School Tier Ranking based on Privilege

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That preppy & privileged feel is fading significantly at Princeton. My DS says that it only really exists with the athletes & legacies at the eating clubs. Otherwise, Princeton heavily favors and targets underprivileged kids for admission.

Does your DS think it’s good that it’s fading?

Curious to hear. I’m a Princeton alum, BIPOC, and I think the targeting underprivileged kids has gone a bit too far. Sadly, it’s resulted in professors diluting standards to get kids who are not well-prepared academically to graduation.

You need a good mix of kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds for a first class university.

Staying test optional so long—still. For 6 years they have had such a big URM/First Gen push- the student body has changed a lot.

I’ll give credit to Cal (and likely other top UCs). It has had the obligation to admit a mass of unprepared kids from CA even before the test-blind age. But its requirements are “weed out” classes instead of diluting standards to accommodate the unprepared kids.

This raises another question…
I know some unprepared kids are clueless about how unprepared they’re before getting into a top college. But putting an unprepared kid in a top college may do more harms to them instead of helping them!

[Anonymous]

Tulane. The amount of wealth there is staggering. Private jets, yachts, etc.

[Anonymous]

University of Miami, Denison, Pepperdine,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That preppy & privileged feel is fading significantly at Princeton. My DS says that it only really exists with the athletes & legacies at the eating clubs. Otherwise, Princeton heavily favors and targets underprivileged kids for admission.

Same at Dartmouth. My child is a freshman. There are wealthy boarding school kids but 30% of the students pay nothing.
There are a ton of FGLI, etc kids. The downside is that the students are underprepared. My smart but not a superstar kid finds it super easy and is on the second trimester of 99% or something ridiculous in all courses (has accelerated the rigor when able but a lot of classes have been required).

Is your freshman at Dartmouth taking STEM courses? Which ones? I'm surprised academics are that easy now/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From DC’s private school, recent Dartmouth and Vanderbilt admits have been mostly spoiled rich kids with okay but not great stats.

In CT or NY?

DMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That preppy & privileged feel is fading significantly at Princeton. My DS says that it only really exists with the athletes & legacies at the eating clubs. Otherwise, Princeton heavily favors and targets underprivileged kids for admission.

It's very apparent during bicker process to the most selective eating clubs. That's when the social hierarchy is most nakedly apparent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USC in CA

Well…. It was nicknamed the University of Spoiled Children for a reason.

It’s a private in wealthy SoCal where, if you have the grades and stats, you go to UCLA for 40% of the cost of USC. The rich dumb kids end up at USC.

UCLA has a gorgeous campus in Westwood. USC is right smack in the middle of downtown LA.

The only major that’s stronger at USC is the film school, which is notoriously competitive to get into.

Um no. USC is now majority smart Asian kids from CA public schools that load up on APs. There are some different types in Film/Acting side of things. There are dumb jocks too and "new money" (mostly international) but nothing like the prep-school "old money" New England vibes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That preppy & privileged feel is fading significantly at Princeton. My DS says that it only really exists with the athletes & legacies at the eating clubs. Otherwise, Princeton heavily favors and targets underprivileged kids for admission.

It's very apparent during bicker process to the most selective eating clubs. That's when the social hierarchy is most nakedly apparent.

Barely existing from when I was there. There has not been one kid from our MCPS HS which is a mix of socioeconomic situations that has gotten into Princeton in the past few years with the exception of a few legacies and sports kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That preppy & privileged feel is fading significantly at Princeton. My DS says that it only really exists with the athletes & legacies at the eating clubs. Otherwise, Princeton heavily favors and targets underprivileged kids for admission.

Same at Dartmouth. My child is a freshman. There are wealthy boarding school kids but 30% of the students pay nothing.
There are a ton of FGLI, etc kids. The downside is that the students are underprepared. My smart but not a superstar kid finds it super easy and is on the second trimester of 99% or something ridiculous in all courses (has accelerated the rigor when able but a lot of classes have been required).

