Reply to Can someone explain the lure of selective colleges?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Can someone explain the lure of selective colleges?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I shave some friends and colleagues who have degrees from the “lesser” Ivies or good LACs and many of them told me that in retrospect, they should have attended big state schools. The main reason is not because of academics but they don’t enjoy their alumni lives that much. They don’t feel connected to their respective alma maters, while many big state schools offer bigtime athletics programs which makes it easier to stay connected to your alma mater. [/quote]

I actually observe the opposite...at least in the %age of alumni returning to schools for events and gathering for local alumni club events.  I mean if your connection to a school only goes as far as being able to gather at the "Michigan" bar in DC to watch the football game, then not much one can do with that.[/quote]

I agree. I went to a SLAC and attend all reunions and local get-togethers. My friends who went to big state schools think it's crazy and say they would never entertain the thought.

Because my graduating class was about 450, I know a lot of the people who attend the reunions and I even know some of the people who live in the DC area who were 1-2 classes above and below me. So, I am always assured to see familiar faces.

[b]If you go to a random Michigan bar, what are the odds you know many other folks there?[/b]

[/quote]

That's not really the point of going to a Michigan or a UMD or a UCLA or UT Austin. The point is to take a wide variety of classes in a diverse setting and have a diverse friend group based off of the (much more diverse) student bodies that state flagships have over SLACs. Taking classes with amazing, world-class researchers and working in their lab while having a much more "real world" experience than some sheltered environment like Carleton or Vassar is way better. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics