Colleges aren't trendy handbags ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

From a foreigner who has been here for 25 years married to an American with American born kids…..
In most of the world, university is a place you go to get a credential to start a career. In America, college is a four year identity construction project. When grown adults wear college sweatshirts in their 40s, they aren't celebrating an alma mater. They are signaling their tribe, their socio-economic bracket, and their perceived intellectual tier. W re to blame. For a German or a Frenchman, wearing your university hoodie at 45 is as weird as wearing a high school jersey to a board meeting……it simply signals that your period of greatest personal significance ended in your early 20’s………..Americans turned universities into lifestyle brands. All of you, all of us are to blame. This has been a slow process…Since we don't have titles of nobility, "Princeton" or "Stanford" serves as a modern version of a coat of arms. We treat these names like handbags because they are portable markers of status that tell everyone in the room you belong to the "managed class." This is why "Greek life" and massive sports stadiums exist. They provide the social glue and the "experience" that justifies a $400,000 price tag. You aren't paying for the lecture; you're paying for the right to belong to a specific caste.
we use these "silly categorizations" like Ivy Plus or Little Ivy as a form of shorthand for what Pierre Bourdieu called "symbolic capital"…… It’s a way to vet people without actually knowing their character or competence.

Let’s be honest, The idea of universities in 2026 as a "retreat of learning" died when we began funding it through massive individual debt. When a student is a "customer" paying six figures, they don't want to be challenged….they want a return on investment. The professors become service providers. The "Rate My Prof" culture prevalent in today’s campuses is the Yelp-ification of academia. It prioritizes ease and entertainment over rigorous intellectual friction. While we argue over whether a school is "WASP-y" or "T20," the actual quality of instruction is often declining. More classes are taught by underpaid adjuncts.
‘We” DCUMers…and most of Americans have traded the "ivory tower" for a "prestige mall." We obsess over the "veneer" because, in a society with diminishing social mobility, that veneer is one of the few things people believe can protect their class status….

Couldn’t say better

It’s not that I disagree entirely, but how are the Puritans in Massachusetts Bay in the 1640s not building something we today would recognize as a lifestyle brand, with extremely limited ROI? This might look new to a European but it grows out of a foundational American tradition of using education to build identity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Louis Vuitton - Ivy League
Balenciaga - NYU
Chanel - WASP
Versace - Miami and USC
Loewe - WASP
Michael Kors - Flagship State Schools
Kate Spade - Colleges that Change Lives
Gucci - Stanford
Dior - Seven Sisters

Clearly, you are low class or a poseur as Hermes should be at the top of the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many students and parents seem to be chasing trends and the affirmation of others' opinions (veneer of prestige, silly categorizations like "Ivy Plus" or "little ivy" or "T20", arguing about how to create categories within categories: like breaking down small LACS into wasp or +B). Enough. This is too much. College isn't a fashion object or handbag du jour, it's a retreat of learning, period. The professors and their teaching style "rate my prof", course calendars, curriculum core, etc. should be scrutinized instead.

People are focused on impressing each other not on growing.

From a foreigner who has been here for 25 years married to an American with American born kids…..
In most of the world, university is a place you go to get a credential to start a career. In America, college is a four year identity construction project. When grown adults wear college sweatshirts in their 40s, they aren't celebrating an alma mater. They are signaling their tribe, their socio-economic bracket, and their perceived intellectual tier. W re to blame. For a German or a Frenchman, wearing your university hoodie at 45 is as weird as wearing a high school jersey to a board meeting……it simply signals that your period of greatest personal significance ended in your early 20’s………..Americans turned universities into lifestyle brands. All of you, all of us are to blame. This has been a slow process…Since we don't have titles of nobility, "Princeton" or "Stanford" serves as a modern version of a coat of arms. We treat these names like handbags because they are portable markers of status that tell everyone in the room you belong to the "managed class." This is why "Greek life" and massive sports stadiums exist. They provide the social glue and the "experience" that justifies a $400,000 price tag. You aren't paying for the lecture; you're paying for the right to belong to a specific caste.
we use these "silly categorizations" like Ivy Plus or Little Ivy as a form of shorthand for what Pierre Bourdieu called "symbolic capital"…… It’s a way to vet people without actually knowing their character or competence.