No offense, but in both cases involving underprepared students, do schools end up lowering academic standards just to ensure students pass?

[Anonymous]

I know this group well. This is where their kids go:
W&L
Bucknell
Colorado College
Wake Forest
Trinity
Middlebury
Hamilton
Bowdoin
Duke and Dartmouth if legacies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That preppy & privileged feel is fading significantly at Princeton. My DS says that it only really exists with the athletes & legacies at the eating clubs. Otherwise, Princeton heavily favors and targets underprivileged kids for admission.

Same at Dartmouth. My child is a freshman. There are wealthy boarding school kids but 30% of the students pay nothing.
There are a ton of FGLI, etc kids. The downside is that the students are underprepared. My smart but not a superstar kid finds it super easy and is on the second trimester of 99% or something ridiculous in all courses (has accelerated the rigor when able but a lot of classes have been required).

Is your freshman at Dartmouth taking STEM courses? Which ones? I'm surprised academics are that easy now/

Yes, they're a STEM major.
I think a lot of people would be surprised how dumbed down the Ivies are in 2026 in order to accommodate a pretty large cohort of kids who went to suboptimal high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That preppy & privileged feel is fading significantly at Princeton. My DS says that it only really exists with the athletes & legacies at the eating clubs. Otherwise, Princeton heavily favors and targets underprivileged kids for admission.

Same at Dartmouth. My child is a freshman. There are wealthy boarding school kids but 30% of the students pay nothing.
There are a ton of FGLI, etc kids. The downside is that the students are underprepared. My smart but not a superstar kid finds it super easy and is on the second trimester of 99% or something ridiculous in all courses (has accelerated the rigor when able but a lot of classes have been required).

Is your freshman at Dartmouth taking STEM courses? Which ones? I'm surprised academics are that easy now/

Yes, they're a STEM major.
I think a lot of people would be surprised how dumbed down the Ivies are in 2026 in order to accommodate a pretty large cohort of kids who went to suboptimal high schools.

I have a STEM student at an Ivy (not Cornell or Princeton), and I’d be unable to give you any worthwhile intel on different stem majors at their university much less have an educated option on a variety of stem majors at 7 other institutions.

This would be a far superior forum if everyone had the restraint to only post about things they could possibly know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USC in CA

Well…. It was nicknamed the University of Spoiled Children for a reason.

It’s a private in wealthy SoCal where, if you have the grades and stats, you go to UCLA for 40% of the cost of USC. The rich dumb kids end up at USC.

UCLA has a gorgeous campus in Westwood. USC is right smack in the middle of downtown LA.

The only major that’s stronger at USC is the film school, which is notoriously competitive to get into.

Um no. USC is now majority smart Asian kids from CA public schools that load up on APs. There are some different types in Film/Acting side of things. There are dumb jocks too and "new money" (mostly international) but nothing like the prep-school "old money" New England vibes.

USC 20% Asian. How is it "majority Asian"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:USC, NYU, BU

Good catch with BU. NYU is actually a bit more socioeconomically diverse than BU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USC in CA

Well…. It was nicknamed the University of Spoiled Children for a reason.

It’s a private in wealthy SoCal where, if you have the grades and stats, you go to UCLA for 40% of the cost of USC. The rich dumb kids end up at USC.

UCLA has a gorgeous campus in Westwood. USC is right smack in the middle of downtown LA.

The only major that’s stronger at USC is the film school, which is notoriously competitive to get into.

Um no. USC is now majority smart Asian kids from CA public schools that load up on APs. There are some different types in Film/Acting side of things. There are dumb jocks too and "new money" (mostly international) but nothing like the prep-school "old money" New England vibes.

USC 20% Asian. How is it "majority Asian"?

It’s the old 1970s thing where 2 black families moved into the neighborhood thing and the residents said that it is now overrun with black people.

USC is actually known for FGLI Latino kids.