@old_school posted:Villanova is terrible, just read the comments.
If prefer to not a be a part of powerful elite academic school, with a very active affluent alumni network who go out of their way to take care of their own...well by all means dismiss them completely. I listen to so many here preach about the 40 years vs 4 and blah blah and rip a school like Villanova? I am not even a Nova guy but that it is a high quality school that would treat your son very well in life.
There’s no doubt it’s the best D1 school in the local area academically after Princeton and Penn.
Fitting in socially and culturally is important. If you get accepted to an Ivy and are concerned with these issues you suck it up and get the education. Villanova is nowhere near them academically. I’d move on. If looking for a job away from the Philadelphia area Villanova is respected as a good school. But it’s not that big of a deal.
The caste system is a big deal in Northeast cities. I remember a front page and center article in the Inquirer about how special men who attended The Prep (Saint Johns) were. It’s a freak’n private high school. It’s in Philadelphia. Of course some Philadelphia leaders are going to have come from there.