WASP? Is this a real thing, or recent construction?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CMC is also rising fast. Then we will have to add a C to the acronym. WASPBC?

I think the reason for WASP is based purely on the endowment size. WASP havlargest endowment in the lac world.

This. That's all.

You could start a A through Z LAC list though, OP.
A Amherst
B Bowdoin
C Carleton
D ?
E ?
F ?

Except for Pomona, why are LACs in cold temperature places. Ugh.

G
H
I
J
K
L
M Middlebury
N
O Oberlin
P
Q
R
S Swarthmore
T
U
V
W Williams
X
Y
Z

Gonna be hard to fill one for each letter. Xavier??

[Anonymous]

Try reading this thread
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1285118.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:few care about LACs outside this forum. wasp in particular are struggling to attract top talent as the future is more stem focused

Really? Then explain the low acceptance rates out of high school and the high placement top med schools post graduation.

[Anonymous]

People have been referring to the top LACs as WASP for at least 25 years, probably more. You'll find plenty of threads on collegeconsidentail from the early 2000s.

So no, not new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CMC is also rising fast. Then we will have to add a C to the acronym. WASPBC?

I think the reason for WASP is based purely on the endowment size. WASP havlargest endowment in the lac world.

This. That's all.

You could start a A through Z LAC list though, OP.
A Amherst
B Bowdoin
C Carleton
D ?
E ?
F ?

Except for Pomona, why are LACs in cold temperature places. Ugh.

G
H
I
J
K
L
M Middlebury
N
O Oberlin
P
Q
R
S Swarthmore
T
U
V
W Williams
X
Y
Z

Gonna be hard to fill one for each letter. Xavier??

College of the Holy Cross or Holy Cross? There’s some built in lineup flexibility there.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s an embarrassing DCUM invention.

And kind of dumb

- parent of Midd kid 😁

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just discovered this forum today and out of curiosity searched up what ''DC Urban Moms and Dads" had to say about my alma mater - Bowdoin. While gratifyingly, most reviews are glowing (and I can attest to the wonderful education & career outcome I received!), it was to my great surprise to find that it is apparently viewed as a tier below this so-called 'WASP' collection of schools.

Not salty at all, just very confused - in all my years on this planet, I have NEVER heard 'WASP' referenced. And I work among many graduates of such schools and volunteer to interview Bowdoin applicants every year (I ask them about what other schools they are considering)!

Hence my question: how long has this 'WASP' grouping existed, and is it even meaningful?

I confess that I may just be ignorant because I come from a California public school background and did my college search independently without referencing any online forums (just went down US News LAC list and did research on each school). I was the only kid in my HS class to apply to LACs and college counselor/immigrant parents only knew Ivy League/UCs etc, so nobody around me had any idea either.

I do recognize that Williams & Amherst are consistently #1/2 in the rankings, but I had always thought Swarthmore/Pomona were more or less equivalent to Bowdoin. The year I applied to college, Pomona & Bowdoin were tied and I don't think Bowdoin has ever fallen out of the top 6-7 LACs... so I guess if you would want to rephrase, my question is.. are S/P truly perceived as qualitatively 'better' than B? Or does did WASP arise simply because it is a funny (and somewhat fitting) acronym?

FWIW in recent years there seems to have appeared a new 'official' association called 'Six Colleges' that includes WASP + Bowdoin and Carleton, so why aren't people using that?

Answers appreciated! And in exchange, I suppose I can answer any questions you people may have for a young-ish Bowdoin graduate.

It's recent and people enjoy the term WASP in relation to SLACs because of white anglo-saxon protestant

In reality they should say WASP+ and Bowdoin is on the same level. None of them are quite Bucknell but nobody is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I’m sympathetic to OP’s concern that our yearning for linguistic shortcuts has inadvertently left her school out of a reference to highly selective LACs, I’m disappointed that her real motivation seems to be the inclusion of her school. Instead of being enlightened, OP turns out to be a snob begging for a ticket to the WASP party. Is that the typical Bowdoin product?

I (OP) have already stated I am just bemused by the whole concept of ‘WASP’ rather than “begging for a ticket” to anything.

Maybe the facetiousness of my earlier comment about “our failing” wasn’t obvious (this was my only comment btw, in case you are misattributing someone else’s words to me) but no, I am not actually upset that we are excluded from this special club haha

I have worked on the east coast in a snobby industry for over a decade since I graduated, and my school is recognized plenty enough to satisfy me!

