Why are Northern Kids Flocking to Southern Universities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a well-respected, albeit large, university in the Northeast. I cannot fault these kids who want to attend a flagship school in the south with (gasp) an SEC football team. Living in DC, I’ve had an opportunity to accompany co-workers and friends to “real” college football games and it’s a game changer (for lack of a better word). School spirit oozes from those schools and it completely permeates everything about the college experience. Then, after college, it gives graduates something to bond over. You don’t have that with the SUNY schools, for example.

Princeton and Dartmouth and Wellesley have better school spirit than anything in the south…

….look at % of giving rates, reunion engagement, and networking.

Southern school spirit is very superficial.

Have you seen Duke's campus during a major basketball game? Truly unmatched

I mentioned basketball earlier and the football boosters disagreed.

No one is saying that attending a Duke basketball game is not an amazing experience. It probably ranks right up there in fan intensity in all of sports. But there is a difference between football culture and basketball culture. What percentage of students at Duke get to attend any given basketball game? Aren't there only 1,500 or so student tickets for each game? I have no idea how many students at Alabama get tickets each week, but over 100,000 people attend, so I'm pretty sure it's more than 1,500.

Well, Duke is not great at football, So....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a well-respected, albeit large, university in the Northeast. I cannot fault these kids who want to attend a flagship school in the south with (gasp) an SEC football team. Living in DC, I’ve had an opportunity to accompany co-workers and friends to “real” college football games and it’s a game changer (for lack of a better word). School spirit oozes from those schools and it completely permeates everything about the college experience. Then, after college, it gives graduates something to bond over. You don’t have that with the SUNY schools, for example.

Princeton and Dartmouth and Wellesley have better school spirit than anything in the south…

….look at % of giving rates, reunion engagement, and networking.

Southern school spirit is very superficial.

Have you seen Duke's campus during a major basketball game? Truly unmatched

Ok, Princeton reunion you see people come back year after year for decades and that “passion” translates into tangible stuff…relationships, jobs, opportunities ..:not just facepaint for 4 hrs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone remember "Animal House"? It was based on one of the writers' experiences at Dartmouth. Hard to believe as that school is covered in snow most of the year. I doubt if anyone wanted to apply to Dartmouth based on the social scene there.

At the end of the movie they showed what happened to the characters. John Belushi's character became "Senator Blutarski." Life imitates art: Herschel Walker.

Dartmouth has a great social scene

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a well-respected, albeit large, university in the Northeast. I cannot fault these kids who want to attend a flagship school in the south with (gasp) an SEC football team. Living in DC, I’ve had an opportunity to accompany co-workers and friends to “real” college football games and it’s a game changer (for lack of a better word). School spirit oozes from those schools and it completely permeates everything about the college experience. Then, after college, it gives graduates something to bond over. You don’t have that with the SUNY schools, for example.

Princeton and Dartmouth and Wellesley have better school spirit than anything in the south…

….look at % of giving rates, reunion engagement, and networking.

Southern school spirit is very superficial.

Have you seen Duke's campus during a major basketball game? Truly unmatched

Go to any sports bar in any major city in the country when ND/Stanford/Duke has an important game. Compare that to any Princeton/Dartmouth//Wellesley has any event. Harvard and Yale alumni get up for the big game, but I've never seen a bartender get asked to switch on a Dartmouth game

Gee, maybe their school spirit isn’t built around football.

Sure, it's built around? I'm trying to come up with an activity that engages alumni on a very regular basis and ties them back to the school, do you have an example other than sports?

Maybe the overall college experience? Maybe the thing you did at your school that you loved?

Cool, and you regularly interact with other alumni that you don't know and current students based on that? Is there a place for that, like the good memories equivalent of a sports bar where everyone gathers?

Do you really lack the imagination to consider that there are other ways to bond as alumni outside of football? I feel nothing but pity for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a well-respected, albeit large, university in the Northeast. I cannot fault these kids who want to attend a flagship school in the south with (gasp) an SEC football team. Living in DC, I’ve had an opportunity to accompany co-workers and friends to “real” college football games and it’s a game changer (for lack of a better word). School spirit oozes from those schools and it completely permeates everything about the college experience. Then, after college, it gives graduates something to bond over. You don’t have that with the SUNY schools, for example.

Princeton and Dartmouth and Wellesley have better school spirit than anything in the south…

….look at % of giving rates, reunion engagement, and networking.

Southern school spirit is very superficial.

Have you seen Duke's campus during a major basketball game? Truly unmatched

Go to any sports bar in any major city in the country when ND/Stanford/Duke has an important game. Compare that to any Princeton/Dartmouth//Wellesley has any event. Harvard and Yale alumni get up for the big game, but I've never seen a bartender get asked to switch on a Dartmouth game

Gee, maybe their school spirit isn’t built around football.

Sure, it's built around? I'm trying to come up with an activity that engages alumni on a very regular basis and ties them back to the school, do you have an example other than sports?

Maybe the overall college experience? Maybe the thing you did at your school that you loved?

Drinking in local dive bars, staggering home for bed spins?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a well-respected, albeit large, university in the Northeast. I cannot fault these kids who want to attend a flagship school in the south with (gasp) an SEC football team. Living in DC, I’ve had an opportunity to accompany co-workers and friends to “real” college football games and it’s a game changer (for lack of a better word). School spirit oozes from those schools and it completely permeates everything about the college experience. Then, after college, it gives graduates something to bond over. You don’t have that with the SUNY schools, for example.

