Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child’s first choice school is Penn. I had mentioned that it would be a reach for him and that usually 1 kid gets in from our school. At some point, I realized that they thought I was referring to Penn State. When I mentioned UPenn was an Ivy League school, they seemed confused. These are Americans. Do people really not know the difference????

Most people don’t care that much about ivies. That’s really what it’s about. They were confused why you felt the need to bring that up.

My kid applied here. It’s really a reach. It’s an Ivy, BTW…. It’s how you sound. It wasn’t a confused look on their face. You misinterpreted.

[Anonymous]

I’m from the west coast and did not realize there was a U Penn and Penn State until living in the DC area. I only found out that Penn was in the Ivy League a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that for some people, differences between colleges is not relevant to their daily existence. But if you are in a white collar job working with people who went to some of these schools, you should have a cursory knowledge of some of this.

Also, it is surprising that some people posting here don't know some of the basic differences because by opting into posting here, they are showing that they care about this topic. Though if they are using this as a way to educate themselves, credit to them for trying - you have to start somewhere.

Why?

It is basic cultural literacy. One does not need to know the intricate details of these schools that so many people go into on DCUM. But having a basic knowledge of what they are, where they are, a general pecking order (again, not to the extreme that people go to here, just that Harvard>Fairleigh Dickinson). It's like if you went to a business meal and someone didn't know basic rules of etiquette. Not the real nuanced rules, but basic things like "don't eat spaghetti with your fingers" or "put your napkin on your lap." If your colleague says they are taking their kid to visit Duke, you don't necessarily need to know it is in Durham, but you should at least know it is a pretty good school in NC.

I'm sure I will take a lot of heat for this. But this is really table stakes. And I provided plenty of qualifiers to make clear that my bar is not that high.

60% of Americans don’t have a college degree. Why are they obligated to learn the social nuances of the (fake) “pecking order” of colleges they don’t attend that have little relevance to their daily lives as basic ‘cultural literacy’

My DC attends a T75 that is not a household name in the DMV. The usual interaction is “where is that” followed by a brief description and then “oh that sounds nice.”

That’s all that is needed. If you are happy with your kid’s choice it will be conveyed successfully.

If you are a snob trying to use college choice as a bludgeon to show your family’s alleged superiority that will come across too.

Agreed that not everyone needs to know this. But Every. Single. Poster. here is obsessed with their kid working at Goldman, MBB, Jane Street (the only fund they have actually heard of), etc. If your kid wants to work at these places and succeed, they need to know this stuff.

Everyone here thinks that because their kid takes 19 APs and took Calc as a freshman and scored high on standardized tests they deserve to be running the world based on "merit." Nope. You need to be able to socialize with and interact with the big boys.

And note that the opposite is also true. If in this situations you come across as a pretentious, obnoxious snob who is constantly name dropping, that won't go over well either. Just because you know these things doesn't mean you need to constantly be advertising it.

I know this is painful to hear. But it is reality. I am admittedly a bit of a snob. But I'm also a realist.

LOL

Nobody cares what you think, ma’am. Go lean in somewhere and STFU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve run into quite a few people who think Purdue is private.

I had no idea until about 5 years ago that Clemson is a middling state U. Why? Because I DGAF and am not from the South. It doesn’t sound like a state U, and I suspect that many Virginia schools have that issue in other parts of the country. (JMU, GMU, William & Mary, Christopher Newport, on and on)

[Anonymous]

I went to Penn 40 years ago. I was the first kid in my small hometown to go there and when I came back for holidays everyone would talk about the great football team at Penn. They clearly thought I was at Penn State.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve run into quite a few people who think Purdue is private.

I had no idea until about 5 years ago that Clemson is a middling state U. Why? Because I DGAF and am not from the South. It doesn’t sound like a state U, and I suspect that many Virginia schools have that issue in other parts of the country. (JMU, GMU, William & Mary, Christopher Newport, on and on)

Today I learned that Clemson is a public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve run into quite a few people who think Purdue is private.

I had no idea until about 5 years ago that Clemson is a middling state U. Why? Because I DGAF and am not from the South. It doesn’t sound like a state U, and I suspect that many Virginia schools have that issue in other parts of the country. (JMU, GMU, William & Mary, Christopher Newport, on and on)

Today I learned that Clemson is a public school.

College of Charleston is also a public school, which I didn’t know until 2 months ago!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve run into quite a few people who think Purdue is private.

I had no idea until about 5 years ago that Clemson is a middling state U. Why? Because I DGAF and am not from the South. It doesn’t sound like a state U, and I suspect that many Virginia schools have that issue in other parts of the country. (JMU, GMU, William & Mary, Christopher Newport, on and on)

Today I learned that Clemson is a public school.

Hahahaha, thanks for that. Now I feel better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve run into quite a few people who think Purdue is private.

