"Socially Competitive" Colleges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools I’m personally familiar with: SMU. Carlton. Tulane to a certain extent.

What's socially competitive about Carlton? I've always heard its students are smart but quirky and individualistic. Basically the opposite of an SMU/Vandy/UMiami social environment.

A lot of very, very wealthy “smart but quirky.” Not like SMU at all, but its own weird thing.

You can't be that familiar with it, because you don't even know how to spell it. I have experience and would put Carleton in the opposite category.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn.

At a lot of top schools, kids arrive having been rock stars at their high school. A lot are immediately prepared to try to run everything in college, too, but it's just not possible when there are so many Type A kids in one place.

Fraternities, sororities, eating clubs, etc., are inherently competitive to get into.

Sometimes parties are hard to get into -- you have to know someone.

So it’s a competitiveness in a social context, not academically? Competitive to be friends with the right people kind of thing?

Yes. But a “friends with the right people kind of thing” affects access to important clubs, activities, etc, which is how a lot of people get the right jobs, and then move up in the world. For the rest of their lives. So it’s more than who they hang out with on Saturday. If you aren’t an extreme climber, professionally or socially, this doesn’t matter.

Is it really that serious though?
You make it sound like it will dramatically impact the course of your life - if you pick a school that’s socially competitive and you aren’t able to manage the grind and the sharp elbowed-ness and compete?

It will dramatically impact your life if you can compete.

Failing to compete will only close doors if you are looking to enter certain doors, and don’t have any other keys.

Exactly. Not making those connections won’t leave you worse off than if you hadn’t gone to college, but making them will open doors that even the most prestigious degree can’t. Take Bucknell, for example. It’s a great school, but it’s not HYPMS or WASP in pure academic prestige. However, its alumni network and Wall Street connections rival any of those schools. If you can tap into that, the world is your oyster. And the cool part is that Bucknell’s social scene isn’t as cutthroat as those others schools. Its network of elites is accessible to anyone willing to put in the effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn.

At a lot of top schools, kids arrive having been rock stars at their high school. A lot are immediately prepared to try to run everything in college, too, but it's just not possible when there are so many Type A kids in one place.

Fraternities, sororities, eating clubs, etc., are inherently competitive to get into.

Sometimes parties are hard to get into -- you have to know someone.

I think like 70% of Princeton belongs to an Eating Club and the remaining 30% don't belong by choice, not because they were rejected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn.

At a lot of top schools, kids arrive having been rock stars at their high school. A lot are immediately prepared to try to run everything in college, too, but it's just not possible when there are so many Type A kids in one place.

Fraternities, sororities, eating clubs, etc., are inherently competitive to get into.

Sometimes parties are hard to get into -- you have to know someone.

So it’s a competitiveness in a social context, not academically? Competitive to be friends with the right people kind of thing?

Yes. But a “friends with the right people kind of thing” affects access to important clubs, activities, etc, which is how a lot of people get the right jobs, and then move up in the world. For the rest of their lives. So it’s more than who they hang out with on Saturday. If you aren’t an extreme climber, professionally or socially, this doesn’t matter.

Is it really that serious though?
You make it sound like it will dramatically impact the course of your life - if you pick a school that’s socially competitive and you aren’t able to manage the grind and the sharp elbowed-ness and compete?

It will dramatically impact your life if you can compete.

Failing to compete will only close doors if you are looking to enter certain doors, and don’t have any other keys.

Exactly. Not making those connections won’t leave you worse off than if you hadn’t gone to college, but making them will open doors that even the most prestigious degree can’t. Take Bucknell, for example. It’s a great school, but it’s not HYPMS or WASP in pure academic prestige. However, its alumni network and Wall Street connections rival any of those schools. If you can tap into that, the world is your oyster. And the cool part is that Bucknell’s social scene isn’t as cutthroat as those others schools. Its network of elites is accessible to anyone willing to put in the effort.

Hello again Bucknell booster…always makes me wonder if is this an avid alum or if it’s the school who posts constantly in this forum.

[Anonymous]

What if you don't need the school's clubs etc to open doors? Bc you have other ways...

Then, is there really even a point to this type of environment? It seems toxic?

[Anonymous]

lol. Other ways. Then you ARE the connection that other people want to make. You will be very popular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol. Other ways. Then you ARE the connection that other people want to make. You will be very popular.

Become the campus c0ke dealer.

[Anonymous]

I would guess it might overlap (though not exclusively ) with heavy Greek presence? Prep school kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn.

At a lot of top schools, kids arrive having been rock stars at their high school. A lot are immediately prepared to try to run everything in college, too, but it's just not possible when there are so many Type A kids in one place.

Fraternities, sororities, eating clubs, etc., are inherently competitive to get into.

