<p>I read a comment from a student saying that Beloit College has been called the "Yale of the Midwest," source not named. How can this be, when it's clearly an LAC? lol</p>
<p>The Williams of Wisconsin, maybe?</p>
<p>^ is that saying much?</p>
<p>I think UChicago is the Yale of the west…</p>
<p>I guess you could technically call any college the “Yale of the Midwest.” But that person just sounds kinda silly.</p>
<p>See this link:
[Beloit</a> College Summer 2005 Magazine - Commencement Address - Harvard of the Midwest? I’ll Pass.](<a href=“Beloit College Magazine • Beloit College”>Beloit College Magazine • Beloit College)</p>
<p>Every time I see Beloit, I think “Bel-WHA” even though I know that it’s pronounced the way it looks. I wonder how many visitors and prospective students pronounce it incorrectly?</p>
<p>How about: “Bard of the Breadbasket?”</p>
<p>No way. Yale of the Mid-west would probably be Northwestern.</p>
<p>I would see it this way:</p>
<p>Northwestern - “Harvard of the Midwest”.</p>
<p>UChicago - “Yale of the Midwest”.</p>
<p>How should I base comparisons?</p>
<p>^ Strength of programs, more or less.</p>
<p>I’ve never even heard of it.</p>
<p>^ For programs, I’m fairly certain that I want to major in anthropology and languages.</p>
<p>My mom grew up in Beloit. There is no way Beloit College could be “The Yale of the Midwest” simply due to the fact that it’s located in Beloit.</p>
<p>WUSTL (10 char)</p>
<p>A sketchy, off-the-cuff history of that title, with absolutely no attempt at citations:</p>
<p>Beloit College was the oldest LAC in the midwest, founded in the mid-1800s by Yale students. The college is set on a bluff overlooking the Rock river on a series of Indian mounds. It was considered a sacred site by the Indians and when the French arrived they called it "Belle something - perhaps Loire? - the exact name is lost but it was considered one of the most beautiful spots in the area. Along came “Progress” in the form of turn of the century industrialists and on this most beautiful site, where the college was already existing, there sprung up many factories utilizing the Rock river’s hydroelectric capabilities. Another “gorgeous” city was being developed further east and so the industrialists named the town “Beloit” after “Detroit.” </p>
<p>The title “Yale of the Midwest” is a historical name but Beloit College, because of and in spite of the town, is a great school (though not for everyone). I don’t think the Midwestern colleges need to be called “Yale of” anything - they stand on their own.</p>
<p>I think it diminishes schools to call them the Harvard of anything (except in a joking or ironic matter). Let them stand on their own merits. Harvard is not the Platonic form of colleges.</p>
<p>Yes, you’re right. ^</p>
<p>Gary, Indiana is sort of the New Haven of the Midwest…</p>