Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 15:24     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:My SLAC DS who was an athlete dated a non athlete and had lots of non athlete friends. Why are you looking for a problem?

40% freshman athlete. What could possibly be a problem?
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 15:22     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It exists at Wesleyan, but because Wes is bigger than most other SLACs, I think it’s less pronounced. My (extremely non-athlete) kid is dating an athlete. The places where I’ve heard it’s particularly pronounced—Amherst, Williams—are ~2000 students, vs. 3000+ at Wes.

Also look at schools that don’t have football teams; that makes a big difference at a small school given how huge football teams are. Carleton and the 5Cs are worth checking out.


Carleton has a football team.


Ah! My mistake. FWIW, I’ve not heard people talk about an athlete/non divide there, which is why I made that assumption but should have checked.

Carleton has a much lower percentage of athletes overall; it is not like a NESCAC school. Vassar also has a lower percentage.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 13:37     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
It exists at amherst but hasn't impacted my experience much
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 13:31     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:Seems like there is a social divide at Swarthmore according to the Swat thread about happy student experiences.


My NARP kid at Swat confirms this.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 13:28     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Look at the list of colleges that enroll more from the top 1% than the bottom 60%

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 13:23     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think it’s a legit question. My DC senior who is not an athlete has spent the past year looking at the issue. His older sister is an athlete in college and had an instant friend group and has warned him that the divide exists.

In my opinion the larger the SLAC the less pronounced the divide is. So the PPs comments on Wesleyan is accurate.

Looking at larger SLACs we have divided it between schools that have a Greek system (Colgate and Lafayette as examples) and those that do not (Middlebury and Wesleyan).

The Greek schools offer a different avenue to an easy friend group, but we are leaning toward the latter. DS as he said just wants to find an easy to have a social life so that part of college is not a struggle because the academics will be enough of a challenge.

So lean toward larger SLACs and decide how you feel about a Greek system, in particular one where people live in the houses.


My daughter is an athlete at Williams. Her best friend (freshman roommate) is a non athlete and her last boyfriend was also a NARP. This is only an issue on DCUM.



That’s great for your athlete daughter and her roommate. But it is in fact something that kids who are not athletes in these remote location schools can experience and have to deal with.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 13:18     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:I think it’s a legit question. My DC senior who is not an athlete has spent the past year looking at the issue. His older sister is an athlete in college and had an instant friend group and has warned him that the divide exists.

In my opinion the larger the SLAC the less pronounced the divide is. So the PPs comments on Wesleyan is accurate.

Looking at larger SLACs we have divided it between schools that have a Greek system (Colgate and Lafayette as examples) and those that do not (Middlebury and Wesleyan).

The Greek schools offer a different avenue to an easy friend group, but we are leaning toward the latter. DS as he said just wants to find an easy to have a social life so that part of college is not a struggle because the academics will be enough of a challenge.

So lean toward larger SLACs and decide how you feel about a Greek system, in particular one where people live in the houses.


My daughter is an athlete at Williams. Her best friend (freshman roommate) is a non athlete and her last boyfriend was also a NARP. This is only an issue on DCUM.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 12:37     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:I don't think OP is looking for trouble. Her concern is a common one or at least a commonly heard rumor.


Why are parents micromanaging their kid’s social life? Maybe they should take a good look at their child’s social life in high school. We see plenty of threads of mothers worried because their child has no friends and spend their free time playing video games in their room. These kids will not be blossoming into a social butterflies in the college dorm. These threads show that parents are losing their minds.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 12:26     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:According to my DC's experience, there isn't really a huge social divide. You can pretty easily make friends as a non-athlete, and socializing is definitely integrated into the 5Cs IF you make an effort (joining clubs, going to 5c events, etc)

Agreed as an alum. A big pool to the 5Cs is the ability to make it as (relatively) big or small as you want. There are students who take most of their courses at other campuses, all their classes at their home institution, go to parties at CMC, clubs at scripps, and sleep in a Pomona dorm, etc.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 12:19     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
According to my DC's experience, there isn't really a huge social divide. You can pretty easily make friends as a non-athlete, and socializing is definitely integrated into the 5Cs IF you make an effort (joining clubs, going to 5c events, etc)
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 12:18     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
re: claremont it isnt like the D1 schools where social circles are segregated into athlete and non-athlete. D3 athletes don’t make their sport their entire job and future. they fit the sport around their school and enjoy regular social lives despite being busy
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 12:16     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Seems like there is a social divide at Swarthmore according to the Swat thread about happy student experiences.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 11:48     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Haven’t noticed any divide at Pomona. The only exception in the 5Cs might be CMC, which has a larger proportion of athletes. But I’m guessing it’s not really an issue there either since NARP CMC students can still socialize with the rest of the 5Cs.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 11:15     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Anonymous wrote:Some SLACs are reputed to have it - Haverford and Amherst come to mind. But perhaps that is old info?

I think it's useful to note if they are dry or wet campuses. If dry, the sports team (or frat) is the only way to get into parties with access to alcohol.

It's not really an issue at "wet campuses" like Williams, Claremont Mckenna, Carleton, Denison since you don't need to be on a sports team (or frat) to access alcohol and fun parties. Everyone at the school can socialize/party together. I think most of these schools don't have frats either.

Some would say Claremont McKenna is one giant frat.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2025 10:50     Subject: Social Divide at SLACs
Some SLACs are reputed to have it - Haverford and Amherst come to mind. But perhaps that is old info?

I think it's useful to note if they are dry or wet campuses. If dry, the sports team (or frat) is the only way to get into parties with access to alcohol.

It's not really an issue at "wet campuses" like Williams, Claremont Mckenna, Carleton, Denison since you don't need to be on a sports team (or frat) to access alcohol and fun parties. Everyone at the school can socialize/party together. I think most of these schools don't have frats either.