Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll play. My kid and his tight friend group:

Yale - happy
Brown - mixed bag.
Swarthmore - mixed bag but happier than Brown guy.
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy
Georgetown - decidedly unhappy
Deep Springs - deliriously happy

Wow, my kid has a VERY similar friend group but I would characterize a bit differently:

Yale - happy, but a relationship would make it even better; hard to find at Yale
Brown - very, very happy but not so initially; took a bit to find his groove; LOVES the people; professors amazing
Swarthmore - mixed bag but getting better; which the school was less intense and more chill
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy but mostly the social stuff isn’t quite right; will stick it out and hope for the best
Georgetown - agree, decidedly unhappy; academics fine; social stuff not good for an introspective quiet type; lots of transactional hook-ups; will transfer I think
Deep Springs - over the moon happy; great choice for this kid, but this school is not for everyone

What the heck is Deep Springs?

Deep Springs is a teeny tiny college in rural California that is super selective, free to attend, offers 2 years only, and only has about 25 students at a time. I think it may just be a men’s school at least it used to be. Students who are excepted there tend to be superstars and after they finish up their two years of deep springs go onto super elite schools as transfer students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll play. My kid and his tight friend group:

Yale - happy
Brown - mixed bag.
Swarthmore - mixed bag but happier than Brown guy.
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy
Georgetown - decidedly unhappy
Deep Springs - deliriously happy

Wow, my kid has a VERY similar friend group but I would characterize a bit differently:

Yale - happy, but a relationship would make it even better; hard to find at Yale
Brown - very, very happy but not so initially; took a bit to find his groove; LOVES the people; professors amazing
Swarthmore - mixed bag but getting better; which the school was less intense and more chill
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy but mostly the social stuff isn’t quite right; will stick it out and hope for the best
Georgetown - agree, decidedly unhappy; academics fine; social stuff not good for an introspective quiet type; lots of transactional hook-ups; will transfer I think
Deep Springs - over the moon happy; great choice for this kid, but this school is not for everyone

What the heck is Deep Springs?

Deep Springs is a teeny tiny college in rural California that is super selective, free to attend, offers 2 years only, and only has about 25 students at a time. I think it may just be a men’s school at least it used to be. Students who are excepted there tend to be superstars and after they finish up their two years of deep springs go onto super elite schools as transfer students.

I’m a Californian of many years. All students but one in my large public high school class went to California schools, including some peculiar ones like Biola but I’ve never heard of Deep Springs too

[Anonymous]

MIT but my nerdy ferdy is finally happy. His days at RM paid off!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MIT but my nerdy ferdy is finally happy. His days at RM paid off!

That's great! Any application tips for a fellow interested RM student?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll play. My kid and his tight friend group:

Yale - happy
Brown - mixed bag.
Swarthmore - mixed bag but happier than Brown guy.
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy
Georgetown - decidedly unhappy
Deep Springs - deliriously happy

Wow, my kid has a VERY similar friend group but I would characterize a bit differently:

Yale - happy, but a relationship would make it even better; hard to find at Yale
Brown - very, very happy but not so initially; took a bit to find his groove; LOVES the people; professors amazing
Swarthmore - mixed bag but getting better; which the school was less intense and more chill
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy but mostly the social stuff isn’t quite right; will stick it out and hope for the best
Georgetown - agree, decidedly unhappy; academics fine; social stuff not good for an introspective quiet type; lots of transactional hook-ups; will transfer I think
Deep Springs - over the moon happy; great choice for this kid, but this school is not for everyone

What the heck is Deep Springs?

Deep Springs is a teeny tiny college in rural California that is super selective, free to attend, offers 2 years only, and only has about 25 students at a time. I think it may just be a men’s school at least it used to be. Students who are excepted there tend to be superstars and after they finish up their two years of deep springs go onto super elite schools as transfer students.