I think the real reason they don’t like to include Bowdoin is that they like using Bowdoin to make the Middlebury tier sound better. But we all know Midd is a step down. I think the only contender to join WASP-B is Claremont McKenna - in about 10 years.

Booster just stop. Midd isn’t a step down from anyone and CMC isn’t yet the equal of Midd, Bow, or Carleton. Great school but your constant boosting isn’t going to work. And WASP-B exists only in your mind.

Case in point.

NP: I went to one of the other schools being discussed, not Midd. I have an issue with fools trying to create bucket like WASP or HYPSM or lesser Ivies. You cannot stack rank any of these schools in a meaningful way. They are all excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s an embarrassing DCUM invention.

And kind of dumb

- parent of Midd kid 😁

It isn’t a DCUM invention, it has been around for over 20 years. SWAMP has been around for a long time as well. Do you prefer that one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just discovered this forum today and out of curiosity searched up what ''DC Urban Moms and Dads" had to say about my alma mater - Bowdoin. While gratifyingly, most reviews are glowing (and I can attest to the wonderful education & career outcome I received!), it was to my great surprise to find that it is apparently viewed as a tier below this so-called 'WASP' collection of schools.

Not salty at all, just very confused - in all my years on this planet, I have NEVER heard 'WASP' referenced. And I work among many graduates of such schools and volunteer to interview Bowdoin applicants every year (I ask them about what other schools they are considering)!

Hence my question: how long has this 'WASP' grouping existed, and is it even meaningful?

I confess that I may just be ignorant because I come from a California public school background and did my college search independently without referencing any online forums (just went down US News LAC list and did research on each school). I was the only kid in my HS class to apply to LACs and college counselor/immigrant parents only knew Ivy League/UCs etc, so nobody around me had any idea either.

I do recognize that Williams & Amherst are consistently #1/2 in the rankings, but I had always thought Swarthmore/Pomona were more or less equivalent to Bowdoin. The year I applied to college, Pomona & Bowdoin were tied and I don't think Bowdoin has ever fallen out of the top 6-7 LACs... so I guess if you would want to rephrase, my question is.. are S/P truly perceived as qualitatively 'better' than B? Or does did WASP arise simply because it is a funny (and somewhat fitting) acronym?

FWIW in recent years there seems to have appeared a new 'official' association called 'Six Colleges' that includes WASP + Bowdoin and Carleton, so why aren't people using that?

Answers appreciated! And in exchange, I suppose I can answer any questions you people may have for a young-ish Bowdoin graduate.

It's recent and people enjoy the term WASP in relation to SLACs because of white anglo-saxon protestant

Here’s what ChatGPT has to say:

📌 Earliest Online Mentions (2000s)
College Confidential forums (2005): One of the earliest easily findable instances on the public web of “WASP” meaning Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona appears in a College Confidential thread from July 2005 where a user explicitly defines the acronym that way.

College Confidential Forums
Urban Dictionary entry (circa 2004): Urban Dictionary contains a definition (by a user) that lists WASP as this grouping of top liberal arts colleges, dated November 21, 2004 (according to the posting date shown on the UD site).

Urban Dictionary
These two examples suggest that this collegial usage circulated informally (especially online) at least as early as the mid-2000s.

📌 Other Early Instances & Community Use
College Confidential glossary references (recent but discussing older culture): Some compilations of acronyms list WASP for Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, indicating it’s been part of online admissions-forum vocabulary for a while.
talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com

Online discussion boards: Reddit threads going back to the 2010s and 2020s show the term widely understood in the college admissions community as referring to those four schools, but they generally do not cite an origin date earlier than the 2000s.

Reddit
📌 What Isn’t Evident from the Records
There do not appear to be documented uses of the “WASP” college acronym before the early internet / forum era (i.e., before the 2000s) in any major published material searchable online.

There also doesn’t seem to be a known official origin (e.g., coined by a magazine or college guide) identified in the searchable record — this use seems to have emerged organically in online communities.

