Tufts and BC are the most prestigious colleges after HYPSM.

[buzzers]

<p>Oh I am sure it’s bad. Duke is “supposedly” a good school? Hilarious, but I am not surprised. I know people in the midwest who had never heard of Columbia. Columbia!!! And I do really believe people would pick Stanford over Harvard. That actually doesn’t surprise me at all.</p>

[sentimentGX4]

<p>Most people haven’t heard of Tufts in California and Boston College is not prestigious at all. Aspire to these schools to appease your mother if you will, though.</p>

<p>(For the four years I’ve been at my SoCal high school, every student who was accepted to Harvard turned it down for Stanford.)</p>

<p>

@quomodo

I just wish more people in California had heard of Pomona, at least!

When you say Pomona, most Californians think Cal Poly Pomona. “Prestige” isn’t everything. lolz.</p>

[schrizto]

<p>

Most people haven’t heard of Tufts in California and Boston College is not prestigious at all.

</p>

<p>What is interesting is that I have seen a lot of Californians considering BU. Not sure what exactly gives BU influence in CA. It’s the same case for NYU as well, so it might be one of those “the school is the city” type of draws.</p>

[xiggi]

<p>

And here in the midwest, Duke and ND are well regarded, but UNC-Chapel Hill isn’t on the radar screen – the big state universities that get the lion’s share of attention are Michigan and Wisconsin and to a lesser extent Illinois. UNC-Chapel Hill would be seen by most people as “oh, well, I guess NC has a state university and that’s what it is.” </p>

<p>It’s. All. Regional.

</p>

<p>Regional recognition is indeed huge. In Texas, many families are not looking beyond UT at Austin or Texas A&M. </p>

<p>However, participation in certain EC also generates a lot of recognition. For instance, in many soccer crazed communities, you will find PLENTY of girls in love with UNC. Coach K might be a god at Duke, but Anson Dorrance is not far behind with armies of pony-tailed future Mia Hamm.</p>

[cobrat]

<p>

@Pizzagirl

And here in the midwest, Duke and ND are well regarded, but UNC-Chapel Hill isn’t on the radar screen – the big state universities that get the lion’s share of attention are Michigan and Wisconsin and to a lesser extent Illinois. UNC-Chapel Hill would be seen by most people as “oh, well, I guess NC has a state university and that’s what it is.”</p>

<p>It’s. All. Regional.

</p>

<p>It may also be due to time period and level of knowledge/ignorance of the parent concerned. </p>

<p>My NJ based uncle never heard of Tufts and was highly resistant to allowing his youngest son to take a near-full ride scholarship there over Rutgers in the late 1970’s/early '80s until my father interceded. </p>

<p>

@quomodo

Unfortunately, LACs aren’t accorded nearly the same level of respect. That goes for schools like Carleton, Amherst, and Bowdoin–I tell people I’ve applied to Bowdoin and they have no idea where it is, much less how good of a school it is–as well as Claremont Colleges, like Pomona or Claremont McKenna. I see this as really unfortunate, because it is common not just with laypeople but with the more educated–pretty much everyone not actively doing a college search or helping others do such a search. But of course it is understandable that big universities have more name recognition than LACs. I just wish more people in California had heard of Pomona, at least!

</p>

<p>My cousins and friends and their neighbors out in California(Bay Area and LA suburbs) must be the exceptions as they and all their friends/colleagues have heard of Oberlin and other LACs in the Midwest and East. </p>

<p>One of those cousins even tried applying to Oberlin as his first choice during the late '90s. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be as he didn’t get in.</p>

[MrPrince]

<p>I’m from California, and let me tell you, Duke is highly known. Not only for basket ball, but for its Medical center. It’s also generally regarded as a “high up in the air” place. Not as much as Harvard obviously.</p>

<p>Notre Dame isn’t as well known, because we have a famous Notre Dame high school for girls only. But absolutely no one knows about Tufts. BC has strong catholic ties to Bellarmine Prep (A really good private school in our area), but nothing more.</p>

<p>I think your mom is trying to get you to stay in state. I speak from experience. My mom miserably attempted to convince me that UCLA is more prestigious than MIT and tried to get me to stay…heh, didn’t quite work.</p>

[squiggles1118]

<p>From a west coast perspective congrats on ND and UNC - both very highly thought of out here. Tufts is also highly though of and BC is below those 3 but still considered a decent school especially for the Catholic HS kids.
Be sure you choose where YOU want to go even if it is UNC!</p>

[sentimentGX4]

<p>

@MrPrince

I think your mom is trying to get you to stay in state. I speak from experience. My mom miserably attempted to convince me that UCLA is more prestigious than MIT and tried to get me to stay…heh, didn’t quite work.

