Anonymous
01/18/2026 08:29
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Best one is the University of San Diego,
UC San Diego, and San Diego State!
+1
I really don’t knew the difference between these three at all. I’m guessing UCSD is the toughest admit? And San Diego state is a party school? Absolutely no idea.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 08:20
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:For most kids whether you go to Penn or UPenn, the outcome is about the same
You wish that were true but it's not.
Unfortunately it really is, if you control for inputs (ie, compare two kids with the same test scores, high school GPA, family income and education) and look at modal outcomes rather than outliers.
This is not true for many career tracks. If you want to go into quant, consulting at MBB, or IB you have an open road from Penn versus an obstacle course from Penn state to enter the field.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 07:33
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Depends on your circle and where you live. In Georgia, most people know and care about UGA, Ga Tech, etc. Emory, not so much- it’s better known as a hospital system than as a university. The obsession over private colleges and most OOS publics is limited to Atlanta and affluent-transplant pockets in other parts of the state. Then there are a whole bunch of small regional universities and colleges that no one really talks about unless there’s a scholarship/athletic commit involved.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 07:22
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I get that for some people, differences between colleges is not relevant to their daily existence. But if you are in a white collar job working with people who went to some of these schools, you should have a cursory knowledge of some of this.
Also, it is surprising that some people posting here don't know some of the basic differences because by opting into posting here, they are showing that they care about this topic. Though if they are using this as a way to educate themselves, credit to them for trying - you have to start somewhere.
Why?
It is basic cultural literacy. One does not need to know the intricate details of these schools that so many people go into on DCUM. But having a basic knowledge of what they are, where they are, a general pecking order (again, not to the extreme that people go to here, just that Harvard>Fairleigh Dickinson). It's like if you went to a business meal and someone didn't know basic rules of etiquette. Not the real nuanced rules, but basic things like "don't eat spaghetti with your fingers" or "put your napkin on your lap." If your colleague says they are taking their kid to visit Duke, you don't necessarily need to know it is in Durham, but you should at least know it is a pretty good school in NC.
I'm sure I will take a lot of heat for this. But this is really table stakes. And I provided plenty of qualifiers to make clear that my bar is not that high.
Meh. Knowing that Harvard and Yale are Ivy League schools is basic cultural literacy. The rest is niche.
I wonder if the PP has the self awareness to realize that there are likely numerous topics that other people view as "basic cultural literacy" but that PP doesn't know and would find pointless to invest energy in learning.
Some people would be surprised a person didn't know the Eagles are am NFC team, and the Steelers are an AFC team, and what that means.
Some people assume everyone knows who the Pixies are.
Some people think it's weird to grow up in the US and have never been to Texas.
And I'm just posting stuff I'm familiar with because of course I am. Someone else might come up with a list of stuff I have no idea about. We all have some myopia.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 02:39
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
DD attends Loyola Marymount in LA. People get all the Loyolas mixed up even though they are not affiliated. It doesn’t bother us. We just explain.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 01:49
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I get that for some people, differences between colleges is not relevant to their daily existence. But if you are in a white collar job working with people who went to some of these schools, you should have a cursory knowledge of some of this.
Also, it is surprising that some people posting here don't know some of the basic differences because by opting into posting here, they are showing that they care about this topic. Though if they are using this as a way to educate themselves, credit to them for trying - you have to start somewhere.
Why?
It is basic cultural literacy. One does not need to know the intricate details of these schools that so many people go into on DCUM. But having a basic knowledge of what they are, where they are, a general pecking order (again, not to the extreme that people go to here, just that Harvard>Fairleigh Dickinson). It's like if you went to a business meal and someone didn't know basic rules of etiquette. Not the real nuanced rules, but basic things like "don't eat spaghetti with your fingers" or "put your napkin on your lap." If your colleague says they are taking their kid to visit Duke, you don't necessarily need to know it is in Durham, but you should at least know it is a pretty good school in NC.
I'm sure I will take a lot of heat for this. But this is really table stakes. And I provided plenty of qualifiers to make clear that my bar is not that high.
Meh. Knowing that Harvard and Yale are Ivy League schools is basic cultural literacy. The rest is niche.
Although I will
add Princeton to the above 2.
That was strangely poetic...
Anonymous
01/18/2026 01:35
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
My son applied to Berklee College of Music and I mentioned it to my husband several times before I realized he thought I meant Berkeley in California (which our son could never get into in a million years). He also doesn’t know any of the Northeast SLACs, and why would he? He’s from the Midwest and all his friends and siblings went to state schools. He’s not uneducated, there was just no reason for him to know this stuff.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 00:37
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’ve run into quite a few people who think Purdue is private.
