What Schools Do You Consider “Prestigious?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ivies, mit, stanford, duke, northwestern, amherst, notre dame, brown.

IF int'l, include oxford and cambridge.

No one knows about Amherst or Notre Dame internationally.

Is that the test? Being know internationally?

Or is the test the highest paying job/career trajectory?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Ivies, MIT, and Stanford are generally accepted as "prestigious."

After that, it's coming up with a longer list that gives a poster just enough cover to include their own school.

Keep in mind that "prestigious" is not the same as "good," "respected," or "competitive." It has a different connotation, yet one that posters here seem endlessly ready to fight over.

Even within Ivies, it's more restricted to HYP and maybe Wharton

A noncontroversial definition would be to just include HYPSM and Caltech

A broader elite college definition I think would include the consensus T15 schools (Ivies, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Duke, Northwestern, Chicago, JHU)

Almost everyone's list has MIT, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford, so there's the answer. I'm inclined to add Yale and Caltech, but as a scientist/engineer who went to MIT, I'm biased on Caltech. As a MIT alum, generally when it came to prestige, we only include Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, and Caltech on par with us. Same as the Harvard kids/alum (but minus Caltech). Duke, Northwestern, JHU? Um no. Go internationally, and HPYSM are the schools that are viewed as prestigious. Chicago, no. But I have a lot of respect for Chicago alums because it is a hard school too.

Someone earlier up also discussed how MIT was good all around academically, including in social sciences. I wound up taking enough security studies classes to get a double major in it. I ended up taking a class at Harvard and most of the readings were from MIT professors.

MIT carries a ton a weight in Asia, especially India, but I was surprised that it isn't on that Harvard, Yale, and Stanford shortlist with everyone in Europe. The name recognition wasn't the same.
Even among everyday people in the US (mostly not on DCUM), there are those few names that everyone knows.
With graduate school admissions or first jobs at high-end companies, you're in good shape coming from these T15 schools but the prestige that everyone recognizes is just a few schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ivies, mit, stanford, duke, northwestern, amherst, notre dame, brown.

IF int'l, include oxford and cambridge.

No one knows about Amherst or Notre Dame internationally.

Is that the test? Being know internationally?

Or is the test the highest paying job/career trajectory?

Prestige has to be recognized by others. The job or highest paying test results are not at all well known by most people or they are misunderstood. For example, crappy rankings that heavily weigh basic college-wide $ outcomes tend to really like CMU and Harvey Mudd, but they are not overly prestigious because very few people have heard of them (and even grad schools recognize them as just very good).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ivies, mit, stanford, duke, northwestern, amherst, notre dame, brown.

IF int'l, include oxford and cambridge.

No one knows about Amherst or Notre Dame internationally.

Is that the test? Being know internationally?

Or is the test the highest paying job/career trajectory?

if that’s the test than Stevens is above most of these colleges - financial engineering / quant interns making $26k per month

https://www.levels.fyi/internships/

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t send my dog to the schools you people attended.

[Anonymous]

We have a winner!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a big scam by rich white people who try hard to promote their school brands as "prestigious" after they send their ALDC kids to these schools for easy majors. Middle-class people should be aware of this. If you blindly think that "Harvard" is such a prestigious name, so you will be all set spending a ton of money, that could be a big mistake.

CMU CS, NYU Stern, GT SFS etc. are more prestigious than useless majors at those school names that keep popping up.

If it's really prestigious, it will be highly valued in society, industries, and the real world.

Harvard English: $49,675
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?166027-Harvard-University&fos_code=2301&fos_credential=3

Northwestern Psychology: $61,389
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?147767-Northwestern-University&fos_code=0999&fos_credential=3

Does it look prestigious? They are simply not.
Now

CMU Elect Engineering: $$149,740
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?211440-Carnegie-Mellon-University&fos_code=1107&fos_credential=3

Northeastern CS: $132,227
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?167358-Northeastern-University

Boston College Finance: $110,242
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?164924-Boston-College&fos_code=5208&fos_credential=3

These seem more serious and prestigious.
If someone throws out some school names and tries to convince you that they are prestigious, it is likely a rich white person with an ALDC kid trying to scam you. Watch Out.

Everyone equating “prestigious” with “makes lots of money” just isn’t getting it. It has to do with culture.

Also valuing people simply by the amount of money they make is just so gross.

[Anonymous]

Prestige in terms of what? In terms of the reaction of friends to the sticker on the back of your car? Of future employers? Of the quality of the education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You're providing PP's point. There's no "consensus T15 schools."

