S/O DCUM vs. reality: which colleges are very different IRL vs. what you read here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn is nicer than people here assume. So is Chicago, which has a really outstanding campus. Vanderbilt is much more a nerd school than frat school, and also has a great campus. Notre Dame is indeed super Catholic, but they do have the nicest students. WashU is not in the ghetto of St. Louis, but is actually a lovely campus in a really nice area. Northwestern and Columbia are more - I don't know the word, maybe unpleasant - environments than you'd expect. Harvard is lame and not at all what you'd expect it to be. Like, Harvard, take care of the lawn with your billions. I super-liked McGill, but apparently it gets cold in Montreal in January.

I’ve never been able to see the beauty in Vandy’s campus. It’s got a great location for kids looking for an urban campus but so many urban ish schools have nicer campuses— I’d put the urban Ivies, Hopkins, GaTech, Chicago, UCLA and USC over Vandy. Just my personal opinion.

The Vandy campus is basically a sub-tropical garden with very well-maintained buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century era. It does not have the grandeur of a Chicago or Yale. But I like it. It's very lush. And that greenery is there all year round. The Harvard people should hire the Vanderbilt landscapers and gardeners. And their maintenance people too. So many colleges have beautiful exteriors, but the Vandy buildings are all very nice on the inside too. It's a nice campus for an urban school. Maybe not the bestest, but when you get inside the buildings you can see they are taking care of things.

The Ivies have the Harry Potter grandeur in some of the interiors. The freshman dining hall at Harvard or the Yale main library. Vandy just leaves me cold. No discernible architectural style. I guess there are. a lot of trees, but not manicured like Duke. Just don't see the appeal.

I agree about Vandy’s lack of an architectural style.

But Nashville is so much more vibrant than Durham, especially if your kid is into live music or professional sports.

[Anonymous]

good architecture is not equal to good education.

accessible professors and collaborative students impact your growth/education more than grand edifices and libraries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was at USC the other day for a graduation. I didn't count, but it seemed easily >50% Asian. Very few stereotypical university-of-spoiled-children blonde women.

Have you been to Berkeley lately? Maybe 20% white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Literally every school has its misconceptions on here. Remember, a the majority of DCUM is UMC women who went to college in the 90s. Many think nothing has changed, and they couldn’t be more wrong.

Duke and Dartmouth are not these fratty upper crust places anymore.
UChicago is hardly where fun goes to die.
Northwestern isn’t really a big work-hard play-harder place unless you’re a wealthy white person.
MIT has the most popular frat parties in Boston.
Vanderbilt isn’t brimming with MAGA.
Brown isn’t where quirky blue haired LGBTQ liberals who smoke pot 24/7 attend.

I could go on. I’m sure people with argue with what I say above using their DC’s n=1 anecdotes. Just know that over the last 10+ years, the student demographics and archetypes of T20 schools have become more similar than different.

oh and Cornell is where no one smiles and the bridges are dark forbidden places! Far from the truth.

I apoogize I did not intend it to be insensitive. First of all, not that it makes it less horrific, Cornell has put in a lot of mental health resources in place and if you read the wikipedia page, the events are not in the recent years. What I found insensitive is, when adults and peers smirked and said "oh, beware of the bridges" when my kid said he was attending Cornell. There are lots of happy functioning kids in the campus.


Insensitive. Please go read “Cornell suicide Gorges” in Wikipedia before posting again.