WashU and Emory
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Anonymous
I don’t think anyone has said that kids that attend Emory aren’t happy there, it just isn’t the school centered social life that Kids get at Power 5 conference schools. My daughter, who attends one of the schools discussed in this thread, spent yesterday at tailgates and a football game with literally thousand of her classmates and alumni, all dressed in the school colors. School often holds pep rallies with school mascot, band, and a bonfire night before big games. School also has big time winter and spring sports that have full student sections. I’ll add that this school is solidly medium in size. Kids really don’t need to go off campus much because social life is so school centric. |
Anonymous
I went to Wash. U. I’ve never seen Emory, Rice, Case Western or the University of Rochester, but my understanding is that they’re probably all pretty similar. They’re schools for serious students who want intense, challenging classes who go in not wanting to live for drinking. My guess would be that most students who’d enjoy any of those schools would also have fun and get a good education at the others. The Wash. U. students might look stressed at the end of the term because they signed up for two extra classes at the beginning of the term because the course descriptions looked really interesting. They brought their suffering on themselves. It’s also somewhat hard to get straight A’s in STEM classes there. It’s not all that hard for a bright, well-prepared student to do well enough to get into a good grad school, but, for students who went to ordinary high schools, not test schools, freshman year might be intimidating. But Wash. U. actually has a range of fraternities and sororities. You can go there and party as hard as you want. Many students live a few blocks off campus, in a neighborhood like a flatter Capitol Hill, and have lovely apartment parties. For students who hate sororities, there are tons of organizations. The university has richly funded student activities organization that will fund almost anything, so it’s easy for students who find a gap to set something up. KWUR, the radio station, and Student Life, the school paper, are great, independent and quirky and have their own social scenes. COVID hit the student organizations hard, and last year was a recovery year. But it looks from what students are saying online that recovery is in progress. I’m Jewish and give to the Hillel. My impression is that Wash. U. had enough Gaza protests to keep up with the Ivies and engage students who enjoy protesting and counter protesting but not enough to affect the quality of life of students who hate that kind of thing. |
Anonymous
| Would love to know name of a medium size school with active sports culture, bonfires, etc. Sounds great! |
Anonymous
Wake Forest, they played Ole Miss yesterday. It was a blowout but everyone still had fun. Back to ACC games and a reasonable chance at victory next week. Best part of this all comes in a package where kids have slac size classes and close relationships with professors. If my child misses a class, her professors will email her. |
Anonymous
Wake Forest…pretty sure that is the school PP was mentioning as I recall the tour guide mentioning a bonfire. Also, they have a strong baseball team with good attendance. However, I assume OP doesn’t think Wake is ranked high enough since it’s clear none of this thread is much more than how schools are ranked. |
Anonymous
She should consider University of Miami, the good state universities and Southern Methodist University. Maybe Northwestern for a reach, but I have a degree from Northwestern and don’t think school spirit is that much stronger there than at Wash. U. Maybe the University of Illinois would be good for school spirit. |
Anonymous
The area around Wash. U. is roughly like Capitol Hill. Going there and walking home to an off-campus apartment woukd be about like working in one of the congressional office buildings and walking home to a place on Capitol Hill. |
Anonymous
Op: Thank you! This is great information and much-appreciated! I am just now learning about that school. |
Anonymous
PP here. I am a current parent of a vanderbilt student so I don't do tours anymore. I am, however, on campus about 3 times / yr and your assessment of the tour group is pretty close to the group that enrolls. |
Anonymous
I agree with this - lots of school loyalty, but it's not tightly tied to a football team. |
Anonymous
Since you are a prestige whore I doubt this will work for you. I gather you didn’t learn about it before because while it would show up in a simple search if that is what your daughter wanted…it’s not in the Top 25. |
Anonymous
Wow, not sure why you made such an unkind comment. Your unpleasant words are inaccurate. I am a parent trying to guide and inform my child so they identify and apply to a range of schools. This is a process of exploration. If we knew all the answers, we would be seeking out advice. |
Anonymous
Duke, Wake, Notre Dame...all ivy-sized yet have the sports more like an SEC school...there are probably more |
Anonymous
Because it takes all of 5 minutes on a Google search to find that Wake Forest and the other top 100 schools that people have listed that meet your kid’s interests. These aren’t hidden gems. |
Anonymous
DP; do not be too offended the PP missed Duke and Notre Dame too. And Wake is still T25 in my book, as it was 2 short yrs ago when the rankings were based on class size and actual academic factors. It is ivy-like and amazing, as are WashU, Emory and William and Mary(no rah-rah sports there though). Anyone who knows anything about phD/professional school feeders and career launch has Wake on their list. |