<p>I suspect may parents encourage (to varying degrees) their children to explore schools that pass their "car window sticker test" (ie, if your child attended that school, would you put a school sticker on your car window?).</p>
<p>"Kids don't put Harvard stickers on their rear windshields, parents do." WSJ 3/23/2012 </p>
<p>"At some point, parents are going to decide that $160,000 is too high a price if all you get is an empty credential and a fancy car-window sticker." NYT 4/19/2012</p>
<p>Which schools pass your "car window sticker test"?</p>
<p>Would a ranking of Universities and Colleges based on the number of car window stickers sold be any less meaningful than the US News rankings?</p>
<p>Lol, none. We just don’t put stickers on our cars. :P. However, any school my kid actually graduates from, and then is subsequently gainfully employed is sticker worthy in my book.</p>
<p>Any school that my child decides to attend! I’m not so shallow that I wouldn’t put a sticker on from X College if I didn’t think the neighbors would approve. Quite frankly, that’s not how my neighborhood & town roll & I am exceedingly grateful for that.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Although I met my wife at our undergraduate institution, which I feel comfortable saying would pass the window-sticker test of any parent who’d affix a sticker in the first place, in the course of assisting our kids through college search and selection, we have both come to appreciate that a lot of colleges and universities that weren’t on our radar screens a generation ago have a tremendous amount to offer. We have also come to realize that our famous, fancy alma mater would be a terrible choice for both of our kids. If anybody wants to know why I’m so excited about [college in my rear window] that I’d put a sticker on my car, I’ll be happy to tell him.</p></li>
<li><p>If a college were so wrong for my kid that I wouldn’t want to put the sticker in my back window, I wouldn’t let her go there. Or at least, if she went there, she’d have to sell a lot of cocaine on the side, because I wouldn’t be paying for it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>FWIW, I did put a license-plate frame on my car just before my now-freshman daughter came back from her gap year abroad. She was pleased to see it when I picked her up at the airport.</p>
<p>As RobD will confirm, the only thing you have to worry about in our town is that you have the wrong SEC school sticker on your car and the opposing team’s fans will honk at you!</p>
<p>And in that case, it’s not just the sticker, but the flags on the side of the car on game day. Or the other parephernalia that just might go with your school…</p>
<p>But yes, I guess I wouldn’t dare embarass myself by putting a school sticker on my car of any school that isn’t an NCAA D1 National Football Champion. I draw the line there. It’s OK if it’s Ivy League, since they don’t give out athletic scholarships–sorta explains what goes on there.</p>
<p>And Sewanee is OK, since ESPN declared their 1899 football team the Best College Football Team of All-Time, beating out even the 1961 Alabama team.</p>
<p>So I guess the following for me are OK</p>
<p>U of Alabama
Any Ivy League School
Sewanee</p>
<p>Oh, and Cal Tech. 'Cause after losing so many league games in basketball, they finally beat Occidental in 2011. So then definitely not Occidental.</p>
<p>Amended list</p>
<p>U of Alabama
Any Ivy League School
Sewanee
Cal Tech</p>
<p>I read them with interest, when on the highways. Always have a little twinge when it’s Great Name, Great Name, Great Name and Complete Nowhere U. I usually hope that last kid isn’t overwhelmed by the sibs.</p>
<p>I don’t have any stickers on my car, but the “free” sticker we got from ds1’s college is taped near my computer. I can see it right now.</p>
<p>That said, I’ve been considering adding college stickers because I really like seeing others’ and figure I could add to the fun and might get some publicity for ds1’s school, which isn’t well known in this part of the world. It definitely would not be because I would get a lot of reflected glory from his bumper sticker. Most people would say, “Huh?”</p>
<p>I wouldn’t put stickers on my car windows, period. But you should be aware that many parents with kids at Harvard are embarrassed to put “Harvard” on their car, just as many Harvard students try to avoid telling people where they go. Maybe they should make a sticker that reads “my kid goes to school in the Boston area,” because that is what a lot of Harvard kids and parents say.</p>
<p>Lookingforward - ours will APPEAR that way.</p>
<p>We have “great name”, “regional state college”</p>
<p>The deal is, the great name is great for one major, but would have been HORRIBLE for the other, the regional state college is FANTASTIC for the kid and the major that she’s there for. She’s intellectually capable of being ANYWHERE. We’re proud of her, and we love her school - she knows that. ;)</p>
<p>I don’t like car stickers either - mostly because I don’t want to mar up my car. But I have considered the easy peel off decal thingies. Again - I think it’s best to make sure the kids doing well before plastering your car with ANYTHING. How embarrassing to be out there scraping stickers off when junior flunks out! LOL</p>
<p>Comp mom -
My husband wont have any stickers on his t-bird, but he does on the truck.
I have a decal on my Jeep from a community college I recently attended. The front license plate holder is from my oldests high school, the back is from my youngests. I also have decals from both of their undergrad schools, as well as from a community where we vacationed for 20+ years.
My gym parking decal, a sticker for the toll bridge, and a rainbow Apple decal( from the '90s). A Seattle Mariners font Pearl Jam sticker. My Sound Steward decal, & one that says “wag more, bark less”.
( I like stickers, you should see my guitar case! )</p>
<p>I am not the worlds greatest parent but I can’t imagine being so shallow that I considered the perceived prestige of an affiliation before making my association with it public.</p>
<p>Who is more important, random strangers on the street or your own children?</p>
<p>Don’t know about stickers. My H wears our D’s (and his) college logo T-shirt all the time. It’s sparked some great conversations from total strangers. </p>
<p>I have a red Brown T-shirt. You’d be amazed at the number of people who think it’s making fun of the color blind.</p>
<p>cromette and others, I went down to refill my coffee and had an awful thought I may have worded that badly. Sorry. You are so right and next time I see that sort of thing, I’ll remember your words. :)</p>
<p>I am coming from, sort of, compmom’s perspective. We joke that when you ask someone where he/she went to college and they say “Boston,” it so often code for Harvard. Sometimes, they’ll admit, “Cambridge.” Same thing for Columbia- for some reason, those we know say, “in NYC.”</p>
<p>I’ve got a license plate frame touting my alma mater. When my kids can afford to buy their own cars, they can put on decorations from their own schools.</p>
)</p>