Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me think maybe it’s better to just go for a cheaper flagship than a $$$$ small school like these. Yes, I know fit matters most…

My kid is at a SLAC. And it’s an “if you know, you know” thing. I really don’t care what my neighbors with 2nd grade kids or my PCP thinks about my kids college. Hiring managers, grad programs, professional schools etc know (and so do parents who have gone through a college search with their kids). I’m in it to help my kid get the best education they can and the best preparation for after college. Not for having the “right” car magnet.

That said, now that I have done 2 college searches, I’d rank Lehigh and Bucknell above Dickson and Lafayette on reputation. But, fit matters too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say Lehigh or Bucknell, but not by a lot

Lee Iacocca went to Lehigh!

How many people under 40 have even heard of Lee Iacocca?

Didn't Phil Hartman used to do a great Lee Iacocca? And, yes, I'm over 50! (& I can kick and stretch and kick)!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say Lehigh or Bucknell, but not by a lot

Lee Iacocca went to Lehigh!

How many people under 40 have even heard of Lee Iacocca?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another NC native. I hadn’t heard of any of them until I started the college search with my first kid. Only exception is a former babysitter who was an athletic recruit to Lehigh. And my first thought was: wow, sad such a promising kid is going somewhere so random.

Wow, sad you're such a condescending ignoramus.

Not really. No one from my high school class (and I went to GS 2 HS in rural NC with W AP classes with fewer than 10 kids in each) went outside NC for college. Zero students. The class ahead of me one student went to GE. More kids enlisted than went to college. And many more went to work in the textile factories. We had one Duke, one Davidson, one Wake Forest, a handful go to UNC and the rest went to non-flagship NC state schools. I had an affluent friend who probably had undosagnosed learning disabilities who went to Guilford. No one suggested I could leave the state, so I never looked at OOS schools without a brand name, especially outside the South, where I live. That makes me like 90% of Americans. If you want name recognition, here it is. Most Americans have not heard of these schools unless they live near them.

Now that I’ve done a college search, I realize that Lehigh is a great school and not at all an easy admission and our babysitter had indeed done very well. And Dickerson can be a great fit for the right kid who is a solid hard worker, but not a superstar.

I’m also the person who said if you know you know. It doesn’t matter if random people in the rural South have heard of these schools. It matters if they fit your kid’s academic profile, if it’s a good fit, and if the schools has a good placement record in your kids area of interest.

Most people don’t dissect the USNWR, especially the liberal arts colleges, unless they have a high performing kid and live in an area where it’s common and accepted for kids to go to college more than a couple of hours from home. They don’t care and you don’t need to impress them.

Anonymous wrote:The PA schools are popular with kids from NJ because NJ doesn’t really have great options. Lehigh and Bucknell are the most notable, depending on what you’re looking for. Lafayette and Dickinson are more niche and popular with the kids who want what they offer. We don’t know your in-laws, so we can’t speak to why they haven’t heard of these schools. I think it speaks more of them than of the schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Outside of the DMV or NY/NJ areas which has greater name recognition? Not the recognition is super important but I have been surprised that none of my in-laws have heard of any of these.

Didn't Steph Curry go to Dickinson?

I've heard of all four schools. But as demographics change, I'm guessing all four go out of business over the next thirty years

Steph Curry attended Davidson College which participates in D1 basketball.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me why these are worth knowing?

Tell me without telling me that you are a striving prestige hunter only interested in a vocational type of outcome for your student (likely IB or CS) from a brand name school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Outside of the DMV or NY/NJ areas which has greater name recognition? Not the recognition is super important but I have been surprised that none of my in-laws have heard of any of these.

Didn't Steph Curry go to Dickinson?

I've heard of all four schools. But as demographics change, I'm guessing all four go out of business over the next thirty years

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Outside of the DMV or NY/NJ areas which has greater name recognition? Not the recognition is super important but I have been surprised that none of my in-laws have heard of any of these.

Didn't Steph Curry go to Dickinson?

I've heard of all four schools. But as demographics change, I'm guessing all four go out of business over the next thirty years

Anonymous wrote:Outside of the DMV or NY/NJ areas which has greater name recognition? Not the recognition is super important but I have been surprised that none of my in-laws have heard of any of these.