I had no idea until about 5 years ago that Clemson is a middling state U. Why? Because I DGAF and am not from the South. It doesn’t sound like a state U, and I suspect that many Virginia schools have that issue in other parts of the country. (JMU, GMU, William & Mary, Christopher Newport, on and on)
+1 I didn’t realize that Clemson was public until maybe ten years ago? And same thing for Temple but more recently.
When I first started making a list of colleges I wanted a small liberal arts school but didn’t want to be in the northeast, and came across Cornell College in Iowa - that must be really confusing for people.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 00:00
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:Best one is the University of San Diego,
UC San Diego, and San Diego State!
+1
Anonymous
01/17/2026 23:19
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:People get Georgetown, George Washington, and George Mason confused. People get Penn state and Penn wrong. People get Dickinson and Fairley Dickinson wrong. People are largely uneducated.
I don’t think I would call people who don’t know the difference between some random colleges uneducated.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 22:35
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I get that for some people, differences between colleges is not relevant to their daily existence. But if you are in a white collar job working with people who went to some of these schools, you should have a cursory knowledge of some of this.
Also, it is surprising that some people posting here don't know some of the basic differences because by opting into posting here, they are showing that they care about this topic. Though if they are using this as a way to educate themselves, credit to them for trying - you have to start somewhere.
Why?
It is basic cultural literacy. One does not need to know the intricate details of these schools that so many people go into on DCUM. But having a basic knowledge of what they are, where they are, a general pecking order (again, not to the extreme that people go to here, just that Harvard>Fairleigh Dickinson). It's like if you went to a business meal and someone didn't know basic rules of etiquette. Not the real nuanced rules, but basic things like "don't eat spaghetti with your fingers" or "put your napkin on your lap." If your colleague says they are taking their kid to visit Duke, you don't necessarily need to know it is in Durham, but you should at least know it is a pretty good school in NC.
I'm sure I will take a lot of heat for this. But this is really table stakes. And I provided plenty of qualifiers to make clear that my bar is not that high.
Meh. Knowing that Harvard and Yale are Ivy League schools is basic cultural literacy. The rest is niche.
Although I will
add Princeton to the above 2.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 21:21
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I get that for some people, differences between colleges is not relevant to their daily existence. But if you are in a white collar job working with people who went to some of these schools, you should have a cursory knowledge of some of this.
Also, it is surprising that some people posting here don't know some of the basic differences because by opting into posting here, they are showing that they care about this topic. Though if they are using this as a way to educate themselves, credit to them for trying - you have to start somewhere.
Why?
It is basic cultural literacy. One does not need to know the intricate details of these schools that so many people go into on DCUM. But having a basic knowledge of what they are, where they are, a general pecking order (again, not to the extreme that people go to here, just that Harvard>Fairleigh Dickinson). It's like if you went to a business meal and someone didn't know basic rules of etiquette. Not the real nuanced rules, but basic things like "don't eat spaghetti with your fingers" or "put your napkin on your lap." If your colleague says they are taking their kid to visit Duke, you don't necessarily need to know it is in Durham, but you should at least know it is a pretty good school in NC.
I'm sure I will take a lot of heat for this. But this is really table stakes. And I provided plenty of qualifiers to make clear that my bar is not that high.
Meh. Knowing that Harvard and Yale are Ivy League schools is basic cultural literacy. The rest is niche.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 21:14
Subject: Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
I can’t believe how many adults derive the bulk of their self-esteem from how “selective” the college they attended decades ago was…
Anonymous
01/17/2026 21:03
Subject: Re:Not knowing the difference between UPenn and Penn State
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's refreshing to me in Michigan how completely unimpressed people here are with my Georgetown degree (as much as the topic ever comes up). I've mentioned it several times here on DCUM. I'm the 03/12/2025 13:00 "LOL Georgetown" poster:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/120/1262471.page#29649794
My sister went to (then) Seton Hill College (now Seton Hill University), which of course is not Seton Hall University (named for same Seton though).
The only people who are impressed by Georgetown degree are from Georgetown
In the 80s Georgetown was a basketball power and the coach insisted on DEI before it was a thing so there were players who had no business being at Georgetown academically. As positive as basketball was for the school in some way, there were some who saw these players as the face of the University and assumed it was not a good academic schools.
I don't think you know what DEI is. Admitting a stellar black basketball player is not DEI.
Georgetown is an esteemed institution of higher learning. They had players who could barely read and weren't scoring 700 on the SAT. Not OK. I'm all for being flexible in admitting athletes. This was off the charts.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 20:10
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 league school, it merely has a close affiliation with one of the ivies. Barnard has separate admission(much lower bar than ivies) and separate governance.
Alright, I know you guys love to gatekeep prestige and hate SLACs but let’s pump the breaks on Barnard having a “much lower” admissions bar than the Ivies, at least in the grand scheme of things. No it’s not Princeton, but it’s still a very tough admit. Just say it’s not an Ivy (which was also an absurd statement) and keep it moving.