Are you Bayboi?</p>

[quomodo]

<p>

My cousins and friends and their neighbors out in California(Bay Area and LA suburbs) must be the exceptions as they and all their friends/colleagues have heard of Oberlin and other LACs in the Midwest and East.

</p>

<p>Well, I suppose it may be a public school/private school divide as well. But I was talking more about laypeople and the general population…</p>

[tk21769]

<p>

But of course it is understandable that big universities have more name recognition than LACs. I just wish more people in California had heard of Pomona, at least!

</p>

<p>Back in the day, if not still, name recognition was an issue with the University of Chicago. U of C is not huge but it is definitely an academic stand-out in many fields, one of the 2 or 3 best in the country in a few, very influential in higher education, and yet … the average person on the streets of Chicago assumed it was a directional branch of the state university system. </p>

<p>US News ranks ND 19th, Tufts 28th, UNC 30th, and BC 31st. By this standard they are all in the same ball park (with ND a little notch higher.) Do public perceptions of “prestige” line up behind these (or any other) rankings? Not really. They are influenced by geography, religion, alumni in the news, and many other factors that have little to do with academic quality let alone personal fit.</p>

<p>This is your first big adult decision in life. There may be good reasons to choose any one of the schools on your list, but impressing your mom’s uninformed patients is not one of them.</p>

[1980collegegrad]

<p>Perhaps if you told people that the Tufts University school mascot is Jumbo the elephant, this would help them remember the school better.</p>

[1980collegegrad]

<p>HYPSM and Tufts and BC Rhodes Scholars</p>

<p>School Rhodes Scholars
Harvard 332
Yale 219
Princeton 193
Stanford 93
MIT 39
Tufts 4
BC 2</p>

[leanid]

<p>School Rhodes Scholars
Harvard 332
Yale 219
Princeton 193
Stanford 93
MIT 39
Tufts 4
BC </p>

<p>This says something about the selecting process too (biased just a little?) not just the respective quality of the listed colleges.</p>

[1980collegegrad]

<p>Why are they biased for University of Oklahoma which has 26 Rhodes Scholars?</p>

[monydad]

<p>I believe the awards are distributed regionally.
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, & MIT are likely not in U Oklahoma’s region.
As meritorious as those 26 were, no doubt.</p>

[informative]

<p>Odd original post. BC and Tufts are great schools, but your mom sounds like she doesn’t know very much about universities. BC and Tufts are great schools and should be ranked in the top 25-30 schools, but they are not on par with the top 10. I understand that regionally they are considered very elite in the northeast, but the further away from NY/Boston you go, the less well known these schools are.</p>

[leanid]

<p>I’d venture that BC is better known than Tufts nationally based on its sports (in the ACC) and through the network of Jesuit colleges (28) throughout the country. </p>

<p>Academically, Tufts may be a notch higher than BC, although there are ties between the two involving their respective medical and law schools, whereby graduates of one are all but guaranteed admission to the other’s law(BC) or med school(Tufts) if certain academic criteria are met. Please correct me if I am wrong.</p>

[1980collegegrad]

<p>Tufts University School of Medicine offers an early assurance program for eligible students at participating institutions. The institutions currently participating in this program are: </p>

<p>Tufts University,
Brandeis University,
Boston College,
College of the Holy Cross,
Northeastern University.</p>

[informative]

<p>You are correct about BC being more well known. I’d venture to say it is academically superior to Tufts as well, but that is a matter of opinion on two schools that are both academically outstanding and extremely different from each other. Probably an apples to oranges scenario. </p>

<p>That being said, I think we can all agree that neither school should be ranked in the top ten.</p>

[MrPrince]

<p>^Doubt it. BC is known more because it has the word BOSTON in the name. Tufts sounds like a ball of hair. Or Jigglypuff. </p>

<p>Isn’t Tufts more selective?</p>