Which of the T20 schools have the least driven, intense, goal-oriented students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washington & Lee, UCLA, USC, UVA, Vanderbilt come to mind

LOL you couldn’t be more wrong!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington & Lee, UCLA, USC, UVA, Vanderbilt come to mind

Are these schools even top20?

UCLA receives more applications than any other school in the country. Literally.

It’s tougher to get into than UC Berkeley. Good luck getting into the school without being ultra focused and motivated. Also the colleges (majors) within the school are ultra competitive. Students need to be on top of their game.

Your comment was fun and provocative, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt and Rice.

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/g11438356/happiest-college-students/

Town and country is not a respectable source or citation. Read it like you would fiction – just for fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt and Rice.

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/g11438356/happiest-college-students/

Town and country is not a respectable source or citation. Read it like you would fiction – just for fun.

Seems like a reasonable list to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent of a freshman a T15 school. Kid thought they were selecting a place commensurate with their [holds nose] top credentials that would nonetheless have a lot of fun kids who don't take themselves seriously and prioritize having a good time. Spoiler alert: this is not UChicago.

Anyway, kid is wrong. Not every student at kid's school is a Tracy Flick, of course, but there are so many of them that the vibe is affected. The seriousness and intensity permeates the dorms, the quad, the on campus coffee places ...

I promise I'm not a troll. Kid is grateful for this opportunity but really surprised at how wrong they were.

This should surprise no one. How do you think those kids got into that school?

You can't "buy" a T20 experience for the bumper sticker/line on your resume, without throwing yourself with others who are caught up in the same rat race.

You should really have focused more on "fit," as many more contented families have recommended. But so many people on this board are blinded by status/USNWR rankings...

[Anonymous]

These schools are filled with the kind of miserable people who will derail threads because some anonymous poster on an obscure message board said their school was not a T20 school.

Pick a mellower SLAC and walk away from the misery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These schools are filled with the kind of miserable people who will derail threads because some anonymous poster on an obscure message board said their school was not a T20 school.

Pick a mellower SLAC and walk away from the misery.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent of a freshman a T15 school. Kid thought they were selecting a place commensurate with their [holds nose] top credentials that would nonetheless have a lot of fun kids who don't take themselves seriously and prioritize having a good time. Spoiler alert: this is not UChicago.

Anyway, kid is wrong. Not every student at kid's school is a Tracy Flick, of course, but there are so many of them that the vibe is affected. The seriousness and intensity permeates the dorms, the quad, the on campus coffee places ...

I promise I'm not a troll. Kid is grateful for this opportunity but really surprised at how wrong they were.

This should surprise no one. How do you think those kids got into that school?

You can't "buy" a T20 experience for the bumper sticker/line on your resume, without throwing yourself with others who are caught up in the same rat race.

You should really have focused more on "fit," as many more contented families have recommended. But so many people on this board are blinded by status/USNWR rankings...

Really? I disagree. If anything, there's a lot of boosting on here of obscure SLACs from worthless guidebooks like CTCL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent of a freshman a T15 school. Kid thought they were selecting a place commensurate with their [holds nose] top credentials that would nonetheless have a lot of fun kids who don't take themselves seriously and prioritize having a good time. Spoiler alert: this is not UChicago.

Anyway, kid is wrong. Not every student at kid's school is a Tracy Flick, of course, but there are so many of them that the vibe is affected. The seriousness and intensity permeates the dorms, the quad, the on campus coffee places ...

I promise I'm not a troll. Kid is grateful for this opportunity but really surprised at how wrong they were.

This should surprise no one. How do you think those kids got into that school?

You can't "buy" a T20 experience for the bumper sticker/line on your resume, without throwing yourself with others who are caught up in the same rat race.

You should really have focused more on "fit," as many more contented families have recommended. But so many people on this board are blinded by status/USNWR rankings...

The poster was replying to OP, who regrets choosing a T20.

Most families with actual CTCL experience seem pretty content.

Really? I disagree. If anything, there's a lot of boosting on here of obscure SLACs from worthless guidebooks like CTCL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt and Rice.

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/g11438356/happiest-college-students/

Town and country is not a respectable source or citation. Read it like you would fiction – just for fun.

Town and Country is citing Princeton Review, which uses student surveys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a first year at Brown. Very, very smart and reasonably social kids. School tends to attract authentically intellectually curious types. Quirky in a good way types. Brown is more STEM focused (at > 50%) than it was even 10 years ago. Pragmatically pre-professional. Strong pipeline to Silicon Valley, which surprises people with an 80s and 90s frame of reference. Rigor and great professors without taking itself too seriously. Lots of late night “why are we here” and “is there any true altruism” discussions. Hip, chic social vibe which is right for DC but may not be for everyone. Most refreshing aspect of kids I’ve met via DC is that they generally are not box checker types and a large portion deliberately chose Brown via ED (over other top schools) even if they were deferred ED but admitted RD.

I know some current Brown students that are disappointed with the social life. This kinda explains why.

