Since Rutgers' three campuses accommodate large undergraduate and graduate enrollments, I doubt that its name has deterred applicants. This debate brings Shakespeare to mind:

Much Ado About Nothing, and...

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

(10-19-2020 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 08:31 AM)esayem Wrote:  Most students make their college choice based on something other than sports. Rutgers sounds more prestigious than SUNJ or Jersey State. Temple sounds more prestigious than Philly U.

Yes, changing those names would be dumb. First, nobody is confused by the names "Rutgers" and "Temple", and most everyone knows who they are.

Second, the most prestigious schools are the Ivies, and they all have names like Harvard, Yale and Princeton. None are called "The University of Philadelphia" or anything similar. So in that vein, as you say, names like "Rutgers" and "Temple" sound more Ivy-like, and thus more prestigious.

Except for the University of Pennsylvania.

No one is mistaking Rutgers or Temple for Penn.

(10-19-2020 08:20 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 07:01 AM)esayem Wrote:  This isn’t an important conversation though, it’s a useless one where people seem to think places of higher education need to be named after cities or states, which most people can’t identify where those are anyway.

If you want to be considered a state university or advertise yourself to be a state university you should. Duke doesn't care to cater to North Carolina or Durham residents. Harvard doesn't care to cater to Massachusetts or Cambridge or Boston residents. If Rutgers cares to cater to New Jersey it should advertise itself as such. People in Illinois want to go to the University of Illinois because it's the University of Illinois even though their football and men's basketball teams have sucked recently. The University of Illinois is in the middle of the state about 2.5 hrs away from Chicago. If they were "Urbana University", good luck getting people to go there.

Alums are proud of the name "Rutgers". But eventually new students have to want to go there. In the athletic world, "Rutgers" is associated with losing. I didn't invent the name "Buttgers", I heard it from someone else. In the college sports world, Illinois could be as big a loser as Rutgers is but Illinois is still a state and residents of Illinois might still have pride in living there and might still want to go to a university named after the state. They won't have the same pride in going to a university named "Rutgers", a name associated with losers. And if Rutgers can't attract in state residents like Illinois or Ohio State or Penn State, there won't be as many alumni 20-30 years from now (out of state residents don't even know where Rutgers is or won't go there because Rutgers is a school full of losers). Rutgers is lucky they're even in the Big Ten and/or lucky they weren't kicked out of the Big East along with Temple. I wouldn't have taken them.

Speaking of Temple, they are supposed to be the #1 public school in Philadelphia. They are. I believe more Philadelphia area residents are Temple alumni than any other university (Penn State is 2nd). But Temple was kicked out of the Big East and is a G5 rather than a P5 and they're not in the top 100 of USN&WR. Pittsburgh ranks ahead of Penn State now in the same rankings. Both Pittsburgh and Temple have to compete with Penn State but a Pittsburgh area resident is choosing between Penn(sylvania) State and Pitt(sburgh) while a Philadelphia area resident is choosing between Penn State and "Temple". I don't know whether Penn State is winning the race in Philly and/or the race in Pittsburgh for the top college students but it's pretty clear they're doing better in Philly because Pittsburgh's a better university (academically and athletically). Shouldn't the Philadelphia school do better? They have more college students to choose from in the area and Philly is a lot farther away from State College than Pittsburgh is. Could it be students want to attend a school called the University of "Pittsburgh" while there isn't the same attraction to attend a school called "Temple"? I'd say the Pittsburgh name is an attraction here.

If you still don't believe names are important in universities, the university that received the most freshman applications for fall 2018 admission was UCLA. The school has "California" AND "Los Angeles" in its name! But they suck in sports! Doesn't matter! California residents and Los Angeles area residents want to go there. I'm sure they get a bunch of out of state residents applying to because even if you don't live in California living in LA sure sounds attractive.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-co...e=sailthru

UCLA had 113,761 freshman applicants, no other school had over 100,000.

Eight of the ten universities in the list are from California. One private school made the top ten. It wasn't an Ivy League school, it wasn't Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, or Vanderbilt. It was New York University! Coincidence? I think not. More freshman applied to NYU than Columbia and they're in New York!

