LAC prestige analysis and reputation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is this necessary? Honestly…

You are well educated and obviously have intelligent children. Do your research and find schools that are the best fit for his educational, personal, social needs.

Why do these groupings and designations matter so much?

Yea. This. Stick it up your a$$ OP. You and your fancy Ivy League family and friends all already know what the top LACs are. It’s not like they’re a foreign concept in the Ivy League. You’re just being a weirdo. Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband & I both went to ivies for college and law school. So have most of our friends. Our DD is at Brown and our DS is considering a LAC which is new for our family.

Which of the following LACs have the most global and national prestige?

Williams: seems like the best one overall in terms of rep

Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan: "little three"

Williams, Amherst: I see them referred to as Ivy lite?

Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona: often grouped together as WASP?

Bowdoin, Middlebury: For my non-Ivy/Stanford friends, these seem like the net two highest in terms of prestige

Wesleyan: is this as prestigious as it used to be?

Carleton, Haverford: next most intellectually rigorous in terms of rep, but we prefer northeast to midwest

Wesleyan is not what it used to be and does not get kids who are T20 range from private schools in our area(NJ-NY corridor).
Stick with Williams Amherst and Swarthmore for most ivy-like LACs yet not quite as hard to get into, especially with ED. Great outcomes and all are on top-company target lists and do well with top law and top med schools.
Pomona is its own thing vibe-wise, but is top4 and right for fit for some.
Next would be Wellesley, Bowdoin, Carleton, Davidson, CMC, Mudd as far as intellectual quality. They are not ivy-level but are akin to T16-25 privates as far as outcomes/reputation.

Absolute nonsense spoken with the confidence of someone who is demonstrably clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this necessary? Honestly…

You are well educated and obviously have intelligent children. Do your research and find schools that are the best fit for his educational, personal, social needs.

Why do these groupings and designations matter so much?

+1. Isn't there a point in life where you quit trying to impress others?

It is less about impressing and more about the reputation of college's ability to educate on a deep level. Reputation matters in a tight jobs market. It is no longer 2022 when any tech degree from any school was snapped up. High level thinking is in demand, in all fields including stem. Humanities majors from top unis and top lacs are doing much better the past two hiring cycles('24, 25) than CS and stem majors outside the T20ish.
Soft skills, adaptability and problem solving are important: not all colleges teach these skills well. There OP is right to be concerned and gather opinions. hopefully they are analyzing data on all of these schools as well. Top schools with the highest proportions of top students can push the classroom far past the basics(memorization, understanding, basic application) toward analysis, evaluation, and creation: high-level application of learning to new problems.
Look at various curricula, pull up course syllabi, or better yet talk to professors. Professors understand the value of LACs but also understand they are not created equal, just as T50-75 universities are not at all on par with T15/ivy level.

But they do understand that the T16-30 are as well as the T20 SLACs are in reality no different than the vaunted T15 that you mentioned. Otherwise your post is spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously a troll post, as any serious analysis of this question would of course begin with Bucknell at the top of the prestige list.

Also, there is simply no way a couple with 4 Ivy League degrees between them would not have long since already formed strong opinions on this matter.

Fee, fi, fo, fum I smell the blood of state school strivers on D-C-U-M!

Exactly. The story is that they only attend ivys, so of course they wouldn't know anything about slacs. It's like they're asking about living in some remote, foreign country. OP, if you're as sophisticated as you claim, you'd know plenty of people that attended slacs and would already know about their reputation. Of course, this is a troll thread, so carry on . . . .

[Anonymous]

Definitely don’t go to an LAC if you’re looking for global prestige.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely don’t go to an LAC if you’re looking for global prestige.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband & I both went to ivies for college and law school. So have most of our friends. Our DD is at Brown and our DS is considering a LAC which is new for our family.

Which of the following LACs have the most global and national prestige?

Williams: seems like the best one overall in terms of rep

Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan: "little three"

Williams, Amherst: I see them referred to as Ivy lite?

Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona: often grouped together as WASP?

