All the SLACs including Davidson, Carleton, Colorado, Haverford, St. Olaf, etc.

The fact that most people haven't heard of them is a plus - gives them a more exclusive feel - the collegiate Moynat to the Ivy League's LVMH

Just let ChatGPT do the work for you:

Alright — here’s a tongue-in-cheek, stereotype-driven ranking of U.S. colleges by perceived snobbiness, mixing prestige, wealth, exclusivity, and “old-money” aura.
Think of this as what you’d hear in a gossip column, not a serious sociological study:

Tier 1 – “Monogrammed Bathrobe” Snobbery

Harvard University – The gold standard for name-dropping at cocktail parties.

Princeton University – Feels like an exclusive club where even the squirrels have legacy status.

Yale University – Secret societies, Gothic towers, and a faint scent of inherited wealth.

Stanford University – Silicon Valley’s royalty training ground, but with flip-flops.

Tier 2 – “My Grandfather Went Here” Snobbery
5. University of Pennsylvania – Especially Wharton; finance bros with trust funds.
6. Dartmouth College – Ivy League meets rustic ski lodge.
7. Williams College – The Amherst–Williams rivalry is basically nobles fencing over who has the finer silverware.
8. Amherst College – Intellectual snobbery with a leafy backdrop.
9. Georgetown University – Preppy D.C. politicos in pastel polos.

Tier 3 – “New Money Meets Old Traditions” Snobbery
10. Brown University – Rich kids who thrift-shop ironically.
11. Middlebury College – Patagonia puffer jackets as far as the eye can see.
12. Claremont McKenna College – Networking culture that starts freshman year.
13. University of Chicago – More “I read Kant in the original German” than “old money,” but still elite.
14. Duke University – Southern Ivy vibe, basketball glory, and Vineyard Vines wardrobes.
15. Vanderbilt University – Country clubs and cotillions meet top-tier academics.

Tier 4 – “We’re Exclusive, But We Don’t Talk About It” Snobbery
16. Bowdoin College – Lobster rolls and legacy admissions.
17. Colby College – Similar to Bowdoin, but with more L.L.Bean.
18. Northwestern University – Midwestern manners soften the edge, but still very name-brand.

Anonymous wrote:There’s New England snobby, DMV snobby, Southern snobby, African American snobby, Asian American snobby, Hispanic snobby, Midwest Snobby, West Coast snobby and Southern snobby. Then there’s business program snobby, pre-med snobby, comp sci/STEM snobby. Then there’s Greek-snobby. Take your pick and each category will yield a different list of schools.

This is correct. And there isn't a single school that transcends these categories. Not even Harvard, which fails among the Smart Snobby, STEM snobby, West Coast snobby and so on. Different people value different things. But New England snobby is the grandmother of all snobbery. And that would be HYP and Dartmouth - but definitely not Columbia or Cornell. Plus Williams, Amherst and the Seven Sisters, which absolutely no one today can name. But the dowager in Concord is impressed by a Bryn Mawr girl.

Anonymous wrote:Smith used to be a snob school.

Add all of the Seven Sisters

Anonymous wrote:There’s New England snobby, DMV snobby, Southern snobby, African American snobby, Asian American snobby, Hispanic snobby, Midwest Snobby, West Coast snobby and Southern snobby. Then there’s business program snobby, pre-med snobby, comp sci/STEM snobby. Then there’s Greek-snobby. Take your pick and each category will yield a different list of schools.

This is the best answer.

Anonymous wrote:
Old Money schools will be the ones established for the longest time in the northeast or midatlantic. In chronological order:

Harvard
William & Mary
St John's College
Yale
U Penn
U Delaware
Princeton

All others are parvenus

Delaware? No.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen this term used on this forum a few times. If you were to create a list of schools with snob appeal, which names would be on there?

Smart snobs? Ivies, Stanford, MIT,

Non-smart snobs? SMU, Furman, Hollins, Baylor

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Anonymous wrote:Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Columbia
Penn
Stanford
NYU
USC
Georgetown
Vanderbilt
Duke
Amherst
Williams
Wellseley
Vassar
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Haverford

USC does not have snob appeal.

USC is the definition of snob appeal.

Nothing snobby about USC - where all the spoiled rich brats go who are academic mediocrities

That's kind of what makes it snobby.

Anonymous wrote:There’s New England snobby, DMV snobby, Southern snobby, African American snobby, Asian American snobby, Hispanic snobby, Midwest Snobby, West Coast snobby and Southern snobby. Then there’s business program snobby, pre-med snobby, comp sci/STEM snobby. Then there’s Greek-snobby. Take your pick and each category will yield a different list of schools.

New England snobby is the official, all others are like “public ivy” designations. 😁

There’s New England snobby, DMV snobby, Southern snobby, African American snobby, Asian American snobby, Hispanic snobby, Midwest Snobby, West Coast snobby and Southern snobby. Then there’s business program snobby, pre-med snobby, comp sci/STEM snobby. Then there’s Greek-snobby. Take your pick and each category will yield a different list of schools.

Anonymous wrote:West Point. They believe they are intellectually, physically and morally the best America has and what irritates the rest most is that they are not wrong.

Well they probably are physically.

Snob appeal by my definition is old money and that’s the ivies and a few SLAC’s. The schools people go to learn for the sake of learning and network, but not necessarily for goal of employment. That’s a luxury take on college. Not quite the same today, but those are still the schools for their history and prominence in that circle.

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Anonymous wrote:Look, UVA has long been a major snob school in the DMV. I realizes that this annoys the hell out of the UVA haters on this board, but that doesn’t change the reality of the situation and in fact probably explains it.

But, it is public. So not much snob appeal since anyone can go there.

Anyone can go there? What??

Clearly new to college admissions and have no idea how impossible it has become to get in to UVA or W&M instate.

It’s harder to get in OOS.

VT has actually passed W&M per USNWR

Yes but the “average” W&M student is more cerebral than your “average” VT student and everyone knows this. Outside of CS- VT can be significantly easier to get into. Not the same kids at all. Typically.

VT is still ranked better which will attract stronger students. Deal with it.

VT's lack of snob appeal is its appeal.

yep

What is snob appeal?

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Anonymous wrote:Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Columbia
Penn
Stanford
NYU
USC
Georgetown
Vanderbilt
Duke
Amherst
Williams
Wellseley
Vassar
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Haverford

USC does not have snob appeal.

USC is the definition of snob appeal.

Nothing snobby about USC - where all the spoiled rich brats go who are academic mediocrities

and they're snobby