[Anonymous]

SWAB

[Anonymous]

This is like a Brown booster trying to say that HYPSM should be HYPSMB. Brown is a great school, as is Bowdoin. But historically it dosen’t have the same cache as the others. I know that hurts your feelings, but that’s just the way it is. You wishing it so doesn’t make it so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I’m sympathetic to OP’s concern that our yearning for linguistic shortcuts has inadvertently left her school out of a reference to highly selective LACs, I’m disappointed that her real motivation seems to be the inclusion of her school. Instead of being enlightened, OP turns out to be a snob begging for a ticket to the WASP party. Is that the typical Bowdoin product?

I (OP) have already stated I am just bemused by the whole concept of ‘WASP’ rather than “begging for a ticket” to anything.

Maybe the facetiousness of my earlier comment about “our failing” wasn’t obvious (this was my only comment btw, in case you are misattributing someone else’s words to me) but no, I am not actually upset that we are excluded from this special club haha

I have worked on the east coast in a snobby industry for over a decade since I graduated, and my school is recognized plenty enough to satisfy me!

I think the real reason they don’t like to include Bowdoin is that they like using Bowdoin to make the Middlebury tier sound better. But we all know Midd is a step down. I think the only contender to join WASP-B is Claremont McKenna - in about 10 years.

Here's a fun fact for you. Since 2000, Middlebury has ranked in the top five LACs in USNews 12 times. In the same time period, Bowdoin has ranked in the top five 8 times. CMC has never ranked in the top 5. Its highest ranking was 6 in 2021.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I’m sympathetic to OP’s concern that our yearning for linguistic shortcuts has inadvertently left her school out of a reference to highly selective LACs, I’m disappointed that her real motivation seems to be the inclusion of her school. Instead of being enlightened, OP turns out to be a snob begging for a ticket to the WASP party. Is that the typical Bowdoin product?

I (OP) have already stated I am just bemused by the whole concept of ‘WASP’ rather than “begging for a ticket” to anything.

Maybe the facetiousness of my earlier comment about “our failing” wasn’t obvious (this was my only comment btw, in case you are misattributing someone else’s words to me) but no, I am not actually upset that we are excluded from this special club haha

I have worked on the east coast in a snobby industry for over a decade since I graduated, and my school is recognized plenty enough to satisfy me!

I think the real reason they don’t like to include Bowdoin is that they like using Bowdoin to make the Middlebury tier sound better. But we all know Midd is a step down. I think the only contender to join WASP-B is Claremont McKenna - in about 10 years.

Booster just stop. Midd isn’t a step down from anyone and CMC isn’t yet the equal of Midd, Bow, or Carleton. Great school but your constant boosting isn’t going to work. And WASP-B exists only in your mind.

Case in point.

NP: I went to one of the other schools being discussed, not Midd. I have an issue with fools trying to create bucket like WASP or HYPSM or lesser Ivies. You cannot stack rank any of these schools in a meaningful way. They are all excellent.

No “meaningful” difference between HYPSM and other schools? Er, OK. While you undoubtedly have an issue, applicants resoundingly disagree with you, as do yield rates; this is a “you” issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I’m sympathetic to OP’s concern that our yearning for linguistic shortcuts has inadvertently left her school out of a reference to highly selective LACs, I’m disappointed that her real motivation seems to be the inclusion of her school. Instead of being enlightened, OP turns out to be a snob begging for a ticket to the WASP party. Is that the typical Bowdoin product?

I (OP) have already stated I am just bemused by the whole concept of ‘WASP’ rather than “begging for a ticket” to anything.

Maybe the facetiousness of my earlier comment about “our failing” wasn’t obvious (this was my only comment btw, in case you are misattributing someone else’s words to me) but no, I am not actually upset that we are excluded from this special club haha

I have worked on the east coast in a snobby industry for over a decade since I graduated, and my school is recognized plenty enough to satisfy me!

I think the real reason they don’t like to include Bowdoin is that they like using Bowdoin to make the Middlebury tier sound better. But we all know Midd is a step down. I think the only contender to join WASP-B is Claremont McKenna - in about 10 years.

Here's a fun fact for you. Since 2000, Middlebury has ranked in the top five LACs in USNews 12 times. In the same time period, Bowdoin has ranked in the top five 8 times. CMC has never ranked in the top 5. Its highest ranking was 6 in 2021.

And UChicago, the king of ED — Midd is the ED queen — is likewise a top 10 school, since US News says so, right?