That's fair, but there was the aggregate rank shared somewhere earlier. To pull it back up, it gives a reasonable idea of what an overall T15 could look like:

I agree with this, but minus Hopkins, Notre Dame, UNC, UF, UCSD, CMU, and maybe Cornell (sorry, but it’s just “too”…). I’d add in Oxbridge and Sciences Po. I grew up in NYC/New England though so would be the first to admit how that absolutely colors my viewpoint. I’ve heard a lot about how, say UGA or Pomona/Harvey-Mudd etc are amazing, and have met incredible people from these places, but the association with prestige just isn’t baked in for me like it is with these other places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HPSM (no Y)
Oxford
Cambridge
Wharton
Sciences Po
Georgetown SFS

GT, lol. No.

I would take GT SFS over Harvard English.
How about you?

x100000

Do not bother trying to educate the ignorant.

Harvard English for sure. I married him! - Amherst English

[Anonymous]

Ow? Really none in the US.

[Anonymous]

I hire many new grads from LACs. By far the most consistent success stories are from Vassar, Oberlin, and Stanford. Best writing, work ethic, reliability, and most cooperative and excited to learn and grow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a big scam by rich white people who try hard to promote their school brands as "prestigious" after they send their ALDC kids to these schools for easy majors. Middle-class people should be aware of this. If you blindly think that "Harvard" is such a prestigious name, so you will be all set spending a ton of money, that could be a big mistake.

CMU CS, NYU Stern, GT SFS etc. are more prestigious than useless majors at those school names that keep popping up.

If it's really prestigious, it will be highly valued in society, industries, and the real world.

Harvard English: $49,675
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?166027-Harvard-University&fos_code=2301&fos_credential=3

Northwestern Psychology: $61,389
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?147767-Northwestern-University&fos_code=0999&fos_credential=3

Does it look prestigious? They are simply not.
Now

CMU Elect Engineering: $$149,740
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?211440-Carnegie-Mellon-University&fos_code=1107&fos_credential=3

Northeastern CS: $132,227
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?167358-Northeastern-University

Boston College Finance: $110,242
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?164924-Boston-College&fos_code=5208&fos_credential=3

These seem more serious and prestigious.
If someone throws out some school names and tries to convince you that they are prestigious, it is likely a rich white person with an ALDC kid trying to scam you. Watch Out.

Everyone equating “prestigious” with “makes lots of money” just isn’t getting it. It has to do with culture.

Also valuing people simply by the amount of money they make is just so gross.

What culture is blindly worshiping and valuing luxury brand names LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a big scam by rich white people who try hard to promote their school brands as "prestigious" after they send their ALDC kids to these schools for easy majors. Middle-class people should be aware of this. If you blindly think that "Harvard" is such a prestigious name, so you will be all set spending a ton of money, that could be a big mistake.

CMU CS, NYU Stern, GT SFS etc. are more prestigious than useless majors at those school names that keep popping up.

If it's really prestigious, it will be highly valued in society, industries, and the real world.

Harvard English: $49,675
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?166027-Harvard-University&fos_code=2301&fos_credential=3

Northwestern Psychology: $61,389
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?147767-Northwestern-University&fos_code=0999&fos_credential=3

Does it look prestigious? They are simply not.
Now

CMU Elect Engineering: $$149,740
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?211440-Carnegie-Mellon-University&fos_code=1107&fos_credential=3

Northeastern CS: $132,227
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?167358-Northeastern-University

Boston College Finance: $110,242
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?164924-Boston-College&fos_code=5208&fos_credential=3

These seem more serious and prestigious.
If someone throws out some school names and tries to convince you that they are prestigious, it is likely a rich white person with an ALDC kid trying to scam you. Watch Out.

Everyone equating “prestigious” with “makes lots of money” just isn’t getting it. It has to do with culture.

Also valuing people simply by the amount of money they make is just so gross.

Nobody is valuing people.
We are valuing programs/schools.
At least, it's based on objective data.

There are ignorant and delusional people who blindly believe that something is valuable when it's not.
That is the whole reason this project was initiated under the Obama administration via Department of Education.

[Anonymous]

http://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CollegeAdmissions_Paper.pdf

The schools listed in the study as elite are the elite schools.
It separates Ivy Plus as the 8 is plus MIT, Stanford, Duke, and Uchicago
And then other elite as
USC, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Northwestern, WashU, NYU, Notre Dame, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon ,Rice ,and Caltech.

I personally would add Williams , Amherst, Pomona, Wellesley, and Swarthmore. There's around 30 elite schools which makes sense for a population of 300 million +. I think it's safe to leave this opinion to the experts.