Big Greek and Football Schools: The Only Real College Experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am procrastinating at work and will therefore weigh in on this ridiculously juvenile thread. I am an Amherst alum who has been to Notre Dame home football games for the past three years to humor my ND-alum father and see Midwestern family members who are ND alums or "subway alumni".

I loved Amherst. I loved getting to know so many of my classmates and feeling part of a community. I loved the amazing opportunities to try new sports and activities. I loved exploring Western Massachusetts. I loved hanging out with friends in our dorm rooms joking around. We went to see each other's sports game (club and varsity). There are high school teams with more serious football programs than Amherst had, and I appreciated that football didn't suck up all the oxygen for sports except for the elderly alums. And there were plenty of parties and drinking which honestly were not my favorite parts of college.

Notre Dame also seems like a great place to go to school because it is so residential and has such great school spirit. But holy heck, it seems homogenous. The football games are relatively fun (boiling in the sun not so much), but I just don't get my jollies from watching football in general. I'd rather be playing sports myself. If you ask my dad what his favorite part of his college experience was, it was a winning football season. And that just seems weird to me. My favorite parts of college were the things I did - my club sports, my varsity sport, my activities, hanging out with friends. I guess this all lies in where you draw your energy.

THIS all day. My DC is applying to a SLAC because he doesn't want to be at a spectator school, he'd rather be the one playing and doing.

Um… you know the larger schools have vibrant club and intramural sports in addition to their “spectator sports” - right? It’s not either or the way some of you very black and white thinkers imagine.
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another amazing college game day! There’s no way you can say these kids aren’t having a blast!

And there is no way you can't say many other kids are happy they didn't have to be there or deal with the drunk roommates tonight. Different strokes and all that.

There were plenty of drunk roommates at my LAC. State schools do not have a monopoly on alcohol.

+1000
Was just going to say this. My SLAC was awash in alcohol (and drugs) and I have no doubt it still is. I love how some parents pretend SLACs are somehow these bastions of serious students who aren’t partiers. Kind of makes it obvious they have never attended those schools themselves.

My DD said she started smoking weed at her LAC and does it with friends socially. Many people on campus do it so much there’s a spot where people congregate and smoke.

+1
We visited Middlebury last week and the smell of weed was pervasive. 🤮

[Anonymous]

I was a nerdy, arts and language focused student at a big football school with a large Greek scene. I didn't rush and I think only went to two football games my entire college career. I still had a great college experience because it was a big school and not that hard to find my niche (I wrote for the paper, was active in the campus Dems, and chose to write a thesis so I could graduate with honors). But I didn't then nor do I now think that football and Greek life is essential to a great college experience.

The most memorable part of college for me was my junior year abroad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am procrastinating at work and will therefore weigh in on this ridiculously juvenile thread. I am an Amherst alum who has been to Notre Dame home football games for the past three years to humor my ND-alum father and see Midwestern family members who are ND alums or "subway alumni".

I loved Amherst. I loved getting to know so many of my classmates and feeling part of a community. I loved the amazing opportunities to try new sports and activities. I loved exploring Western Massachusetts. I loved hanging out with friends in our dorm rooms joking around. We went to see each other's sports game (club and varsity). There are high school teams with more serious football programs than Amherst had, and I appreciated that football didn't suck up all the oxygen for sports except for the elderly alums. And there were plenty of parties and drinking which honestly were not my favorite parts of college.

Notre Dame also seems like a great place to go to school because it is so residential and has such great school spirit. But holy heck, it seems homogenous. The football games are relatively fun (boiling in the sun not so much), but I just don't get my jollies from watching football in general. I'd rather be playing sports myself. If you ask my dad what his favorite part of his college experience was, it was a winning football season. And that just seems weird to me. My favorite parts of college were the things I did - my club sports, my varsity sport, my activities, hanging out with friends. I guess this all lies in where you draw your energy.

I went to ND. My DH went to Amherst. He has told me time and time again that he is envious of my college experience as one can only handle so many nerd gatherings and, goodness knows, UMASS didn't provide the football/sports outlet many of them craved. I'm glad you had the college experience you wanted, I did too! I also played club sports, intramural sports, activities, and hung out with friends. Things don't have to be black and white. In fact, my DS, who I would've bet $100 would choose a SLAC is looking very seriously at big, Greek out of state flagships. Will I think he made a bad decision because he doesn't choose ND or Amherst? Not at all. It's his life, his adventure, his choice.

I'm the Amherst alum who was at the ND game. I think you make a fair point that watching/doing aren't mutually exclusive. And my dad actually did plenty at ND including being on a national championship team for another sport. Which is what makes the football thing just so strange to me. And taking the ND aspect out of this (I think ND's residential aspects are pretty much ideal with kids in the same dorms all four years), much of this thread is positing that one can't enjoy college without watching big time sports teams. I would posit that actually playing sports/doing activities is just as or more important for many people. Not that these things need to be mutually exclusive, but I suspect there is an element of that at some schools.

Tell that to the tens of thousands of fans who congregate in stadiums every Saturday on major college campuses throughout the country and the millions more who watch the games on TV. The "football thing" really isn't all that "strange" to many, many people.

[Anonymous]

Nothing wrong with enjoying a good football game!

Nothing wrong with enjoying totally different things!

This whole thread is premised on the idea that there is only one “real” enjoyment. And for OP, maybe that’s true. Do your thing, OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another amazing college game day! There’s no way you can say these kids aren’t having a blast!

And there is no way you can't say many other kids are happy they didn't have to be there or deal with the drunk roommates tonight. Different strokes and all that.

There were plenty of drunk roommates at my LAC. State schools do not have a monopoly on alcohol.

+1000
Was just going to say this. My SLAC was awash in alcohol (and drugs) and I have no doubt it still is. I love how some parents pretend SLACs are somehow these bastions of serious students who aren’t partiers. Kind of makes it obvious they have never attended those schools themselves.

My DD said she started smoking weed at her LAC and does it with friends socially. Many people on campus do it so much there’s a spot where people congregate and smoke.

+1
We visited Middlebury last week and the smell of weed was pervasive. 🤮

Must make prospective students from every major US city feel right at home!