<p>I would also say that for many, as a general rule, LACs aren’t really known. There are the biggie LACs, but for many, they have been engineered with the “BIG” league names whether they are the Ivies or similar big, research schools that they don’t look beyond that group. </p>
<p>So, I think that’s why LACs aren’t as cross-matching with Ivies. Either the person is headstrong into LACs and applies to all of those or they look into Ivies. And there’s the usual generalizations about each particular group that has already been mentioned here.</p>
<p>I think if USNews were really true to their convictions, they would publish separate issues of the magazine, one for “The Best Universities” and another for “The Best Colleges”. That way, neither category would have to concede pride of place to the other. And (get this) they’d sell even more magazines!</p>
<p>JohnWesley-- you’re normally a smart guy. The fact that you brought that article into the conversation (which is WIDELY discussed and disputed, on this webpage and elsewhere), and the fact that you present this particular case as representing “widespread” belief is somewhat shocking to me.</p>
<p>If we accept that article as truth, it would be quite easy to make a strong case that Wesleyan is as or more likely to produce that particular brand of snob than most of the Ivies. Your response when this was brought up by someone else was indirect, quickly moved to a separate point, and was wholly unsatisfactory if you want to continue to hock that garbage article as worthy of consideration while simultaneously not applying its message to pretty much every school you (and I, and most reasonable people) consider peers.</p>
<p>I must not have been paying attention when the Denesiewicz article was being discussed previously; I only just stumbled upon it in the middle of a long thread in the Williams CC forum. I apologize for resurrecting so wholly discredited and thoroughly digested an article.</p>
<p>Indeed the Ivies and the little three are comparable. People go to those places for the experience. When people look back to their college days, they recall the unique experiences. Only a handful of schools can hire limos as rides for their students during formals (I know Harvard, Princeton, and Dartmouth have done that in the past; the little three can probably do that too).</p>