Let’s be honest, The idea of universities in 2026 as a "retreat of learning" died when we began funding it through massive individual debt. When a student is a "customer" paying six figures, they don't want to be challenged….they want a return on investment. The professors become service providers. The "Rate My Prof" culture prevalent in today’s campuses is the Yelp-ification of academia. It prioritizes ease and entertainment over rigorous intellectual friction. While we argue over whether a school is "WASP-y" or "T20," the actual quality of instruction is often declining. More classes are taught by underpaid adjuncts.
‘We” DCUMers…and most of Americans have traded the "ivory tower" for a "prestige mall." We obsess over the "veneer" because, in a society with diminishing social mobility, that veneer is one of the few things people believe can protect their class status….

Curious if you are the same person who thrifted the designer bag à la PhD? If not, you should become friends. And I’d like to hang out with both of you.

Shame this place is anonymous. In addition to being low brow entertainment, it occasionally tosses out a gem that makes me wish we not all anonymous here.

It's a sociologist. We're pretty amazing.
-not that poster tho

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Louis Vuitton - Ivy League
Balenciaga - NYU
Chanel - WASP
Versace - Miami and USC
Loewe - WASP
Michael Kors - Flagship State Schools
Kate Spade - Colleges that Change Lives
Gucci - Stanford
Dior - Seven Sisters

Vuitton is so basic. This is not accurate

Darn and here were some of us working butts off in HS and college to afford a 'Coach' purse (gasp!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No

Ivy= a Kelly Bag

LV is so kardashian/rapper

Every asian auntie I have ever known would like to have a word with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many students and parents seem to be chasing trends and the affirmation of others' opinions (veneer of prestige, silly categorizations like "Ivy Plus" or "little ivy" or "T20", arguing about how to create categories within categories: like breaking down small LACS into wasp or +B). Enough. This is too much. College isn't a fashion object or handbag du jour, it's a retreat of learning, period. The professors and their teaching style "rate my prof", course calendars, curriculum core, etc. should be scrutinized instead.

People are focused on impressing each other not on growing.

From a foreigner who has been here for 25 years married to an American with American born kids…..
In most of the world, university is a place you go to get a credential to start a career. In America, college is a four year identity construction project. When grown adults wear college sweatshirts in their 40s, they aren't celebrating an alma mater. They are signaling their tribe, their socio-economic bracket, and their perceived intellectual tier. W re to blame. For a German or a Frenchman, wearing your university hoodie at 45 is as weird as wearing a high school jersey to a board meeting……it simply signals that your period of greatest personal significance ended in your early 20’s………..Americans turned universities into lifestyle brands. All of you, all of us are to blame. This has been a slow process…Since we don't have titles of nobility, "Princeton" or "Stanford" serves as a modern version of a coat of arms. We treat these names like handbags because they are portable markers of status that tell everyone in the room you belong to the "managed class." This is why "Greek life" and massive sports stadiums exist. They provide the social glue and the "experience" that justifies a $400,000 price tag. You aren't paying for the lecture; you're paying for the right to belong to a specific caste.
we use these "silly categorizations" like Ivy Plus or Little Ivy as a form of shorthand for what Pierre Bourdieu called "symbolic capital"…… It’s a way to vet people without actually knowing their character or competence.