Flipping this discussion...the University of Pennsylvania is an outstanding private, research university with the naming convention more commonly associated with public state flagship institutions. Was Ben Franklin so ahead of his time that he understood the branding advantage in choosing the university’s name? Or is Penn’s academic standing being hurt by its commoner name?

Penn appears to be doing very well academically and seems to be thriving in its west Philly neighborhood. Not sure that any elite athletes have been confused by the Quakers geographic name...at least not since Chuck Bednarik.

Not sure how much importance to place on names.

Unfortunately for conference realignment concerns, UCF changed the name from Florida Tech to emphasize a broad curricular offering that was broader than just engineering and computer science. The university's growth tracks with this change, though that also may represent when the strategy of offerings changed as well (correlation and not causation).

(10-19-2020 10:21 AM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 08:20 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 07:01 AM)esayem Wrote:  This isn’t an important conversation though, it’s a useless one where people seem to think places of higher education need to be named after cities or states, which most people can’t identify where those are anyway.

If you want to be considered a state university or advertise yourself to be a state university you should. Duke doesn't care to cater to North Carolina or Durham residents. Harvard doesn't care to cater to Massachusetts or Cambridge or Boston residents. If Rutgers cares to cater to New Jersey it should advertise itself as such. People in Illinois want to go to the University of Illinois because it's the University of Illinois even though their football and men's basketball teams have sucked recently. The University of Illinois is in the middle of the state about 2.5 hrs away from Chicago. If they were "Urbana University", good luck getting people to go there.

Alums are proud of the name "Rutgers". But eventually new students have to want to go there. In the athletic world, "Rutgers" is associated with losing. I didn't invent the name "Buttgers", I heard it from someone else. In the college sports world, Illinois could be as big a loser as Rutgers is but Illinois is still a state and residents of Illinois might still have pride in living there and might still want to go to a university named after the state. They won't have the same pride in going to a university named "Rutgers", a name associated with losers. And if Rutgers can't attract in state residents like Illinois or Ohio State or Penn State, there won't be as many alumni 20-30 years from now (out of state residents don't even know where Rutgers is or won't go there because Rutgers is a school full of losers). Rutgers is lucky they're even in the Big Ten and/or lucky they weren't kicked out of the Big East along with Temple. I wouldn't have taken them.

Speaking of Temple, they are supposed to be the #1 public school in Philadelphia. They are. I believe more Philadelphia area residents are Temple alumni than any other university (Penn State is 2nd). But Temple was kicked out of the Big East and is a G5 rather than a P5 and they're not in the top 100 of USN&WR. Pittsburgh ranks ahead of Penn State now in the same rankings. Both Pittsburgh and Temple have to compete with Penn State but a Pittsburgh area resident is choosing between Penn(sylvania) State and Pitt(sburgh) while a Philadelphia area resident is choosing between Penn State and "Temple". I don't know whether Penn State is winning the race in Philly and/or the race in Pittsburgh for the top college students but it's pretty clear they're doing better in Philly because Pittsburgh's a better university (academically and athletically). Shouldn't the Philadelphia school do better? They have more college students to choose from in the area and Philly is a lot farther away from State College than Pittsburgh is. Could it be students want to attend a school called the University of "Pittsburgh" while there isn't the same attraction to attend a school called "Temple"? I'd say the Pittsburgh name is an attraction here.

If you still don't believe names are important in universities, the university that received the most freshman applications for fall 2018 admission was UCLA. The school has "California" AND "Los Angeles" in its name! But they suck in sports! Doesn't matter! California residents and Los Angeles area residents want to go there. I'm sure they get a bunch of out of state residents applying to because even if you don't live in California living in LA sure sounds attractive.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-co...e=sailthru

UCLA had 113,761 freshman applicants, no other school had over 100,000.

Eight of the ten universities in the list are from California. One private school made the top ten. It wasn't an Ivy League school, it wasn't Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, or Vanderbilt. It was New York University! Coincidence? I think not. More freshman applied to NYU than Columbia and they're in New York!

Flipping this discussion...the University of Pennsylvania is an outstanding private, research university with the naming convention more commonly associated with public state flagship institutions. Was Ben Franklin so ahead of his time that he understood the branding advantage in choosing the university’s name? Or is Penn’s academic standing being hurt by its commoner name?