Sometimes parties are hard to get into -- you have to know someone.

So it’s a competitiveness in a social context, not academically? Competitive to be friends with the right people kind of thing?

Yes. But a “friends with the right people kind of thing” affects access to important clubs, activities, etc, which is how a lot of people get the right jobs, and then move up in the world. For the rest of their lives. So it’s more than who they hang out with on Saturday. If you aren’t an extreme climber, professionally or socially, this doesn’t matter.

Is it really that serious though?
You make it sound like it will dramatically impact the course of your life - if you pick a school that’s socially competitive and you aren’t able to manage the grind and the sharp elbowed-ness and compete?

It will dramatically impact your life if you can compete.

Failing to compete will only close doors if you are looking to enter certain doors, and don’t have any other keys.

Exactly. Not making those connections won’t leave you worse off than if you hadn’t gone to college, but making them will open doors that even the most prestigious degree can’t. Take Bucknell, for example. It’s a great school, but it’s not HYPMS or WASP in pure academic prestige. However, its alumni network and Wall Street connections rival any of those schools. If you can tap into that, the world is your oyster. And the cool part is that Bucknell’s social scene isn’t as cutthroat as those others schools. Its network of elites is accessible to anyone willing to put in the effort.

Hello again Bucknell booster…always makes me wonder if is this an avid alum or if it’s the school who posts constantly in this forum.

It has to be the school. No one thinks about Bucknell this much.

[Anonymous]

Carleton grad here -- definitely would not consider Carleton a socially competitive environment. Social scene is a little nerdy, offbeat, and occasionally claustrophobic (with about 500 students in a class, you know many people all too well by senior year!), but there is not a "see and be seen" vibe, and and I did not find it to be an environment where wealth or social connections are highly visible. Not a lot of conspicuous consumption (which Carleton fans will recognize as the infamous phrase of alumnus Thorstein Veblen!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn.

At a lot of top schools, kids arrive having been rock stars at their high school. A lot are immediately prepared to try to run everything in college, too, but it's just not possible when there are so many Type A kids in one place.

Fraternities, sororities, eating clubs, etc., are inherently competitive to get into.

Sometimes parties are hard to get into -- you have to know someone.

So it’s a competitiveness in a social context, not academically? Competitive to be friends with the right people kind of thing?

Yes. But a “friends with the right people kind of thing” affects access to important clubs, activities, etc, which is how a lot of people get the right jobs, and then move up in the world. For the rest of their lives. So it’s more than who they hang out with on Saturday. If you aren’t an extreme climber, professionally or socially, this doesn’t matter.

Is it really that serious though?
You make it sound like it will dramatically impact the course of your life - if you pick a school that’s socially competitive and you aren’t able to manage the grind and the sharp elbowed-ness and compete?

It will dramatically impact your life if you can compete.

Failing to compete will only close doors if you are looking to enter certain doors, and don’t have any other keys.

Exactly. Not making those connections won’t leave you worse off than if you hadn’t gone to college, but making them will open doors that even the most prestigious degree can’t. Take Bucknell, for example. It’s a great school, but it’s not HYPMS or WASP in pure academic prestige. However, its alumni network and Wall Street connections rival any of those schools. If you can tap into that, the world is your oyster. And the cool part is that Bucknell’s social scene isn’t as cutthroat as those others schools. Its network of elites is accessible to anyone willing to put in the effort.

Hello again Bucknell booster…always makes me wonder if is this an avid alum or if it’s the school who posts constantly in this forum.

It has to be the school. No one thinks about Bucknell this much.

Plus any avid alum is way too busy working on The Street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn.

At a lot of top schools, kids arrive having been rock stars at their high school. A lot are immediately prepared to try to run everything in college, too, but it's just not possible when there are so many Type A kids in one place.

Fraternities, sororities, eating clubs, etc., are inherently competitive to get into.

Sometimes parties are hard to get into -- you have to know someone.

+100 for Penn. Everyone is so exhausting and very competitive socially about every thing. My DC wanted motivated peers but the social competitiveness was not her vibe. DC transferred to Northwestern and is much happier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol. Other ways. Then you ARE the connection that other people want to make. You will be very popular.

Just means you have connections to those IB jobs etc. via parents and personal network.

It's sad to me that kids feel like the whole point of college is to "build their network". They have their whole life to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would guess it might overlap (though not exclusively ) with heavy Greek presence? Prep school kids?

Depends on the school. Certainly the southern ones, yes.

[Anonymous]

I think this is just a predictable side effect of very selective colleges. In high school, even a good high school, there are easygoing slacker kids, artsy kids who don't care about academics, earnest salt-of-the-earth kids who don't think about applying anywhere selective. Take them away, and you end up with a student population at these colleges that is overindexed for Type A kids, needless competition and excessive intensity.