<p>This whole thing is absolutely ridiculous. Just because some people might mistake UPenn for Penn State and the fact that its applicants didn't increase dramatically this year don't make UPenn any less of a school. The Wharton degree might catch some potential employers, but in the long run, the prestige associated with an Ivy League undergraduate degree isn't going to make you much better off (like others mentioned before me). You can apply yourself anywhere, and arrogant students at Penn or at any other top-tiered school can completely slack off and disregard the opportunities that - believe me or not - are offerred to students at Penn State as well.</p>
<p>WORD, juliet capulet. You're my dawg. I'm all about that, the "OMG WE'RE NAWT PENN STAYT" thing is the single most unattractive feature of the entire Penn experience.</p>
<p>chrisw, this is a quote from the UPenn Medical School website:</p>
<p>"This is determined by many factors, including the academic standards of the college at which the applicant prepared, performance in academic courses, the record of activity in extracurricular college and community affairs, Medical College Admission Test scores, and information offered by the applicant's college faculty."</p>
<p>Prestige matters for something apparently.</p>
<p>The primary reason to pay $50K ++ to a school is to buy prestige and network and connections. No way you can make the case that the education at a HYPSBCCUD is consistently worth 3x or 4x what it costs to go to a top-ranked state school, or to attend a non-Ivy elite school that actually gives merit aid. You are buying the name and opportunities for next-step connections, pure and simple, and your parents are buying that little sticker that they can put on their back window of their car so people say "Wow, HYPSBCCUD !" when they are stuck behind them at a stop light. And it's a perfectly defensible reason for paying that kind of money and trying to get into the school -- but it is disingenuous to deny that it as a basic reason that a majority of applicants apply and choose to attend. We worked our asses off in high school so that we'd have options when we hit this next stage in our lives. There is nothing ignoble in saying that you choose the option with prestige attached to it. My opinion...</p>
<p>Dunbar, you assume prestige means high academic standards, and my Lord do you assume wrong.</p>
<p>EDIT: Or Jumbos you could, you know, apply to colleges you think you'd be most happy at, where you think you'd work the hardest and have the most fun. There's always that view. But hey, cynical system-gaming works too, I guess.</p>
<p>^ areyouseriousss, I think GoJumbos2013 was making the point that a good number of applicants consider prestige as a part of the reason they apply to colleges, especially Ivy schools. I didn't see him/her say it's the only reason, just a primary one among many applicants to Ivy schools. </p>
<p>Not sure what's worse, by the way: Mislabeling their post as cynical system-gaming, or doing it with sanctimonious smarminess. Kind of a wash I suppose.</p>
<p>Hmm..
Wonder what Lee Stetson is thinking about now?</p>
<p>You can't stop people from being happy at a prestigious university...</p>
<p>^^ tell that to MIT</p>
<p>LOL sooooo true QuakerOats415</p>
<p>
[quote]
WORD, juliet capulet. You're my dawg. I'm all about that, the "OMG WE'RE NAWT PENN STAYT" thing is the single most unattractive feature of the entire Penn experience.
[/quote]
What, if anything, is wrong with having pride and loving the school you go to? I wouldn't like to be asked about a school I don't even attend.</p>
<p>I love Penn, and I have a beautiful "Not Penn State" shirt...the ORIGINAL one that you could only get on Locust Walk, not the fake bookstore one ;)</p>
<p>It's not because I disrespect PSU. I know it is an excellent school and the SAT averages for Schreyer Honors College are higher than for Penn. But the name thing can be a real PITA...</p>
<p>whats the original shirt look like? i think i have the fake one</p>
<p>"Sanctimonious smarminess?" What color are your kettles?</p>
<p>Get over yourself. If Penn is a crappy place for you to go to school (which for a lot of people it probably is for whatever reason), yet you apply there for "prestige" and "later life connections" and "workplace opportunities" or whatever other B.S. you want to throw around like it's important, you are stupid. You are consciously making a decision to hate yourself for 4 years, to be unhappy for 4 years, for a marginal boost in employment. You are misguided, and I feel sorry for you.</p>
<p>There is a reason for the stereotype of arrogant, obnoxious Ivy Leage grad, and it is because of those people. No one cares where you went to college except you, so try to have fun doing it, try to you know, learn something instead of strategizing. If you're smart, the "prestige bonus" will be irrelevant after three years.</p>
<p>EDIT: and to xSteven, there's nothing wrong with school pride. There is something wrong with looking down on an entire institution because it has the word "State" in its name, and repeating such a denigration ad nauseum. The thing wrong with that is called 'obnoxious.'</p>
<p>It has the Penn shield, not the Penn "P"</p>
<p>the shirt is still offensive, whether or not you think it is</p>
<p>
[quote]
the shirt is still offensive, whether or not you think it is
[/quote]
And so are most of your posts (to which I would add "juvenile" and "erroneous." But life, as it would seem, goes on.</p>
<p>^ @areyouseriouss; "If Penn is a crappy place for you to go to school..."</p>
<p>I agree with you that anyone who selects a school based solely on prestige is a fool. But if it's not a crappy place for someone, but simply one of many schools they are considering (which is the original point that you keep ignoring because then it negates your argument -- a common high school debating tactic) then it is valid to add "prestige" to the list along with all the other reasons to consider a school. Unless, of course, what you are maintaining is that only criteria that everyone should use to select a college are the ones that you have approved. That would make you an egomaniac. </p>
<p>By the way, I believe what you mean to ask is what color is my pot. You're the kettle, I'm the pot. You got the analogy backwards.</p>
<p>yeah but i dont wear myself on shirts and parade around in front of people that i am directly designed to offend</p>
<p>^actually, we were offended first. we're just playing defense.</p>
<p>it's not all about the prestige. i would hate it if people think i go to penn state. i would hate it just the same if people think i go to harvard...</p>
<p>...because I GO TO PENN (well, in a few months)</p>