What do people consider the most prestigious college in the Midwest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are crazy in your fixation on "prestige", which is poorly defined, and generally unimportant. Also, in your instance on making ever-finer distinctions between things as a way to try to make yourselves feel better by ranking higher than others.
The answer- all of the schools that are mentioned here are great schools full of very smart kids. Don't believe me?
ACT 25-75
UC 32-35
NU 32-35
ND 32-35
UM 30-33 (brought down by requirement to have a high in-state population. Still has very smart kids)

ACT scores are it much of an indication re who is very smart.

Really? Then what are it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad rep based off just seeing college on resume:

ND: Virtuous, solid, outgoing kid. Was probably valedictorian of his or her high school.

Chicago: Likely very weird.

Michigan: Partier. Probably pretty smart, and outgoing. Ideal for sales/marketing.

Northwestern: Probably an arrogant dork.

Lol! This is awesome and totally accurate.

I'm an ND grad so I'd say this does pretty much describe a lot of our student body (and alumni) too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like, to the point that for some posters, football trophies matter more than Nobel Prizes?

What % of the population do you think cares about Nobel prizes, or can name one laureate? Easily less than 1% of the US population. It’s just a total non factor here.

But when you are talking about colleges and universities and prestige, to me that means academic reputation rather than popularity or name recognition. Prestige isn't "do parents of high school students in Peoria want their kids to attend this school," it's about national and international reputation among people who actually know something about universities and academic knowledge.

I work with a lot of smart cookies who are always talking about their smart kids and college plans. NOT ONCE has anyone ever talked about nobel prizes. This is a creepy and desperate UChicago thing. Just stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are crazy in your fixation on "prestige", which is poorly defined, and generally unimportant. Also, in your instance on making ever-finer distinctions between things as a way to try to make yourselves feel better by ranking higher than others.
The answer- all of the schools that are mentioned here are great schools full of very smart kids. Don't believe me?
ACT 25-75
UC 32-35
NU 32-35
ND 32-35
UM 30-33 (brought down by requirement to have a high in-state population. Still has very smart kids)

ACT scores are it much of an indication re who is very smart.

Really? Then what are it?

Otto Korrekt strikes again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people are crazy in your fixation on "prestige", which is poorly defined, and generally unimportant. Also, in your instance on making ever-finer distinctions between things as a way to try to make yourselves feel better by ranking higher than others.
The answer- all of the schools that are mentioned here are great schools full of very smart kids. Don't believe me?
ACT 25-75
UC 32-35
NU 32-35
ND 32-35
UM 30-33 (brought down by requirement to have a high in-state population. Still has very smart kids)

ACT scores are it much of an indication re who is very smart.

Really? Then what are it?

Otto Korrekt strikes again!

Love that. Will definitely use.

Still, people need to look at what they are about to send. It matters. You look dumb.

[Anonymous]

Depends who you ask...

Chicago = most prestigious nerd school
Northwestern = most prestigious pre-professional school (most likely to succeed)
Notre Dame = most prestigious Catholic school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad rep based off just seeing college on resume:

ND: Virtuous, solid, outgoing kid. Was probably valedictorian of his or her high school.

Chicago: Likely very weird.

Michigan: Partier. Probably pretty smart, and outgoing. Ideal for sales/marketing.

Northwestern: Probably an arrogant dork.

LOL! My NU-bound son will get a kick out of this characterization! (though I don't *think* he's an arrogant dork)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends who you ask...

Chicago = most prestigious nerd school
Northwestern = most prestigious pre-professional school
Notre Dame = most prestigious Catholic school

I was born and raised in the Midwest and I'd agree with this. Would add:

Michigan = most prestigious state school (overall)
Carleton/Oberlin/Grinnell = most prestigious SLACs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wisconsin-Madison.

No.

Up there with Michigan and Chicago for sociology, but that's about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like, to the point that for some posters, football trophies matter more than Nobel Prizes?

What % of the population do you think cares about Nobel prizes, or can name one laureate? Easily less than 1% of the US population. It’s just a total non factor here.

I agree. this poster keeps posting on College forums with Nobel stats not realizing no one cares and that it is irrelevant when searching for an undergrad college or university which will be a good fit for your student.

[Anonymous]

Except this thread asked about prestige. Not fit. Certainly Nobel winners contribute to/are an indicator of a school’s prestige.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Except this thread asked about prestige. Not fit. Certainly Nobel winners contribute to/are an indicator of a school’s prestige.

no, they're not. Maybe Rhodes, Marshall and Fulbright to a percentage of total senior population but no one cares about Nobels in the college admissions world. I don't even know how many my LAC or elite law school (university) and don't care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like, to the point that for some posters, football trophies matter more than Nobel Prizes?

What % of the population do you think cares about Nobel prizes, or can name one laureate? Easily less than 1% of the US population. It’s just a total non factor here.

I agree. this poster keeps posting on College forums with Nobel stats not realizing no one cares and that it is irrelevant when searching for an undergrad college or university which will be a good fit for your student.

It's especially irrelevant since most of the recipients are European

[Anonymous]

I’m not Catholic but for undergrad I really think it’s Notre Dame. In my experience, Northwestern undergrad really does not have high name or status recognition. And even the rich in the Midwest have no idea what Univ of Chicago is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago.

Signed, an ND grad.

No one is seriously disagreeing with you on this. What people are disagreeing with, I think, is the idea that ND is a prestigious school generally, and of course it is -- Catholic or not.

I'm a PP who has a degree from Northwestern and suggested that the prestige order is University of Chicago, then Northwestern, then Notre Dame.

I didn't mean to slam Notre Dame or imply that there's anything wrong with Notre Dame; of course it's well-known and has some academic prestige. It just doesn't have the same kind of raw academic prestige that the University of Chicago or Northwestern has.

But:

- I know that trying to rank universities according to raw academic prestige is silly. The constant bashing of the University of Chicago here just irritates me.

- Because of football, Notre Dame may really be the best known private university in the country, other than Harvard and MIT. In terms of regular people having hard of it, maybe it's near the top in terms of prestige.

- I'm sure that Notre Dame has many first-rate programs that are doing first-rate research and turning out first-rate graduates. Bashing the University of Chicago is ignorant, but seriously looking down on Notre Dame is also foolish.