Bowdoin, Middlebury: For my non-Ivy/Stanford friends, these seem like the net two highest in terms of prestige

Wesleyan: is this as prestigious as it used to be?

Carleton, Haverford: next most intellectually rigorous in terms of rep, but we prefer northeast to midwest

Wesleyan is not what it used to be and does not get kids who are T20 range from private schools in our area(NJ-NY corridor).
Stick with Williams Amherst and Swarthmore for most ivy-like LACs yet not quite as hard to get into, especially with ED. Great outcomes and all are on top-company target lists and do well with top law and top med schools.
Pomona is its own thing vibe-wise, but is top4 and right for fit for some.
Next would be Wellesley, Bowdoin, Carleton, Davidson, CMC, Mudd as far as intellectual quality. They are not ivy-level but are akin to T16-25 privates as far as outcomes/reputation.

What is the meaningful difference other than Pomona getting sunshine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at Bama, UGA, Auburn, and Ole Miss.

Ah yes, those always top the SLAC lists.

[Anonymous]

They do now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband & I both went to ivies for college and law school. So have most of our friends. Our DD is at Brown and our DS is considering a LAC which is new for our family.

Which of the following LACs have the most global and national prestige?

Williams: seems like the best one overall in terms of rep

Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan: "little three"

Williams, Amherst: I see them referred to as Ivy lite?

Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona: often grouped together as WASP?

Bowdoin, Middlebury: For my non-Ivy/Stanford friends, these seem like the net two highest in terms of prestige

Wesleyan: is this as prestigious as it used to be?

Carleton, Haverford: next most intellectually rigorous in terms of rep, but we prefer northeast to midwest

If you care about “global” prestige, a SLAC is not for you. Global rankings and reputation are about grad study. Then again, Brown would not be for you by that standard either.

The best SLACs are WASP, Bowdoin, and Wellesley. That’s the first tier.

Wesleyan is still very good but is not a little three powerhouse like it was in the 80s.

[Anonymous]

Clearly a troll.

[Anonymous]

My spouse and I are also Ivy undergrad as well as med school. Our kid is really excited about LAC's. Intellectually, we completely get it and we are committed to supporting whatever he wants to do.

Emotionally, however, I have this fear that I am going to be patrolling DCUM for decades defending any slight to LAC's, explaining that there are folks who turn Ivies down to go to LAC's, etc. It's embarrassing to admit this, but it's real. Maybe the shame will fade one day. Or maybe the kid will change their mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse and I are also Ivy undergrad as well as med school. Our kid is really excited about LAC's. Intellectually, we completely get it and we are committed to supporting whatever he wants to do.

Emotionally, however, I have this fear that I am going to be patrolling DCUM for decades defending any slight to LAC's, explaining that there are folks who turn Ivies down to go to LAC's, etc. It's embarrassing to admit this, but it's real. Maybe the shame will fade one day. Or maybe the kid will change their mind.

I am guessing that you may be in academic medicine. If so, you have spent your whole life surrounded by essentially the same phenotype (Triple H etc). Don't be too hard on yourself, it's a natural feeling but understand that even academic medicine is changing. Your kid's path will not be as affected by LAC v IVY than his own talent, work ethic etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse and I are also Ivy undergrad as well as med school. Our kid is really excited about LAC's. Intellectually, we completely get it and we are committed to supporting whatever he wants to do.

Emotionally, however, I have this fear that I am going to be patrolling DCUM for decades defending any slight to LAC's, explaining that there are folks who turn Ivies down to go to LAC's, etc. It's embarrassing to admit this, but it's real. Maybe the shame will fade one day. Or maybe the kid will change their mind.

Please do not project your deficiencies on to the wider group. Those who know know, those who don't really aren't of consequence.

[Anonymous]

Be careful, OP. Williams and Swarthmore, which have only one round of ED (and well over 1/3 athletes, who are admitted ED) is a tougher ED admit than the non-SCEA Ivies. Pomona (and CMC and Harvey Mudd) are on the rise. Everyone wants to go to Pomona, but good luck getting in.