Is W&M bro-y?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is there now and loves it, and he is the opposite of bro-ey. He's found lots of friends there, too.

The people I knew who went there were super-bros, but that's just my impression.

[Anonymous]

I know what OP means, but I can agree that language around this needs to be more nuanced.

I think of UVA is more stereotypically guy’s guy interests, sporty, preppy and frat-oriented.

While I think of WM as having frats and having a preppy traditional vibe definitely, it is not very sporty, and it gives off more of a theater kid/ artsy English major vibe. Also there’s a reason it’s 58% female. UVA is 50-50.

my son, a pretty stereotypical guy’s guy, was turned off by the vibe and the tour, but he knows he only saw a small slice at the school.

Our WM tour guide was a gay man from Southwest Virginia, who was majoring in English and did a thesis on the Brontë sister’s writings. Pretty much the polar opposite of my son who is very sports oriented.

it may be a moot point anyway, RD admissions don’t come out until later this month!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does this even mean?

Yes, Caucasian males attend W&M.

I was in a sorority and it was very obvious who were bros and who weren’t. Not all guys that play sports, are in fraternities, or live in Clarendon (https://www.arlnow.com/2015/05/04/clarendon-named-one-of-the-12-bro-iest-neighborhoods-in-u-s/) are bros. But it’s a vibe - one more likely to be found in sports or fraternities. Also, it’s not a “caucasian” thing, which tells me everything I need to know about you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I think of UVA is more stereotypically guy’s guy interests, sporty, preppy and frat-oriented.

While I think of WM as having frats and having a preppy traditional vibe definitely, it is not very sporty, and it gives off more of a theater kid/ artsy English major vibe. Also there’s a reason it’s 58% female. UVA is 50-50.

Definitely agree with this.

[Anonymous]

This thread is just pathetic. ALL schools have a variety of people. Men, women, academics, partiers, athletes, musicians, artists--the list goes on. It is a university or a college. I like to hope there's a healthy cross section of men and women. Just gross to label entire student bodies a certain way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know what OP means, but I can agree that language around this needs to be more nuanced.

I think of UVA is more stereotypically guy’s guy interests, sporty, preppy and frat-oriented.

While I think of WM as having frats and having a preppy traditional vibe definitely, it is not very sporty, and it gives off more of a theater kid/ artsy English major vibe. Also there’s a reason it’s 58% female. UVA is 50-50.

my son, a pretty stereotypical guy’s guy, was turned off by the vibe and the tour, but he knows he only saw a small slice at the school.

Our WM tour guide was a gay man from Southwest Virginia, who was majoring in English and did a thesis on the Brontë sister’s writings. Pretty much the polar opposite of my son who is very sports oriented.

it may be a moot point anyway, RD admissions don’t come out until later this month!

Omg. You don't judge a college by its tour guides. We have had similar tour guides even at big party schools.

[Anonymous]

Current student - there are probably 4 or 5 frats I'd describe as that. But it's not the whole student body by any means. There are all sorts of people here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does "bro-y" mean?

Open up high school yearbook to the varsity baseball or varsity lacrosse team page. Textbook definition of bro-y.

I had to laugh. Guess it depends on the HS. Our HS barely has a lacrosse team and the baseball team is more like The Bad News Bears. They’ve been Mercy Ruled in their first two games. Heavy sigh.

But, I think you’re right on the description. FWIW, the boys I know at WM are the anti-thesis of bros. Figures, they were band kids. Sample size of two, YMMV. LOL.

Opposite. My brother played soccer there, WM. Younger than Jon Stewart- so not on the team. And his friends were not the description I see on here.

IN FACT--MY brother highly suggests my son pick WM over UVA because UVA is so douchey. My brother is 'beyond the bro'-- a higher level of cool where they look down on that striver, tight-*ss, lemming, polo-stuff. My son attends a private HS, plays a sport and also gets turned off by that kind of guy. The fleece polar vest and ball cap crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does "bro-y" mean?

Open up high school yearbook to the varsity baseball or varsity lacrosse team page. Textbook definition of bro-y.

