And those big school reps aren’t “Party party party, football, frat party, party party party” perhaps formed by not even knowing one grad of the school? When I mention where my daughter goes to school, the looks are either shock or pity, and most of those people don’t even know what city the school is in, have never been there, don’t know the cost or which programs are strong. Of course there are stereotypes of LAC and military schools and flagships because many stereotyped traits do exist at those schools. The stereotypes aren’t wrong, it’s just that may not be the whole story. If you go to Alabama or USC or Notre Dame expecting football not to be a big deal, I think you’ll be disappointed in your experience. Can you make it not a big deal to you? Sure, but it’s still there. LAC specifically advertise the small class sizes, free thinking discussions, how superior they are with all the artsy granola stuff. Why is it wrong then to meet an alum who has these traits and not associate them with the school? She was a reflection of what Reed was trying to sell, and I went there expecting it to be different, then that would be my mistake.
Of course by ‘first impression’ I didn’t mean I only met her once, and I’ve met a few other Reed students or alums and while they didn’t impress me as much as Miss Reed did, I can’t say they changed my opinions She owned it, and she wanted us to know that was how she felt about the school and its superiority to all other schools. It didn’t get her very far with the rest of us because most people don’t like to be told over and over how inferior they are. Lots and lots of college choices. We looked at some LACs but decided they weren’t right for my kids and yes, my opinions of the many people I’ve met over the years who attended LACs (and of course mention how they went to Yale within the first 5 seconds of meeting them) influenced my opinion on that type of school. I know lots of LAC grads and I’m even related to (too) many. For my kids, small class sizes weren’t an important factor, they weren’t looking for small discussion groups, and engineering isn’t usually an option. We looked at military options and ruled those out too, and yes, my opinion was influenced by the AFA grads I know and the active duty coast guard folks and other students applying to the academies. Good and bad, our experiences influence us.