I’m a Californian of many years. All students but one in my large public high school class went to California schools, including some peculiar ones like Biola but I’ve never heard of Deep Springs too

With a class size of only 14 kids, is that really surprising? I hadn't heard of them prior to the 20/20 feature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll play. My kid and his tight friend group:

Yale - happy
Brown - mixed bag.
Swarthmore - mixed bag but happier than Brown guy.
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy
Georgetown - decidedly unhappy
Deep Springs - deliriously happy

Other than Deep Springs, this is uncannily similar to my kids and friend group outcomes. Just swap in Northwestern (very happy) and UConn (mostly happy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll play. My kid and his tight friend group:

Yale - happy
Brown - mixed bag.
Swarthmore - mixed bag but happier than Brown guy.
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy
Georgetown - decidedly unhappy
Deep Springs - deliriously happy

Wow, my kid has a VERY similar friend group but I would characterize a bit differently:

Yale - happy, but a relationship would make it even better; hard to find at Yale
Brown - very, very happy but not so initially; took a bit to find his groove; LOVES the people; professors amazing
Swarthmore - mixed bag but getting better; which the school was less intense and more chill
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy but mostly the social stuff isn’t quite right; will stick it out and hope for the best
Georgetown - agree, decidedly unhappy; academics fine; social stuff not good for an introspective quiet type; lots of transactional hook-ups; will transfer I think
Deep Springs - over the moon happy; great choice for this kid, but this school is not for everyone

What the heck is Deep Springs?

Deep Springs is a teeny tiny college in rural California that is super selective, free to attend, offers 2 years only, and only has about 25 students at a time. I think it may just be a men’s school at least it used to be. Students who are excepted there tend to be superstars and after they finish up their two years of deep springs go onto super elite schools as transfer students.

I’m a Californian of many years. All students but one in my large public high school class went to California schools, including some peculiar ones like Biola but I’ve never heard of Deep Springs too

Ya I lived in CA for about 15 years and only heard of it once when I met someone who had recently gone. I suppose it’s so tiny and unusual it’s just not on a lot of peoples’ radar screens

[Anonymous]

W&L. Her peers seem to love it as well.

[Anonymous]

Seems to be something of a pattern at Brown—kids I know didn’t love it first year but we’re really happy later

Random sample of other kids I know:
Yale-loves
Harvard-likes
Duke-mixed bag
Tulane-mixed bag
UVA-loves
Colorado College-loves
Wake Forest-hates

[Anonymous]

^were

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll play. My kid and his tight friend group:

Yale - happy
Brown - mixed bag.
Swarthmore - mixed bag but happier than Brown guy.
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy
Georgetown - decidedly unhappy
Deep Springs - deliriously happy

Wow, my kid has a VERY similar friend group but I would characterize a bit differently:

Yale - happy, but a relationship would make it even better; hard to find at Yale
Brown - very, very happy but not so initially; took a bit to find his groove; LOVES the people; professors amazing
Swarthmore - mixed bag but getting better; which the school was less intense and more chill
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy but mostly the social stuff isn’t quite right; will stick it out and hope for the best
Georgetown - agree, decidedly unhappy; academics fine; social stuff not good for an introspective quiet type; lots of transactional hook-ups; will transfer I think
Deep Springs - over the moon happy; great choice for this kid, but this school is not for everyone

What the heck is Deep Springs?

Deep Springs is a teeny tiny college in rural California that is super selective, free to attend, offers 2 years only, and only has about 25 students at a time. I think it may just be a men’s school at least it used to be. Students who are excepted there tend to be superstars and after they finish up their two years of deep springs go onto super elite schools as transfer students.

You left out the part about having to work on the ranch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People don't know the definition of top 30, adding in schools like Northeastern and Oberlin. Those are good schools, but not "elite" ones.

UF ans Wake are elite but Northeastern is not?

Umm, yes, absolutely

Totally Nope.

- Students Quality
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-50-smartest-colleges-in-america-2016-10
Northeastern: T25 based on test scores before the pandemic when everyone submits scores
Wake: Out of range
UF: Out of range

- Retention Rate
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/freshmen-least-most-likely-return
Northeastern: #3 with 98%
Wake: 95%
UF: 97%

- Outcome (10 year out by Department of Education)
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/
Northeastern: $80K
Wake: $75K
UF: $64K

- Acceptance rate:
Northeastern: very low as you all know
Wake: 25%
UF: 30%

Northeastern wins in every major category.

[Anonymous]

Brown, the fun Ivy

[Anonymous]

Any first hand recent reports from Dartmouth , Cornell , Stanford , Princeton ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brown, extremely happy.

+1 on Brown. My kid complains a lot about student services issues (Brown is terrible on dining/housing/etc.). And the cold weather. But loves classmates, says teaching is really good, and seems to have good career planning/options.