Penn appears to be doing very well academically and seems to be thriving in its west Philly neighborhood. Not sure that any elite athletes have been confused by the Quakers geographic name...at least not since Chuck Bednarik.

Not sure how much importance to place on names.

I think Franklin intended the university to be public.

(10-19-2020 08:20 AM)schmolik Wrote:  If you still don't believe names are important in universities, the university that received the most freshman applications for fall 2018 admission was UCLA. The school has "California" AND "Los Angeles" in its name! But they suck in sports! Doesn't matter! California residents and Los Angeles area residents want to go there. I'm sure they get a bunch of out of state residents applying to because even if you don't live in California living in LA sure sounds attractive.

If it were all about names, why isn't the University of DC the most popular university in the Nation's Capital?

Because it's not about names but branding. Schools of the Northeast were never funded to be flagships the way than schools were elsewhere; in part, because private schools were more established and served the needs of the state better than a state funded operation. They were never the go-to school athletically and thus generations of prospective students weren't going to grow up thinking Rutgers was the place to be the way "Our Lady of the Lake" College in South Bend, Indiana might be.

And measurements by sheer FTE (not online) enrollment aren't a good judge of primacy, either. The largest university in Virginia isn't UVA, it's George Mason University. The largest university in Florida isn't UF, it's Central Florida.

(10-19-2020 11:32 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 10:21 AM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 08:20 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 07:01 AM)esayem Wrote:  This isn’t an important conversation though, it’s a useless one where people seem to think places of higher education need to be named after cities or states, which most people can’t identify where those are anyway.

If you want to be considered a state university or advertise yourself to be a state university you should. Duke doesn't care to cater to North Carolina or Durham residents. Harvard doesn't care to cater to Massachusetts or Cambridge or Boston residents. If Rutgers cares to cater to New Jersey it should advertise itself as such. People in Illinois want to go to the University of Illinois because it's the University of Illinois even though their football and men's basketball teams have sucked recently. The University of Illinois is in the middle of the state about 2.5 hrs away from Chicago. If they were "Urbana University", good luck getting people to go there.

Alums are proud of the name "Rutgers". But eventually new students have to want to go there. In the athletic world, "Rutgers" is associated with losing. I didn't invent the name "Buttgers", I heard it from someone else. In the college sports world, Illinois could be as big a loser as Rutgers is but Illinois is still a state and residents of Illinois might still have pride in living there and might still want to go to a university named after the state. They won't have the same pride in going to a university named "Rutgers", a name associated with losers. And if Rutgers can't attract in state residents like Illinois or Ohio State or Penn State, there won't be as many alumni 20-30 years from now (out of state residents don't even know where Rutgers is or won't go there because Rutgers is a school full of losers). Rutgers is lucky they're even in the Big Ten and/or lucky they weren't kicked out of the Big East along with Temple. I wouldn't have taken them.

Speaking of Temple, they are supposed to be the #1 public school in Philadelphia. They are. I believe more Philadelphia area residents are Temple alumni than any other university (Penn State is 2nd). But Temple was kicked out of the Big East and is a G5 rather than a P5 and they're not in the top 100 of USN&WR. Pittsburgh ranks ahead of Penn State now in the same rankings. Both Pittsburgh and Temple have to compete with Penn State but a Pittsburgh area resident is choosing between Penn(sylvania) State and Pitt(sburgh) while a Philadelphia area resident is choosing between Penn State and "Temple". I don't know whether Penn State is winning the race in Philly and/or the race in Pittsburgh for the top college students but it's pretty clear they're doing better in Philly because Pittsburgh's a better university (academically and athletically). Shouldn't the Philadelphia school do better? They have more college students to choose from in the area and Philly is a lot farther away from State College than Pittsburgh is. Could it be students want to attend a school called the University of "Pittsburgh" while there isn't the same attraction to attend a school called "Temple"? I'd say the Pittsburgh name is an attraction here.

