public school in the middle of illinois, where it is UIUC for the top 25-5% of the students (Not grades, just overall good students) and the other top 5% apply to Northwestern, WashU and a few UChicago. Nobody knows what a LAC is beyond a school for "people who can't get into the above named schools". My counselor gave me a blank stare when I told her I wanted to go to Grinnell or Bowdoin.... She had never heard of Bowdoin and thought Grinnell was a community college.</p>
<p>If its not big ten then its crap is basically the mentality....</p>
<p>It helps to take a page from politicians. If they don't like the question/topic that is broached, they say "Interesting question, but I'd really like to tell you about . . . " -- and off they go on their favorite cause/opinion/platform. </p>
<p>A lot of times, the questioner really only wants to be in touch with you -- and they will go another direction if you lead/kick/drag them to another topic. </p>
<p>I feel for first generation American college applicants -- there is so much to learn and parents aren't a resource for sorting out details. I heard one kid snap something like "Mom! The only cities in China that Americans know are Beijing and Shanghi. You only know Harvard and Yale. Think there could be more? Maybe?" Kinda shocked me because Asian kids (that I know) usually don't talk back that sarcastically, but the kid made her point.</p>
<p>^^^first gen applicant right here. My parents hate filling out forms and are annoyed just by doing fin aid. I keep telling them to imagine what it's like for me... They basically let me choose wherever I wanted as long as I briefed them first though. I hope that doesn't somehow end up being my downfall...</p>
<p>I actually do have a friend who considered Northwestern (and yes, I'm positive he means THE Northwestern University) to be his safety school. My friends and I yelled at him because of how ridiculous that is (he's smart enough to get in, but he's not a terribly interesting applicant otherwise), but he probably still thinks of it as a safety nonetheless. I still don't understand why.</p>
<p>This 'obscure colleges' thing extends way farther out than one would think, so it's nothing to be depressed about when Uncle Jim or Neighbor Tom doesn't know about LAC School X. I'm going to University of Pennsylvania next year. Ivy League right? Sure. But apparently nobody knows that. I honestly don't mind the "lack of prestige/name recognition" that comes along with going there, but I don't think it's so much the lack of prestige as it is the lack of intelligence of the person asking me about where I'm going. As someone in the Penn forum said earlier regarding a similar subject:</p>
<p>"The name matters with people who matter, and that's all that matters"</p>
<p>So the next time someone gives you a strange look for going to what they perceive as "Swarthmore Community College" or "some dumpy school called Amherst," take a minute to think if they even have a sufficient background to have heard of those schools. Businessman nationwide know about Penn, most successful scholars will have heard of Swarthmore, Amherst, etc. and most other important people who you will care a lick about will know about the school you're going to.</p>
<p>You shouldn't get violent, it might ruin your chances</p>
<p>biggest mistake i get when i tell people where I'm applying is them mistaking Penn for Penn State</p>
<p>My sister went to Oklahoma City University, and people would ask her if that is a community college. Which in itself wouldn't be the dumbest question ever, but we live in Tennessee. Why would my sister drive 16 hours to go a community college?</p>
<p>I made the awful mistake of telling my scores to my best friend when they came out. I was super excited and so was she. We're not on the same academic level (not to say that she's dumb or anything at all. she's definetly not :D) and we both had a little scream fest of happiness. But I didn't calculate that she would tell EVERYONE my PSAT/SAT/ACT scores. So now everyone knows and I kinda wish I had kept my mouth shut because while everyone kows mine, a bunch of people didn't tell their scores (or just told them to their quiet friends lol). So it's a bit awkward because at such a small school as mine it's very unusual for so many people to be applying to the same colleges but it actually happened this year.</p>
<p>I didn't actually use to mind when people asked where I applied. But now it seems no one I know goes by the philosophy of not asking about colleges. Everyone from family friends, to other parents, to my 6th grade teacher has asked me and frankly I am SICK of rattling off the 13 schools I applied to. And most people don't seem to understand that I won't hear back until April! It seems that that is what most of my conversations are about these days!</p>
<p>All I say is university of Chicago and some people know it and others don't but idc all of I have to say is that it's a topten school and they shut up</p>
<p>I said "yeah, NYU or Wash U, totally my dream schools" to one of my mom's friends.</p>
<p>She was like "yeah, NYU is a target for my daughter, all she has to do is apply and she'll get in."</p>
<p><em>silence</em></p>
