<p>I live in PA and Penn State is a really big deal around here. I usually use Penn State as the example of a school I wouldn't want to go to, but I have to admit, their alumni network is incredible. People love to hire from their alma mater, and A LOT of people have gone to Penn State, especially in the Philadelphia area.</p>
<p>PSU is a sports superpower with relatively good academics and incredible name recognition. Joe Paterno is more of a celebrity than Drew Gilpin Faust could ever hope to be.</p>
<p>People in my area tout the Penn State name with enormous pride.</p>
<p>I'm a product of the SUNY system. Ended up moving to PA many years ago. I was blown away by the pride of Penn Staters - had no idea why there was such passion for a big state school in the middle of nowhere.
Fast forward...and my son is looking at schools. Great student - applying to top schools. PSU is at the bottom of his list - until he visited - his last school tour. Loved the campus. Good business school. Great honors program. He decides it's the place for him and now, in his second year, he LOVES it. He's had some really good professors - so it's not all about football.
Yeah, I know those Penn folks hate being confused with Penn Staters - comes off as elitism to me. If you went to Penn for the name, you went for the wrong reason...</p>
<p>^^ Agreed. I went to the U. of C. because it was the U. of C., not because people could confuse it with University of Illinois-Chicago or University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign or Loyola University Chicago.</p>
<p>I hope my post didn't come off as belittling PSU. I know kids who dream about PSU the same way many posters on this forum dream about Harvard. I was talking to a friend of the family about college choices for her son, and she said in a low voice, " He wants to be a doctor, and he wants Penn State." </p>
<p>I can definitely see PSU being "the place"-- Michigan was my brother's dream school and it was also his safety. Though he was encouraged to attend elsewhere (the pricetags were equivalent and the "fit" was similar), I think he would have been just as satisfied with Michigan both socially and academically as he was with his Ivy.</p>
<p>unalove - no, your post was not belittling to PSU...but another one was!
I know plenty of kids wouldn't even consider PSU - too big - too many kids from their high school...kids aren't smart enough...blah blah. Most don't even visit. I live in an area with a super competitive public high school - where the smart kids target Ivy or top 25 at least...or nothing. Kinda like a lot of people on this board....
Once you drive 20 miles out, people think PSU is pretty cool. Depends on your perspective I guess.<br>
Bottom line...the name means different things to different people. Go where you find a good fit... and where you can afford to pay the tuition without huge loans.</p>
<p>that is why if you go to psu you are inferior to those aiming top 25 schools.</p>
<p>BobbyJan, I think you're taking the whole ranking thing a little too far. What other posters and I have tried to argue is that PSU is indeed a very good school, with solid academic offerings. Perhaps students score lower on standardized tests and class enrollment is higher, but that doesn't mean you can't search out a good education for yourself.</p>
<p>What I've been continually trying to point out is that given the community I live in (one of the communities, at least, I split time between city and suburbs) PSU would have been a MUCH better choice for me if I wanted people to ooh and aah over my diploma.</p>
<p>BJ - whatever - sounds like you live in my neighborhood. Prestige, ranking -that's what it's all about. A very narrow way of thinking.
BTW, since you've posted your stats many times, I must point out that you have a shot at SHC - the honors college at Penn State. Just a shot though...most of the kids there have much stronger profiles. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>It seems to me that the rank of the college only matters to kids applying to college and maybe their parents. I was at a restaurant with some UChi kids that will be freshman with me, and I dunno if it was because they were a little tipsy or what, but they said basically they were going to U of C because it was the best ranked school they got into.</p>
<p>It seems to me really the reputation of the school matters after you graduate, as that will determine what people think when they hear where you went or if they want to hire you or not.</p>
<p>When I started this thread way back when, I actually thought VERY few people knew about the University. It turns out I'm pretty wrong. Anybody I know who is in a half decent school now or applying to half decent schools has a huge amount of respect for it. Adults who went to good schools, same thing. With educated people, you get the wows and ooh and ahhs. It is true though, with the stupid people out there (a lot of people) they probably don't really know about it, or if they do not really.</p>
<p>Over the summer I've come to realize U of C does have prestige, a lot actually. It is just a different type. Just like the school is a special offshoot from the mainstream, it seems to me the prestige is as well.</p>
<p>
[quote]
that is why if you go to psu you are inferior to those aiming top 25 schools.
