Social Divide at SLACs

[Anonymous]

I heard Hamilton is very socially divided, is this true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard Hamilton is very socially divided, is this true?

My dd asked about this after the info session there, and got a song and dance about how it's not from the admissions rep - a student came up to her afterward and told her, basically, There is a literally a "light" and "dark" side of campus - the original Hamilton and Kirkland campuses - they still divide up that way too much. Athletes on the light side, artsy queer kids on the dark side.

[Anonymous]

My kid at Williams thinks the athlete/non-athlete "divide" is overblown - I hear parents talk about this WAY more than students. My kid is not an athlete but had lots of athletes in her freshman dorm and orientation group, has them in her major, in her ECs. Her soph year roommate is a varsity athlete. Do the athletes spend a lot of time with their teammates? Of course - they practice, work out, travel, etc. But so do the theater kids, the finance kids, the sustainability kids, the WEPO kids. These groups overlap. Does mine go to as many Hoxsey St parties as the football team? No but she is not a party kid - if she were at a bigger school, she wouldn't be going to a ton of frat parties either. The reason to go to one of these schools is because you want the SLAC experience, the reason to go to a rural schools is because you want that setting. Same as choosing a big state school, or a very Greek southern school, or an urban school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard Hamilton is very socially divided, is this true?

It’s not. The athlete/non-athlete divide is really only a thing on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid at Williams thinks the athlete/non-athlete "divide" is overblown - I hear parents talk about this WAY more than students. My kid is not an athlete but had lots of athletes in her freshman dorm and orientation group, has them in her major, in her ECs. Her soph year roommate is a varsity athlete. Do the athletes spend a lot of time with their teammates? Of course - they practice, work out, travel, etc. But so do the theater kids, the finance kids, the sustainability kids, the WEPO kids. These groups overlap. Does mine go to as many Hoxsey St parties as the football team? No but she is not a party kid - if she were at a bigger school, she wouldn't be going to a ton of frat parties either. The reason to go to one of these schools is because you want the SLAC experience, the reason to go to a rural schools is because you want that setting. Same as choosing a big state school, or a very Greek southern school, or an urban school.

+100 Nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Hamilton is very socially divided, is this true?

It’s not. The athlete/non-athlete divide is really only a thing on DCUM.

I mean I heard it from a student so that's not true.

[Anonymous]

Have a kid at Hamilton. Here is the thing. At ANY school, anywhere (be it ivy league, NESCAC, patriot league), the kids who are on a sports team together. This is their friend group. Period. They practice together, go to dinner together after practice, travel together on weekends, and go to the same parties on weekends. Hard for any kid who is not an athlete to join these friends in their team friend group if not a member of the team.

That being said may feel more pronounced at a smaller school. But, at NESCACS yes, the athletes do mostly hang with their team, but this is not specific to Hamilton or any school. It is the way iot is at any school.

[Anonymous]

At Princeton, the athletes all belong to the same, specific eating clubs that cater and admit athletes. The social life at Princeton revolves around what eating club you are in. As a non athlete, a kid will not be able to join the athlete eating club. In this way, the social lives of athletes are somewhat separate from the lives of non athlete students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have a kid at Hamilton. Here is the thing. At ANY school, anywhere (be it ivy league, NESCAC, patriot league), the kids who are on a sports team together. This is their friend group. Period. They practice together, go to dinner together after practice, travel together on weekends, and go to the same parties on weekends. Hard for any kid who is not an athlete to join these friends in their team friend group if not a member of the team.

That being said may feel more pronounced at a smaller school. But, at NESCACS yes, the athletes do mostly hang with their team, but this is not specific to Hamilton or any school. It is the way iot is at any school.

You are correct that the kids hang out with their teams but it isn’t exclusively. I have a kid on a NESCAC team and they have many non team friends including their roommate. She plays a sport with a smaller team so things could be different for sports with larger teams.

