Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has more to do with majors.

Op here. Electrical engineering.

Electrical engineering will be a heavy workload at almost every school

+1

It’s the major, not the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the 1990s VT engineering classes started with people sitting on the floors and the prof said “don’t worry about it— pretty soon there will be plenty of seats.” Definitely there was some weeding out of weaker students in the big freshman classes. Some students find that very intimidating, even if they have the ability.

That doesn’t mean they intentionally designed the courses to fail kids out of school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has had impressive college admissions but admitted that high school has been a grind, not a lot of fun, but very high achieving. She is thinking of going somewhere more fun for college instead of continuing the drudgery (her words). Anyone else's kids feel this way? She will be successful wherever she goes, I am confident, but I want her to be happy too.

I'd recommend the following:
Rice
Rice, and
Rice

Texas is a turn off for many students in 2026.

But not most! So again, look at Rice.

"Most" students are not applying to schools in Texas.

That wasn’t the filter! Try it this way:

PP: Texas is a turn off for many students in 2026.

Me: Texas is appealing for many students in 2026.

Consider Rice, which absolutely meets OP’s criteria

Except it’s in Texas, which is a turn off to many students in the current environment.

And Texas is appealing to many students currently!

[Anonymous]

Like Texas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't enjoy college enough here. Think she has a good point. Agree about Michigan.

Enjoyed it too much here. Pulling out of that nosedive was a long difficult journey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone's version of fun is getting drunk all the time and watching football, come now.

Fine: you're right. Getting drunk all the time and watching basketball.

Better?

Duke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume all of you are wealthy and connected so can line up jobs for your child when they graduate? We are not so our DD is going to a school which hopefully will line her up for better options than we had.

Do you think a kid who avoids CMU, JHU, Cornell, UChicago and goes to let’s say Brown or Yale has poor employment options?

In Electrical Engineering?

Compared to CMU or Cornell?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College should be fun. Go to parties. Go to football games. Never schedule a class before 10 AM so you can go out drinking all night. That's what every one of these kids should be doing. Enjoy these years while you have them.

These kids should be having fun, but that doesn't need to take the form of destroying your health and sleep with alcohol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has more to do with majors.

Op here. Electrical engineering.

Engineering is going to be a grind everywhere. There's no soft way through it. Even at the "happy" schools, engineering students are studying very hard. But there are some engineering programs that are notorious for being much more unpleasant than it needs to be. Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Berkeley come to mind. My mechanical engineering DC wanted to avoid those and focused on schools that had a more collaborative and community-oriented vibe. DC chose Rice for that reason. Very happy there.

Rice is a great option! But very selective. Could be worth an ED. Maybe also look at WUSTL or Northwestern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t be so confident unless you have strong family resources that make attending college a pure experience. The NG job market is brutal right now and there is a good chance it’ll become worse. Our DC chose college that maximizes their post graduate job perspective as they knew we can’t help further beyond college.

That makes sense to me. What school? How did it help them in the job market?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone's version of fun is getting drunk all the time and watching football, come now.

Fine: you're right. Getting drunk all the time and watching basketball.

Better?

Duke?

Yes, please. Or Michigan. They’re crushing it in basketball this year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume all of you are wealthy and connected so can line up jobs for your child when they graduate? We are not so our DD is going to a school which hopefully will line her up for better options than we had.

Do you think a kid who avoids CMU, JHU, Cornell, UChicago and goes to let’s say Brown or Yale has poor employment options?

In Electrical Engineering?

Compared to CMU or Cornell?

Yes.

CMU or Cornell are not in the Top 5-7 for Engineering Schools. Just saying...you left out some notables ranked above them.

[Anonymous]

Penn engineering is very collaborative and Penn itself is the Social Ivy. My DS has had a great experience there. Good luck to your daughter!

[Anonymous]

Where do we think Duke falls on the grind-culture spectrum for engineering (BME?) Northwestern? Case?

I’m kind of hoping my kid chooses Wisconsin or Pitt over Michigan because my impression is that those school cultures seem a bit friendlier and less intense — not academically, but in terms of personalities?

Is there anything to that or am I making things up?

She is really hoping for some intellectual heft — defined more by depth than by workload — where kids help each other and aren’t constantly trying to out-gun each other. Does this exist for engineering?

Or is the grind factor overblown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:- then avoid Johns Hopkins university at all costs.

Thanks. Yes, my nephew attends there and have heard that.

My kid graduated from JHU and had the time of their life. Loved being around other kids that took academics seriously. Kid was also an athlete so had plenty of social life. For some kids it's the perfect fit, for others not so much.