How so? How are they disappointed with the social life? What were they expecting and what are they actually experiencing? Genuine question.

Less parties there than a schools their friends are attending.

DC also a freshman at Brown and really enjoying it. Chose Brown specifically for the fit after a fairly tough and competitive HS experience at a top boarding school. For them, it is a good mix of being around self-motivated kids but not a high stress atmosphere. They have an interesting mix of friends, but hasn’t experienced the ones that are into discussing the meaning of life. They do enjoy the social life and seem to have a pretty wide range of social activities from campus parties to off campus clubs.

Different kids will have different expectations.

Sure. But if you head off to MIT for a rocking good party time... your expectations are misguided.

On the other hand… the only actual line of coke I’ve ever seen in real life was at the Delta Psi fraternity house at MIT. So, even MIT has some partiers.

Ha. Funny you mention MIT. My daughter's boyfriend goes there. She is across the river at BU. He is in a frat (I think something like 50% of MIT students are in Greek life). She spends a lot of time at MIT, and I always always always see pictures of her and her boyfriend and their friends at events- parties, bars, formals. MIT parties have a good reputation in the area, so I hear. Maybe if you're looking for a party atmosphere like Penn State or Tulane or something (just thinking of schools I know with huge party reps) it's not going to cut it, but the party scene is more than there for these who want it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why people are being hard on OP. It’s actually a good cautionary tale for all who are gunning for top 15. When I went to a top 15 30 years ago, once you got there there were plenty of kids who didn’t take themselves too seriously. That may be less the case today - I don’t know but it’s worth exploring and considering that even if you get in you might not like it.

I found this thread and find this all so interesting.

What selective schools are like this today?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a first year at Brown. Very, very smart and reasonably social kids. School tends to attract authentically intellectually curious types. Quirky in a good way types. Brown is more STEM focused (at > 50%) than it was even 10 years ago. Pragmatically pre-professional. Strong pipeline to Silicon Valley, which surprises people with an 80s and 90s frame of reference. Rigor and great professors without taking itself too seriously. Lots of late night “why are we here” and “is there any true altruism” discussions. Hip, chic social vibe which is right for DC but may not be for everyone. Most refreshing aspect of kids I’ve met via DC is that they generally are not box checker types and a large portion deliberately chose Brown via ED (over other top schools) even if they were deferred ED but admitted RD.

I know some current Brown students that are disappointed with the social life. This kinda explains why.

How so? How are they disappointed with the social life? What were they expecting and what are they actually experiencing? Genuine question.

Less parties there than a schools their friends are attending.

DC also a freshman at Brown and really enjoying it. Chose Brown specifically for the fit after a fairly tough and competitive HS experience at a top boarding school. For them, it is a good mix of being around self-motivated kids but not a high stress atmosphere. They have an interesting mix of friends, but hasn’t experienced the ones that are into discussing the meaning of life. They do enjoy the social life and seem to have a pretty wide range of social activities from campus parties to off campus clubs.

Different kids will have different expectations.

Sure. But if you head off to MIT for a rocking good party time... your expectations are misguided.

On the other hand… the only actual line of coke I’ve ever seen in real life was at the Delta Psi fraternity house at MIT. So, even MIT has some partiers.

Ha. Funny you mention MIT. My daughter's boyfriend goes there. She is across the river at BU. He is in a frat (I think something like 50% of MIT students are in Greek life). She spends a lot of time at MIT, and I always always always see pictures of her and her boyfriend and their friends at events- parties, bars, formals. MIT parties have a good reputation in the area, so I hear. Maybe if you're looking for a party atmosphere like Penn State or Tulane or something (just thinking of schools I know with huge party reps) it's not going to cut it, but the party scene is more than there for these who want it...

Huh.
This is interesting & funny. the Harvard kids we know go to MIT to party.
I thought it was a joke at first.
Clearly not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why people are being hard on OP. It’s actually a good cautionary tale for all who are gunning for top 15. When I went to a top 15 30 years ago, once you got there there were plenty of kids who didn’t take themselves too seriously. That may be less the case today - I don’t know but it’s worth exploring and considering that even if you get in you might not like it.

I found this thread and find this all so interesting.

What selective schools are like this today?

None. We know kids miserable at Brown and happy at Penn, despite “reputations “ that Penn is filled with more intense people. And plenty of other examples that cancel each other out. The common theme for those miserable is that they feel insecure in the bottom /less successful half of the class. Success could be topping the harsh curves and being above the mean, or getting into a competitive club/coveted group. They struggle with being average or below average. Some students do not struggle with that. This happens at every school, but is more pronounced at T15s because so many of them were the very top of their high school, and that is a tough adjustment. The ones who are happier are almost always the ones who are still at least top half and doing well in classes/clubs compared to the average student, and have accepted to some degree that being at the very top 5% does not matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washington & Lee, UCLA, USC, UVA, Vanderbilt come to mind

Of those, only UCLA is T15