Princeton and Dartmouth and Wellesley have better school spirit than anything in the south…

….look at % of giving rates, reunion engagement, and networking.

Southern school spirit is very superficial.

Have you seen Duke's campus during a major basketball game? Truly unmatched

I mentioned basketball earlier and the football boosters disagreed.

No one is saying that attending a Duke basketball game is not an amazing experience. It probably ranks right up there in fan intensity in all of sports. But there is a difference between football culture and basketball culture. What percentage of students at Duke get to attend any given basketball game? Aren't there only 1,500 or so student tickets for each game? I have no idea how many students at Alabama get tickets each week, but over 100,000 people attend, so I'm pretty sure it's more than 1,500.

Well, Duke is not great at football, So....

Duke football is actually doing quite well this year, they had a couple chances to make the T25

[Anonymous]

Omg, Duke’s fans are truly some of the most obnoxious in the country. Football AND basketball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Princeton and Dartmouth and Wellesley have better school spirit than anything in the south…

….look at % of giving rates, reunion engagement, and networking.

Southern school spirit is very superficial.


Have you seen Duke's campus during a major basketball game? Truly unmatched

Yep. And Davidson's alumni giving percentage participation rate is consistently at the tops nationally.

Who gives a flying shit!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Princeton and Dartmouth and Wellesley have better school spirit than anything in the south…

….look at % of giving rates, reunion engagement, and networking.

Southern school spirit is very superficial.


Have you seen Duke's campus during a major basketball game? Truly unmatched

Yep. And Davidson's alumni giving percentage participation rate is consistently at the tops nationally.

Who gives a flying shit!

Obviously Davidson alumni do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Omg, Duke’s fans are truly some of the most obnoxious in the country. Football AND basketball.

Personally I just find it annoying that they're good across the board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg, Duke’s fans are truly some of the most obnoxious in the country. Football AND basketball.

Personally I just find it annoying that they're good across the board.

I have no horse in this race but isn't that just jealousy?

[Anonymous]

No, actually it is envy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg, Duke’s fans are truly some of the most obnoxious in the country. Football AND basketball.

Personally I just find it annoying that they're good across the board.

I have no horse in this race but isn't that just jealousy?

No Duke person needs more compliments, they've already been told they're the best their entire lives. It's better to humble them when we can, god knows how highly they already think of themselves

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg, Duke’s fans are truly some of the most obnoxious in the country. Football AND basketball.

Personally I just find it annoying that they're good across the board.

I have no horse in this race but isn't that just jealousy?

No Duke person needs more compliments, they've already been told they're the best their entire lives. It's better to humble them when we can, god knows how highly they already think of themselves

That just sounds like... more envy? They're just people you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a well-respected, albeit large, university in the Northeast. I cannot fault these kids who want to attend a flagship school in the south with (gasp) an SEC football team. Living in DC, I’ve had an opportunity to accompany co-workers and friends to “real” college football games and it’s a game changer (for lack of a better word). School spirit oozes from those schools and it completely permeates everything about the college experience. Then, after college, it gives graduates something to bond over. You don’t have that with the SUNY schools, for example.

Princeton and Dartmouth and Wellesley have better school spirit than anything in the south…

….look at % of giving rates, reunion engagement, and networking.

Southern school spirit is very superficial.

Have you seen Duke's campus during a major basketball game? Truly unmatched

Ok, Princeton reunion you see people come back year after year for decades and that “passion” translates into tangible stuff…relationships, jobs, opportunities ..:not just facepaint for 4 hrs

Certainly Princeton Reunions are an awesome feature of the school. A lot of their prominent alumni are in New York so it makes for a nice little annual trip for those folks. But you would also be kidding yourself if you think Duke basketball has no impact on their alumni. In DC I have several friends who went to Duke (I went to a non-Princeton Ivy) and I've noticed it gives them an extra connection to the school and something more to talk about amongst each other. Even doing a quick Google search, according to https://www.boston.com/sports/ncaa-tournament/2019/03/22/dukes-title-run-revives-status-as-wall-streets-favorite-team/: 'If the Blue Devils make it to the finals in Minneapolis the weekend of April 6, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Ashok Varadhan will be there. The executive, who serves as co-head of the firm’s securities division and a member of its management committee, has stronger ties to the program than most Wall Street alumni... Varadhan stays connected to Dukies in finance through their shared passion for the basketball team. That circle of friends includes Apollo Global Management LLC Co-President Jim Zelter, Oaktree Capital Group LLC Co-Chairman Bruce Karsh, Brownstone Investment Group Chief Executive Officer Doug Lowey, Maveron LLC co-founder Dan Levitan, Centerview Partners LLC partner David Cohen and Perella Weinberg Partners partner Bob Steel.

The way Varadhan tells it, their group text lights up during games – and keeps going after the final buzzer.

“We tend to offer each other no shortage of reactions and opinions,” he said.

That all sounds familiar to Mark Williams, a Bank of America managing director who was the basketball team manager for his four years at Duke, graduating in 1992 after back-to-back NCAA championships.

The Blue Devils are a community, Williams said, one that includes friends, family, co-workers and colleagues in the financial-services industry.'

Sounds like basketball has helped their community considering some of the biggest players in finance have a group chat where they talk about Duke basketball.