Anonymous
Post 02/15/2026 18:06     Subject: Re:School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:USC, NYU, BU


Good catch with BU. NYU is actually a bit more socioeconomically diverse than BU.


Isn’t BU more diverse?


Agree - I would say BC is more preppy and rich than BU.

Adding Colgate, Notre Dame and Trinity along with BC.
Anonymous
Post 02/15/2026 13:03     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:What schools have that preppy, upper crust privileged feel. I know people say UVA, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Princeton. Elaborate on it a little more if you have experience at those schools.


why do you ask?
Anonymous
Post 02/15/2026 13:02     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I know this group well. This is where their kids go:
W&L
Bucknell
Colorado College
Wake Forest
Trinity
Middlebury
Hamilton
Bowdoin
Duke and Dartmouth if legacies


You are missing a few schools but this is a pretty good list.

What people should be asking themselves it "what do the wealthy and connected in the Finance, PE, Big Law crowd know that we don't" given that they send their kids to SLACs? I know of a friend group at one of those schools where the families are Tech Exec, PE, PE, IB, Big Law, Big Law, CEO, CFO, CRO. No generational wealth but a lot of wealth.


What the outsiders don’t know is that the kids of the PE/IB/Big Law families will do just fine bc mom/dad or their college buddies will fix up the kids with the internships and jobs. While Harvard/Princeton and other Ivies are focused on FGLI and Pell Grant kids, that much vaunted Ivy social network is moving to a different set of schools.


What are the schools that are missing?


Colgate
Wake Forest
Anonymous
Post 02/15/2026 08:50     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I know this group well. This is where their kids go:
W&L
Bucknell
Colorado College
Wake Forest
Trinity
Middlebury
Hamilton
Bowdoin
Duke and Dartmouth if legacies


You are missing a few schools but this is a pretty good list.

What people should be asking themselves it "what do the wealthy and connected in the Finance, PE, Big Law crowd know that we don't" given that they send their kids to SLACs? I know of a friend group at one of those schools where the families are Tech Exec, PE, PE, IB, Big Law, Big Law, CEO, CFO, CRO. No generational wealth but a lot of wealth.


What the outsiders don’t know is that the kids of the PE/IB/Big Law families will do just fine bc mom/dad or their college buddies will fix up the kids with the internships and jobs. While Harvard/Princeton and other Ivies are focused on FGLI and Pell Grant kids, that much vaunted Ivy social network is moving to a different set of schools.


What are the schools that are missing?
Anonymous
Post 02/15/2026 08:31     Subject: Re:School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:That preppy & privileged feel is fading significantly at Princeton. My DS says that it only really exists with the athletes & legacies at the eating clubs. Otherwise, Princeton heavily favors and targets underprivileged kids for admission.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Princeton was once featured in the Preppy Handbook under "The College of Your Choice":

The Official Preppy Handbook, 1980 (Archival Information) https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1268464.page
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 07:08     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:If basing that on family income, 20% of WashU’s families are from the top 1%.

From the New York Times, richest parents:
1. Washington University in St. Louis
2. Colorado College
3. Washington and Lee University
4. Colby College
5. Trinity College (Conn.)
6. Bucknell University
7. Colgate University
8. Kenyon College
9. Middlebury College
10. Tufts University


Again, OP did not ask about income, she specifically asked about preppy Boston Brahmin types.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 06:18     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
If basing that on family income, 20% of WashU’s families are from the top 1%.

From the New York Times, richest parents:
1. Washington University in St. Louis
2. Colorado College
3. Washington and Lee University
4. Colby College
5. Trinity College (Conn.)
6. Bucknell University
7. Colgate University
8. Kenyon College
9. Middlebury College
10. Tufts University
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 02:02     Subject: Re:School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:USC, NYU, BU


Good catch with BU. NYU is actually a bit more socioeconomically diverse than BU.


Isn’t BU more diverse?


I don’t think so, but both are diverse.

From USNWR, which probably come from the CDS for the schools:

NYU 26% international, 22% white, 22% Asian, 14% Hispanic, 7% Black through Class of 2028 [NYU not releasing Class of 2029 numbers, reportedly because of fears about Trump].

BU 32% white, 21% international, 21% Asian, 11% Hispanic, 6% Black.

NYU also slightly more economically diverse.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2026 01:16     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I know this group well. This is where their kids go:
W&L
Bucknell
Colorado College
Wake Forest
Trinity
Middlebury
Hamilton
Bowdoin
Duke and Dartmouth if legacies


You are missing a few schools but this is a pretty good list.

What people should be asking themselves it "what do the wealthy and connected in the Finance, PE, Big Law crowd know that we don't" given that they send their kids to SLACs? I know of a friend group at one of those schools where the families are Tech Exec, PE, PE, IB, Big Law, Big Law, CEO, CFO, CRO. No generational wealth but a lot of wealth.


