Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 22:32     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Culture matters to some people, so some people don't pick purely based on prestige or ranking. That's why there are some people who turn down Princeton to go to Brown, or turn down Amherst to go to Wesleyan. I'm not saying Brown is as selective or prestigious as Princeton, or that Wesleyan is as selective and prestigious as Amherst. I'm just saying some people choose the less selective and prestigious options and have good reasons for their choices.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 21:32     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
This is one of the most ridiculous threads I’ve seen on DCUM. And that’s saying something.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 21:11     Subject: Re:LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:Cute premise to pretend that an Ivy education would preclude having any real knowledge about which liberal arts colleges are prestigious. Glad to see that many others called out the highbrow trolling.


Most ivy students don't pay any attention to LACs. Why would they?
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 21:04     Subject: Re:LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Cute premise to pretend that an Ivy education would preclude having any real knowledge about which liberal arts colleges are prestigious. Glad to see that many others called out the highbrow trolling.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 20:56     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:LACs are not prestigious at all. Below the T30 universities for sure.


Wouldn't say a school like Emory or WashU is more prestigious than a school like Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd.


Wouldn't say a school like Emory or WashU is more prestigious than a school like Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd.

Haha are you joking? Thanks for the laugh.


He wasn't joking, he was spot on....the joke is in your mirror.



You are completely out of touch.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 20:52     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:LACs are not prestigious at all. Below the T30 universities for sure.


Wouldn't say a school like Emory or WashU is more prestigious than a school like Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd.


Wouldn't say a school like Emory or WashU is more prestigious than a school like Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd.

Haha are you joking? Thanks for the laugh.


He wasn't joking, he was spot on....the joke is in your mirror.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 20:21     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:LACs are not prestigious at all. Below the T30 universities for sure.


Wouldn't say a school like Emory or WashU is more prestigious than a school like Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd.



Haha are you joking? Thanks for the laugh.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 20:19     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why is this necessary? Honestly…

You are well educated and obviously have intelligent children. Do your research and find schools that are the best fit for his educational, personal, social needs.

Why do these groupings and designations matter so much?

+1. Isn't there a point in life where you quit trying to impress others?


It is less about impressing and more about the reputation of college's ability to educate on a deep level. Reputation matters in a tight jobs market. It is no longer 2022 when any tech degree from any school was snapped up. High level thinking is in demand, in all fields including stem. Humanities majors from top unis and top lacs are doing much better the past two hiring cycles('24, 25) than CS and stem majors outside the T20ish.
Soft skills, adaptability and problem solving are important: not all colleges teach these skills well. There OP is right to be concerned and gather opinions. hopefully they are analyzing data on all of these schools as well. Top schools with the highest proportions of top students can push the classroom far past the basics(memorization, understanding, basic application) toward analysis, evaluation, and creation: high-level application of learning to new problems.
Look at various curricula, pull up course syllabi, or better yet talk to professors. Professors understand the value of LACs but also understand they are not created equal, just as T50-75 universities are not at all on par with T15/ivy level.


Good lord, you sound insufferable.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 20:17     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:LACs are not prestigious at all. Below the T30 universities for sure.


Wouldn't say a school like Emory or WashU is more prestigious than a school like Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 20:09     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
The most prestigious LAC is Williams. I’m not saying it’s objectively better but in a broad general sense it has the most prestige. It’s not very well recognized in the general public but for hiring and grad school you will be just fine.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 19:55     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:WASP is the best. The top 15 in general are very strong.


Top ten LACS are all rigorous and virtually indistinguishable. Separating out WASP from the rest is silly.


Absolutely
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 19:53     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:LACs are not prestigious at all. Below the T30 universities for sure.


+1000
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 19:52     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
LACs are not prestigious at all. Below the T30 universities for sure.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 19:48     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:WWASP (Williams, Wellesley, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona) are equal to schools ranked 11-25. So some ivys but not HYP. Looking at parchment data and also the WSJ rankings from 2021 indicate this. The other LACs like Haverford, CMC, Vassar etc are at the BC, Georgia Tech, NYU level.


Nonsense. The student profiles at the top 25 schools and the top 15 or so SLACs are identical. None of them are better than any of the others even if some wish it were so. The foolishness which exists around the Ivy+, WASP. NESCAC, etc. is just over the top and absurd blithering by desperate wannabe social climbers.

Student profiles are not the only thing that makes an undergraduate, students outcomes are not equal at the non top 5 LACs. Also students prefer T25s over LACs according to parchment.
https://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Emory+University&with=Vassar+College

Because lacs have different educational emphasis. If all you care about is ROI, CMC is right there waiting for you- but some people don’t give a crap about going into finance and don’t make money the center of their lives- all of the top 20 lacs have amazing outcomes, probably just not the ones you personally want.


It's the Emory booster whop has found a bone to worry. Parchment is nonsense as it relies on self reported data. Nobody pays any attention to it.
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2025 19:29     Subject: LAC prestige analysis and reputation?
Anonymous wrote:WASP is the best. The top 15 in general are very strong.


Top ten LACS are all rigorous and virtually indistinguishable. Separating out WASP from the rest is silly.