Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is laid back, they will be laid back anywhere. If your kid is high stress, they will be high stress anywhere. It's not the college, it's the kid

This 100%

This is true to a certain extent. And, my kid self-reports and appears to be more relaxed in relaxed environments. NOT party environments. So maybe not Uva, although thank you for the poster who had that list!!

How do you find out what the laid back schools are outside DCUM?

Every top 25 school is going to have some pressure. But there's a difference between what is internally driven and what is externally driven. Most of those kids expect a lot of themselves and that has its own dynamic.

But some schools really seem to ramp the stress up. I'm thinking Carnegie Mellon. I'm thinking Cornell engineering.

Some schools are difficult and stressful for everyone. MIT. CalTech.

Some schools are an easy glide. Harvard. Brown.

Some schools are walking on egg shells all the time kind of schools. Stanford. Berkeley.

And some schools are difficult and challenging but work on creating a healthy environment. Rice, Yale, and Notre Dame come to mind with their residential colleges.

The most balanced schools seem to be the three above - Rice, Yale, Notre Dame - and Princeton, Duke, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt.

The pressure is there. No avoiding that.

There's no slacker school. But there's a difference with how each school manages things.

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is laid back, they will be laid back anywhere. If your kid is high stress, they will be high stress anywhere. It's not the college, it's the kid

This 100%

In the T25 I think Brown, Vandy, UNC, UVA, maybe Emory are your best bet for what you’re looking for.
In the T30 UF, UC Davis, USC

Anonymous wrote:So no schools in the top 25 or so that are NOT pressure cookers? Really?

There is a reason they are T25.

the kids that go there are achievers and stivers

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is laid back, they will be laid back anywhere. If your kid is high stress, they will be high stress anywhere. It's not the college, it's the kid

There's truth to that, but everyone has a range, and where they operate in their personal range is heavily influenced by their environment.

Agree.

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is laid back, they will be laid back anywhere. If your kid is high stress, they will be high stress anywhere. It's not the college, it's the kid

There's truth to that, but everyone has a range, and where they operate in their personal range is heavily influenced by their environment.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about that. I am old, but went to HYPS. I am Type A and was even more so then. I wouldn't describe it as "laid back," but it wasn't a pressure cooker.

I've flagged the relevant bit for you.

If your kid is laid back, they will be laid back anywhere. If your kid is high stress, they will be high stress anywhere. It's not the college, it's the kid

I don't know about that. I am old, but went to HYPS. I am Type A and was even more so then. I wouldn't describe it as "laid back," but it wasn't a pressure cooker.

Anonymous wrote:So no schools in the top 25 or so that are NOT pressure cookers? Really?

By nature of being the top 25, of course they are pressure cookers.

Anonymous wrote:So no schools in the top 25 or so that are NOT pressure cookers? Really?

Really.

So no schools in the top 25 or so that are NOT pressure cookers? Really?

Nice and friendly, yes. Stanford, e.g., or Rice. Many others depending on your definition of "prestigious."

Non-pressure-cookers, no. Not by any common definition of "prestigious."

yes, I am concerned about prestige, but we also want a school that is nice, friendly.
Do they exist? When I Google I find things about the best special services but that clearly doesn't mean it's a healthy environment