OK, yeah, so it means the school you went to. Jesus Christ.
“Hey, what school did you go to?” That’s what we’d say.
I rarely care at all, but it depends on the context in which it comes up. Bragging is bragging, though, which already tells me more than where they received their diploma.
Although, it’s not an uncommon question; I’ve been asked by various people and co-workers all the time, but I never went to college, so I just spit out two random letters and add a “U”. Okay, no I don’t, but I might start.
Did I impress you with my big fancy words? 
I personally like “school” as a verb. 
In the US, we use Latin to sound smarter.
I never applied to Harvard, but I did to MIT, and I turned them down. They didn’t think I was crazy. Or at least no one called me to tell me they thought I was.
In the US, “Alma Mater” usually means the place a person got their Bachelor’s degree. It is common to be emotionally attached to that school, and many alumni wear or display school insignia, some support the school financially (and the alumni office will give you frequent “hints” to do so), and visit often, especially if they live nearby or will stop by when traveling.
And the high school you went to is meaningless unless it was an uber elite private school, and even if it was, once you get a degree, high school loses 99% of its relevance. Nobody cares what public/state high school you attended, and even people who went to the same high school aren’t really that interested after their early 20’s. It’s just not important.
My high school barely had 200 people in its graduating class, so it wouldn’t impress anyone. Some of the other schools in the state, known for killer high school quizbowl, might impress me a bit.
As for college, with regards to my field, yes, it would impress me. We’re number one in the nation for one of my school’s master’s degrees. I’m an undergrad, but the master’s program was the original reason why I picked going here.
Actually, my high school song has “alma mater” in the lyrics. 
semper ubi sub ubi!
Many high schools have an alma mater (school song, usually VERY sappy, intended to make the graduates cry at commencement) and a fight song.
Alma Mater is Latin for “nourishing mother” and can be any school from which a person has graduated. It typically means college.
“Where desert sands and mountains,
Meet beneath the Western skies.
'Tis there my heart forever yearns…”
Dum de dum de dum de dum…
That’s all I can remember from my high school alma mater.
I don’t get teary over it. I think it’s horribly corny.
~VOW
My friend was from Cambridge (MA). He didn’t want to go to the local school, he wanted to go far away and get his bachelors elsewhere. Funny thing is, he went to Harvard for grad school.
So, all the Beach Boys songs about being true to your school, and what not, are true, eh?
I seriously doubt that affinity exists elsewhere. Well, maybe for exclusive Universities, but High School? As if.
ecoaster-GREAT reason! Wanting to go away for school is perfectly reasonable.
Nobody cares what high school you went to. 98% of the time, that’s just a function of where your parents live/what they can afford. Big whoop.
Nobody cares what undergrad you went to, except as interesting trivia. Your personal characteristics have slightly more to do with what undergrad you went to, but not much. At age 18, you just haven’t had enough time to do stuff independently in your life, so all undergrad can do is measure if you got good grades in high school, which is really just a small thing in a small part of your life. In any case, in many schools up to 25% of admitted students are athletes or legacies.
Grad school can matter. I certainly know the top X grad schools in my field, and I have an idea of what kind of student they admit, what their philosophy is, and what professors they may have worked with. Most schools in my field require significant personal achievement and work experience prior to admissions, so you can know that people from these programs really are the cream of the crop.
Careful, the poster below you may say you are insecure about your education. :rolleyes:
I could tell you where I went to high school but it wouldn’t fit with my disgruntled jealous complex that everyone had a better edjimicashun than me. 
I’m in this club: I turned down MIT. It’s because I’m lazy and don’t like the cold, though.
That’s as good a reason as any. And no I am not hijacking my own thread. I’m serious; not everyone likes weather in the Northeast and if you aren’t happy, what’s the point of staying somewhere?
I’m surprised anyone even thought the question could be referring to high school. It’s not like there are a bunch of famous high schools (in the US anyway - I think the UK is different?). I might ask where someone where they went to high school, but only as a way of asking where their formative years were spent.
Re. college, “namedropping” implies someone needlessly working the name of their college into conversations for the purpose of impressing others. That always backfires with me, and I will think of said namedropper as a pompous ass.
If the subject comes up naturally, then yes - of course I’ll sometimes be impressed. Why not? Getting into some schools can be really tough, and in addition to resources and luck it typically takes intelligence, ambition, and drive. It’s obnoxious if someone brags about it, but if you find out someone did well at something hard like that there’s nothing wrong with being impressed.
There are absolutely elitist secondary schools–one year at many of them costs more than 4 years at college. And they can have just as competitive an admissions process. Unfortunately, school is not always about “intelligence, ambition, and drive,” as people often have “resources” which include legacy. I agree with most everything else you wrote here, as well as what was written in another thread by someone who obtained both a masters and a doctorate from Harvard. It’s a shame that people should feel inferior when discussing their school. But then again, evTwhatever thinks I have some inferiority complex. :rolleyes:
living-Doth protest too much.