Let’s be honest, The idea of universities in 2026 as a "retreat of learning" died when we began funding it through massive individual debt. When a student is a "customer" paying six figures, they don't want to be challenged….they want a return on investment. The professors become service providers. The "Rate My Prof" culture prevalent in today’s campuses is the Yelp-ification of academia. It prioritizes ease and entertainment over rigorous intellectual friction. While we argue over whether a school is "WASP-y" or "T20," the actual quality of instruction is often declining. More classes are taught by underpaid adjuncts.
‘We” DCUMers…and most of Americans have traded the "ivory tower" for a "prestige mall." We obsess over the "veneer" because, in a society with diminishing social mobility, that veneer is one of the few things people believe can protect their class status….

+1, especially to the managed class/symbolic capital and declining quality of instruction points. In truth, an excellent education doesn’t need to be expensive at all but the model is out of control.

[Anonymous]

Is Urban Baby making a comeback? Finally, some humor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some handbags become trash after four years.

Other handbags have lasting values.

Good analogy

Some get trashed within a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many students and parents seem to be chasing trends and the affirmation of others' opinions (veneer of prestige, silly categorizations like "Ivy Plus" or "little ivy" or "T20", arguing about how to create categories within categories: like breaking down small LACS into wasp or +B). Enough. This is too much. College isn't a fashion object or handbag du jour, it's a retreat of learning, period. The professors and their teaching style "rate my prof", course calendars, curriculum core, etc. should be scrutinized instead.

People are focused on impressing each other not on growing.

From a foreigner who has been here for 25 years married to an American with American born kids…..
In most of the world, university is a place you go to get a credential to start a career. In America, college is a four year identity construction project. When grown adults wear college sweatshirts in their 40s, they aren't celebrating an alma mater. They are signaling their tribe, their socio-economic bracket, and their perceived intellectual tier. W re to blame. For a German or a Frenchman, wearing your university hoodie at 45 is as weird as wearing a high school jersey to a board meeting……it simply signals that your period of greatest personal significance ended in your early 20’s………..Americans turned universities into lifestyle brands. All of you, all of us are to blame. This has been a slow process…Since we don't have titles of nobility, "Princeton" or "Stanford" serves as a modern version of a coat of arms. We treat these names like handbags because they are portable markers of status that tell everyone in the room you belong to the "managed class." This is why "Greek life" and massive sports stadiums exist. They provide the social glue and the "experience" that justifies a $400,000 price tag. You aren't paying for the lecture; you're paying for the right to belong to a specific caste.
we use these "silly categorizations" like Ivy Plus or Little Ivy as a form of shorthand for what Pierre Bourdieu called "symbolic capital"…… It’s a way to vet people without actually knowing their character or competence.

Let’s be honest, The idea of universities in 2026 as a "retreat of learning" died when we began funding it through massive individual debt. When a student is a "customer" paying six figures, they don't want to be challenged….they want a return on investment. The professors become service providers. The "Rate My Prof" culture prevalent in today’s campuses is the Yelp-ification of academia. It prioritizes ease and entertainment over rigorous intellectual friction. While we argue over whether a school is "WASP-y" or "T20," the actual quality of instruction is often declining. More classes are taught by underpaid adjuncts.
‘We” DCUMers…and most of Americans have traded the "ivory tower" for a "prestige mall." We obsess over the "veneer" because, in a society with diminishing social mobility, that veneer is one of the few things people believe can protect their class status….

+1, especially to the managed class/symbolic capital and declining quality of instruction points. In truth, an excellent education doesn’t need to be expensive at all but the model is out of control.

Most Americans wearing college jerseys are rooting for the college football or basketball team -- it's pride in the alma mater's sports teams. The ones who fit PP's profile are wearing the college sweatshirts of schools that make most people say, "Huh, I didn't know they had a team."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Louis Vuitton - Ivy League
Balenciaga - NYU
Chanel - WASP
Versace - Miami and USC
Loewe - WASP
Michael Kors - Flagship State Schools
Kate Spade - Colleges that Change Lives
Gucci - Stanford
Dior - Seven Sisters

Vuitton is so basic. This is not accurate

Because people like you buy dupes off the corner or from shady shops in Chinatown.