I had to laugh. Guess it depends on the HS. Our HS barely has a lacrosse team and the baseball team is more like The Bad News Bears. They’ve been Mercy Ruled in their first two games. Heavy sigh.

But, I think you’re right on the description. FWIW, the boys I know at WM are the anti-thesis of bros. Figures, they were band kids. Sample size of two, YMMV. LOL.

Opposite. My brother played soccer there, WM. Younger than Jon Stewart- so not on the team. And his friends were not the description I see on here.

IN FACT--MY brother highly suggests my son pick WM over UVA because UVA is so douchey. My brother is 'beyond the bro'-- a higher level of cool where they look down on that striver, tight-*ss, lemming, polo-stuff. My son attends a private HS, plays a sport and also gets turned off by that kind of guy. The fleece polar vest and ball cap crowd.

Clones and lemmings that have a really distinctive 'brown-nose' personality. I think of Doug Neidermeyer in Animal House (typical UVA bro) vs Eric Stratton (from the non-prep) frat.

[Anonymous]

This is rich. Maybe you should meet my UVA son who is nothing as your family member describes. Stereotype much? LOL. This is pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we not stereotype athletic guys as toxic masculinity? There are lots of different ways to be a man. Some are athletic and love team sports, some are into theatre, some are into gaming, some are into band, etc. None are TOXIC per se. I have a boy that will 100% be what people call “frat bro” in college. He is extroverted, loves sports, etc. Guess what? He has sisters and is very sensitive and respectful of women. He also is very academic. I just don’t get the blanket disdain for boys that fall into a certain boy stereotype. It is mean, OP.

I do think we need more nuanced ways to discuss this. I went to WM and had great guy friends who liked and respected women, and who were also in athletics and in fraternities. Just normal, friendly guys who didn’t fall into any one category. I think of Bro-y and toxic are two different things. Toxic guys are the guys you wouldn’t want a girl to get drunk around or who you wouldn’t trust to walk you home without incident. Or the guys who are total misogynists and think that girls aren’t worthy of respect or being treated as equals, socially, professionally, and academically. I think of Bro-y as being different. Kind of loud, partying, obnoxious, would tell and laugh at sexist jokes, but wouldn’t be an actual threat.

I’m still really good friends with many of the guys I went to school with. They’ve grown up to be very nice men, just as they were good guys back in college.

This describes my son and his friends. He will play a sport at WM and is social, friendly--but not into bro activities---will hang out and play spike ball, football with friends--but not the drinking/partying stuff. Very intellectual too. He was always more grown up than me--lol.

This is my son. And when I tell people that don't know him well (random neighbors-not close to) the say they can see him at UVA---friends/family that know him on a personal level always say the CAN'T see him at UVA. He looks the part--blonde, tall, athletic, private HS (so seen in polo-khakis walking the dog after school), social---but he is so different than the way he looks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current student - there are probably 4 or 5 frats I'd describe as that. But it's not the whole student body by any means. There are all sorts of people here

This is how I would have described it 25 years ago also. My daughter is applying next year and fits in better with the theater crowd so I'm glad to hear it hasn't changed all that much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does "bro-y" mean?

Open up high school yearbook to the varsity baseball or varsity lacrosse team page. Textbook definition of bro-y.

I had to laugh. Guess it depends on the HS. Our HS barely has a lacrosse team and the baseball team is more like The Bad News Bears. They’ve been Mercy Ruled in their first two games. Heavy sigh.

But, I think you’re right on the description. FWIW, the boys I know at WM are the anti-thesis of bros. Figures, they were band kids. Sample size of two, YMMV. LOL.

Opposite. My brother played soccer there, WM. Younger than Jon Stewart- so not on the team. And his friends were not the description I see on here.

IN FACT--MY brother highly suggests my son pick WM over UVA because UVA is so douchey. My brother is 'beyond the bro'-- a higher level of cool where they look down on that striver, tight-*ss, lemming, polo-stuff. My son attends a private HS, plays a sport and also gets turned off by that kind of guy. The fleece polar vest and ball cap crowd.

Clones and lemmings that have a really distinctive 'brown-nose' personality. I think of Doug Neidermeyer in Animal House (typical UVA bro) vs Eric Stratton (from the non-prep) frat.

