Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:44     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
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.


This is something to consider if your DC doesn't already have job options lined up. It is a good idea not to pick a grind school if your kid isn't super academically inclined. However, it is also not good to select a school known to be easy, because recruiters know this too.


The correlation between grinding and employment is not as straightforward as some people would like it to be. Socializing is often indistinguishable from networking.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:27     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
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?
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:26     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
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.


Add MIT, Caltech, Princeton to this hard engineering list. Also, 'hard/grind" and "collaborative" aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Some schools have a collaborative culture, but in spite of this, the students are just expected to work really hard and the material they are expected to master can seem crazy at times.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:21     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
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.


This is something to consider if your DC doesn't already have job options lined up. It is a good idea not to pick a grind school if your kid isn't super academically inclined. However, it is also not good to select a school known to be easy, because recruiters know this too.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:17     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
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.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:17     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
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.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:15     Subject: Re:Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
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?
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:14     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
Engineering will be hard at the fun schools too
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:09     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
My kid only applied to schools within like 10 miles of a beach. Best decision they made
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 10:07     Subject: Re:Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
Not everyone's version of fun is getting drunk all the time and watching football, come now.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 09:59     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
Most state flagships will have that fun element...for EE and excellent HS stats, what about Michigan, Georgia Tech, UT Austin?
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 09:38     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
DS picked Vandy over Chicago for this reason.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 09:34     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
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.


DC at UVA and has balance with interesting classes, involvement in activities, and a social life. They are really enjoying their time there.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 09:34     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
Anonymous wrote:
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.


Sounds like someone is advertising for a SEC school.


NP but I agree with PP. Ideally, there’s more to college than academics.
Anonymous
Post 02/01/2026 09:32     Subject: Intense, work-heavy colleges vs fun schools
My kid goes to BU (Boston U). It’s pretty intense, with a heavy workload. But the environment around her gives her lots of opportunities to take short, fun breaks. Even a few hours of fun can give her a big boost.