What the outsiders don’t know is that the kids of the PE/IB/Big Law families will do just fine bc mom/dad or their college buddies will fix up the kids with the internships and jobs. While Harvard/Princeton and other Ivies are focused on FGLI and Pell Grant kids, that much vaunted Ivy social network is moving to a different set of schools.


Just stop. Does it make you feel better to think this way? FYI, there are still plenty of connected kids at the Ivies. Also, you don't just get hired because your friend's dad works at an IB. That's not how hiring and recruiting work. Also, you have to go to law school before Big Law and chances are you are not going to Top 10 law school if you don't do well in undergrad.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2026 23:25     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I know this group well. This is where their kids go:
W&L
Bucknell
Colorado College
Wake Forest
Trinity
Middlebury
Hamilton
Bowdoin
Duke and Dartmouth if legacies


You are missing a few schools but this is a pretty good list.

What people should be asking themselves it "what do the wealthy and connected in the Finance, PE, Big Law crowd know that we don't" given that they send their kids to SLACs? I know of a friend group at one of those schools where the families are Tech Exec, PE, PE, IB, Big Law, Big Law, CEO, CFO, CRO. No generational wealth but a lot of wealth.


What the outsiders don’t know is that the kids of the PE/IB/Big Law families will do just fine bc mom/dad or their college buddies will fix up the kids with the internships and jobs. While Harvard/Princeton and other Ivies are focused on FGLI and Pell Grant kids, that much vaunted Ivy social network is moving to a different set of schools.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2026 22:56     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:USC in CA


Well…. It was nicknamed the University of Spoiled Children for a reason.

It’s a private in wealthy SoCal where, if you have the grades and stats, you go to UCLA for 40% of the cost of USC. The rich dumb kids end up at USC.

UCLA has a gorgeous campus in Westwood. USC is right smack in the middle of downtown LA.

The only major that’s stronger at USC is the film school, which is notoriously competitive to get into.


Do you have a student there? To be able to validate if this is really true.


NP here. Both UCLA and USC are extremely hard to be admitted to... if kids had a choice from our socal public, they would probably pick UCLA due to cost. We have a ton of USC professors and legacy kids at our public, and usually the kids admitted are those students. Not super wealthy but yes connected or legacy. USC also tends to reject the top academic kids at our school while UCLA seems to take the top 5% kids. But I wouldn't call the USC kids dumb.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2026 22:31     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:USC in CA


Well…. It was nicknamed the University of Spoiled Children for a reason.

It’s a private in wealthy SoCal where, if you have the grades and stats, you go to UCLA for 40% of the cost of USC. The rich dumb kids end up at USC.

UCLA has a gorgeous campus in Westwood. USC is right smack in the middle of downtown LA.

The only major that’s stronger at USC is the film school, which is notoriously competitive to get into.


Do you have a student there? To be able to validate if this is really true.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2026 22:28     Subject: Re:School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:USC, NYU, BU


Good catch with BU. NYU is actually a bit more socioeconomically diverse than BU.


Isn’t BU more diverse?
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2026 20:59     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
At DC’s private school, Bucknell is the place where privileged kids with low stats (GPA<3.2, SAT<1300) go.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2026 20:47     Subject: School Tier Ranking based on Privilege
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What schools have that preppy, upper crust privileged feel. I know people say UVA, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Princeton. Elaborate on it a little more if you have experience at those schools.

UVA 🤔


Because of its size, there is a mix. It is very desirable from the OOS elite private day and boarding school set. It also pulls some serious NOVA money. And of course, it serves all Virginians in a more broad sense.

My CA kid arrived privileged and found that crowd easily. Their interests led to mixed groups. By graduation, the friend groups (more than one) were mostly mixed SES, with one elite group that they still loved.

This is the beauty of a larger school. The close core of all groups have remained in touch 5 years out.

The difference in each student’s experience at any school may boil down to how open they are to seeking out people both similar and different to themself simply because they are drawn to mutual interests, charismatic conversations, and kindness.

Not sure if the OP is seeking the list of privileged student bodies because they are drawn to it or wish to avoid it. Either of those extremes is a misstep from my perspective.


I have one kid at an Ivy and one at UVA and the monied set is far more in-your-face at UVA. There are a LOT of really wealthy OOS kids--all from private schools but not the very top privates because those have a large percentage of kids on aid. The UVA kids come from more of the flashy, monied second tier of privates.


[/b]And how do you know this exactly? [[b]b]I, too, have a kid at UVA.


They don’t. Note that no one else in the entire thread picked up on this post. Sour grapes.

My kid went to UVA. Please remember it’s a public school and its student body reflects that. My kid’s friends were all mostly VA public
Kids. None if them are what OP describes. None. There might be a few monied kids in the frats or sororities but if that offends, you choose not to participate, which is easy because UVA is only 26% Greek.