OP - you're posting to the wrong crowd. Here on DCUM, everyone and their brother obsesses over brand name schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Name thr college or this is meaningless.

I’m trying to stay anonymous. It’s one of Colby, Bates, Bowdoin.

People who haven't heard of those schools are...how do I say this without sounding snobby?...not very in the know when it comes to which colleges are good. I would explain to DD that it's a very good school but it's better to be modest about it because a lot of people come from backgrounds where they cannot afford to go to those schools so it's not on their radar screen.

OMG. This is the most DCUM post I've read in a long time. How utterly condescending. Most people haven't heard of those schools because they are tiny LACs, not because they "cannot afford to go" there. It's simply a fact that those tiny LACs aren't well known to the vast majority of people everywhere.

Another option is to say that you looked at “name Ivy,” but that “chosen school” was more interesting to you. That suggests the level you’re playing on. If someone then says, “Oh, why did you prefer Swarthmore over Yale,” let them have it - gently.

I understand this. My kid goes to a top-10 SLAC and many around the DMV don’t know it. It’s just something you have to accept.

I grew up in Ohio and most would not even know Williams or Amherst. Even in a rarified environment, very few outside of the NE know the best NE SLACs.

How to deal with it? First, it’s a confidence game. Say it proudly. Secondly, educate them. Maybe they’ll ask you how you found out about the school or why you want to attend it. Tell them that you’re looking forward to being with a really smart group of kids and attending classes with lots of discussion and great professors. That may sufficiently intrigue them to look it up and fill their knowledge gap. Job done.

I admit I had never heard of a lot of schools in the South when I started the college process for my older DC. U Richmond, Elon, Georgia Tech - all new to me. Wake Forest rang a bell but I knew absolutely nothing about it. However I am excited to learn about new amazing schools, esp now that we are starting the process for my much-less-academically strong younger kid who could use the boost of geographic diversity. So just to give you perspective - even though I haven't heard of a school, doesn't mean I look down on it!

Hubby said the same thing - "Who's heard of it?" - about Davidson repeatedly during application season. Smaller colleges have more name recognition regionally

I'm afraid saying your daughter will be attending a NESCAC won't help. And, I'm afraid saying ,"You know, like Williams Amherst, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Middlebury," also won't help. Some people just don't know colleges and won't take, say, even a few minutes to learn about them.

OP, I have a kid at one of those three schools - he loves it there. Some people know the Maine SLACs, some don't - but the most important thing is that most kids have great experiences there and great post-college outcomes. And fwiw I went to Penn as an undergrad and no one I knew back home in small town New England had ever heard of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Name thr college or this is meaningless.

I’m trying to stay anonymous. It’s one of Colby, Bates, Bowdoin.

Nobody will know you

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many kids from my HS went to Union County College (a community college in NJ) so my poor friend who went to Union College constantly had to explain that he was going away to college.

And my moron colleague insists that since I have a degree from Penn and our other colleague went to Penn Stste, we went to the same place. I let the Penn State alum handle it.

Bets are your moron colleague knows exactly what they’re doing and your Penn State colleague thinks you’re a snob.

Nope. Colleague is a true moron. And my response is they are both great schools but in different places. Thanks for generalizing though.

I went to Amherst and people from my hometown kept saying that maybe I could transfer to the local community college.
Whatever.

Anonymous wrote:Many kids from my HS went to Union County College (a community college in NJ) so my poor friend who went to Union College constantly had to explain that he was going away to college.

And my moron colleague insists that since I have a degree from Penn and our other colleague went to Penn Stste, we went to the same place. I let the Penn State alum handle it.

Bets are your moron colleague knows exactly what they’re doing and your Penn State colleague thinks you’re a snob.

You people care way too much what others know about your colleges. It’s embarrassing.

Many kids from my HS went to Union County College (a community college in NJ) so my poor friend who went to Union College constantly had to explain that he was going away to college.

And my moron colleague insists that since I have a degree from Penn and our other colleague went to Penn Stste, we went to the same place. I let the Penn State alum handle it.

I had a friend in high school who had just moved to Connecticut and was shocked at the number of people going to the Yukon for college.

UCONN