Elite schools with down to earth students

[Anonymous]

Rice!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame. Great community feel, friendly, collaborative. Being from cut throat DC area, it is a breath of fresh air. My son has made lifelong friends and may have met his future wife. Her family is from Chicago, very wealthy, and the most lovely down to earth people...you would never get the sense they have that much money. We are pleased and hope to send our younger one there!

? ND is very much into legacy and keeping it all in the family. That doesn't seem down to earth to me.

It’s a catholic school. And not catholic like Georgetown...

Not exactly down to earth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame. Great community feel, friendly, collaborative. Being from cut throat DC area, it is a breath of fresh air. My son has made lifelong friends and may have met his future wife. Her family is from Chicago, very wealthy, and the most lovely down to earth people...you would never get the sense they have that much money. We are pleased and hope to send our younger one there!

I second Notre Dame

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame. Great community feel, friendly, collaborative. Being from cut throat DC area, it is a breath of fresh air. My son has made lifelong friends and may have met his future wife. Her family is from Chicago, very wealthy, and the most lovely down to earth people...you would never get the sense they have that much money. We are pleased and hope to send our younger one there!

I second Notre Dame

I like Notre Dame. More accurately stated, I love Notre Dame. But, ND has its share of the rich & privileged who are well aware of their status.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are elite, or very good schools (say average ACT 30/31 or higher), have the most down to earth students? That aren't super competitive amongst students even if students have strong aspirations?

You are describing Rice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame. Great community feel, friendly, collaborative. Being from cut throat DC area, it is a breath of fresh air. My son has made lifelong friends and may have met his future wife. Her family is from Chicago, very wealthy, and the most lovely down to earth people...you would never get the sense they have that much money. We are pleased and hope to send our younger one there!

Would you have been just as thrilled with your son's experience if his future wife were merely down to earth but not even close to wealthy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame. Great community feel, friendly, collaborative. Being from cut throat DC area, it is a breath of fresh air. My son has made lifelong friends and may have met his future wife. Her family is from Chicago, very wealthy, and the most lovely down to earth people...you would never get the sense they have that much money. We are pleased and hope to send our younger one there!

Would you have been just as thrilled with your son's experience if his future wife were merely down to earth but not even close to wealthy?

Good question. Absolutely. They only thing that matters is his happiness.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Caltech and MIT
Midwestern schools

+1 Yep.

Good Lord, not MIT! It's dog eat dog (I went up the river to Harvard).

MIT...intense, yes...cutthroat/dog eat dog, no!

[Anonymous]

Rice for sure

I don't have anyone at Notre Dame, but when we visited it seemed like it had a really good vibe. Friendly, down to earth kids.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Elite schools in the midwest. Midwestern influence drives down the snob factor. Think Northwestern, Notre Dame, Wash U, etc.

WashUn and Northwestern yes, Notre Dame and UChicago definitely not.

Agree! I want my kid to go to school in the Midwest.

The kids I know who landed at Northwestern, UChicago and Michigan from either NOVA or NYC all spoke about how they appreciated the mellowing and wholesome effect of the Midwest, even if most of them returned to the east coast after graduating. Definitely still a lot of pretense and at times just as intense as any top school, but I think relatively less so.

This is such BS (“wholesome effect” WTF)and I’m from the Midwest. U of C loves its full-pay private school kids and internationals and NU is the same but with bottle-service. Michigan is full of NY-NJ rich kids.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Haverford

+100. It is the Quaker vibe.

Why is it not the same at Sidwell? Location?

People don't go to Sidwell because of any Quaker values/policies/vibe...when you hear about why people send their kids there, it's about the academics (and prestige, no doubt, has a lot to do with it).

Haverford absolutely has first-rate academics but it is a Quaker institution at its core...and it IS what attracts many students...
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False. There are only 75,000 Quakers left in the US and they are too old to have college-aged kids. Ever see the deserted Quaker church in Nantucket? It’s a dying religion. Also Haverford, like most Protestant missionary training schools started in the US, no longer has any affiliation with Quakerism.

Don't know what you mean by "has no affiliation with Quakerism" and it is nonsectarian...but it's Quaker roots are strong and it is unapologetic about it...

https://www.haverford.edu/sites/default/files/Office/President/Haverford-Quaker-Elements.pdf

Go look Haverford on wiki ir it’s own page. It no longer has any religious connection with Quakerism just as my own Slac no longer has any connection with the Presbyterian Church and Harvard has no connection with the Congregationalist church. Even the President of Haverford Wendy E Raymond is not Quaker. They may want to claim there is not “feel” there but it’s purely projection on your part if you think it’s there, just like there is no Quaker “feel” to Sudwell.

Nobody is arguing about the fact that Haverford is not formally a Quaker college anymore--it is obviously nonsectarian. But I just read the link provided by the earlier poster (because my DS is a junior and is interested in looking at Haverford--in part because of a Peace Studies program they have--which sounds pretty Quaker-ish to me) and it is clear that the college still has a clear Quaker identity. [b]The whole PDF is about how Quaker elements are woven into the fabric of the college.
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https://www.haverford.edu/sites/default/files/Office/President/Haverford-Quaker-Elements.pdf

I don't know anything about Sidwell but I haven't seen anything like this about that school.

All marketing. How does anything "quaker" "woven into the fabric of the school" sound different from any slac? Wendy isn't Quaker. The profs aren't quaker. This is a chimera.

What a weird post.... I'm not sure how many SLACs use Quakerism as a "marketing" device...I don't know much about Haverford but I just read the link about Quaker elements and I haven't seen anything like it from any of the many SLACs my DD is looking at.

No one there is Quaker. Not even the President.

Interesting that you know the religion of every faculty member, staff and student at Haverford.

For those really interested in Quakerism at Haverford, please take a look at https://www.haverford.edu/quaker-affairs/resources

Wasn’t very Quaker of them, especially the college President, to let a small group of radicals make demands and shut classes down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rice for sure

I don't have anyone at Notre Dame, but when we visited it seemed like it had a really good vibe. Friendly, down to earth kids.

I would add that the staff who work there are also super friendly and helpful. It is always a very pleasant visit when we go...even when the weather isn't that great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rice for sure

I don't have anyone at Notre Dame, but when we visited it seemed like it had a really good vibe. Friendly, down to earth kids.

I would add that the staff who work there are also super friendly and helpful. It is always a very pleasant visit when we go...even when the weather isn't that great.

That’s a midwestern thing….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northwestern.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northwestern

Awful! Are you kidding?