Most intellectual colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember the reputation of U Chicago in the 80's before they upped their marketing. It was for really intellectual kids, and not a party school. Since they're marketing to go-getters, I wonder if it's less intellectual now.

Nope. They’re not marketing to ‘go getters’ (whatever that is??) , they still accept well rounded intellectual students.

Straight A students who aren't particularly intellectual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I remember the reputation of U Chicago in the 80's before they upped their marketing. It was for really intellectual kids, and not a party school. Since they're marketing to go-getters, I wonder if it's less intellectual now.

I attended the University of Chicago in the 80s, and then worked there from 2011 to 2016, much of my job involving interaction with undergraduates. It still has a good-sized contingent of intellectual geeks (no shade, I was/am one!), probably at a higher percent than many of the other schools it is ranked near, but yeah, there's definitely a much more noticeable culture of pre-professional-minded students who are there not necessarily because they wanted UChicago, but because they see the rankings and consider it an avenue to Wall Street or top med/law/etc. schools.

Are there other highly ranked schools where there's a large proportion of students who are more intellectual and not focused on pre-professional as much? I heard Columbia's core curriculum draws more intellectual kids. Other Ivies?

I have a kid like this and he thrives in an intellectual environment for the humanities, but not necessarily a pressure cooker. The pre-professional type kids engage in a more competitive way that then raises the bar for everyone (straight A's, internships, millions of activities, heavy course loads) --> pressure all around that's contagious and makes students who aren't as driven, just going at their own pace (the pace of college a generation ago) feel like they're falling behind. Wishing for my DC to avoid that and yet be in a stimulating environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I remember the reputation of U Chicago in the 80's before they upped their marketing. It was for really intellectual kids, and not a party school. Since they're marketing to go-getters, I wonder if it's less intellectual now.

I attended the University of Chicago in the 80s, and then worked there from 2011 to 2016, much of my job involving interaction with undergraduates. It still has a good-sized contingent of intellectual geeks (no shade, I was/am one!), probably at a higher percent than many of the other schools it is ranked near, but yeah, there's definitely a much more noticeable culture of pre-professional-minded students who are there not necessarily because they wanted UChicago, but because they see the rankings and consider it an avenue to Wall Street or top med/law/etc. schools.

Are there other highly ranked schools where there's a large proportion of students who are more intellectual and not focused on pre-professional as much? I heard Columbia's core curriculum draws more intellectual kids. Other Ivies?

I have a kid like this and he thrives in an intellectual environment for the humanities, but not necessarily a pressure cooker. The pre-professional type kids engage in a more competitive way that then raises the bar for everyone (straight A's, internships, millions of activities, heavy course loads) --> pressure all around that's contagious and makes students who aren't as driven, just going at their own pace (the pace of college a generation ago) feel like they're falling behind. Wishing for my DC to avoid that and yet be in a stimulating environment.

Liberal arts colleges. Even among them, there are more pre-professional than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember the reputation of U Chicago in the 80's before they upped their marketing. It was for really intellectual kids, and not a party school. Since they're marketing to go-getters, I wonder if it's less intellectual now.

I attended the University of Chicago in the 80s, and then worked there from 2011 to 2016, much of my job involving interaction with undergraduates. It still has a good-sized contingent of intellectual geeks (no shade, I was/am one!), probably at a higher percent than many of the other schools it is ranked near, but yeah, there's definitely a much more noticeable culture of pre-professional-minded students who are there not necessarily because they wanted UChicago, but because they see the rankings and consider it an avenue to Wall Street or top med/law/etc. schools.

It’s not an easy path into top med and law schools though is it? Since it’s nearly impossible to get an ‘A’ in many of the classes, whereas A’s are given out like candy at other schools?

UChicago does very well. Kids are assessed within context of their schools as long as the test results are high. Aside from that, some graduate programs, Harvard's in particular, favors their own undergrads thus the hysteria to get into the college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I felt that most people I knew at Middlebury loved learning and supporting their peers.

Perhaps 2-3 decades ago.

Certainly not now.

OP, are you open to going abroad?

I had this very positive experience at Middlebury 15Y ago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I remember the reputation of U Chicago in the 80's before they upped their marketing. It was for really intellectual kids, and not a party school. Since they're marketing to go-getters, I wonder if it's less intellectual now.

I attended the University of Chicago in the 80s, and then worked there from 2011 to 2016, much of my job involving interaction with undergraduates. It still has a good-sized contingent of intellectual geeks (no shade, I was/am one!), probably at a higher percent than many of the other schools it is ranked near, but yeah, there's definitely a much more noticeable culture of pre-professional-minded students who are there not necessarily because they wanted UChicago, but because they see the rankings and consider it an avenue to Wall Street or top med/law/etc. schools.

Are there other highly ranked schools where there's a large proportion of students who are more intellectual and not focused on pre-professional as much? I heard Columbia's core curriculum draws more intellectual kids. Other Ivies?

