<p>did you know the elephant is the only mammal that can't jump off the ground?</p>
<p>Academic strength in my intended major.
Tuition, potential scholarships and cost of living.
Prestige, overall academic ranking or reputation.</p>
<p>Paisa... nothing less... nothing more...</p>
<p>Geography, at least 4 hours from home. Not florida, louisiana, or anywhere that doesn't have "winter."</p>
<p>Academic reputation and prestige are not the same to me. All of the college I'm applying to have strong academic reputations, but do not have as much prestige in my area becaues they are not Ivys and they are far away.</p>
<p>And the deciding factor... the VIBES. The reason that St. Olaf is my first choice instead of my safety school :-D. It will be such a hard decision for me if I am accepted to any of my "name schools" but i have to figure out what's best for ME, not what will be the most fun to tell people.</p>
<p>Prestige... No one will give a damn if you went to University of Iowa, but they will if you go to harvard or stanford</p>
<p>^^^ i'm not even gonna explain why that is wrong, it's so obvious.</p>
<p>^^maybe in your idealistic world, but in the real world, it is true</p>
<p>actually it's not. most employers care more about your skills, how well you interview, your recommendations, etc, and those are not dictated entirely by which school you went to.</p>
<p>And once you start focusing solely about prestige, you start to freak out if you go to #20 instead of #2, when, in real world, a good school is a good school no matter what US News thinks. </p>
<p>Sure, Harvard (and a a SLEW of other schools) may impress a lot of people. But so will solid abilities and a good GPA from anywhere. For me, it's more about the experience than the result. College is NOT just means to an end.</p>
<p>Social atmosphere is tops (I want college to be a satisfying and enjoyable expirience), followed by prestige (like milkmagn said, this is the real world), having a major that siuts my needs would be 3rd (that is why I'm there, right?), and 4th would be climate (I hate heat). Everything else is just icing on the cake.
;) Brown ;)</p>
<p>The student who graduates from Harvard dead last in class rank (in terms of GPA) has a far greater chance of getting into a competitive grad school than someone who was valedictorian of the graduating class of Podunk university.</p>
<p>Prestige is far more important for college than it is for high school. The simple reason- most high-schoolers live at home and go to a school near home, while the opposite is true for college.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, people won't be able to get certain job interviews if they were to a less known school rather than an ivy</p>
<p>That's completely untrue. your GPA, qualifications, and recommendations are more important than your school. </p>
<p>A 3.7 student from Harvard will most likely have a better chance than a 3.7 from Iowa state, but a 2.0 student from Harvard vs a 3.7 from Iowa state? Nope. That's just wrong. </p>
<p>Furthermore, grad school prestige matters more than undergrad prestige. </p>
<p>No one's talking about high school...</p>
<p>^And a good undergrad school makes it much easier to get into a top grad school</p>
<p>definitely, like i said, all things being equal, a more prestigious undergrad school will offer more opportunities. when all things are not equal, like in your example, gpa and qualifications win. and you can get into a top grad school from podunk state, too.</p>
<p>^But its much harder to get into a top grad school from podunk state... Top medical schools generally are filled mostly with students from top 20 schools...</p>
<p>i won't lie: it's a three-way tie between prestige, location, and climate.</p>
<p>harder, yes, but impossible, no. thats' why prestige is not and should not be the only factor. college is as much (if not more) about the edcuation adn experience as it is about your future career and results.</p>
<p>How are ivies not better off academically? These top schools admit the most of the smartest students in the nation, recruit the best professors in the nation (and people exaggerate on this too... Most professors do teach WELL/at the top level at HYPSM... so blown out of proportions), and have the most money to give out for financial need and RESOURCES. A few more on Wall Street? How about dominance?</p>
<p>I agree the focus on the Ivies is overrated, but don't EVER SAY the level of education is the same as "Lehigh, Holy Cross, Colgate, Kenyon.." Are you kidding me?</p>
<p>Also, I will agree that the students at Lehigh, etc can match up to those at HYPSM. However, that's based on the students' own character, whether they can persevere, love learning, etc. THESE are the students that go to Wall Street, take on top positions, and lead the nation. When you take a look at the whole picture, however, HYPSM dominate. THIS is reality, NOT perception.</p>
<p>And I haven't even started on listing the prestige factor...</p>
<p>you've hit the nail on the head for my argument. the character of the student ultimately determines the education you could get. I go to Brown. I could not do my reading and skate by with C's if I wanted, and learn nothing. Or I could go to Oregon State and seek out a fabulous education. There are great professors there too. The question is 1. your own character and perogative, and 2. whether you are willing to seek it out. Granted, the great education is handed to you at top schools, and often requires seeking out at lower ranked schools. But it's not the ranking of your school. </p>
<p>And HYPSM don't dominate over other top 20 (or so) schools.</p>
<p>Atmosphere, for me.</p>
<p>Mainly because I'm pretty undecided major-wise, so besides knowing that the school is generally good academically, I can't pick a school based on the strength of any one department.</p>
<p>You can't just look at one thing when choosing your school...you have to look at a bunch of factors and compare them across several colleges. i'm using campus compare and finding a ton of great info.</p>