I had no idea until about 5 years ago that Clemson is a middling state U. Why? Because I DGAF and am not from the South. It doesn’t sound like a state U, and I suspect that many Virginia schools have that issue in other parts of the country. (JMU, GMU, William & Mary, Christopher Newport, on and on)

Today I learned that Clemson is a public school.

College of Charleston is also a public school, which I didn’t know until 2 months ago!

I’m the Clemson poster. Today I learned College of Charleston is a public school! I bet the other just-learned-about-Clemson poster just learned this too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t really know until my daughter was a senior. And I’m very educated. Family all academics. My grandfather taught at UPenn, my mom got her undergrad there, and my husband his pdh (before we were together). I’d get them mixed up a bunch. Didn’t really matter to me. In retrospect my mom corrected me a lot But it never really registered. Now it does but it took a while. (I knew the difference just switched the names and then said oh yeah my bad)

Never heard of Williams until I read an article about a friend's husband's father in the Washington Post. In my 20s. It stuck with me because it suggested that Williams Art History majors were dominant in big deal curator jobs.

Many years later I ran across an old Williams yearbook from pre-1900 at our summer cottage but did not even open it. A few years later I realized my great-grandfather graduated from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that for some people, differences between colleges is not relevant to their daily existence. But if you are in a white collar job working with people who went to some of these schools, you should have a cursory knowledge of some of this.

Also, it is surprising that some people posting here don't know some of the basic differences because by opting into posting here, they are showing that they care about this topic. Though if they are using this as a way to educate themselves, credit to them for trying - you have to start somewhere.

Why?

It is basic cultural literacy. One does not need to know the intricate details of these schools that so many people go into on DCUM. But having a basic knowledge of what they are, where they are, a general pecking order (again, not to the extreme that people go to here, just that Harvard>Fairleigh Dickinson). It's like if you went to a business meal and someone didn't know basic rules of etiquette. Not the real nuanced rules, but basic things like "don't eat spaghetti with your fingers" or "put your napkin on your lap." If your colleague says they are taking their kid to visit Duke, you don't necessarily need to know it is in Durham, but you should at least know it is a pretty good school in NC.

I'm sure I will take a lot of heat for this. But this is really table stakes. And I provided plenty of qualifiers to make clear that my bar is not that high.

You don't need to know a pecking order unless you plan to be doing some pecking yourself. Or allowing other people to snob all over you.

Humans are not pedigreed animals. You should have some faith that bright people can come from anywhere. And they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve run into quite a few people who think Purdue is private.

I had no idea until about 5 years ago that Clemson is a middling state U. Why? Because I DGAF and am not from the South. It doesn’t sound like a state U, and I suspect that many Virginia schools have that issue in other parts of the country. (JMU, GMU, William & Mary, Christopher Newport, on and on)

Today I learned that Clemson is a public school.

Me too. Not like it matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child’s first choice school is Penn. I had mentioned that it would be a reach for him and that usually 1 kid gets in from our school. At some point, I realized that they thought I was referring to Penn State. When I mentioned UPenn was an Ivy League school, they seemed confused. These are Americans. Do people really not know the difference????

They’re YOUR kid. Did you not teach them the difference?

I think OP just wrote that imprecisely and is talking about a conversation she had with others ABOUT her kid, not a conversation she had WITH her kid. I am assuming this from the use of "these are Americans" (plural) to refer to the participants in the conversation.

Ironically while thinking she’s superior to Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's refreshing to me in Michigan how completely unimpressed people here are with my Georgetown degree (as much as the topic ever comes up). I've mentioned it several times here on DCUM. I'm the 03/12/2025 13:00 "LOL Georgetown" poster:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/120/1262471.page#29649794

My sister went to (then) Seton Hill College (now Seton Hill University), which of course is not Seton Hall University (named for same Seton though).

The only people who are impressed by Georgetown degree are from Georgetown

In the 80s Georgetown was a basketball power and the coach insisted on DEI before it was a thing so there were players who had no business being at Georgetown academically. As positive as basketball was for the school in some way, there were some who saw these players as the face of the University and assumed it was not a good academic schools.

I don't think you know what DEI is. Admitting a stellar black basketball player is not DEI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difference between Penn and Harvard is that at Harvard everyone says they go to school “in Boston” because they want you to believe they’re humble, whereas at Penn, people are crass enough to allow themselves to be seen to care about being mixed up with Penn State.

lol no! We say school “in Boston” because people act weird if we mention Harvard. Like the nail salons suddenly charge extra, parents with kids in school start getting obnoxious with their questions about how to get in, parents with older kids who did not get into Harvard get insecure and start bragging about their kids,….IYKYK it’s a PITA.

This is spot on. It's so strange how people think this is braggy when it's literally the opposite. We just don't want yet another awkward conversation.

Signed,

someone who went to college "in Connecticut."