<p>Giving you confidence in life is an important element of going to college. If forever you have to explain your school to people, you feel slightly dejected and subconsciously you lose confidence or pride. If you can say that you went to some prestigious college, you can always confidently and proudly proclaim what university you went to. Your America comment will hold less and less ground as the world becomes more and more global. Especially for foreign students like me, name value outside America matters a lot. Here in Japan, not many will have heard of Cornell or UPenn despite how famous they are in America. Columbia will just barely be known.</p>
<p>You'll probably form just as many important connections in Harvard as Columbia. That I agree with. But I'm not arguing just solely between Harvard and Columbia. I am arguing for example Cornell and Columbia. Or Northwestern and Columbia. Or Johns Hopkins and Columbia. You'll get different kinds of connections from each school. But in general, on average, the connections you'll make at Columbia will be worth much more. The only connections an engineer will want is not always be other engineers. Connections with people who will become rich one day is just as important. Just being able to say, "hey, I went to the same college as you" can land you great deals. These are things that sometimes you have to think about.</p>
<p>I think to completely reject prestige as a factor for choosing college is idealistic, bordering on childish. As long as we live in a world like this, it is unfortunate, but education and college life is not the only reason to choose a college.</p>
<p>i have a hard time believing people who say prestige doesnt matter at all to them. in real life i dont know anybody who has turned down harvard or yale - maybe except for princeton or stanford. </p>
<p>when i got into columbia i was jumping up and down and screaming (im not gay) because it is such a prestigious and elite school and its exciting to become a part of that tradition... i wasnt excited because of the unique course package, or the available extracurricular activities, or even its opportunities for internships in the city, etc.</p>
<p>Let me ask you a question: when USNews ranks SEAS #25 and JHU # 1 in engineering, don't you think that the "prestige" thing falls appart? Going to the #1 schol in one area is also prestigious, isn't it?</p>
<p>i think it falls apart when you try to compare like michigan to columbia on the basis of their programs in engineering. i mean at the end of the day you graduate with a degree from columbia. whether or not the engineering program is superb, that name and its assocation carries with it with it a stigma of overall scholastic excellence that can't be matched by going to a school with one oustanding specialized program.</p>
<p>Michigan has many excellent programs though, and I am not even going to Michigan, but I recognize its prestige more so than ppl on these boards. However, Columbia is about as good as it gets. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>well expo2005, I got accepted to a bunch of places, Duke, Northwestern, Chicago, JHU, Rice, and I chose Cornell. Idk if that makes me an anit-prestige hore or a prestige worshiper. Only, others can choose what they want to think. Also, prestige is really a two face thing. For example, no one (gen pop) knows of the UNiv of Chicago, but in academic circles, it is INCREDIBLY prestigious. Rice, forget about it, in cali and i am sure on the east coast, literally, no one knows of it, even teachers. Everyone knows of Duke, your aunt Sali, uncle Jon b/c of its basketball team. JHU, you get, wow, wat an amazing med school and I hear its really cut throat there. Northwestern, they were like, so what ru studying, music, theater, journalism. I mean, it is all relative.</p>
<p>collegekid1988: You've made the most intelligent post there has been in this thread for quite a while, and I especially agree with you in Chicago, JHU, and also in Cornell. Actually I, my second choice was Chicago, not another Ivy
And this is a Columbian speaking</p>
<p>collegekid, that doesn't refute my point at all, all you're doing is explaining the nature of prestige.</p>
<p>Factoring in your point about prestige is also important is what I'm saying. For example, choosing between JHU and Northwestern, a choice I, at one point, had to make. JHU is very reknown in Japan. Northwestern, not as much. But depending on location and kind of person, Northwestern would be more prestigious. Considering these points, I would have decided that I can't make a decision based on prestige. I chose Northwestern for its location and "feel." However, when it came to Columbia and Northwestern, it was obvious to me to choose Columbia not just because of location, but also because of prestige. I frankly do not really like the Core, it will prevent me from taking a lot of courses that I do want to take. But the prestige factor completely cancels that out.</p>
<p>well expo, you will be a disappointed person one day when your Columbia piece of paper doesn't get you your dream job like many other ppl. If you think by going to Columbia, every person you now meet is going to say OMG, you go to Columbia, we should give you a crown, you are very wrong. Columbia is very prestigious, but at this pt, it is like cutting threads. You can't honestly say that Columbia is more prestigious than Cornell with valid evidence. Prestige is something that really cannot be measured with quanitifying things. If you are from the midwest, I can assure you, you would be better off having a degree from Northwestern and Chicago, and if you are from the east coast, a degree from Columbia or Cornell or Penn might serve you better.</p>
<p>You're still comparing prestige (area-based). However, I believe that you would be better off having a Columbia degree or Cornell degree on average compared to a Northwestern or UChicago degree.</p>
<p>Not only will having an Ivy league degree be more impressive, it will give you confidence and pride. Also, many businesses run off of connections. If they know they went to the same school as you, they will tend to favor you more. You're most likely to see top executives coming from more prestigious universities. Making friends with Harvard students can give you lots of potentially rich patrons and investors, more so than if you went to a less prestigious university.</p>
<p>Again, I'm not saying that the difference is definite. I'm not saying you should completely base your choice on this. It's just that these things do factor into a person's decision and they shouldn't be criticized for doing so like I'm being criticized now. Wanting prestige is not a negative thing.</p>
<p>even being a member of the Cornell class of 2009, I still disagree with you. Sure, it's nice to be apart of this elusive Ivy League, but in the long run, it doesn't mean much. There are some private schools that are not ivy league that offer the same type of alumni connections and education that these ivy league schools do. What comes to mind off the top, Stanford, MIT..leap..Duke, Northwestern, Chicago, JHU. These are probably the top 6 non ivy ivies. I really think if yo live in the South, a degree from Duke will defintely impress employers more so than a degree from Columbia. If you live in Chicago, I know for a fact they would love to have a northwestern or chicago grad in thier business. In Cali, they would like a stanford, ucla, berk, but I don't care being a californian b/c Cornell is known all around the country, but I am probably relocating New York one day... It is all regional. BTW, here on the west coast, relatively few ppl have heard of Brown, Dartmouth, let alone UPenn (they think it is Penn State). When I didn't get into Penn, my classmates were like so I guess you don't get free football tickets anymore to see Joe Parterno. I have to say though that Columbia is incredibly prestigious, it is probably one of the most well known schools in the country. Good luck!!</p>
<p>My daughter (who doesn't post to CC) chose Columbia over Stanford, MIT and 3 top UCs. It was not an easy choice, but it was the best choice for her. She was very lucky, wherever she chose to go, she was going to go to a great school.</p>
<p>expo2005, if you're so concerned about prestige in Japan, why don't you go to Nagoya, that's supposed to be the most difficult university to enter in the whole world</p>
<p>the best university in japan is tokyo u. and even the best university in japan is unknown elsewhere. besides, universities in japan have terrible budgets compared to universities in america and attract only japanese students. in america, there are the brightest minds from around the world with incredible facilities. the only thing i'm arguing is that prestige should be allowed to be one factor that people consider when choosing universities. it's ridiculous to argue that its something that should be ignored.</p>