[/quote]
Oh, I don't know. Certainly in my field (Classics), Penn State is highly regarded. Their Egyptologist, Donald Redford, is more well known than the Egyptologists at Chicago. :p</p>
<p>Chicago's got an oriental institute where you study Egyptology with real artifact! Is that more amazing?</p>
<p>True. Still, Penn State takes students on its dig(s) in Egypt. ;)</p>
<p>Ahm, there are two universities in the US that are head and shoulders above the rest in the study of the ancient Near East (including Egypt): Penn and Chicago. No one else comes close. U of Cincinnati has some strengths, no question. Other schools have specific strengths in specific areas. Vanderbilt has Robert Drews, for instance, but one man does not a department make.</p>
<p>The research library at the Oriental Institute is better than anything Penn State has in the area. Its linguists just finished the Assyrian/Akkadian dictionary and are working on the only Hittite dictionary. The researchers at the Oriental Institute practically invented Near Eastern studies in some fields. </p>
<p>Now, if you were to say Penn State's engineering school is better than Chicago's, you'd have a very good argument ;-).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Ahm, there are two universities in the US that are head and shoulders above the rest in the study of the ancient Near East (including Egypt): Penn and Chicago. No one else comes close.
[/quote]
Agreed, although I'd add Yale. With the largest cuneiform collection in the Western hemisphere (possibly the largest outside Iraq), it's been churning out Assyriology grads for quite a long time.</p>
<p>
[quote]
U of Cincinnati has some strengths, no question.
[/quote]
Especially Aegean Bronze Age archaeology. Chicago has virtually no scholars in this field, which SUCKS. Otherwise it's perfect for me. :(</p>
<p>
[quote]
Vanderbilt has Robert Drews, for instance, but one man does not a department make.
[/quote]
Don't forget Jack Sasson. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>warbler:</p>
<p>You know your ancient Near East. Yes, I agree that the UofC would be better off with Aegean experts like Eric Cline. Perhaps they can hire him?</p>
<p>We'll have to disagree about Yale. I just don't see them having nearly the depth and breadth that Penn and the UofC do.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Anybody I know who is in a half decent school now or applying to half decent schools has a huge amount of respect for it. Adults who went to good schools, same thing. With educated people, you get the wows and ooh and ahhs. It is true though, with the stupid people out there (a lot of people) they probably don't really know about it, or if they do not really.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Don't be so sure of that. I have friends here at Chicago that didn't know what a Goldman Sachs was (they figured it was a regional supermarket chain) and others who didn't know that Dartmouth was in the Ivy League (they were vaguely familiar with the notion that it was a good school, though). I think we assume familiarity with name brands way too much-- colleges that are not Harvard will never be as familiar as Coca-Cola or Band-Aids or what have you.</p>
<p>Again, so much of this is regional. Both people I talked to were, in this case, from the rural midwest, and were not aspiring ibankers.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Over the summer I've come to realize U of C does have prestige, a lot actually. It is just a different type. Just like the school is a special offshoot from the mainstream, it seems to me the prestige is as well.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I agree. You'll just have to realize that fewer people are aware of the school than may be ideal. Nuns will know it (the divinity school). Academics will know it. Business executives will know it. These are the people who matter ;-)</p>
<p>
[quote]
but they said basically they were going to U of C because it was the best ranked school they got into.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>We might be an ivy fallback, but we're not an ivy consolation prize. These future U of C-ers are probably quite aware of what they're getting themselves into.</p>
<p>Sb said at the beginning that "among average joe people, MIT isn't well-known". I feel like I really need to disprove it: Such technology institutes like MIT and Caltech are extremely well-known overseas. I bet more ppl in China know about MIT than about Yale (yeah, it's true. It's YALE).</p>
<p>MIT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Yale in India. But that's 'cause this is a country full of tech-heads.</p>