If you still don't believe names are important in universities, the university that received the most freshman applications for fall 2018 admission was UCLA. The school has "California" AND "Los Angeles" in its name! But they suck in sports! Doesn't matter! California residents and Los Angeles area residents want to go there. I'm sure they get a bunch of out of state residents applying to because even if you don't live in California living in LA sure sounds attractive.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-co...e=sailthru

UCLA had 113,761 freshman applicants, no other school had over 100,000.

Eight of the ten universities in the list are from California. One private school made the top ten. It wasn't an Ivy League school, it wasn't Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, or Vanderbilt. It was New York University! Coincidence? I think not. More freshman applied to NYU than Columbia and they're in New York!

Flipping this discussion...the University of Pennsylvania is an outstanding private, research university with the naming convention more commonly associated with public state flagship institutions. Was Ben Franklin so ahead of his time that he understood the branding advantage in choosing the university’s name? Or is Penn’s academic standing being hurt by its commoner name?

Penn appears to be doing very well academically and seems to be thriving in its west Philly neighborhood. Not sure that any elite athletes have been confused by the Quakers geographic name...at least not since Chuck Bednarik.

Not sure how much importance to place on names.

I think Franklin intended the university to be public.

He did. He proposed a secular Public Academy of Pennsylvania. It became the College of Philadelphia, and in 1779 was seized by the State during the revolution and turned into a state school (the University of the State of Pennsylvania), which was the first in the nation. It revertd to private status and received its current name in 1791.

BTW, Pitt was chartered in 1787 as Pittsburgh Academy and its charter altered in 1819 to become the Western University of Pennsylvania. The intent was for it to be the University of Pennsylvania, Western version. Pitt received its current name in 1908, and became a "state-related" university in 1966.

(10-17-2020 01:38 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  

(10-17-2020 10:03 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-15-2020 09:05 PM)ken d Wrote:  Maybe the State of New Jersey should change its name to Rutgers.

Might work better for Rutgers. People in the Northeast are snooty. They look down on state universities. Hence Rutgers is a better brand name for them.

No need to generalize or stereotype...there are many large, successful public universities in the northeast: Penn State, Rutgers, UConn, UMass, SUNY, URI, etc.
The northeast happens to also have a disproportionate share of private (including academically elite) universities. That’s probably more a vestige of the population concentration, relative wealth and being founded earlier than in other geographies.

Yes, need. It's a stereotype because it's true.

The Northeast places a lower value on public university education than the Midwest or the South.

The Northeast is the largest region in the country. Yet other than Penn State (in a state that is 1/2 Midwestern in its geography and values), and Rutgers (a very recent agglomeration) none of its public universities would be in the top 2/3 of the SEC, ACC, or Big 10 on academic quality or size.

For quality, there is no public school even close to Michigan, Virginia, or North Carolina in the Northeast.

For size, even Penn State & Rutgers are dwarfed by Ohio State or Texas A&M. All the the rest are dwarfed by Purdue & South Carolina.

Iowa (population 3.1 million) and Indiana (population 6.7 million) each have 2 universities that would be the flagship of any state in New York or New England.

(10-19-2020 12:23 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 11:32 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 10:21 AM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Flipping this discussion...the University of Pennsylvania is an outstanding private, research university with the naming convention more commonly associated with public state flagship institutions. Was Ben Franklin so ahead of his time that he understood the branding advantage in choosing the university’s name? Or is Penn’s academic standing being hurt by its commoner name?

Penn appears to be doing very well academically and seems to be thriving in its west Philly neighborhood. Not sure that any elite athletes have been confused by the Quakers geographic name...at least not since Chuck Bednarik.

Not sure how much importance to place on names.

I think Franklin intended the university to be public.

He did. He proposed a secular Public Academy of Pennsylvania. It became the College of Philadelphia, and in 1779 was seized by the State during the revolution and turned into a state school (the University of the State of Pennsylvania), which was the first in the nation. It revertd to private status and received its current name in 1791.

BTW, Pitt was chartered in 1787 as Pittsburgh Academy and its charter altered in 1819 to become the Western University of Pennsylvania. The intent was for it to be the University of Pennsylvania, Western version. Pitt received its current name in 1908, and became a "state-related" university in 1966.

Thanks for the info. I had no idea Pitt was private up until 1966. Is Temple also "state-related"?

