What are the top colleges in “real America?”

[Anonymous]

Yes if you live in Texas and go to Texas - Austin it’s elite

If you are down to earth American you go to UNC, but it’s Elite, if you go to Duke (private) you are elitist.

Michigan, Chicago, VA, FLA are both elite and elitist.

If you live in Alabama it is elite to go to Alabama, no matter what the rest of elitists think.

[Anonymous]

My family liked JMU and Virginia Tech in the Shenandoah Valley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To answer OP question, football schools Bama and Clemson are perceived as football schools, not as elite schools. However, they are not without other known benefits, things like Bama scholarships, honors dorms, and in person classes.

The reputation of a particular college somewhere out in the middle of the country isn't particularly important in the big picture. What matters is the reputation among employers/grad schools and whether college reputation tends to be considered in the particular field of work.

And even that is so dependent on your goals. “Employers” are not a monolith. If you want to work on Wall Street, sure a degree from Clemson probably isn’t going to do much for you. If you want a nice, well-paying, stable job in fields like business, education, engineering, etc. in South Carolina or other parts of the South (and lots of kids at Clemson DO want that, and literally could not care less what an employer on Wall Street would think of their degree) then Clemson is basically a golden ticket.

I graduated from JMU. Not exactly an elite school. But it is very well-regarded by the employers that I CARED ABOUT (my degree is in education and I wanted a general classroom position at a public school in NoVA) so that was that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to skip the "real America" reference and just assume OP is talking about out of the DC area.

I'm from Southern California but have done time in Boston and DC) In LA, people here are pretty involved in USC and the UC system (UCLA, UCSB, etc).

I would say that UVA or William and Mary are not on their radar. Some schools I see people talking about on this forum I've not heard of, or have heard of but don't know where they are or what they are known for.

+1 I grew up in LA in an affluent suburb. The focus was really on the UCs and only the very top students in my class applied to Ivies and Stanford (if their parents could afford them).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To answer OP question, football schools Bama and Clemson are perceived as football schools, not as elite schools. However, they are not without other known benefits, things like Bama scholarships, honors dorms, and in person classes.

The reputation of a particular college somewhere out in the middle of the country isn't particularly important in the big picture. What matters is the reputation among employers/grad schools and whether college reputation tends to be considered in the particular field of work.

And even that is so dependent on your goals. “Employers” are not a monolith. If you want to work on Wall Street, sure a degree from Clemson probably isn’t going to do much for you. If you want a nice, well-paying, stable job in fields like business, education, engineering, etc. in South Carolina or other parts of the South (and lots of kids at Clemson DO want that, and literally could not care less what an employer on Wall Street would think of their degree) then Clemson is basically a golden ticket.

I graduated from JMU. Not exactly an elite school. But it is very well-regarded by the employers that I CARED ABOUT (my degree is in education and I wanted a general classroom position at a public school in NoVA) so that was that.

None of what you said is true. I have friend that went to both Clemson and JMU working on Wall Street and there is a huge financial market in Charlotte.

[Anonymous]

What is "real America"? Honest question. Nearly 127M people live on the US East/West coasts, which makes it about 40% of the total population. Why do people insist on discounting 40% of the US population as not being the "real" America? Furthermore, the CA economy is $3T, while East Coast is $2T so, yeah, economic engines. And the historical impact of the E coast? Give me a break. But yeah, political attacks keep insisting that the coasts are not "real America"

[Anonymous]

I live in "real America" and no one here has heard of my elite liberal arts college or any of the other elite liberal arts colleges. Amherst (not where I went, but similar, just to give you an example) means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. People think you must've gone to a random school that's obviously worse than Ohio State (etc.). People would definitely impressed by Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, flagship state schools. I am honestly not sure a lot of people here would even know what Princeton or Duke or Vanderbilt is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is "real America"? Honest question. Nearly 127M people live on the US East/West coasts, which makes it about 40% of the total population. Why do people insist on discounting 40% of the US population as not being the "real" America?

Maybe because you twits call 60% of America "flyover country.". Do you folk even read the drivel on DCUM? I won't send my kid to the South because of the racism... Wisky is Naziland... etc etc...
You expect people to worship the shit your Ivy League kid steps in.
There are elite, good and mediocre colleges spread throughout the country. Most people don't know much about any elite colleges. DCUM posters seem to have quite limited knowledge of most colleges outside of the Ivy League and maybe NESCAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "real America"? Honest question. Nearly 127M people live on the US East/West coasts, which makes it about 40% of the total population. Why do people insist on discounting 40% of the US population as not being the "real" America?

Maybe because you twits call 60% of America "flyover country.". Do you folk even read the drivel on DCUM? I won't send my kid to the South because of the racism... Wisky is Naziland... etc etc...
You expect people to worship the shit your Ivy League kid steps in.
There are elite, good and mediocre colleges spread throughout the country. Most people don't know much about any elite colleges. DCUM posters seem to have quite limited knowledge of most colleges outside of the Ivy League and maybe NESCAC.