I have a kid like this and he thrives in an intellectual environment for the humanities, but not necessarily a pressure cooker. The pre-professional type kids engage in a more competitive way that then raises the bar for everyone (straight A's, internships, millions of activities, heavy course loads) --> pressure all around that's contagious and makes students who aren't as driven, just going at their own pace (the pace of college a generation ago) feel like they're falling behind. Wishing for my DC to avoid that and yet be in a stimulating environment.

Brown

[Anonymous]

OP if you are looking for intellectual within the US you must restrict your search to the Ivy League colleges and the highest ranking SLACs.

Then look outside the country. McGill in Canada, Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, Queens Belfast, Trinity Dublin, The Sorbonne, University of Bologna, and so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are looking for intellectual within the US you must restrict your search to the Ivy League colleges and the highest ranking SLACs.

Then look outside the country. McGill in Canada, Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, Queens Belfast, Trinity Dublin, The Sorbonne, University of Bologna, and so on.

This is just wrong (in about every possible way). Not all Ivies are intellectual. The highest ranked SLACS aren’t inherently more intellectual than lower ranked SLACS. McGill is no more (or less) intellectual than Berkeley. Sorbonne isn’t France’s Oxbridge analogue, and so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are looking for intellectual within the US you must restrict your search to the Ivy League colleges and the highest ranking SLACs.

Then look outside the country. McGill in Canada, Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, Queens Belfast, Trinity Dublin, The Sorbonne, University of Bologna, and so on.

Full of shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember the reputation of U Chicago in the 80's before they upped their marketing. It was for really intellectual kids, and not a party school. Since they're marketing to go-getters, I wonder if it's less intellectual now.

I remember in ‘90s, their admit rate was around 70%. Their reputation was they were accepting anyone who is breathing and could pay tuition.

Just nonsense. What hurt yo so?

You can verify their admit rate in ‘90s at around 70%. Around 2005, it was around 40-50% about same as a public university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I felt that most people I knew at Middlebury loved learning and supporting their peers.

Perhaps 2-3 decades ago.

Certainly not now.

OP, are you open to going abroad?

I had this very positive experience at Middlebury 15Y ago

You got lucky.

Too late now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are looking for intellectual within the US you must restrict your search to the Ivy League colleges and the highest ranking SLACs.

Then look outside the country. McGill in Canada, Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, Queens Belfast, Trinity Dublin, The Sorbonne, University of Bologna, and so on.

Full of shit.

A dazzlingly intellectual response. Point proven, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are looking for intellectual within the US you must restrict your search to the Ivy League colleges and the highest ranking SLACs.

Then look outside the country. McGill in Canada, Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, Queens Belfast, Trinity Dublin, The Sorbonne, University of Bologna, and so on.

This is just wrong (in about every possible way). Not all Ivies are intellectual. The highest ranked SLACS aren’t inherently more intellectual than lower ranked SLACS. McGill is no more (or less) intellectual than Berkeley. Sorbonne isn’t France’s Oxbridge analogue, and so on.

If you keep repeating this, maybe you will start to believe it at least. No one else does. And you use zero facts to back up your blanket statements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are looking for intellectual within the US you must restrict your search to the Ivy League colleges and the highest ranking SLACs.

Then look outside the country. McGill in Canada, Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, Queens Belfast, Trinity Dublin, The Sorbonne, University of Bologna, and so on.

This is just wrong (in about every possible way). Not all Ivies are intellectual. The highest ranked SLACS aren’t inherently more intellectual than lower ranked SLACS. McGill is no more (or less) intellectual than Berkeley. Sorbonne isn’t France’s Oxbridge analogue, and so on.

If you keep repeating this, maybe you will start to believe it at least. No one else does. And you use zero facts to back up your blanket statements.

Equally true of the statement I responded to. In fact, my “blanket statement” was essentially, that these blanket statements are uninformed. FWIW, I’m an Ivy-educated academic with friends at McGill, Oxbridge, and Sorbonne. This whole discussion is ludicrous since what constitutes intellectual culture is undefined and, wrt universities, the dominant undergraduate culture is rarely going to be intellectual (however defined).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are looking for intellectual within the US you must restrict your search to the Ivy League colleges and the highest ranking SLACs.

Then look outside the country. McGill in Canada, Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, Queens Belfast, Trinity Dublin, The Sorbonne, University of Bologna, and so on.

This is just wrong (in about every possible way). Not all Ivies are intellectual. The highest ranked SLACS aren’t inherently more intellectual than lower ranked SLACS. McGill is no more (or less) intellectual than Berkeley. Sorbonne isn’t France’s Oxbridge analogue, and so on.

If you keep repeating this, maybe you will start to believe it at least. No one else does. And you use zero facts to back up your blanket statements.

Equally true of the statement I responded to. In fact, my “blanket statement” was essentially, that these blanket statements are uninformed. FWIW, I’m an Ivy-educated academic with friends at McGill, Oxbridge, and Sorbonne. This whole discussion is ludicrous since what constitutes intellectual culture is undefined and, wrt universities, the dominant undergraduate culture is rarely going to be intellectual (however defined).

What is this strange word in your run-on sentence?