Anonymous
Post 11/25/2025 22:33     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The OP is asking a good question. My kid is a college freshman at an ivy. And I am somewhat shocked by the wealth and spending on campus. After speaking with friends, it seems that most/many colleges today have stratified social scenes that are separated by wealth. Despite hearing that the vast majority of kids get some financial aid, the social kids tend to be the kids with money. And these kids take ubers, dine out daily at nice restaurants, etc. The school is in am urban location, so perhaps there are more places to go/spend? Just want to give other parents a heads up. We heard about umiami expensive clubbing but the reality at my kids school was a surprise.



Same, but my kid is at a rural Ivy. The number of Canada Goose and Moncler coats is insane. Greek Week is in the Caribbean, and 30% of the school participates in Greek life. I know there are many scholarship kids on campus, but none of my kid’s friends work or have issues with money.


Just say Dartmouth …
Anonymous
Post 11/25/2025 20:54     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Academically rigorous:
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
Washington & Lee
Anonymous
Post 11/24/2025 08:47     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:Or they buy condos/townhomes and let their kids stay there, and rent out the other 1-2 bedrooms to friends to cover the mortgage payment.


There were more than a few parents who did this at Vanderbilt, which has a 4-year mandatory requirement for living on campus.
Anonymous
Post 11/24/2025 04:29     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly this is all relatively well known private colleges that don’t give a lot of merit. Genuinely middle class kids go for merit or go to public.


Most of the colleges listed do give merit


The Ivies don’.

Merit doesn’t change anything, with the exception of Princeton, nearly every selective private is at least 45 percent full pay.


you don’t have to earn astronomically high amounts to be full pay. i think a lot of upper middle class families might have to be full pay, like maybe 300-325k a year. Comfortable, sure, but not what I consider to be “rich kid” with a ferrari, flying to long weekend trips, etc.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2025 21:47     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Washington & Lee
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2025 21:46     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Wake Forest
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2025 21:46     Subject: Re:Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
UVA
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2025 21:42     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:How is UVA?


There are 26,000 students there from every walk of life, every state and many foreign countries. There are also special scholarships for poor rural students. It’s a public school, an a great financial deal, so you are going to have a greater mix of socio-economic groups than at a $99k a year private like USC
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2025 21:38     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:Telltale signs of “regular” affluence- trips dedicated to college visits. Parents can afford to come for Parents weekend. Access to parent’s credit card. Being able to do unpaid internships without financial assistance from the college. Spring break trips. Not having to work during the school year. This seems to be the norm on DCUM and in most of the T-50 privates. Most of the college world doesn’t live like this.


This is our level of affluence. I'm unclear if this is what OP means by rich kid? It would be to some, I know. But we do not vacation in Caribbean on spring breaks or give our kid unlimited spending money like for restaurant meals. We do cover what we consider necessities - medication, toiletry supplies, ordering meals from ubereats when sick. She uses her own money that she earns to eat out for social reasons (and is frugal). We don't have a second home nor will we be able to buy one in our kids' college towns.
Anonymous
Post 11/23/2025 21:26     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The OP is asking a good question. My kid is a college freshman at an ivy. And I am somewhat shocked by the wealth and spending on campus. After speaking with friends, it seems that most/many colleges today have stratified social scenes that are separated by wealth. Despite hearing that the vast majority of kids get some financial aid, the social kids tend to be the kids with money. And these kids take ubers, dine out daily at nice restaurants, etc. The school is in am urban location, so perhaps there are more places to go/spend? Just want to give other parents a heads up. We heard about umiami expensive clubbing but the reality at my kids school was a surprise.



Same, but my kid is at a rural Ivy. The number of Canada Goose and Moncler coats is insane. Greek Week is in the Caribbean, and 30% of the school participates in Greek life. I know there are many scholarship kids on campus, but none of my kid’s friends work or have issues with money.


Same at another Ivy. It's not the spring break trips but the massive amount of money spent daily on eating out. So many kids do not eat in dining halls. Ever. They pay the required rooms and board and then buy food for each meal. Dining halls in 2025 are for the poor.


They’re also for kids whose parents refuse to fund an extravagant college lifestyle, no matter their net worth. As in the case of my kids at these schools.
Anonymous
Post 11/02/2025 19:41     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
How is UVA?
Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 19:41     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Or they buy condos/townhomes and let their kids stay there, and rent out the other 1-2 bedrooms to friends to cover the mortgage payment.


To be honest, this may not be a bad idea. We thought about it as a possibility. Lots of schools don’t have housing all 4 years, and landlords can be awful in those places.


Some parents did this for their kids at UC Davis back in the day, decades ago. For them, turned out to be a great investment. But now, the condos and townhomes are way too expensive and way too scarce.
Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 19:04     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This conversation is why I prefer the more remote schools. Being in a small town is leveling in a way that a location with lots of restaurants, etc, can never be.


I feel the exact opposite


In which way - you prefer the less remote schools, or you think that being in a busier/more commercial area is more leveling, or both of the above?
Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 16:42     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:I have definitely seen parents complain about bathroom sharing. It’s so ridiculous. I shared with no less than 7 other suitemates (more other years) in my 4 years. And I was an only child. Have these children never been to camps? I had gone to Girl Scout camps with one big bathhouse for showers and basically outhouses for toilets. I also attended GT summer programs at some east coast boarding schools (one was at George School!) and we had shared bathrooms there, too.


Girl…Scouts? Never heard of it, dear.

Is that like Knickerbocker Greys for poors?

Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 15:58     Subject: Schools that you think of as rich kid schools. If you’re MC, will your dc fit in?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The OP is asking a good question. My kid is a college freshman at an ivy. And I am somewhat shocked by the wealth and spending on campus. After speaking with friends, it seems that most/many colleges today have stratified social scenes that are separated by wealth. Despite hearing that the vast majority of kids get some financial aid, the social kids tend to be the kids with money. And these kids take ubers, dine out daily at nice restaurants, etc. The school is in am urban location, so perhaps there are more places to go/spend? Just want to give other parents a heads up. We heard about umiami expensive clubbing but the reality at my kids school was a surprise.



Same, but my kid is at a rural Ivy. The number of Canada Goose and Moncler coats is insane. Greek Week is in the Caribbean, and 30% of the school participates in Greek life. I know there are many scholarship kids on campus, but none of my kid’s friends work or have issues with money.


Funny thing about these though. Both of my kinds went to HADES schools and are in colleges on this list. We are a VHNW family, and neither of them have coats like that. My hairdresser and her kids do though. I know for a fact (through conversations) that from an income standpoint they are MC.

TL;DR: that's not always the indicator of wealth that people think it is.


Wasp old money ftw.


I'm the PP. Close, not anglo-saxon. German old money.



now i'm scared.