<p>“Which schools pass your “Car Window Sticker Test”?”</p>
<p>U-Dub, hands down. Ahhh, hometown pride! As long as don’t drive the car to the Cougar country, my car is safe… :)</p>
<p>My car has another sticker, a small school that starts with a “W”, too. D’s legacy. :)</p>
<p>This talk about prestige is so funny to me.
Im assuming OP wants someone to like them, which is why you want to impress them right? </p>
<p>The schools could be Ivies- engineering programs- music conservatories, sports powerhouses… It really doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>This is what happens when you try and impress someone by name dropping.</p>
<p>a. They are familiar with the schools you mention, because they have also been involved with similar schools- so basically you are saying" I am part of your tribe- let me in" and they open the door.</p>
<p>b. they are vaguely familiar with the names of the schools, in as much as they know the names alone are supposed to invoke some sort of " shock & awe". However they are unlikely to have much first hand experience with them, but they are gratifyingly impressed with you when you mention your families affiliation. This is the group that those who name drop are aiming for and the result they want is for their audience to applaud & say " we are not worthy" ( note- exaggerating a wee bit for effect)</p>
<p>C. The third group is the one i am in. A long time ago i had a co worker, who went to Brown, my boss who hired her expected me to be " really impressed" I could tell, but I didn’t know what it was other than some school back east- i figured it was a womens college, like Smith ( I’d read " The Group" so id heard of the womens colleges - also assuming there was also probably one called " Jones" & maybe an " Andersen" 
)</p>
<p>There are things that impress me, saying you have climbed Annapurna or Mt Rainier, giving birth without drugs, ( raising children without an aupair is even more impressive), & like Liz Lemon- my reasons always come in threes, so I will admit i have an awful short term memory and being able to quote accurately off the top of your head or recite poetry has always impressed me.</p>
<p>But the name of your kids school? Not so much. The names of where my kids attended school might impress you, but that isn’t my fault. It also isn’t my fault that I think UPenn is a state university, or that Yale is where you go for graduate school not your BA.</p>
<p>I’m sorry that you expected for me to be a CEO or a corporate attorney judging by where my kids attend school, and I’m sorry that you are disappointed that neither I or my husband have money or education. However, I am proud that they got into these schools on need based merit scholarships whereas you had to pay about what we earn a year, to send your kids there.
Perhaps life is fair after all. ;)</p>
<p>I show as much enthusiasm for parents who announce their kids are going to Central Washington University, as Williams, because really what is the difference?</p>
<p>They are your kids, they have worked hard in high school and now they are growing up and moving on with their lives. Their time with you is history now. They are starting their life.</p>
<p>I have stickers on my car because I like to see them. They remind me of my kids and of the things we’ve done. They aren’t there to impress anyone- because my windows are tinted so dark no one can see them anyway. but I smile when I see them. :D</p>
<p>^This is brilliant, and true.</p>
<p>And then there’s logo wear:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1403090-why-do-students-fancy-schools-always-wear-school-branded-apparel.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1403090-why-do-students-fancy-schools-always-wear-school-branded-apparel.html</a></p>
<p>Aren’t many back windows tinted these days (at least mine are). No one would see the decal even if I put one in there.</p>
<p>^^Yup. My rear windows are tinted, and I have stickers there. I can see them in the rear view mirror. If someone can read the University of Chicago in the tiny logo decal S1 said was acceptable (he was not comfortable with a big one), more power to him/her.</p>
<p>Hmmm… if someone can read a tiny decal through a tinted window, they are either (a) standing next to your car in a parking lot or (b) you’ve had a fender-bender and they are on top of your bumper!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Maybe because you’re in the south?</p>
<p>" Quote:
Aren’t many back windows tinted these days (at least mine are). </p>
<p>Maybe because you’re in the south?"</p>
<p>I had no idea this was a regional thing.</p>
<p>CD isn’t in the south. Seems the rear windows on crossovers and/or SUVs seem to be tinted.</p>
<p>Fun discussion! I love my little back window sticker with “Guacho Parent” on it because it is meaningless to 999 out of 1000 people here in Texas (one in a thousand might even be an overestimate). It is my little secret and daily reminds me of S, who I miss desperately! One unexpected bonus, it also helps me find my car…
As I posted last fall, when S was rejected from H’s alma mater, H went down (at work, not home) and ripped his alumni license plate holder off with his bare hands and threw it in the trash. He still refuses to watch their football games or wear anything from the school, which I think is taking it a bit far. Four generations on both sides of his family went there, though, so what do I know?<br>
S didn’t even apply to my school and I don’t blame him, it was not a good fit. Mine is well known in this area, I would feel silly putting it on my car 25 years after graduating.</p>
<p>They make stickers to go on the outside of tinted windows. Only the letters are stuck onto the glass so you don’t have that rectangular sheet of “tranparent” plastic to collect dirt and cloud up.</p>
<p>Yes, the window stickers are not decals, they are actually stickers that adhere to the outside of the windows and are surprisingly durable, though completely removeable. I just changed mine last month when I got one from my college freshman’s school. I used a blow dryer to remove the old sticker, from his sister’s school, since she graduated in 2010. I only keep current schools on my car. I am not a prestige seeker though, I have a used stickers from all my kids schools, which include regional state schools.</p>
<p>Younger s had a decal on the outside of his rear window. It faded, peeled and he took it off. It was supposed to be for the outside, I think. If so, it was an epic fail.</p>