(10-19-2020 09:50 AM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 08:31 AM)esayem Wrote:  Most students make their college choice based on something other than sports. Rutgers sounds more prestigious than SUNJ or Jersey State. Temple sounds more prestigious than Philly U.

Yes, changing those names would be dumb. First, nobody is confused by the names "Rutgers" and "Temple", and most everyone knows who they are.

Second, the most prestigious schools are the Ivies, and they all have names like Harvard, Yale and Princeton. None are called "The University of Philadelphia" or anything similar. So in that vein, as you say, names like "Rutgers" and "Temple" sound more Ivy-like, and thus more prestigious.

Except for the University of Pennsylvania.

No one is mistaking Rutgers or Temple for Penn.

You just reinforced my point - nobody refers to "Penn" as the "University of Pennsylvania". It's just "Penn".

Which sounds a lot more like "Rutgers" and "Temple".

(10-19-2020 01:42 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 12:23 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 11:32 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 10:21 AM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  Flipping this discussion...the University of Pennsylvania is an outstanding private, research university with the naming convention more commonly associated with public state flagship institutions. Was Ben Franklin so ahead of his time that he understood the branding advantage in choosing the university’s name? Or is Penn’s academic standing being hurt by its commoner name?

Penn appears to be doing very well academically and seems to be thriving in its west Philly neighborhood. Not sure that any elite athletes have been confused by the Quakers geographic name...at least not since Chuck Bednarik.

Not sure how much importance to place on names.

I think Franklin intended the university to be public.

He did. He proposed a secular Public Academy of Pennsylvania. It became the College of Philadelphia, and in 1779 was seized by the State during the revolution and turned into a state school (the University of the State of Pennsylvania), which was the first in the nation. It revertd to private status and received its current name in 1791.

BTW, Pitt was chartered in 1787 as Pittsburgh Academy and its charter altered in 1819 to become the Western University of Pennsylvania. The intent was for it to be the University of Pennsylvania, Western version. Pitt received its current name in 1908, and became a "state-related" university in 1966.

Thanks for the info. I had no idea Pitt was private up until 1966. Is Temple also "state-related"?

Yes. Pitt, Penn State, Temple, and Lincoln are the Commonwealth (state-related) schools in PA.

(10-19-2020 01:55 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 09:50 AM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 08:31 AM)esayem Wrote:  Most students make their college choice based on something other than sports. Rutgers sounds more prestigious than SUNJ or Jersey State. Temple sounds more prestigious than Philly U.

Yes, changing those names would be dumb. First, nobody is confused by the names "Rutgers" and "Temple", and most everyone knows who they are.

Second, the most prestigious schools are the Ivies, and they all have names like Harvard, Yale and Princeton. None are called "The University of Philadelphia" or anything similar. So in that vein, as you say, names like "Rutgers" and "Temple" sound more Ivy-like, and thus more prestigious.

Except for the University of Pennsylvania.

No one is mistaking Rutgers or Temple for Penn.

You just reinforced my point - nobody refers to "Penn" as the "University of Pennsylvania". It's just "Penn".

Which sounds a lot more like "Rutgers" and "Temple".

We hear Penn, UPenn, and University of Penn when that school is referenced. They come up often on the local NPR station. But, yeah, no University of Pennsylvania references. Of course, UPenn spends a lot on marketing to make sure those other names stick. Who knows if some day they take the long official title for marketing purposes. It does present as that in scholarly works.

(10-19-2020 01:33 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(10-17-2020 01:38 PM)Wahoowa84 Wrote:  

(10-17-2020 10:03 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-15-2020 09:05 PM)ken d Wrote:  Maybe the State of New Jersey should change its name to Rutgers.

Might work better for Rutgers. People in the Northeast are snooty. They look down on state universities. Hence Rutgers is a better brand name for them.

No need to generalize or stereotype...there are many large, successful public universities in the northeast: Penn State, Rutgers, UConn, UMass, SUNY, URI, etc.
The northeast happens to also have a disproportionate share of private (including academically elite) universities. That’s probably more a vestige of the population concentration, relative wealth and being founded earlier than in other geographies.

