<p>wait... isn't Wellesley (the best women's college in the U.S.) supposed to be very well known among Koreans? and it's a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Harvard college is a sub-division of Harvard University, as are Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, and the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
If you don't consider a Harvard undergrad a student of Harvard University, no student in the US would attend a university because all universities are divided into a college and grad or business or whatever schools for administrative reasons.</p>
<p>What makes a LAC different from a university college is that there are none (few) graduate students around, thus it is hard if not impossible to take grad courses, there is less (expensive) lab equipment and no significant research projects going on (at least in the hard sciences).</p>
<p>aw5k, i dont know if you're either being very sarcastic or just plain very thick in the head, but if you're the latter: no she means, LACs as in Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, Davidson, etc...</p>
<p>Wellesley may be known well amongst koreans in the US, but not very well known in Korea.</p>
<p>I don't think that Korean Multinationals like LG and Samsung wouldn't be knowing about liberal arts curriculum.</p>
<p>In Korea, the media is CRAZY about ivies, obviously.
When someone get accepted to multiple ivies, they
actually write books about it and those books become
bestsellers.
We have SKY, the top three universities, KAIST and POSTEC for
tec. besides there are lots of private schools but those five are
basically it, so most of the times, they automaticly think that
it would be the same in America.
No ivies=didn't work hard enough.
It's tought but it's really true.
My dad had some friends in LG, Samsung and stuff and
that said that it's fine to go to LAC if you're going to study more,
but if you want to work right away, it's going to be a problem.
CONNECTION IS TO THE EXTREME HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you're an ivy, then people take notices and even though
you don't have much connection in Korea, you'll survive and be
praised(seriously, PRAISED!) .
But for the other very selective colleges besides ivies,
it's not worth giving up SKY connection.</p>
<p>I think I babbled through this but the point is,
: SKY CONNECTION IS NECESSITY IN KOREA and
NOBODY BESIDES THE BIGGEST CORPORATIONS WILL EVER NOTICES
OTHER COLLEGES BESIDES HYP.</p>
<p>so a lot of the times, Korean people who are not in the ivies have
a struggle.
just because Korea doesn't recognize other colleges that doesn't
mean it's impossible to get a job in Korea.
But it's very hard and you need something extra other than
perfect English to get through those with SKY connection.</p>
<p>hey agathayu, SKY = Seoul National U, Korea U & Yonsei U right?
Just one question, do people in Korea know about Wellesley? cos' most of my Korean friends here say that it's very well known among Koreans since it's the best women's college in America, so it's kinda' like a female ivy in Koreans' eyes. Can you please verify on this? Thanks!
btw, Korea's got it's own top women's university, Ewha right? Is Ewha considered really prestigious in Korea, maybe like slightly below SKY?</p>
<p>When you guys say that "the Ivies" are well regarded in Korea, do you mean this as in "Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell" or as in "Harvard, Yale, Princeton"?</p>
<p>I can't believe getting into MIT is regarded less than getting into some less well known ivy like Penn, Brown and Dartmouth in Korea. Are you sure about this?</p>
<p>Sweden is a small country, which has forced us to be very aware of what is going on in the rest of the world. Going abroad and learning more about the world an other cultures is thus seen as something very positive. Young people see the US as "the country of opportunities", or if you read between the lines, a country where you can make some serious money. Beginning college is thus taking the first step to wealth (no one realizes that colleges cost some ~ $40 000/year because Swedish education is "free"). Older people (employers..) think going to the US indicates that you are "one of the brightest students" (second with whoever said that), someone who is willing to take chances and make things happen.
The quality of education is not a question of focus, probably because quality is never an issue here. However, it is certainly a serious + if you went to Harvard etc...</p>
<p>Agatha, as a korean myself, i slightly disagree with you. I agree that prestige is EVERYTHING in Korea - not just education, but EVERYTHING to designer brands, the part of the city you live in (Kang nam = the rich), the euro cars, EVERYTHING.
But I disagree that graduating from an ivy = prestige.
For example, Dartmouth, Brown and to some extent, Penn, are not as highly regarded as Johns Hopkins (for the med school), Stanford, MIT, Berkeley (for engineering), UCLA (except this is kinda losing the korean prestige factor), etc...
I would think Dartmouth and Brown have less prestige than Chicago, Michigan, NYU, Boston U, etc...
Granted i'm talking about prestige in terms of graduate schools' prestige, but nevertheless, it applies to undergrad schools too. Because of this prestige factor in terms of graduate schools, LACs dont carry as much weight in Korea.</p>
<p>My dad's friends work at LG and some have really screwed ideas in their heads - that LACs are for the people that couldnt get into 'real' colleges. It makes sense that they have that perception because I dont think there are many universities in Korea which are just 4 year instituitions. If there are some, they are usually not regarded highly.
Also, you have to give it some common sense. The people that are applying for jobs at LG, Samsung, etc, don't just apply with their bachelor degrees. I mean, getting a job in Korea, in Seoul right now, is deadly difficult right now. Getting a job in one of these top-of-the-world companies with just a 4 year degree, is just very unlikely.</p>
<p>In Asia and the Middle East, US Universities are considered the best. </p>
<p>In Western Europe, it isn't so much the universities but the system of education that is questioned. European universities are nationalized and highly standardized. US universities aren't. That doesn't sit well with many Europeans. </p>
<p>Attending university in the US doesn't make sense to Europeans. However, that only applies for national universities. If one should attend a globaly recognized university, like Cal or Columbia or Harvard or MIT (or any top 30 international university), then you won't have trouble in Europe. Besides, given the cost difference, I'd say it is only worth going to the US if the university is top-notch.</p>
<p>NoFX, I thought such a scenario is only applicable to my own country. Looks like korea is pretty obsessed with prestige as well. Damn. :D</p>
<p>bump... Williams, Amherst and Wellesley's reputation in Korea? Anyone?</p>
<p>bump...............</p>
<p>In the Netherlands (and much of Europe I'd say) LACs carry absolutely no weight at all. Virtually nobody has even heard of any of them, and neither had I until I started visiting this site.</p>
<p>Harvard Yale and Princeton are still very highly regarded though. NYU gets far more attention than it deserves, mainly because it's in New York. (Dutch people -especially girls- are obsessed with New York.) Unfortunately most people aren't informed enough to know that there is another university in that city with a far better reputation but without "NY" in its name.</p>
<p>From anecdotal evidence, I'd say that the only well-known American university here is Harvard, and maybe MIT. Very few people have heard of any others.</p>
<p>I second nauru's comment about the perception of LACs in Europe: nobody has ever heard of them. What is more, people in my country (Germany) sure think that their universities are clearly stronger than LACs (and they would probably be right).
Personally, I'd rather look for good (better) universities in Europe.</p>
<p>I think most (99+%) people in Germany don't know the difference between a LAC and a big research university.</p>
<p>Agreed, barium. In Germany, it's Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford, Yale and MIT that are well-known. Everything else not so much. And nobody actually knows what a LAC is.</p>
<p>I think most (99+%) of humanity living outside the United States don't know the difference between an LAC and a big research university.</p>