Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 14:54     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:But that's just name confusion, OP. People can't remember which one is referred to as "Penn." No one confuses the actual schools.
no, they think it is the SAME school. That there is only one.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, my sister went to Penn, people still ask her if she misses Happy Valley - and that includes my PA relatives.


That’s embarrassing- Penn is a good school, Penn state is just blah blah- I mean they will take anyone.
just like Pitt
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 14:45     Subject: Re:Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
I have no idea about UPenn vs Penn State. Which one had the sex offender stuff with the coach?

I have undergrad and grad degrees from schools in the western U.S., and my kids are not old enough to be thinking about college. So the relative merits of schools, especially east coast schools, are not on my radar at all. You need to treat this knowledge the same way you treat awareness of your hobby or sport: something you are into but most people aren't.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 14:22     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What about people that don’t know what Barnard is or that it is an Ivy League school and part of Columbia? This is a weird one too. Almost like a litmus test for your education level.



Barnard is not an Ivy school. It is a Seven Sisters school.
- signed, Barnard alumna


Tell that to my friend who won’t stop bragging that her daughter goes to an Ivy. It’s Barnard.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 14:20     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Typical showing that the average American is an idiot…
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 14:17     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What about people that don’t know what Barnard is or that it is an Ivy League school and part of Columbia? This is a weird one too. Almost like a litmus test for your education level.

You just don’t realize how you come off do you?


People who are not in the world of ivy and private schools may not know. That doesn’t make them uneducated. Maybe they aren’t very “worldly” but it also makes you a snob to judge them for it


There are so many rich people who are "not in the world of Ivy" that I think it's safe to assume that detailed knowledge of Ivy is not required to be worldly.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 14:02     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
I used to watch the Army Navy game as a kid. I used to tell my friends that the people in the military just volunteers to join the football team. I had no idea that Army is West Point, and Navy is the Naval Academy. Depaul gets confused with Depauw all the time, and when UMiami plays Miami U, it is called the Confusion Bowl.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 13:52     Subject: Re:Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
every Penn Stater knows it's in Happy Valley. No one ever confuses it with being in Pittsburgh.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 13:49     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
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????


I have a U Penn degree. Everyone seems to just confuse it my whole life with Penn State, probably because of football giving it a big brand. I've tried saying U Penn, or U of Penn, and still they assume Penn state asking how I liked living in Pittsburgh.

I assume it's the same with WUSTL, everyone assuming you went to UW or GW. No one realizes a Washington U can be outside Washington State or Washington DC.


See? Here we have a Philly Penn grad reporting on people who think Penn State is in Pittsburgh. Or maybe even that PP thinks Penn State is in Pittsburgh.

Penn State is not in Pittsburgh. Or any other decent size city. It has a large university community around it. It's in a rural area.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 13:46     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
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 who?
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 13:44     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t until after I graduated from an Ivy League school that I knew that “Cal” and “Berkeley” are the same school.
Ivy League schools can be as far off some people’s radar as California schools were off of mine.


Really? I had no idea.


You didn’t know Cal was Berkeley?

I think another phenomenon this points to is the ridiculous obsession with going OOS for “prestige,” not realizing that state college systems are inherently regional and serve the good of the state. So yeah, I knew Cal was Berkeley because I grew up there, but totally reasonable if you are in DC and didn’t know that.


Californian living in DC. If someone doesn’t know Cal is Berkeley, I figure they are mildly uneducated or first gen. Just like I would feel the same way if they didn’t know the difference between Penn and Penn State or that Brown is in the Ivy League, or that Barnard is part of Columbia, etc.


DP. I know all of those things listed in your last sentence, but I didn’t know Cal and Berkeley were the interchangeable. Growing up on the East coast, I’ve just never much paid attention to things in California I guess.


This. And I was born in the Bay Area and visited the Berkeley campus as a child and my Dad was 2x employed by the University of California. We moved east when I was in middle school. I think only California people and sports people know Berkeley as "Cal".

I only learned this from my son's OOS friends at his school explaining where their friends went to school. I was really confused as to why Berkeley is "Cal" and not UCLA.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 13:40     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
I’ve seen several schools collaborate on Instagram basically mocking their differences eg UConn and Conn College or with similar Mascot etc. so it’s not completely unfathomable.

Personally I just learned a few years ago the differences b/w The Ohio University and The Ohio State University ….despite completely different colors etc. And I confuse Wesleyan and Wellesley all the time in that I forget which is coed vs female.

So yes, just on name alone it’s totally feasible to conflate Penn State and UPenn (Penn). But bc the latter is an Ivy, it comes across as more puzzling.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 13:38     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
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????


It's ridiculous how people don't know, don't care and confuse them

You sound genuinely upset.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 13:23     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
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.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 13:01     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
UPENN should change its name to UBEN or BEN & GEORGE
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 12:57     Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:I am on a small team at work. I have a degree from Penn. Another member of my team went to Penn State. A third teammate who lives in an UMC suburb of NYC had a child applying early decision to a different Ivy, so should have been reasonably aware of such things.

He very confidently said that Penn State is in Philly and clearly go them confused - gave him a chance to self-correct but he dug in. I deferred to my Penn State colleague to correct him so as not to sound like a total snob.

I am a bit of a snob. And I do judge people on these things. If you want to succeed in corporate America you will likely cross paths with people from these schools so should have some basic awareness of them - don't need to be an expert. And if you don't know, fess up rather than faking it - it is very easy to tell.


lol must really rankle huh?