<p>"I'm sure you will too."</p>
<p>Hate those people.</p>
<p>I say:</p>
<p>"[local college], [state flagship], Duke, University of Chicago, and MIT/Ivy league or whatever... but I'll be happy wherever I get in."</p>
<p>My favorite thing is when people argue to you that you will get into x college.</p>
<p>^lioness: That is <em>exactly</em> my situation... I told a close friend my ACT score (because I was excited and had to tell someone, and because I knew my friend would do well, too), she she told some other people... who told more people... who told the entire school. Now <em>everyone</em> knows, and it's awful. I mean, sure, I feel good to a certain point... but eventually it just gets awkward.</p>
<p>And with schools... I applied to 12, including HPY. Whenever I am asked where I applied, though, I generally only name 6 or so, and none of the Ivies. I just don't want to deal with it. I do have one friend (who applied to 3 schools and got in everywhere) who seems to enjoy rattling off my list of schools to anyone who asks... she knows the names better than I do!</p>
<p>My only college-confusion situation was when I told a friend's parent that I got into Boston College and she asked if it was a community college or what? I quickly explained that, no, in fact it is a very good school just outside Boston. But I found this situation more funny than anything else. And besides, I don't expect everyone- especially those who haven't applied to colleges in years- to know all the names and rankings... I'm sure I won't in 30 years!</p>
<p>Let's face it, most people you meet on the street or at the mall can't even list the Ivies, let alone the other amazing schools that exist. I'm sure parents have a pressure to boast about their child, but, when you receive your acceptance letter, you'll be the one snickering. A Brown friend of mine worked at a certain fast food restaraunt for years, while most of the customers treated him as if he were well..... stupid. I'm sure he had the last laugh when he got his acceptance letter to an Ivy League school.</p>
<p>Well geek_mom, you may be amused to know that parents had advised my mom, when I was myself considering Harvey Mudd, to go there because it'll be easier than Berkeley. =] I was incredibly amused, yet pity them.</p>
<p>The point at which it gets annoying though is when you try to explain and they repeatedly assert they're right without having a clue!</p>
<p>I live in a town where a lot of the "successful" members of my parents' generation attended UMich. I applied to (and got in, and will most likely be attending, but that's besides the point) UMich, in addition to Michigan State, two of the LACs in Michigan, and a few schools out of state.</p>
<p>So I'm at a Rotary meeting this fall, as I'm secretary of my school's Interact Club (which is sponsered by Rotary International). I'm talking to the men sitting at my table (I always get stuck sitting at a table with 40-70 year old men at those things), and they, upon discovering I'm a senior, ask where I'm applying. I tell them, burying UMich in the middle somewhere. When I'm done, they were all like "Oh, you'll get into Michigan for sure!"</p>
<p>Turns out they were all Michigan alumni. Figures.</p>
<p>Like I said, I'm most likely attending UMich this fall, because I love the school and I feel it's the best place for me. But the thing is, I really did like the other six schools I applied to and would have been happy at any of them, and I still might end up at MSU because of possible scholarship money.</p>
<p>Also, if I could go back, I would not have told any of my classmates where I was applying or my GPA or my test scores. From late October to when I was accepted at UMich in mid-December, I was asked nearly every week by one of my classmates if I had gotten into UMich yet. They weren't trying to be mean, either. And I got really sick of people telling me I was "definitely going to get in."</p>
<p>Oh, and by the way, I accidentally spilled water on one of them later in the lunch.</p>
<p>I say I am going to Bowdoin College and people are just like...."ooooh wow congratulations!" with these kinda puzzled looks on their faces. haha. Most people haven't even heard none the less know that it is one of the top ten LACs in the country.
A lot of people on here don't even know about Bowdoin despite the fact that it is an AMAZING school. haha</p>
<p>ya i'm biased. who isnt though?</p>
<p>i already answered this, but, I have something new...</p>
<p>so I usually just say "Oh I'm applying to [merit match/reach x3] + local state school" ...but one day, my work coordinator was GRILLING me about what college I wanted to go to "Four colleges, really? How many did you really apply to?" etc, so I told her the other 3 really hard (for anyone) schools. She immediately says, "well those other schools are on a whole different level, i mean, really really below." Uh thanks?? Especially considering a) I like all my schools, or uh, I wouldn't have applied to them and b) they're tier 1 schools. Luckily, another person said to me that same day, "Wow [school I already got merit money from] is an excellent school! My neighbor's son is so smart, and he just went there because of its great honors college!" :)</p>