<p>@ zfox001</p>
<p>Bowdoin is pretty awesome. Congrats! I did an overnight back in September and when I returned, everyone at my school was like, "What? Huh? I have never heard of Bowdoin" (horribly mispronouncing it from the sweatshirt I bought at the bookstore at Bowdoin).</p>
<p>I don't usually ask where kids have applied, but I do ask what supplement was the hardest, weirdest, off beat, etc they ecountered. If they mention a school -- although I am familiar with a lot of names -- I ask what about the school stands out? I think if you ask thoughtful questions, you get thoughtful answers. Usually kids won't give out their number one dream school for fear of having to admit rejection. And our counselor told us to not have our child rank his schools cause it can be a very fluid process right up until May.</p>
<p>Me: I applied to Caltech.
Friend: Aw man, you're too good for a Cal State.</p>
<p>I got the same response from my dad! "Brandeis? What the heck is that? No one's ever heard of it! I'd rather you go to community college."</p>
<p>Each college is what you make of it! I hate that parents totally disregard perfectly good colleges bcuz they've never heard of them or bcuz in their mind, somehow the older the name the better.</p>
<p>My favorite personal moment ever,
Me:"Oh yeah... I got into Stanford."
Mom's co-worker: "Oh, that's lucky."
Me: "Haha, I guess."
Mom's co-worker: "Not Harvard though, huh?"</p>
<p>It's like -- WAIT, ARE YOU SERIOUS?! REALLY?!</p>
<p>So I was having a discussion with my friend about what colleges I might apply to in the next few years and...</p>
<p>Me: So what colleges are you looking into?
Friend: mm...Berkeley or UCLA I guess.
Me: Oh. Yea Berkeley's pretty competitive haha.
Friend: Really? Where do you want to go?
Me: Oh probably USC.
Friend: Oh..where's that?
Me: It's in LA.
Friend: Why do you want to go there?
Me: Well it's a good school and its business school is really good.
Friend: Really? Is it a state school?
Me: Its a private school...
Friend: Oh LOL. That changes my perspective.</p>
<p>I was kind of surprised that he didn't really know what USC was. Even my other classmates don't really regard it, but the only schools they acknowledge are UCLA, Berkeley, and Stanford. I doubt many of my friends will apply to Caltech or any other place since a lot of Asians in California put those 3 schools at the top of their list. I guess some people genuinely aren't aware of certain things but it's kind of a breath of fresh air to know that some people do know there are other universities in California.</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. =]
Mmmmmm... yeah... that Berkeley core is a pretty legendary killer. :rolleyes: Or, wait, were they confusing Berkeley with Caltech? :o
[quote]
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!
[/quote]
Never understood why people do this! If you go into computers, though... get used to it!</p>
<p>When I told my mom that I wanted to apply to Dartmouth, she just looked at me like I was applying to a community college or something. Then I told her that it was an AMAZING school, not to mention an Ivy League. Then she was ok with it. And my dad didn't let me apply to Northwestern cuz "he never heard of it" so I guess this kind of a thing does happen a lot. </p>
<p>btw, we're asian indian and immigrants!!</p>
<p>My parents can't pronounce "Yale" despite my best efforts to teach them, and neither can anyone that they know. So my conversations always go like this:</p>
<p>Random Acquaintance of Parent: So where are you headed next year?
Me: Oh, idk yet. But i got an offer from Yale.
RAP: <em>stares + awkward silence</em> Oh?
Me: it's in the US. They're giving me a full ride.
RAP: <em>lights up at the "US" and "full ride" parts</em> Wow! Good for you!
Me: <em>forced smiles</em></p>
<p>My parents sometimes will say "It's right after harvard in the ranking", or "President Clinton went there". Now i just say i'm going to the States for college and that's that. End of convo :D
Harvard seems to be the only name everyone recognizes here. It's kinda annoying sometimes but then you realize that what these people think of your college don't matter at all.</p>
<p>^ Damn Congrats!! I would go crazy if I got a full-ride to Yale!!</p>
<p>"Mmmmmm... yeah... that Berkeley core is a pretty legendary killer. Or, wait, were they confusing Berkeley with Caltech?"</p>
<p>OK this would have been a SEMI intelligent (albeit silly) mistake! It was again that they didn't know anything whatsoever about Harvey Mudd except that it's a small school that emphasizes math, science and engineering. They likely know little about Caltech too. They know Berkeley because practically everyone in India does. </p>
<p>Now not to get things wrong - I go to Berkeley, and know it can be as deadly as you make it..., but the average student here gets it so incredibly easier than at many of the smaller, more focused programs. If I tried explaining this to the people I'm talking about they'd just plainly not take the time to listen.</p>
<p>Another thing. Some older generation Asians [including people from India]...frown <em>heavily</em> when I say that I study mathematics. Why? They assume math major => no career whatsoever, as good as not going to college. If I explain that A. with certain caution one can actually manage a research career here, B. if all goes to the dogs, I can do something lucrative by giving up the research career, they nod their heads, then next time I speak, show no signs of having listened!</p>
<p>I live in socal, and so with regards to caltech anyways, its interesting how varied the reaction it incites is. I go to a crappy large public, but were a caltech feeder (1 EA admit this year = 4 admits in the last 5 years), and caltech is epitomized as the land of the super smart geniuses, despite the fact that outside of school id say most people dont even know what it is.</p>
<p>the only problem that ensues is that i have friends with like a 650 sat math thinking that they might have a shot at caltech. lol.</p>
<p>"kind of a breath of fresh air to know that some people do know there are other universities in California."</p>
<p>Yeah and I'm also <em>TIRED</em> of people getting judged based on which of these schools they go to. In all seriousness, too many people assume outright that going to Berkeley implies better student than going to USC automatically. Going to Harvard implies being unconditionally brighter than going to Brown. There are really clueless people out there.</p>
<p>Agree, agree. You can build a challenging program of study just about anywhere, and there are so many factors besides "general public" reputation (or USNWR) in choosing a college that's right for you. I think the important thing is to go where you'll learn what you want and have a good shot at the future you're interested in (not to mention the debt level you can tolerate at the end!), then be happy and to heck with what people think of the college's name. Let 'em wallow in their ignorance. :D</p>
<p>Oops, sorry -- duplicate post. CC seems kinda flaky this morning.</p>
<p>Sligh_Anarchist: I had people asking me what my sweatshirt said too. A bunch of people came up and were like "What?!?!! Bow Down!!?" what the heck zfox?"
haha
then i tell it says Bowdoin and they are like "...............(blank stares)"</p>
<p>its funny</p>
<p>did someone in this thread actually get full finaid to yale as an international from SE asia? that's a lot harder than getting into Harvard as a US citizen...</p>
<p>^ Hi that's me :D
I'm not quite sure myself how hard it is but i'm glad! I did indicate parental contribution of ~10k/year but the finaid office evaluated my file and gave me a full ride with holiday benefits.</p>
<p>Boy do i love Yale! And i shall never let uninformed acquaintances of my parents ruin that.</p>
<p>@ zfox001:</p>
<p>Bow down? Haha. Sounds similar to what I have heard! Do you have the black sweatshirt with the cool looking sun thingy? That's the one I have, hehe. I don't know what to do with it now because I am going to Haverford (and if I talk about/wear something about Haverford, people just think I am talking about Harvard. Poor liberal arts colleges never get a break!).</p>
<p>About 2 months ago, my friends were helping me with my college list and one told me apply to Penn and Swarthmore because "you'll definitely get in." When people haven't heard of a school, they think it must be an easy school to get into.</p>
<p>And I do love the blank stare that comes with saying Swarthmore or Wesleyan</p>