Yes, need. It's a stereotype because it's true.

The Northeast places a lower value on public university education than the Midwest or the South.

The Northeast is the largest region in the country. Yet other than Penn State (in a state that is 1/2 Midwestern in its geography and values), and Rutgers (a very recent agglomeration) none of its public universities would be in the top 2/3 of the SEC, ACC, or Big 10 on academic quality or size.

For quality, there is no public school even close to Michigan, Virginia, or North Carolina in the Northeast.

For size, even Penn State & Rutgers are dwarfed by Ohio State or Texas A&M. All the the rest are dwarfed by Purdue & South Carolina.

Iowa (population 3.1 million) and Indiana (population 6.7 million) each have 2 universities that would be the flagship of any state in New York or New England.

https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cro...ion1Higher

States in the northeast invest just as much on public higher education as states in the south or Midwest. The ranking of public universities (such as UVA, UNC, Michigan) does differ, but that is about those individual schools’ ability to attract top talent.

Possibly the competition amongst universities is more serious in the northeast. Big state universities don’t have as much exclusivity...prospective students have more accessible choices.

(10-19-2020 02:01 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 01:55 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 09:50 AM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 08:31 AM)esayem Wrote:  Most students make their college choice based on something other than sports. Rutgers sounds more prestigious than SUNJ or Jersey State. Temple sounds more prestigious than Philly U.

Yes, changing those names would be dumb. First, nobody is confused by the names "Rutgers" and "Temple", and most everyone knows who they are.

Second, the most prestigious schools are the Ivies, and they all have names like Harvard, Yale and Princeton. None are called "The University of Philadelphia" or anything similar. So in that vein, as you say, names like "Rutgers" and "Temple" sound more Ivy-like, and thus more prestigious.

Except for the University of Pennsylvania.

No one is mistaking Rutgers or Temple for Penn.

You just reinforced my point - nobody refers to "Penn" as the "University of Pennsylvania". It's just "Penn".

Which sounds a lot more like "Rutgers" and "Temple".

We hear Penn, UPenn, and University of Penn when that school is referenced. They come up often on the local NPR station. But, yeah, no University of Pennsylvania references. Of course, UPenn spends a lot on marketing to make sure those other names stick. Who knows if some day they take the long official title for marketing purposes. It does present as that in scholarly works.

Thanks, during my four years on Penn's campus, I always wondered what all those "University of Pennsylvania" signs were referring to.

Seriously, "UPenn" is never used by the school, students, or alumni. It's a bastardization that comes from the web address. Neither is "UPitt" on the other side of the state.

You know what is? Both "Penn" and the "University of Pennsylvania"

(10-19-2020 02:33 PM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 02:01 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 01:55 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 09:50 AM)CrazyPaco Wrote:  

(10-19-2020 09:20 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Yes, changing those names would be dumb. First, nobody is confused by the names "Rutgers" and "Temple", and most everyone knows who they are.

Second, the most prestigious schools are the Ivies, and they all have names like Harvard, Yale and Princeton. None are called "The University of Philadelphia" or anything similar. So in that vein, as you say, names like "Rutgers" and "Temple" sound more Ivy-like, and thus more prestigious.

Except for the University of Pennsylvania.

No one is mistaking Rutgers or Temple for Penn.

You just reinforced my point - nobody refers to "Penn" as the "University of Pennsylvania". It's just "Penn".

Which sounds a lot more like "Rutgers" and "Temple".

We hear Penn, UPenn, and University of Penn when that school is referenced. They come up often on the local NPR station. But, yeah, no University of Pennsylvania references. Of course, UPenn spends a lot on marketing to make sure those other names stick. Who knows if some day they take the long official title for marketing purposes. It does present as that in scholarly works.

Thanks, during my four years on the Penn's campus, I always wondered what all those "University of Pennsylvania" signs were referring to.

Seriously, "UPenn" is never used by the school, students, or alumni. It's a bastardization that comes from the web address. Neither is "UPitt" on the other side of the state.

You know what is? Both "Penn" and the "University of Pennsylvania"

Having worked at...Penn in development and otherwise, and with a brother and SIL who are both graduates, you are correct. No one calls it UPenn.