Schools that aren’t grim but are still a good education

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have a lot of fun at Yale. Not kidding.

Still? Or twenty years ago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have a lot of fun at Yale. Not kidding.

Still? Or twenty years ago?

Sorry hit post too soon. I ask because Yale has had a lot of well-documented criticism about mental health issues on campus and it certainly doesn’t sound good.

[Anonymous]

Wake Forest and Tulane are this to a T - great academics, smart and motivated kids, lots of fun and spirit.

Although, Wake Forest is super homogenous and Greek so if that doesn’t click with your kid, I’d hesitate to recommended.

[Anonymous]

Take any list/survey with a grain of salt but these may be a starting point to help.

https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=happiest-students

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/first-year-experience-programs

https://www3.forbes.com/money/top-25-colleges-with-the-happiest-most-successful-alumni-ifs-vue-mn-wnb/?utm_campaign=Top-25-Colleges-With-The-Happiest-Most&utm_source=Adwords&utm_medium=ad210629m0us02&lcid=ad210629m0us02&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA_OetBhAtEiwAPTeQZ-A8LEa3oH9E_UewbT7ZnxYehHRtJKnZnJWwAEyPOTCkGNql3LLUEBoCHV8QAvD_BwE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I’m in California. Cal and UCLA definitely don’t have reputations as being fun any more. But UCSB is still hanging on.

My kid is okay with going anywhere. DC is a smart kid with excellent grades who is very social, athletic (but not recruit level), loves debate, loves robotics, mostly loves having fun.

My DD is a senior at UCLA and is having the time of her life. Seriously - she couldn't have had a better college experience. Even with her first year on-line with the whole campus closed. She moved into an off-campus apartment with five girls and made a ton of friends that year. She has close friends at Cal and UCSB and they're having a blast as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I’m in California. Cal and UCLA definitely don’t have reputations as being fun any more. But UCSB is still hanging on.

My kid is okay with going anywhere. DC is a smart kid with excellent grades who is very social, athletic (but not recruit level), loves debate, loves robotics, mostly loves having fun.

My DD is a senior at UCLA and is having the time of her life. Seriously - she couldn't have had a better college experience. Even with her first year on-line with the whole campus closed. She moved into an off-campus apartment with five girls and made a ton of friends that year. She has close friends at Cal and UCSB and they're having a blast as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have a lot of fun at Yale. Not kidding.

Outrunning criminals isn’t fun. If you can’t be serious about your advice, find another hobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I’m in California. Cal and UCLA definitely don’t have reputations as being fun any more. But UCSB is still hanging on.

My kid is okay with going anywhere. DC is a smart kid with excellent grades who is very social, athletic (but not recruit level), loves debate, loves robotics, mostly loves having fun.

My DD is a senior at UCLA and is having the time of her life. Seriously - she couldn't have had a better college experience. Even with her first year on-line with the whole campus closed. She moved into an off-campus apartment with five girls and made a ton of friends that year. She has close friends at Cal and UCSB and they're having a blast as well.

What makes you think the op cares even a little about schools in CA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe one of the less intense SLACs? Middlebury, Bowdoin?

They are so hard to get into that majority of population is either recruited athlete or super nerd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any good schools left that are actually fun and aren’t relentlessly grim? By “fun,” I don’t mean just pure parties (though that’s part of it). I also mean really engaging intellectual stimulation, the ability to actually have debates as opposed to heavily censored speech, parties that don’t require signed releases at the door, dorms that aren’t as quiet as crypts, students that can hear an opinion they don’t like without having tantrums, and a diversity of smart quirky kids with widely varied interests, not just armies of ruthless Tracy Flicks. In other words, speaking as someone who went to Stanford back when it was actually fun, not this:

https://stanforddaily.com/2022/10/24/inside-stanfords-war-on-fun-tensions-mount-over-universitys-handling-of-social-life/

My kid is in 9th grade and although an excellent student in a hard school, does not have any interest in the hoops required for Stanford admission now (and I fully support that; Stanford is insufferable now from everything I hear). By the same token, the Ivies are out. But I would love my kid to find a place that is fun the way that college used to be fun: yes, hard work, yes challenging academics, but also just plain fun. Does that exist any more or has that concept for college been totally destroyed?

Um, all of them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is my take on your question: I would look more where you are forming your ideas that college is grim and/or isn't supporting intellectual curiosity. There's a lot of critique of higher ed in the air that is pretty divorced from reality. I think people are more aware of ROI of college on careers than they used to be, but the reality is that at nearly every reasonably good not for profit school--and by that I mean the top couple hundred public and private colleges and universities not just elite ones--kids are immersed in classes and discussions that stimulate intellectual curiosity. Profs might grumble that they aren't as curious about learning as they used to be, and outsiders might look at grade inflation and think it was a lot harder to get an A in their day, but those complaints are really just generational complaints and the more pointed ones are the ones that get noticed. There are just as many ways college is more complex and difficult now than the past too (much more reading, just more disciplinary knowledge, some of the expectations for undergraduate research are more akin to what graduate students used to do just because of technological developments etc.)
Partisan politics will also always want to pull up examples for critiques of some sort or another--but stay grounded in reasonable thinking. Having 4 years to be in a group of peers, be living on your own but with lots of supports, and be immersed in taking classes in diverse areas is a pretty intellectually stimulating thing to do--so most places offer a good education that is far from grim.

I teach at an R1 school and what you're saying about complexity and difficulty is unfortunately untrue, at least when it comes to the humanities. And honestly, while there is plenty of blame to go around, the helicopter parenting that has been prevalent for the last thirty or so years bears a lot of responsibility for the insanity around competitive college admissions, grade inflation and lack of intellectual curiosity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. I’m in California. Cal and UCLA definitely don’t have reputations as being fun any more. But UCSB is still hanging on.

My kid is okay with going anywhere. DC is a smart kid with excellent grades who is very social, athletic (but not recruit level), loves debate, loves robotics, mostly loves having fun.

My DD is a senior at UCLA and is having the time of her life. Seriously - she couldn't have had a better college experience. Even with her first year on-line with the whole campus closed. She moved into an off-campus apartment with five girls and made a ton of friends that year. She has close friends at Cal and UCSB and they're having a blast as well.

That's so nice to know! If your child is interested in going to CA, UC San Diego might offer a similar experience and has a spectacularly beautiful campus, and UC Santa Cruz is also in a gorgeous part of the world with lots of fun things to do. Also, OP, people are talking on the CTCL thread about SLACs, so you might want to look over there. The ones in the Pacific Northwest all sound like places a student could really enjoy. I think they've discussed Reed, Willamette, the University of Puget Sound, Whitman, Evergreen State, and Lewis & Clark (not on the CTCL list, but the same sort of thing).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe one of the less intense SLACs? Middlebury, Bowdoin?

I was thinking the same. Most SLACs and good state schools like USC, UVA, Mich…
Isn’t NYU supposed to be fun?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe one of the less intense SLACs? Middlebury, Bowdoin?

I was thinking the same. Most SLACs and good state schools like USC, UVA, Mich…
Isn’t NYU supposed to be fun?

USC is a private university, not a state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake Forest and Tulane are this to a T - great academics, smart and motivated kids, lots of fun and spirit.

Although, Wake Forest is super homogenous and Greek so if that doesn’t click with your kid, I’d hesitate to recommended.

+2 Tulane and Wake Forest. I would also add Boston College.