Which elite colleges are actually fun?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago: Where fun goes to die.

Seriously, this is their own motto.

LOL

Do you know what self-deprecating humor is?

[Anonymous]

"Comments like this make me want to find a different high school for my rising HS'ers. It's one thing to do a pay-your-dues 80+ hour a week job (residency, banking, big law, lab work) in your earlier 20s as a stepping stone to a great career but another thing to be forced to do so in MS, HS and college and onward. Not necessary, there are other happier ways to skin the cat. I know I found a happier, less stressful route at each juncture but still have great CV and creds."

For me and most people I know, the junctures in my life have been about equally matched turning up the stress at one only to turn it down at the next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is a college sophomore at HYPS, and I have been surprised to hear that she and most of her friends are not enjoying college very much. It seems they are all still caught up in the rat race, and are surrounded by a lot of kids who never seem to want to leave the library. Even Dartmouth seems to be shedding its party school image (although that may be more of a good thing). Do you need to just forget about the elites and go to a big state school somewhere if you want a fun, social experience in college? Is this really what it has become? I remember college as some of the best years to my life, but it seems like kids today are being cheated.

Oh, DCUM, you're so elitist and douchey.

+100000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two of my kids went to Stanford and Berkeley and both had a lot of fun.

Not at the level of HYP or Stanford or Berkeley, but I have been an alumnae advisor for a student group at Washington University and those students seem like they are having a good time.

I went to Washington University and thought it was a lot of fun, for all different kinds of kids. There were big frat parties for kids who liked that, small apartment parties for kids into that, people with purple hair drinking coffee and denouncing the man in the coffee house, and big libraries for kids who liked studying. St. Louis and other cities around it had tons of great restaurants; my main regret about college is that I was too careful with money and failed to eat out at enough great St. Louis restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two of my kids went to Stanford and Berkeley and both had a lot of fun.

Not at the level of HYP or Stanford or Berkeley, but I have been an alumnae advisor for a student group at Washington University and those students seem like they are having a good time.

I went to Washington University and thought it was a lot of fun, for all different kinds of kids. There were big frat parties for kids who liked that, small apartment parties for kids into that, people with purple hair drinking coffee and denouncing the man in the coffee house, and big libraries for kids who liked studying. St. Louis and other cities around it had tons of great restaurants; my main regret about college is that I was too careful with money and failed to eat out at enough great St. Louis restaurants.

Have you been back there recently? The Loop has changed so much over the years. The variety of great restaurants and concert venues right next to campus is really amazing.

[Anonymous]

I went to Pomona. It was incredibly fun!! Best years of my life.

[Anonymous]

BYU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Barnard. New York City is great and super fun.

Catty, mean-spirited, competitive women who have a major inferiority complex. No thanks. What's so special about Barnard being in NYC that doesn't describe NYU, Fordham, CUNY, and others?

Whoa! WTF? Did they reject you or something? Barnard is actually full of supportive quirky non-competitive women. It is nothing like Fordham which is jesuit or NYU which has no campus and is downtown and huge.

Agree. My niece is there and loves it. Among other things, she took a course in bartending and she has lots of fun and makes tons of money being a Barnard Bartender at private parties. She meets lots of interesting people all over Manhattan doing this.

[Anonymous]

Harvard and Yale - the hardest part is getting in. You are kidding yourself if you think you can't have fun there. If your daughter isn't having fun, it might not be the school that's the issue.

Princeton is more rigorous but there is plenty of fun to be had. It's about balance. Certainly it isn't the level of partying going on at Md or SC but there are plenty of fun things happening. If you aren't in an eating club or can't get on their list for parties, it may be less fun.

I can't speak to the left coast.

[Anonymous]

Otterbine

[Anonymous]

Yale. I had tons of fun, but I'm admittedly not the super-stressed about diligently studying type. I was also well-prepared for college by my excellent NYC public magnet, so I didn't find the first year of college as hard as some folks did (usually those from schools where they hadn't had to do much writing). Really, my experience was that most people had a very good time at Yale and the only super-stressed kids were the pre-meds, because GPA actually mattered down to the hundredth and most classes were full of other folks in the same position and the grades were curved. That's just not the experience of anyone who isn't -pre-med.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is a college sophomore at HYPS, and I have been surprised to hear that she and most of her friends are not enjoying college very much. It seems they are all still caught up in the rat race, and are surrounded by a lot of kids who never seem to want to leave the library. Even Dartmouth seems to be shedding its party school image (although that may be more of a good thing). Do you need to just forget about the elites and go to a big state school somewhere if you want a fun, social experience in college? Is this really what it has become? I remember college as some of the best years to my life, but it seems like kids today are being cheated.

Um, what did they think elite universities were for? I'm always surprised how often I hear high school students say things will get easier in college and the rat race is just about getting into college.

That's what it used to be like - friends of mine that went to Yale/Harvard always said that it was a cake walk after high school. Not so for the SLACs, but definitely for HYP. I don't know if that has changed but it definitely used to be that way 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

You sound stupid OP. Stick with UMBC. College is not for fun. Who would pay $50k a year for that? College is for learning and preparing oneself for one's future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BYU

is not elite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound stupid OP. Stick with UMBC. College is not for fun. Who would pay $50k a year for that? College is for learning and preparing oneself for one's future.

Why slap UMBC? It's not just a basketball powerhouse with dumb jockeys. UMBC produced a Rhodes scholar.