Any of the SLACs who take alot of kids from the NE prep schools should have a contingent of "bro" types - at the SLACs that doesn't necessarily translate into jerks from the movies since I think it's harder to maintain that level of dickishness in a small school where you interact with everyone at one point or another and so much of it is peer pressure to be a jerk that without that pressure it is less toxic. My husband and I both went to SLACs where the frat/greek scene was mostly popular with freshman and sophomores and interest waned even with members in jr and senior year.

Anonymous wrote:This thread is helpful. It's helpful in the reverse.

Agreed. These are the schools DD avoided like the plague.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thx!
He's likely going to apply to both Bucknell and Lehigh as well as some large universities.

Any ideas for liberal arts colleges with some element of this culture that are a tier above Bucknell? He's actually a really studious kid--a weird mix of super academic and social "bro" (party going, guy's guy, sports loving, etc).

This should be Davidson's advertising slogan. Also fits for Washington and Lee. Maybe UVa, too. Studious frat bro heaven.

OP here.
This is pretty much who he is: "studious frat boy."
His PSAT is in line to be a national merit semifinalist, he has a 1560 SAT and straight As in tough courses but he'd rather drink and play golf than ever spend more time than needed studying.
He goes to a rigorous private and doesn't have to study much--he has close to a photographic memory. He will probably end up in sales or Wall Street.
It's odd. husband and I are geeks--especially my husband. Our son is nothing like us.
His dream school (or so he says--he's never visited) is indeed Dartmouth. We visited Wake Forest and Davidson and he liked both of them--especially WF.
We (the parents) are cautious and we're trying to direct him towards safeties. Thank you for all the suggestions!

Has he looked at UVA?

OP here.
Thank you again for all the suggestions. This is incredibly helpful. Ironically I too have kids on both sides of this: the bro has a sibling who is nothing like his/her brother.

The bro kid (and no, I don't use this in real life) is actually a really nice kid. The extracurricular he is currently most passionate about (and that I had nothing to do with) involves working with handicapped adults. He is considering being a teacher and has spent 100+ hours volunteering at his old elementary school.
Yes, he really likes sports and parties and golf and girls and has very little interest in politics, the environment or the New York Times but he's not a bad person. He is great at calculus and analyzing literature (when school asks these of him) but you will never find him reading a book outside of class.

For a kid who is interested in Dartmouth I'd add Cornell to the mix. Same weather, vibrant fraternity scene, undergrad business school (Dyson), decent town, some top Division 1 sports teams to support (hockey, lacrosse, wrestling), regular bus service to/from the DMV.

Anonymous wrote:Some people’s notion of bro culture seems to be inconsistent with its larger connotations. Bro culture is not merely the presence of guys hanging out at frats and socially drinking. It’s also a toxic, macho male culture that encourages overly competitive, and aggressive behavior (even bullying) towards women (misogynistic) and those with less wealth. Viewed from that perspective, I take issue with the inclusion of some schools here, especially Davidson. My son currently attends the school and bro culture, with its wider, negative connotations, is definitely not a mainstream campus culture.

Please consider the possibility that the term can mean different things to different people. The connotations you have for it may be very different from others'. It's like the term "feminist." To some, it just simply means anyone who believes that there should be equality between the sexes; others envision hyper-aggressive, man-hating lesbians.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people’s notion of bro culture seems to be inconsistent with its larger connotations. Bro culture is not merely the presence of guys hanging out at frats and socially drinking. It’s also a toxic, macho male culture that encourages overly competitive, and aggressive behavior (even bullying) towards women (misogynistic) and those with less wealth. Viewed from that perspective, I take issue with the inclusion of some schools here, especially Davidson. My son currently attends the school and bro culture, with its wider, negative connotations, is definitely not a mainstream campus culture.

Another geed who didn't get a frat bid.

You (or you and some friends?) keep saying this. It's like you can't even conceive of someone not wanting to be like you.

NP-Same applies to you. Aside from the weird and fragile posters who are offended by someone who would want to go to a work hard/play-hard school, this has been one of the most normal threads I've read in awhile. All great suggestions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people’s notion of bro culture seems to be inconsistent with its larger connotations. Bro culture is not merely the presence of guys hanging out at frats and socially drinking. It’s also a toxic, macho male culture that encourages overly competitive, and aggressive behavior (even bullying) towards women (misogynistic) and those with less wealth. Viewed from that perspective, I take issue with the inclusion of some schools here, especially Davidson. My son currently attends the school and bro culture, with its wider, negative connotations, is definitely not a mainstream campus culture.

I am pretty sure the OP doesn't think her DS is a toxic male. It may be a poor choice of descriptors but I think she is just looking for a typical frat going, social guy type of experience. You are taking it to a level that I am 100% sure she didn't want or expect to be discussing.

Everyone is going to have different definitions of "bro culture" and that makes it problematic on this thread. I do see where OP is coming from as I see it among many boys I know. But none are toxic or macho in a bad way. So it's not synonymous. And there's toxic soyboys too. And unpleasant left wing male activists as we're seeing with the Gaza protests. I do know some people are automatically and immediately turned off by any hint of more confident and conservative males and label all of them as toxic and macho, which isn't helpful.

Duke

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reach: Colgate, W&L

Target: Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette

Low target: Trinity

Safety: Gettysburg, Union

Can't argue with this. Only thing I would add, getting recruited for baseball will get you into the bro culture at any of those schools. Those who know, know.

Am I among “those who know’ if I know Colgate hasn’t had a baseball team in decades?

^ without judging or arguing, I do find it helpful in the reverse

This thread is helpful. It's helpful in the reverse.

Anonymous wrote:Some people’s notion of bro culture seems to be inconsistent with its larger connotations. Bro culture is not merely the presence of guys hanging out at frats and socially drinking. It’s also a toxic, macho male culture that encourages overly competitive, and aggressive behavior (even bullying) towards women (misogynistic) and those with less wealth. Viewed from that perspective, I take issue with the inclusion of some schools here, especially Davidson. My son currently attends the school and bro culture, with its wider, negative connotations, is definitely not a mainstream campus culture.

I am pretty sure the OP doesn't think her DS is a toxic male. It may be a poor choice of descriptors but I think she is just looking for a typical frat going, social guy type of experience. You are taking it to a level that I am 100% sure she didn't want or expect to be discussing.

Some people’s notion of bro culture seems to be inconsistent with its larger connotations. Bro culture is not merely the presence of guys hanging out at frats and socially drinking. It’s also a toxic, macho male culture that encourages overly competitive, and aggressive behavior (even bullying) towards women (misogynistic) and those with less wealth. Viewed from that perspective, I take issue with the inclusion of some schools here, especially Davidson. My son currently attends the school and bro culture, with its wider, negative connotations, is definitely not a mainstream campus culture.

Anonymous wrote:SMU.

+1. Not a “LAC” but smaller and fits the bill. OP’s kid should check out private colleges in the South — SMU, TCU, Tulane, Wake Forest, etc