Also: generalizing something for all of Europe is as about as useful as generalizing for the US. Both span a huge landmass with diverse populations, but often people generalize from their point of view to the whole.

US only has americans. Europe obviously has different nationalities so it is far more diverse. Poor analogy.

I would argue that the US are large enough that the diversity in the in the population is more extreme than in a single European country. Yes, they all identify as (US) Americans, but if you compare e.g. California to Minnesota the difference is more comparable to Germany vs. Ukraine than two regions in Germany.

I work in academia and this is the first time I've heard about Sorbonne. I can guarantee you that if I asked 10 colleagues which is better, Sorbonne or Bordeaux (random French city), none would be able to answer with confidence. Maybe it is different in France, but outside of its borders, the name has not much value.

I don't know where you work in academia, but even as an undergrad in the 90s, both hard and soft science majors at the UC system knew about the Sorbonne, and usually it was the first name people could mention outside of other US and UK institutions.

After that you might have heard people mention Canadian options like McGill and Waterloo, and then MAYBE a handful of European options in Germany and Switzerland.

But the Sorbonne was distinctly understood by a majority of peers for its status.

Funny how things are perceived differently between inside France and outside France.

In France, La Sorbonne isn't considered particularly prestigious. Grandes Ecoles (ENS for research across various topics but especially science; Polytechnique for engineering; HEC for business; ENA/Science Po for politics) are considered much more prestigious and elite (getting there is harder than for La Sorbonne, you have to undergo 2 years of prep schools and then take an exam, where only the top scorers get into these Ecoles), and will get you the higher paying jobs.

Outside France, seems that these Grandes Ecoles don't hold much prestige against La Sorbonne which seems to be considered more elite.

Except these Grandes Ecoles provide easier access to Ivy League institutions to their students so they can go there and enjoy their prestige.

Why is La Sorbonne considered to be a top school (now)? And, tbh, which of the Paris I-V is considered "La Sorbonne"?

I think the difference is that, certainly in Canada, the top universities have grown their enrollment as the population grew (uoft increased degrees awarded around 30% from 2011 to 2021 for example from:https://governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/degrees-diplomas-and-ce..., I am sure enrollment is way up recently as well because it looks like there are 90k students enrolled and I swear that number was more like 65K 4-5 years ago, although I don't have hard data).

Harvard, on the other hand, lets in a few thousand students a year and I am pretty sure that has barely changed for decades. This changes a ivy degree from not just a good degree to a good degree with a high elitism and increasing scarcity associated with it.

I'm in Canada and there is definitely a strong aspiration to top colleges. UBC, U of T, McGill are generally recognized as top schools, and kids definitely aspire to them. U of Alberta generally gets a lot of attention for engineering, esp. Oil & Gas.

Like a lot of things in Canada the bell curve is flatter -- but it doesn't mean there isn't a bell curve.

Sure, but that's true everywhere I've lived - people want to get into "good" schools.

But the difference is that in the US, it's pretty common for families or students to aspire to the "best". That's true even in middle and low-middle class families. That's something I never saw in Canada.

That kind of thinking in Canada is limited to the upper class and old money in Canada.