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<p>Why can’t two schools be of roughly similar prestige? We weren’t talking about U Michigan vs Eastern Montana State. We were talking about U Michigan vs UNC. Yeah, generally speaking U Michigan is going to have stronger prestige in the midwest, and UNC in the south, but in the realm of large state public universities they’ll each get you to pretty much the same place. So why do you sweat these differences? Why is it necessary to compare them? Why isn’t the answer “they are in the same ballpark” enough?</p>
<p>My kids happen to be looking at some LAC’s that from a rankings basis, range from maybe #8 or so down to the low 20’s / early 30’s. Do you know what that means? It means that they are all in the same ballpark. They all have enough prestige to get a smart, motivated person where he wants to be. Yeah, yeah, the masses know some of them more than others, and they are more well-regarded in this region versus that, and blah blah blah. But it’s all the same ballpark. Toss #60 in there, and now you’re talking about something where a prestige differential might be worth thinking about.</p>