Who is WASP (Williams, Amherst, Swat, Pomona) for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WASP is just an acronym. Other than being top liberal arts colleges, these schools are all very different. Perhaps, Williams and Amherst share more similarities, like being closer geographically. If you’re smart enough to attend these schools, certainly you think beyond this logic.

They're all pretty similar. I don't know why everyone acts like they're completely unrelated and have nothing in common. Our tours at all 4 pretty much said the same thing and the offerings are nearly identical.

Agreed, All of the top NE, Mid-Atlantic SLACs are more similar than different. All are superior schools and none of them are significantly better or worse than any of the others. Add in the ones that are similar but out of region and you end up with a group of about 12 incredible schools.

They have similarities but personality wise can be quite different. In a small community you do want to make sure the vibe fits. I can say this as someone who visited a LOT of LACs. There's a big difference between some of them.

“Personalities” is vague nonsense. One of the most grinder students we know goes to Pomona and a sweetheart pothead that’s a friend of DD goes to Williams. This is nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WASP is just an acronym. Other than being top liberal arts colleges, these schools are all very different. Perhaps, Williams and Amherst share more similarities, like being closer geographically. If you’re smart enough to attend these schools, certainly you think beyond this logic.

They're all pretty similar. I don't know why everyone acts like they're completely unrelated and have nothing in common. Our tours at all 4 pretty much said the same thing and the offerings are nearly identical.

You have to be kidding. The culture at Swarthmore is not the same at Williams or Pomona.

Bout the same. The stress of Swarthmore is overstated. They all have very similar student communities and the resources are about equal. What massive difference do you see that I must be "kidding"

DP. Would you say that Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are the same? Yes, they all have high-achieving students, but you could say the same about another 20 schools.

You just highlighted the truth that the Ivy obsessed masses here on DCUM are loathe to admit. Yes they all are the same from an academic and learning perspective because they are all very richly resourced and have academically identical student bodies. They all have strengths, weaknesses and personality differences but none of them are objectively better or worse than the others. People just don't want to accept this because it upsets their long cherished view of an Athletic Conference of mediocre teams.

Great! So, let’s drop the WASP and HYPSM bullsh*t and accept that there’s about 50 great colleges and universities that essentially provide students equal education and opportunities. So, to answer Op’s question - who is WASP for? - the answer is the same as any of the 46 other schools: smart kids.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WASP is just an acronym. Other than being top liberal arts colleges, these schools are all very different. Perhaps, Williams and Amherst share more similarities, like being closer geographically. If you’re smart enough to attend these schools, certainly you think beyond this logic.

They're all pretty similar. I don't know why everyone acts like they're completely unrelated and have nothing in common. Our tours at all 4 pretty much said the same thing and the offerings are nearly identical.

You have to be kidding. The culture at Swarthmore is not the same at Williams or Pomona.

Bout the same. The stress of Swarthmore is overstated. They all have very similar student communities and the resources are about equal. What massive difference do you see that I must be "kidding"

DP. Would you say that Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are the same? Yes, they all have high-achieving students, but you could say the same about another 20 schools.

You just highlighted the truth that the Ivy obsessed masses here on DCUM are loathe to admit. Yes they all are the same from an academic and learning perspective because they are all very richly resourced and have academically identical student bodies. They all have strengths, weaknesses and personality differences but none of them are objectively better or worse than the others. People just don't want to accept this because it upsets their long cherished view of an Athletic Conference of mediocre teams.

+1, I don’t know why anyone would think otherwise. Sure Williams has tutorials and swarthmore has honors program, but all of these schools give you access to tiny courses and pretty similar academic programs. People get so obsessed about small differences.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WASP is just an acronym. Other than being top liberal arts colleges, these schools are all very different. Perhaps, Williams and Amherst share more similarities, like being closer geographically. If you’re smart enough to attend these schools, certainly you think beyond this logic.

They're all pretty similar. I don't know why everyone acts like they're completely unrelated and have nothing in common. Our tours at all 4 pretty much said the same thing and the offerings are nearly identical.

Agreed, All of the top NE, Mid-Atlantic SLACs are more similar than different. All are superior schools and none of them are significantly better or worse than any of the others. Add in the ones that are similar but out of region and you end up with a group of about 12 incredible schools.

They have similarities but personality wise can be quite different. In a small community you do want to make sure the vibe fits. I can say this as someone who visited a LOT of LACs. There's a big difference between some of them.

100% when it comes to fit there are differences in terms of vibe and personality. But, there is a lot of overlap there as well. Where there isn't any difference is in academic quality between any of the top SLACs (or top Universities). People need to stop trying to rank the unrankable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WASP is just an acronym. Other than being top liberal arts colleges, these schools are all very different. Perhaps, Williams and Amherst share more similarities, like being closer geographically. If you’re smart enough to attend these schools, certainly you think beyond this logic.

They're all pretty similar. I don't know why everyone acts like they're completely unrelated and have nothing in common. Our tours at all 4 pretty much said the same thing and the offerings are nearly identical.

You have to be kidding. The culture at Swarthmore is not the same at Williams or Pomona.

Bout the same. The stress of Swarthmore is overstated. They all have very similar student communities and the resources are about equal. What massive difference do you see that I must be "kidding"

DP. Would you say that Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are the same? Yes, they all have high-achieving students, but you could say the same about another 20 schools.

Answer: what’s so different? You make it sound so obvious, so it should be easy to spill. From what we saw, the student personalities and communities were the same. Our kid could’ve fit into any of them; because, they offered the same thing.

Well, I don't even know where to start if you actually visited and did your homework and you thought Harvard, Yale and Princeton were the same.

Academically they are all the same.