Anonymous wrote:Mine loved Princeton. If they didn't study, they flunked out.

Um ... that's true everywhere, and yet kids party everywhere (even at Princeton).

William and Mary.

Davidson

Anonymous wrote:Mine loved Princeton. If they didn't study, they flunked out.

I taught there -- not true.

Anonymous wrote:Mine loved Princeton. If they didn't study, they flunked out.

Oh. Ok. I'll just send my kids there, then. Thanks!

Mine loved Princeton. If they didn't study, they flunked out.

Anonymous wrote:My DS is very academics-focused, loves his classes and works very hard. He is on a merit scholarship at a "second tier" SLAC (one of the Colleges that Change Lives"). There are kids like him at every college/university in America.

Yes, but I want a school where most of the kids are like this. And especially experiences joy in learning. The learning is not something you do to get a degree, the learning itself is the goal.

Anonymous wrote:My DS is very academics-focused, loves his classes and works very hard. He is on a merit scholarship at a "second tier" SLAC (one of the Colleges that Change Lives"). There are kids like him at every college/university in America.

This is definitely true. And there are faculty at every college/university in America who are delighted to find these kids and will help/encourage them when they recognize them. Because lots of faculty were "that kid" (as s/he may be known to peers). What differs from school to school is how easy it is for these kids to find each other. And what differs among these kids is how much they need/want a like-minded cohort.

Anonymous wrote:"Most"? yes, most college students are attending class and interested in learning.

Most are interested in getting a degree. At some schools, many are concerned about maintaining a good GPA. Kids who are actually interested in learning per se are rare. It's shocking, for example, how little of the reading gets done. My Freshman Year (in which an anthro prof goes undercover to do fieldwork on undergrad culture) is an interesting read on this topic. And while some might be tempted to write off her state school as unrepresentative, having taught for years at two top 20 private Universities, I can tell you that elite schools aren't that different wrt the whole love of learning thing.

I went a women's college because I wanted a more academic atmosphere. No drunken guys, no frats.

My DS is very academics-focused, loves his classes and works very hard. He is on a merit scholarship at a "second tier" SLAC (one of the Colleges that Change Lives"). There are kids like him at every college/university in America.

IME, there tends to be less of a "party" atmosphere at schools that don't have fraternities/sororities.

Note that I said "tends to be" and "less," not "is" and "none."

Anonymous wrote:SLAC=selective liberal arts college, or sometimes small liberal arts college

I know what a SLAC is. I thought a SCAC might be some new term that addressed OPs request.

SLAC=selective liberal arts college, or sometimes small liberal arts college

Anonymous wrote:A SCAC. Mine--a high-ranked one--was full of people who loved their classes and the pursuit of education.

I'd pay attention to what schools send a lot of students on to graduate school:

http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-colleges-where-phds-get-their-start/

Not sure what a SCAC is but my college is apparently top 10 for PhDs. There's more to grad school than a PhD though. My college sends relatively fewer to business school and law school. It also doesn't offer much in engineering or tech, except through a 3-2 with other schools. So OP needs a better sense of what it is her kid wants to do long term.

My DC goes to a top state flagship school and goes class and studies hard. There are also parties and drinking there. Based on what we've seen the kids are in fact invested in their studies.