[Anonymous]

Probs true, I think it's less with Squash Team etc, but with men's lacrosse and ice hockey, similar team sports, they are very tight and spend most of their time together, at any school. Being a member of something, whether its a sport, acapella, greek life etc, this what creates a social life and provides connections that last!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Carleton has a football team.

Ah! My mistake. FWIW, I’ve not heard people talk about an athlete/non divide there, which is why I made that assumption but should have checked.

I have a non-athlete at Carleton and there is no divide according to her. My junior has roomed with varsity athletes and some of her best friends are athletes. There are at least a few sports where the coach does not permit teammates to live together. Other sports do have houses where students live together. There are parties that start off as team parties and then open to everyone. My kid's friend group is a total mix of athletes (from a few sports) and non-athletes.

+1 My Carleton student reports the same. Athlete and non athlete friend group. Parties are inclusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have a kid at Hamilton. Here is the thing. At ANY school, anywhere (be it ivy league, NESCAC, patriot league), the kids who are on a sports team together. This is their friend group. Period. They practice together, go to dinner together after practice, travel together on weekends, and go to the same parties on weekends. Hard for any kid who is not an athlete to join these friends in their team friend group if not a member of the team.

That being said may feel more pronounced at a smaller school. But, at NESCACS yes, the athletes do mostly hang with their team, but this is not specific to Hamilton or any school. It is the way iot is at any school.

I hate when people justify an issue at one school but saying that that's the case everywhere. That's not necessarily true, and it doesn't have to be that way. Other people in this thread have noted that this is not universal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Princeton, the athletes all belong to the same, specific eating clubs that cater and admit athletes. The social life at Princeton revolves around what eating club you are in. As a non athlete, a kid will not be able to join the athlete eating club. In this way, the social lives of athletes are somewhat separate from the lives of non athlete students.

Terrace and Tower are the best anyway IMO and there are not many athletes in them. So no big loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid at Williams thinks the athlete/non-athlete "divide" is overblown - I hear parents talk about this WAY more than students. My kid is not an athlete but had lots of athletes in her freshman dorm and orientation group, has them in her major, in her ECs. Her soph year roommate is a varsity athlete. Do the athletes spend a lot of time with their teammates? Of course - they practice, work out, travel, etc. But so do the theater kids, the finance kids, the sustainability kids, the WEPO kids. These groups overlap. Does mine go to as many Hoxsey St parties as the football team? No but she is not a party kid - if she were at a bigger school, she wouldn't be going to a ton of frat parties either. The reason to go to one of these schools is because you want the SLAC experience, the reason to go to a rural schools is because you want that setting. Same as choosing a big state school, or a very Greek southern school, or an urban school.

Harder on NARP boys than girls….the NARP girls date athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid at Williams thinks the athlete/non-athlete "divide" is overblown - I hear parents talk about this WAY more than students. My kid is not an athlete but had lots of athletes in her freshman dorm and orientation group, has them in her major, in her ECs. Her soph year roommate is a varsity athlete. Do the athletes spend a lot of time with their teammates? Of course - they practice, work out, travel, etc. But so do the theater kids, the finance kids, the sustainability kids, the WEPO kids. These groups overlap. Does mine go to as many Hoxsey St parties as the football team? No but she is not a party kid - if she were at a bigger school, she wouldn't be going to a ton of frat parties either. The reason to go to one of these schools is because you want the SLAC experience, the reason to go to a rural schools is because you want that setting. Same as choosing a big state school, or a very Greek southern school, or an urban school.

Harder on NARP boys than girls….the NARP girls date athletes.

Nobody cares. My athlete DD dates non-athlete boys. As long as they are handsome, motivated and smart, she's interested. Doesn't care if they are on a varsity sport. Since she is, it makes it slightly easier if her BF is not so they aren't always going in opposite directions. Athletics in college is a JOB and sometimes that infringes on how good or attentive a partner you can be.