LurkerTurnedMember wrote:I went to U of Chicago. When I applied to law schools, I was working-class, doing a blue collar job finishing college. All my family and friends were same, everyday people with no particular connection to "engineering," "law," "medicine," etc. The perception at the time on which schools were best for me to apply, irrespective of actual US news rankings (we weren't really aware of at the beginning) and after we realized I could get into the "good" schools instead of applying "local," was Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Berkeley. MIT and Princeton were also thrown in but obviously didn't apply. When I applied and told people where I was applying, they would almost always single out Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Berkeley. A few also were impressed by U of Chicago. I know this is hugely anecdotal, but I come from an "everyday" background if you will. And since going through law school, and meeting so many overly well off people, I can't stand when someone from a well off background who grew up through private schools, and knew everything law because they grew up expected and prepared to be some kind of professional, tries to, with a sense of "the world rotates around me," impute their very researched and unordinary understanding of the legal profession and schools to everyday people, like that guy above who, like those snobs we all met at one point, for some reason still cares about private versus public school distinction.
I'm not saying other schools aren't great. They are. I'm just saying if you asked everyday people to name the top engineering school, law school, medical school, or the like, people will go with their perception on the university as a whole because they don't have the same particular understanding of the specific professions we do now, especially law. So whichever one you ask (i.e., about law, medicine, etc.), you'll get answers like Harvard, Yale, MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, etc. You won't get UVA, Michigan, NYU, Duke, Vandy, or the like because generally they don't have that specific national lay person reputation for academics. That doesn't mean they aren't good schools. They are. And that doesn't mean they also aren't well known for something. They are; I'm sure if I asked people to name the best basketball programs, Duke would pop up immediately. But when it comes to academics, for a long time it's been Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, MIT, and a few others that dominate across the board in academics and the media. It has never been schools that are good at one particular thing, especially when that thing is non-academic, like Duke with basketball and as we here know law but no other high academic ranking in any other departments.
This of course varies from one part of the country to another, but generally on a national level, and international level, it holds true.
This is some 180 trolling. Not everyone is from a wealthy, prep school background on here, and I'm pretty sure I'd win if we were to compare who was more "blue collar." BTW, that's such a weird criticism to level at people who disagree with you. What sort of prick claims to speak "for the people," and claim that their own life experiences holds true across America, when their only experience is in Chicago.
In my area, no one blinked at Berkeley. There, it had less lay prestige than literally every other school you mentioned with the exception of NYU. On the east coast (which is the only coast that matters), Duke will be considered better by virtually everyone. I'd be surprised if you could find a single layperson mention Berkeley as the best in anything (Harvard will probably win no matter what field we're talking). Hell, Stanford wouldn't be in the same conversation as HYP and MIT throughout most of the east coast, and would be seen as Duke's peer. Stop living in a fantasy world. This is as stupid of an argument as the guy citing some random international rankings. Outside of HYP, schools are heavily regional, and that will determine what the layperson thinks is the best. Stop speaking for the country.
