Is your Ivy freshman happy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is at an Ivy and over the weekend, as part of a larger gathering we saw the parents of 3 former classmates who are also at Ivies.
The common theme was that none of the kids are particularly happy so far--difficulty finding community, missing school spirit, wishing there was more to do on campus and frankly being bored. What is also common is that none of them feel like they can complain and they all say some version of "I figure it has to get better."
The schools are Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale.

The 4 challenging Ivies. Suspect situation would be much different at the easy 4 Ivies.

If the student find Dartmouth challenging, he must be low caliber…

Stop it. Seriously, don't be an ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son went to a very intense, high-achieving private HS and tells me he feels like Brown, where he is a freshman, is not quite intense enough for his tastes (and he is taking 5 rather 4 classes, all STEM, many with sophomores and even juniors): very soft curves, grade inflation, etc. I know that confirms a cliché but this is his experience. His close friend from HS is at Princeton, which is quite different: strict curves, Cs common, etc. I suppose the Brown kids are happy, the P kids demoralized?

Brown does not give a cut A- thus anything in A- range and A is "4.0". About 45% of each graduating class has a 4.0. Sounds good until you realize it can make it hard to standout for grad school, premed, law other than of course scores. EC/research becomes even more important in such an environment. Princeton however most certainly does not have "common" Cs. Princeton median GPA is 3.78 and in most intro stem courses the median of the curve is a B or B+. Upper level stem can have A- as median. Cs are reserved for the bottom 10% in most classes and in many non-stem classes they just are not given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having grown up in Princeton, doesn’t surprise me that kids complain there is nothing to do in the town. However the eating clubs probably have parties most weekends, same with the frats at Dartmouth and Cornell.

Dartmouth freshmen (male or female! are not allowed at frat parties during fall semester and the college policies this very strictly.

Yes, and it is why the freshmen bond, they have each other. My kid loved his time there, especially his first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd is a sophomore transfer at Cornell. Loves the academics. Really struggling with finding community and connecting with others. The weekends are hard. She’s an outgoing kid and easily connects with others. It’s just really hard. She said that everyone is studying all the time. She’s working hard, but knows how to balance it with down time. It’s hard to find others to take breaks with. We’ve been encouraging her to go join “fun” clubs.

I think she’s going to be okay and will find her people. But yes, it’s hard right now.

College should not be this hard.

Agreed. I hate that it has come to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having grown up in Princeton, doesn’t surprise me that kids complain there is nothing to do in the town. However the eating clubs probably have parties most weekends, same with the frats at Dartmouth and Cornell.

But what if you don't get into one?

That is a reason to pick Yale instead - everyone is randomly placed into a residential college. You don't have to apply.

Yale ( annd the residential college system) is awesome but the comparison to eating clubs isn’t really apt. The closest thing you could compare to it Yale would be senior societies which do have a rush process for getting into but something like half the senior class ends up in one. It’s not just some super select group. Still the process can be Stressful for those involved.

I think you missed the point. Yale doesn't have eating clubs like Princeton. It doesn't have houses with competitive selections like Harvard. Yale does have residential college communities each with their own dining hall that everyone gets into selected randomly. So you're mixed in with a random group of students with diversity and everyone has a place. No stress to get in.

Yale's secret societies are not a big part of the social scene. At all. For one, they are only for seniors. Seniors already have their friend groups well established. They only meet once a week. For those who are not in them, it's not a big deal. Those who aren't in them really don't care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine is at Princeton and very happy.

Same here! Princeton is the best academic and social fit for my child. The experiences have been phenomenal, and the opportunities are endless. My child is having the best time of his life. He absolutely loves Princeton!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC freshman very happy at Columbia. DC is very outgoing and a joiner, applied for and accepted into several clubs/also playing an intramural sport. No problem finding friend groups but says friend groups don't necessarily mix (yet). Academics somewhat challenging, depends on class, but is locking in and adapting.
There is much bigger party scene than we parents anticipated, Greek scene is small so parties are open to all.
+1 on waiting to see what our Californian thinks of living in cold/ice/snow (as opposed to just visiting it).

I am a native New Yorker. Columbia is great, and the city is amazing! As for snow, we haven’t had much the past few years. Our kids have a sled that’s been sitting in my basement unused for at least 3 years now. And it doesn’t get all that cold here in the winter any more. I’d say a few days in Jan temps could drop to 20F, but the rest of the time it’s 30s & 40s.

[Anonymous]

My DC is really enjoying their first year so far at Harvard. Likes being in Boston and is happy that they chose H over some other great schools. But I’m sure they would’ve been happy at those schools too.

[Anonymous]

Haha enjoying your circle jerk about your kids going to Ivies?

NO ONE CARES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC freshman very happy at Columbia. DC is very outgoing and a joiner, applied for and accepted into several clubs/also playing an intramural sport. No problem finding friend groups but says friend groups don't necessarily mix (yet). Academics somewhat challenging, depends on class, but is locking in and adapting.
There is much bigger party scene than we parents anticipated, Greek scene is small so parties are open to all.
+1 on waiting to see what our Californian thinks of living in cold/ice/snow (as opposed to just visiting it).

I am a native New Yorker. Columbia is great, and the city is amazing! As for snow, we haven’t had much the past few years. Our kids have a sled that’s been sitting in my basement unused for at least 3 years now. And it doesn’t get all that cold here in the winter any more. I’d say a few days in Jan temps could drop to 20F, but the rest of the time it’s 30s & 40s.

Thanks! We love having a reason to go to NYC for fun, amazing city. Parent's weekend made us want to go back to college for the classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is at an Ivy and over the weekend, as part of a larger gathering we saw the parents of 3 former classmates who are also at Ivies.
The common theme was that none of the kids are particularly happy so far--difficulty finding community, missing school spirit, wishing there was more to do on campus and frankly being bored. What is also common is that none of them feel like they can complain and they all say some version of "I figure it has to get better."
The schools are Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale.

Sounds like the dog caught the car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is at an Ivy and over the weekend, as part of a larger gathering we saw the parents of 3 former classmates who are also at Ivies.
The common theme was that none of the kids are particularly happy so far--difficulty finding community, missing school spirit, wishing there was more to do on campus and frankly being bored. What is also common is that none of them feel like they can complain and they all say some version of "I figure it has to get better."
The schools are Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale.

Of course you did.