Perfect UVA stereotype. Not saying its true, but its as true as the theater/dork stereotype people love to perpetuate in WM.

Vast majority are neither or somewhere in between at both schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does "bro-y" mean?

Open up high school yearbook to the varsity baseball or varsity lacrosse team page. Textbook definition of bro-y.

I had to laugh. Guess it depends on the HS. Our HS barely has a lacrosse team and the baseball team is more like The Bad News Bears. They’ve been Mercy Ruled in their first two games. Heavy sigh.

But, I think you’re right on the description. FWIW, the boys I know at WM are the anti-thesis of bros. Figures, they were band kids. Sample size of two, YMMV. LOL.

Opposite. My brother played soccer there, WM. Younger than Jon Stewart- so not on the team. And his friends were not the description I see on here.

IN FACT--MY brother highly suggests my son pick WM over UVA because UVA is so douchey. My brother is 'beyond the bro'-- a higher level of cool where they look down on that striver, tight-*ss, lemming, polo-stuff. My son attends a private HS, plays a sport and also gets turned off by that kind of guy. The fleece polar vest and ball cap crowd.

Clones and lemmings that have a really distinctive 'brown-nose' personality. I think of Doug Neidermeyer in Animal House (typical UVA bro) vs Eric Stratton (from the non-prep) frat.

Perfect UVA stereotype. Not saying its true, but its as true as the theater/dork stereotype people love to perpetuate in WM.

Vast majority are neither or somewhere in between at both schools.

Exactly. I don’t know why some on this board insist on using “quirky” every time the school is mentioned. Vast majority of kids there don’t fall into any particular stereotype except that they did well in high school. Just like the vast majority at UVA are neither bro-y or douche-y. I realize that people like signifiers or shorthand to describe a student body, but your kids do themselves a disservice if they pay more attention to those than to common sense. A community of several thousand people is not going to be easily summarized by a word or two, and it’s certainly not going to be adequately represented by a single tour guide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does "bro-y" mean?

Open up high school yearbook to the varsity baseball or varsity lacrosse team page. Textbook definition of bro-y.

I had to laugh. Guess it depends on the HS. Our HS barely has a lacrosse team and the baseball team is more like The Bad News Bears. They’ve been Mercy Ruled in their first two games. Heavy sigh.

But, I think you’re right on the description. FWIW, the boys I know at WM are the anti-thesis of bros. Figures, they were band kids. Sample size of two, YMMV. LOL.

Opposite. My brother played soccer there, WM. Younger than Jon Stewart- so not on the team. And his friends were not the description I see on here.

IN FACT--MY brother highly suggests my son pick WM over UVA because UVA is so douchey. My brother is 'beyond the bro'-- a higher level of cool where they look down on that striver, tight-*ss, lemming, polo-stuff. My son attends a private HS, plays a sport and also gets turned off by that kind of guy. The fleece polar vest and ball cap crowd.

Clones and lemmings that have a really distinctive 'brown-nose' personality. I think of Doug Neidermeyer in Animal House (typical UVA bro) vs Eric Stratton (from the non-prep) frat.

Perfect UVA stereotype. Not saying its true, but its as true as the theater/dork stereotype people love to perpetuate in WM.

Vast majority are neither or somewhere in between at both schools.

Exactly. I don’t know why some on this board insist on using “quirky” every time the school is mentioned. Vast majority of kids there don’t fall into any particular stereotype except that they did well in high school. Just like the vast majority at UVA are neither bro-y or douche-y. I realize that people like signifiers or shorthand to describe a student body, but your kids do themselves a disservice if they pay more attention to those than to common sense. A community of several thousand people is not going to be easily summarized by a word or two, and it’s certainly not going to be adequately represented by a single tour guide.

W&M is great because it's a mixing pot of a million different types of people. There are people who fit into the stereotype, but there are also plenty of not. If you walk around campus on a Friday night, you'll see hundreds of drunk students walking around between parties and bars and Wawa. And other students are instead in academic buildings watching movies, or hanging with friends in dorms, or studying.