And you all don’t stereotype us so-called “coastal elites”? I’m damn sick of you telling me I don’t live in real America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "real America"? Honest question. Nearly 127M people live on the US East/West coasts, which makes it about 40% of the total population. Why do people insist on discounting 40% of the US population as not being the "real" America?

Maybe because you twits call 60% of America "flyover country.". Do you folk even read the drivel on DCUM? I won't send my kid to the South because of the racism... Wisky is Naziland... etc etc...
You expect people to worship the shit your Ivy League kid steps in.
There are elite, good and mediocre colleges spread throughout the country. Most people don't know much about any elite colleges. DCUM posters seem to have quite limited knowledge of most colleges outside of the Ivy League and maybe NESCAC.

Exactly this. I find it amusing that several posters are offended by the term “real America” - when no doubt many of them use the term “flyover country” without a second thought. Too funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "real America"? Honest question. Nearly 127M people live on the US East/West coasts, which makes it about 40% of the total population. Why do people insist on discounting 40% of the US population as not being the "real" America?

Maybe because you twits call 60% of America "flyover country.". Do you folk even read the drivel on DCUM? I won't send my kid to the South because of the racism... Wisky is Naziland... etc etc...
You expect people to worship the shit your Ivy League kid steps in.
There are elite, good and mediocre colleges spread throughout the country. Most people don't know much about any elite colleges. DCUM posters seem to have quite limited knowledge of most colleges outside of the Ivy League and maybe NESCAC.

And you all don’t stereotype us so-called “coastal elites”? I’m damn sick of you telling me I don’t live in real America.

Yawn. Tell us what you really think of those who live in “flyover country.”
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "real America"? Honest question. Nearly 127M people live on the US East/West coasts, which makes it about 40% of the total population. Why do people insist on discounting 40% of the US population as not being the "real" America?

Maybe because you twits call 60% of America "flyover country.". Do you folk even read the drivel on DCUM? I won't send my kid to the South because of the racism... Wisky is Naziland... etc etc...
You expect people to worship the shit your Ivy League kid steps in.
There are elite, good and mediocre colleges spread throughout the country. Most people don't know much about any elite colleges. DCUM posters seem to have quite limited knowledge of most colleges outside of the Ivy League and maybe NESCAC.

OP here, I grew up in the South and I won't send my kids there for college for exactly that reason. I grew up there. I don't want my kids to have to go through the same thing. And no, not everyone who lives on the coasts goes to an Ivy. That's your prejudice and not reality. My whole point was that there's large swaths of a certain political party which seem to discount the idea that there can be multiple "real" American realities. It's a huge freaking country and with over 300M people, we are bound to have subcultures. So the idea that there is one "real America" is nonsensical babble and panders to a certain crowd. I always find it logically strange that one would discount the historical "real America" (the colonial America and our country's birthplace) as somehow not our current perception of "real America" because somehow the home of the Liberty Bell, the Boston tea party, and this country's foundation doesn't count anymore. That is just odd to me. But hey, bias got to bias.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "real America"? Honest question. Nearly 127M people live on the US East/West coasts, which makes it about 40% of the total population. Why do people insist on discounting 40% of the US population as not being the "real" America?

Maybe because you twits call 60% of America "flyover country.". Do you folk even read the drivel on DCUM? I won't send my kid to the South because of the racism... Wisky is Naziland... etc etc...
You expect people to worship the shit your Ivy League kid steps in.
There are elite, good and mediocre colleges spread throughout the country. Most people don't know much about any elite colleges. DCUM posters seem to have quite limited knowledge of most colleges outside of the Ivy League and maybe NESCAC.

OP here, I grew up in the South and I won't send my kids there for college for exactly that reason. I grew up there. I don't want my kids to have to go through the same thing. And no, not everyone who lives on the coasts goes to an Ivy. That's your prejudice and not reality. My whole point was that there's large swaths of a certain political party which seem to discount the idea that there can be multiple "real" American realities. It's a huge freaking country and with over 300M people, we are bound to have subcultures. So the idea that there is one "real America" is nonsensical babble and panders to a certain crowd. I always find it logically strange that one would discount the historical "real America" (the colonial America and our country's birthplace) as somehow not our current perception of "real America" because somehow the home of the Liberty Bell, the Boston tea party, and this country's foundation doesn't count anymore. That is just odd to me. But hey, bias got to bias.

*PP not OP

[Anonymous]

Lots of DCUM folks getting upset over the term "real America." Must have hit a soft spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of DCUM folks getting upset over the term "real America." Must have hit a soft spot.

The hilarious part is all these "real America" defenders are on a DC parent forum, which means they must've abandoned "real America" to come out to the "elite bubble" for a reason. Sort of does a disservice to their cause.