Duke, Penn, Vandy, Michigan, ND, maybe Dartmouth

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gee. Call me crazy, but we looked at academics and best programs in kid’s intended major first.

As parents, we tried to select out drunk Greek fests…and we are big partiers ourselves. You can find your people anywhere. But- I’m not paying for a party…

Seriously, this board has a strain of very low brow women that view college as a means to party and find a husband or want their sons to be a finance bro that gets by purely on Greek connections.

That's a weird take.
No, I have well-adjusted smart kids (mine aren't STEM) who are looking for a true collegiate experience - some variation of the sports, bars, Greek or similar. That means a vibrant social life outside the library. It's a given they will be studying. But college is so much more than academics and your major (while important).

What did you think holistic admissions was all about?

+1

The late teens and early 20s are a huge growth window for social and emotional development. You know, the stuff that makes a person human.

While I certainly don't think bars or Greek life or drinking are necessary for college students to develop deep social relationships, I do think they tend to attract students who plan to invest a lot in their friendships and the college community as a whole, in addition to their studies, of course.

That's not the right fit for all kids of families. Which is why different T20 schools offer different types of environments and cultures. To each their own.

Vandy, Wake, ND, USC, UVA, BC

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of rich kids at all the top schools. Who do you think is making the donations and paying full freight?

It's the tradeoff.

That doesn't matter at all at the better schools with their multi-billion dollar endowments.

More important for them is getting the best students who are likely to become influential and prominent two decades later. Princeton etc doesn't give a damn about your full pay tuition check. It funds the coffee, maybe. Meanwhile, getting that brilliant middle class student on aid gets them a $100 million donation twenty years later.

It's only the very middling private schools that need the full pay money to get through the year.

This is a question of preference. My Ivy and T20 kids didn't even apply to Princeton. Wrong vibe for us.
But I went to a T10 and to a top law school. Same with my spouse.
The college isn't going to determine all that much for our kids.
I'd rather they be happy. Social happiness is just as important as academic happiness.

How would you describe the Princeton vibe?

DC didn't love it, but we suspect they were partially intfluenced by an uncle who felt a bit like a fish out of water there 30 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke
Northwestern
Cornell
Michigan
Notre Dame
Vanderbilt
USC

What’s missing?

Very few Duke kids go out 2-3x a week, not counting the first week or so of fall semester. 1 is typical, maybe 2. Vast majority are not greek. Duke is more social than some but not all of the ivies, but just like Ivy/chicago/stanford it is filled with super high achievers who do research, run clubs, have internships during the semester on campus or close. The do-it-all mentality and obsession with grades is much different than Duke in the early 90s(93 grad w a 24 grad kid).
The nephew at northwestern and it is per him more academic/intellectually focused on studies than Duke. To us as parents/grown siblings the students sound similar at NW and Duke

Also a Duke 90s grad.

My friends and I all did interesting things outside the classroom, including Greek life, but we each had an interest or activity or two, not the "do it all" / resume-building approach of high-achievers of this generation. Yes, the academics were difficult at times, but there was a real sense of balance between working hard, going out, and watching all the games during basketball season.

What schools are currently like Duke in the 90s? Vandy? Wake?

What schools would you say have the mindset and culture that Duke did when we were

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of rich kids at all the top schools. Who do you think is making the donations and paying full freight?

It's the tradeoff.

That doesn't matter at all at the better schools with their multi-billion dollar endowments.

More important for them is getting the best students who are likely to become influential and prominent two decades later. Princeton etc doesn't give a damn about your full pay tuition check. It funds the coffee, maybe. Meanwhile, getting that brilliant middle class student on aid gets them a $100 million donation twenty years later.

It's only the very middling private schools that need the full pay money to get through the year.

This is a question of preference. My Ivy and T20 kids didn't even apply to Princeton. Wrong vibe for us.
But I went to a T10 and to a top law school. Same with my spouse.
The college isn't going to determine all that much for our kids.
I'd rather they be happy. Social happiness is just as important as academic happiness.

UVA not a T20

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of rich kids at all the top schools. Who do you think is making the donations and paying full freight?

It's the tradeoff.

That doesn't matter at all at the better schools with their multi-billion dollar endowments.

More important for them is getting the best students who are likely to become influential and prominent two decades later. Princeton etc doesn't give a damn about your full pay tuition check. It funds the coffee, maybe. Meanwhile, getting that brilliant middle class student on aid gets them a $100 million donation twenty years later.

It's only the very middling private schools that need the full pay money to get through the year.

ND has been all of that and more for my son. Very social and happy kids. yes, S. Bend is lame as a city, but the students at ND truly make the most of campus/dorm life. And honestly the campus is amazing! Just bc there isn't Greek doesn't mean it's not social.

Anonymous wrote:UPenn with a lesser sports scene

+1

Duke is Duke but is losing some of its uniqueness by admitting too many non Dukies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:once you have moms asking about this stuff, you've really lost the plot

Moms know

We were not always “moms”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gee. Call me crazy, but we looked at academics and best programs in kid’s intended major first.

As parents, we tried to select out drunk Greek fests…and we are big partiers ourselves. You can find your people anywhere. But- I’m not paying for a party…

Seriously, this board has a strain of very low brow women that view college as a means to party and find a husband or want their sons to be a finance bro that gets by purely on Greek connections.

That's a weird take.
No, I have well-adjusted smart kids (mine aren't STEM) who are looking for a true collegiate experience - some variation of the sports, bars, Greek or similar. That means a vibrant social life outside the library. It's a given they will be studying. But college is so much more than academics and your major (while important).

What did you think holistic admissions was all about?

Anonymous wrote:Gee. Call me crazy, but we looked at academics and best programs in kid’s intended major first.

As parents, we tried to select out drunk Greek fests…and we are big partiers ourselves. You can find your people anywhere. But- I’m not paying for a party…

Seriously, this board has a strain of very low brow women that view college as a means to party and find a husband or want their sons to be a finance bro that gets by purely on Greek connections.

There are a lot of rich kids at all the top schools. Who do you think is making the donations and paying full freight?

It's the tradeoff.