<p>Kid’s college??? I didn’t know you were supposed to flaunt your kid’s school. Our cars have OUR university stickers on them. DS can mar up his own car with his own alma mater. ;)</p>
<p>I’ve always assumed the sticker reflected the driver.</p>
<p>A friend put a sticker on his car, cut up to say</p>
<p>STAN
FORD</p>
<p>Parent of Happykid’s U sticker in the rear window of the car where everyone can see it. Not one that gets much comment here, but the perfect place for her right now. Why shouldn’t we be happy that people know?</p>
<p>Lookingforward: I wasn’t offended. 
Actually we had to reinforce our viewpoint with D2 (regional college kid) when D3 (cool state flagship kid) got accepted and everyone started making a big fuss! So you’re ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!</p>
<p>Her response, “Oh wow. I guess I’m definitely not measuring up to that.” I reminded her that she would have been an automatic admit to that flagship, but it didn’t offer what she needed, and it wouldn’t have been right for her anyway - the whole vibe was wrong - and that her Dad and her Uncle went to her awesome college, and that we LOVE where she is and what she’s doing and we wouldn’t have it any other way and are EXTREMELY proud of her. Not to mention, she has been VERY high performing there - and D3 still has that road AHEAD of her. Just as proud of her! :)</p>
<p>RE: Harvard. I’ve told this story on CC before, but a friend of mine swears that he once overheard the following conversation between two twenty-somethings on the Metro in DC:</p>
<p>Man #1: So, where did you go to college?
Man #2: Uh…Boston.
Man #1: Oh, really? What House?</p>
<p>I should note, however, that my friend has been known to value telling a good story above many other things, so I can’t swear that the story is not apocryphal.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You may see it differently, but I assume it’s been 25 years since anybody cared where *I *went to college.</p>
<p>We were driving to visit our son in Pittsburgh and stopped for gas on the toll road in Indiana. The couple in the next car noticed our Carnegie Mellon window decal and asked about it. We started talking and eventually discovered that their daughter had been in Brownies with my niece. In the Chicago suburbs! I told my niece she was known up and down the rest stops in Indiana.</p>
<p>I think most people around here are not really aware of CMU’s reputation. In seven years of looking, I’ve only once seen another car with their decal. So I sort of think of it as my little secret. And it helps me find the car in parking lots!</p>
<p>IngerP, that is your choice for your sweatshirt & decals to only reflect your own affiliation- although many schools welcome parent involvement (& $$$), just as they did in K -12.</p>
<p>We pay five figures per year going toward these " interests", I figure if I want to wear a sweatshirt that says " University of Portlandia", I will.
;)</p>
<p>I don’t put stickers on my windows, but D1 attends the University of Alabama and I proudly slapped a big ol’ Alabama “A” magnet on my car. And if D2 ends up attending our local CC and they have a magnet, that will be sitting right next to it. If I’m willing to send my child to a school, I’m certainly willing to let all the traffic on the highway know that. If the school isn’t good enough for my car, it’s certainly not worthy of my child.</p>
<p>Marilyn,One of our cars in Virginia has a Carnegie Mellon sticker on it. My husband’s alma mater. Also has my alma mater sticker,Pitt, so two Pittsburgh school stickers on one car. But my car has our kid’s stickers on it-two different ACC schools(UVa and VT). Stickers do sometimes start conservations, as do t shirts and hats. That can be fun.</p>
<p>^^^I struck up a friendship at the gym with an elderly woman when I was wearing a tshirt from my daughters school. Her daughter had attended the same school ( in the 1960s) and was now a prof at a university " in Boston".</p>
<p>The only time I would hesitate to put a sticker on my car would be if it were for a women’s college and I lived nearby. Why advertise that a parked car in a public lot is likely to belong to a woman who might be approaching it alone?!
Otherwise I am very proud to support my kids’ decisions!</p>
<p>I don’t ruin good cars by affixing college decals or any bumper stickers to them. I don’t need to brag or frankly, let anyone else know. Who do I have to impress? Random people in parking lots? Please. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why? Maybe it’s a family where everyone is genuinely pleased for one another’s decisions and accomplishments and it’s not a competition.</p>
<p>My parents had window clings for both my and my sisters colleges on their cars. I had an alumni one in my window till the day I went to trade it in and it was stuck to the car window… Had to use a razor to get it off! Now I won’t put any on it! I don’t like bumper stickers… I could never ruin a car by affixing something to it like that.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID BIONIC using CC</p>
<p>PG, Lookingforward already clarified that statement a little bit. Didn’t mean it quite like it sounded.</p>
<p>But I can tell you from personal experience, that if you suddenly have a kid in the mix that has a “great name”, the other kid may need to be REassured. 
Siblings OFTEN naturally compete - even if it’s discouraged in the family</p>
<p>Don’t really see how putting a decal on a car window that I am going to keep for at least 15 years is “ruining” it.
When I find I have a very popular model, it also helps me tell which one is mine in the parking lot!
;)</p>
<p>We’re willing to support any school my guys attend. We have two stickers on now and the guys are happy we “advertise” for them in case others from our area want to join them.</p>
<p>A car is just a car. Looking at things on it can make things more interesting on a boring drive. That said, we, personally, don’t do bumper stickers or the like. I have no problem with college stickers or alumni license plate holders.</p>
<p>emeraldkity4 - WOW, 15 years? My cars never hold up that long. I put 30,000 miles on a car in a year.</p>
<p>DS goes to a small school that is very well-known in our state. When an alumnus sees the sticker, it always leads to conversations. We are proud of his choice but it isn’t about one-upping the neighbors. In my state plenty of people have college decals on their cars for schools simply because they are fans of Notre Dame, Purdue or IU. Many never stepped foot on the campus outside the stadium.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There would probably be a size and locality bias as well as a “prestige” bias.</p>