<p>Even though my school isn't extremely competitive in terms of overall standardized testing, the sheer number of overachievers never ceases to scare me. I'm nowhere near like this, however, and I'm afraid of going to a college with the same atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, though--it's not that I'm lazy. I love learning and going to school and challenging myself... I just hate the constant competitiveness. I'd rather feel proud of my B+ that I earned and worked for than have the next person wailing about their "oh-so-terrible A-" that bumped them off the Dean's List. (sigh)</p>
<p>Right now, I'm looking at LACs or medium-sized universities (3,000~10,000?), favorably on the East Cost.</p>
<p>duke houses a very collaborative student body just for an example, on fb groups, people form study groups and “study buddies” left and right. for the class of 2013, groups have already started and freshmen haven’t even hit campus yet :)</p>
<p>That’s a tough call to make. “Laid-back” gets used in so many different contexts including, the amount of partying that occurs on a campus. In that sense, some schools with the most cut-throat reputations academically can also claim to be laid back.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard it used to mean the diametric opposite. Swarthmore, for instance, is said to be laid-back because the campus is so quiet (one visitor during the summer described it like being on the grounds of a rehab clinic.) Still others use it to indicate lack of pretension, as in, “the students at Carleton are pretty laid-back”.</p>
<p>If you’re using it to indicate students who fundamentally are competing mostly with themselves in areas of study that are largely immune to “teaching to the test” and other precursors to mutual hyperventilation, then, yes – LACs are more “laid-back” than research universities, on the whole.</p>
<p>Most of the Southern schools are more laid-back, including Rice, Emory, Duke, Vanderbilt, Tulane, and UNC. Stanford also has this reputation of being laid back. I’m defining laid back as having a balance between work and play and as having a student body that is not overly concerned about how they stack up against their classmates. All these schools tend to have collaborative atmospheres.</p>
I would add Davidson to the list, although it’s a little small for the OP. The honor code is taken extremely seriously (as at Haverford), which leads to all sorts of perks. Among others, students can take exams on their own time and wherever they want.</p>
<p>^ MT, you have got to be kidding me. I live in Austin, Texas, and UT is literally known for being one of the MOST casual, easy-going, LAIDBACK schools in the world lol.</p>
<p>In fact, if you tried to come down here and act competitively, everyone would probably avoid you.</p>
<p>I don’t want to get off the OP’s request which is centered around smaller LAC-type schools, but I also have to respond to MT’s post. Places like Madison and Austin are known to have pretty laid back student bodies (although I guess it depends on the definition of “laid back”). One of the reasons my son chose UW-Madison vs a number of other places is because it seemed challenging and academically strong, but still comfortable and friendly and less “intense” than a lot of the other places he visited. </p>
<p>OP- what are you interested in studying and what are your stats so folks can make good suggestions? (ex. Brown and Stanford are awesome, but not many students are truly competitive for admission and even those that are have a small chance of being admitted - great for reaches, but not a match for anyone). Do you want to stay in a particular area of the country? Do you need aid - need-based or merit? The more info you can give us, the more helpful we can be. :-)</p>
<p>Duke and Stanford have very, very similar student bodies IMO. Laidback on the outside, working hard on the inside. It’s all a way to preserve the appearance of “effortless perfection.” The Ivies just go for “perfection,” but we Duke kids like to look good while doing it ;)</p>
<p>^ What’s interesting about that essay is she never talks about Duke’s admit student weekend. She just focuses on why Stanford isn’t right for her. I wish she actually talked about Duke as well. </p>
<p>Most admit student weekends are like that… the USC Presidential session I attended even had the band come play for us, very “rah rah.” it’s selling, but I don’t fault colleges for selling --after all, they do want to protect their yields and create good impressions for the admitted students. I’ve done numerous overnight stays at a variety of colleges -from tiny LACs to huge universities, and every single student I’ve talked to has been extremely upfront about the pros and cons of their school --even if they think their school is perfect, and almost every student says it’s perfect for them.</p>
just for an example, on fb groups, people form study groups and “study buddies” left and right. for the class of 2013, groups have already started and freshmen haven’t even hit campus yet :)</p>