Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:55     Subject: Re:Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Anonymous wrote:Emory kid happy. Has lots of friends through Greek life. But the school is not for everyone.


Please elaborate on the "not for everyone" part. (curious because this school is on my kid's list - but maybe not high on their list - however could be a more likely on their list)
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:50     Subject: Re:Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Brown - extremely happy!!!
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:50     Subject: Re:Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Emory kid happy. Has lots of friends through Greek life. But the school is not for everyone.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:47     Subject: Re:Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
One kid at Notre Dame and one kid at USC. Both very happy. Makes game day rough though🤔
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:37     Subject: Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Anonymous wrote:If your kid wants SLAC, I cannot recommend Davidson enough. My DD absolutely has loved her time there. Wonderful community and challenging academics.


Yes! And Davidson decided to become permanently Test Optional:

"We have always known that standardized tests create barriers for some students, and that test scores show only a fraction of their academic potential,” said Chris Gruber, vice president for admission and financial aid and dean of admission. “What we didn’t know was the impact of test-optional on the overall class. Two years later, we have the answer: This shift allows students to present themselves fully and the caliber of our incoming classes has not only remained stable, it has increased -- in grades, life experiences and even test scores.”

Davidson College enacted a three-year pilot program of a test-optional admission process as the pandemic erupted in March 2020, when SAT and ACT testing centers were shutting down. The succeeding two years showed that the college can evaluate applicants effectively without standardized testing.

“Standardized testing still provides some useful information, but other aspects of an applicant’s academic journey better demonstrate how they will perform and thrive here,” Gruber said. “We make a holistic review of our applicants so we can appreciate their different backgrounds and no single factor rules the day.”

The decision speaks to the college’s commitment to make a Davidson education accessible to all qualified students regardless of their financial circumstances.

“Talent is not determined by income or zip code,” Gruber said, “but those factors can impact access to advanced high-school courses, test preparation and the administration of some standardized tests.”

A test-optional policy helps extend the strength of community that makes Davidson distinctive to applicants. Gruber said the college has the capacity to lead in an effective test-optional policy, to continue as a leader in access, and to support the high school students in this country and around the world for whom Davidson is the supportive community that will help prepare them for lives of leadership and service."

Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:24     Subject: Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Anonymous wrote:I'll play. My kid and his tight friend group:

Yale - happy
Brown - mixed bag.
Swarthmore - mixed bag but happier than Brown guy.
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy
Georgetown - decidedly unhappy
Deep Springs - deliriously happy


If you’re not happy at Vanderbilt or Georgetown that’s what my grammy would call a “you problem”
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:20     Subject: Re:Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People don't know the definition of top 30, adding in schools like Northeastern and Oberlin. Those are good schools, but not "elite" ones.


UF ans Wake are elite but Northeastern is not?


Umm, yes, absolutely
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:07     Subject: Re:Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Very happy at Yale.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:04     Subject: Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
OP, does your kid also end sentences with a preposition?

Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 20:02     Subject: Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Anonymous wrote:I'll play. My kid and his tight friend group:

Yale - happy
Brown - mixed bag.
Swarthmore - mixed bag but happier than Brown guy.
Vanderbilt - mostly not happy
Georgetown - decidedly unhappy
Deep Springs - deliriously happy
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 19:52     Subject: Re:Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Anonymous wrote:Interesting topic.

Although not individualized, one could look at the first year student retention rate which is supplied by colleges & universities to US News.

Using the last pre-Covid retention rates, this list combines National Universities and LACs (99% is the highest retention rate reported):

99% = MIT & U Chicago

98% = Northwestern, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, & Columbia

97% = U Penn, Caltech, Duke, Dartmouth, Brown, Vanderbilt, Cornell, Rice, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, U Virginia, U Florida, USNA at Annapolis, USMA at West Point, and Wash & Lee.

96% = Stanford, WashUStL, Georgetown, UNC, Williams College, Carleton College, & Harvey Mudd College.

95% = USC, Tufts, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Wellesley, Bowdoin, Davidson, Haverford, Barnard, Vassar, & the USAFA at Colorado Springs.

94% = Princeton, Emory, Wake Forest, Claremont McKenna, Middlebury, Hamilton, Colgate, Wesleyan, & U Richmond.

93% = NYU, UC-Santa Barbara, Colby, Bates, Colorado College, Macalester, & SOKA.

92% = Harvard.

91% = Yale, Grinnell, & Kenyon.

90% = Bryn Mawr College.

89% = Smith, Mount Holyoke, & Scripps.

There are a total of 66 colleges & universities listed above (33 LACs & 33 National Universities). All retention rates are from the same year for all schools.





“Happy” and “not dropping out or transferring” are very different things. OP asked about schools where kids are happy.

If a student works their tail off for 4 years in high school and is lucky enough to get a winning lottery ticket to Harvard or MIT, the pressure (both internal and external) to stay and finish is pretty strong. I know I wouldn’t have given up an opportunity like that just because I wasn’t happy, I’d have stuck it out and finished the degree, no matter how miserable I was. And although my own parents wouldn’t have pressured me to stay, plenty of others would.

And I’m sure I’d have felt differently if it had been an in-state school. If you can bail and easily get a similar education elsewhere, that‘s a different matter than dropping out of an elite school.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 19:44     Subject: Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Anonymous wrote:Does it have to be T30?

If my DC is super happy at #36 or #42, would you be open to that?


I don’t even know what the T30 are. It’s just a general parameter
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 19:43     Subject: Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Anonymous wrote:If your kid wants SLAC, I cannot recommend Davidson enough. My DD absolutely has loved her time there. Wonderful community and challenging academics.



Glad to hear, looking into this for DC.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 19:39     Subject: Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
If your kid wants SLAC, I cannot recommend Davidson enough. My DD absolutely has loved her time there. Wonderful community and challenging academics.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2023 19:39     Subject: Re:Which T30 colleges are your kids happy at ?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People don't know the definition of top 30, adding in schools like Northeastern and Oberlin. Those are good schools, but not "elite" ones.


UF ans Wake are elite but Northeastern is not?


Wake has consistently been ranked 25-30 since it was classified as a national university in the 90s. Prior to that, it was #1 in the Southern region.

It was profiled in a book of the top 50 US colleges around that time as well.

Not sure why you need to knock it


So Wake is elite but Northeastern is not?