My alma mater, Wheaton College, is a tiny (~1600 students) liberal arts college in a small town in Massachusetts. When I was living on the East Coast, most people hadn’t heard of it, so I’d give them the whole spiel – and that’s what I knew to expect from people. Here in Ohio (which is technically the East Coast but feels hella Midwest to me) I tend to get a different response from people…
Person: So where did you go to college?
Me: I went to Wheaton College, it’s a small school that you might not have heard–
Person: Oh, I know people who went there! In Illinois, right?
Me: Uh, no, mine’s in Massachusetts. There are two Wheaton Colleges, but they’re pretty different…
Person: *silently judging me bc my school is super liberal and not the conservative, Christian school that they thought it was*
So this is new!!!
Ohio is totally the midwest! But I guess it’s Eastern time zone… idk… I agree, definitely feels Midwestern to me!
Most of my family is in Illinois and when I decided on Auburn none of them had heard of it (granted, it’s not a small school, they just didn’t really know the SEC schools). Everyone thought it was in NY. Too funny.
I’m glad you agree!! Compared to Mass, Ohio feels super Midwestern to me. And I can’t believe they hadn’t heard of Auburn! That’s so funny!