<p>Last weekend, I took the time to visit Dartmouth.
I did enjoy the partying scene of Dartmouth but I had to admit that I was disappointed with not just the lack of intellectualism among the students but also the apparent lack of intelligence among these students.
Many of them seem to care a lot about their own personal success for sure but I wasn't able to have intelligent conversations with many of the people I met at Dartmouth.
My friend has told me it's the same case at Duke and from what I heard it's similar at top colleges all around the country. </p>
<p>I don't know. I wasn't surprised by the lack of intellectualism but I was incredibly disappointed by what I perceived to be a lack of intelligence but a great amount of ambition. I just couldn't have any sort of intelligent conversation with many of these 'highly esteemed Greek people'. All they seemed to care about was the big check they were going to get in the end and absolutely nothing else!!</p>
<p>Is this how most of you have seen the top colleges from the partying scene? </p>
<p>Also, I recommend that when answering this question that you look outside the 'nerdy cliques'. I met a group of very nerdy people at Dartmouth who I had very interesting conversations with, for instance. However, they didn't party or anything like that which was sort of a bummer...the partiers seemed to be so superficial. </p>
<p>This is sort of a venting post but why can't people be intelligent and partying?? Am I really alone in this respect?
I apologize. These people just did not seem intelligent at all. I imagine that they got in to top colleges due to grade inflation, thousands of dollars spent on SAT prep, resume padding extracurriculars, and possibly legacy.. it will only make me the more annoyed if I don't get into Dartmouth/Duke/Princeton etc..</p>
<p>Haha I hope my post isn't looked at as too off-topic, but you know, solely by your username you would appear the same way...</p>
<p>And it's ironic because essays are really supposed to be those that filter out kids with ambition but o passion - forgive me if I'm wrong, but I view ambition and passion VERY differently. I heard Wharton is similar, but from what I know, Harvard is not. Sigh - I feel bad assigning these very generalized stereotypes to such incredible schools, but I'm just stating what I've heard. </p>
<p>Anyway, this is why it is really recommended to visit the college before applying. I'm a hypocrite because I barely visited any of my colleges, but I did read student perspectives on colleges on random sites.</p>
<p>I have had the same feeling about some of the schools that I am applying to. It is somewhat ironic considering when I ask the alumni about competition..ALL of them have denied it and testified to the combination you mention they lack.</p>
<p>Do yourself a favor and visit the University of Chicago if you are an LA junkie, or MIT/Caltech if you are interested in tech stuff. Dartmouth is somewhat more of a prebusiness resort in the woods then it is a meeting of the minds BUT the people they attract are the type of people that do well in business/finance so it suits both the school and the students well.</p>
<p>Complaining about the lack of intellectualism in the party scene at Dartmouth is like going to Yankee Stadium and being surprised that they are playing baseball.</p>
<p>There are plenty of colleges where you will find a very intellectual atmosphere. Generally they are not places known for their frat boys and beer pong, like Dartmouth.</p>
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My guess is that they save the intellectualism for class, and turn it off afterwords, that's what I would do.
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<p>Yes, not everyone likes to have deep intellectual discussions at parties. In fact, I'm put off by those people. If I know you, sure I'll entertain you in a discussion on the plausibility of magnetic monopoles, but otherwise I generally keep my conversation to levels that I know anybody could understand so as to not appear as if I'm overly academic. I think that most "smart" people would be savvy enough to know when is the appropriate venue to talk about academic things, and I don't care if you go to MIT or community college, parties are not the place to do that.</p>
<p>To the OP: You need to realize that it is <em>much</em> more advantageous to appear approachable and friendly than intelligent and overbearing. I know people much smarter than you probably are that you would never guess were geniuses because they understand the importance of not appearing pompous about their smarts.</p>
<p>i dont think it's totally fair to judge or make fun of 174 for his criticisms, but at the same time it probably isnt fair for him/her to make assumptions about a school overall based on a party experience.</p>
<p>however, there's no reason to get worked up over this, in fact it's probably a good thing that you have narrowed down what you want in a college so much. it will definitely be difficult to find that particular balance of intellect and party that you want, but it is out there. so far U of C, caltech, and MIT have been suggested for you. anyone else have any? </p>
<p>and don't completely rule out dartmouth based on that one experience, get more perspectives and you'll probably find a lot more intellect than you originally experienced. or maybe you won't, but at least you looked for it.</p>
<p>I'm not making fun of 174's post on this thread. I'm making fun of all of his posts. I guess you need his history to fully appreciate his latest troll effort.</p>
<p>What you are seeking appears to be *tortured intellectuals, * something with which Dartmouth frat parties are not noted to have a particular abundance [see: Animal House].</p>
<p>You may find intellectuals elsewhere in the world of elite colleges; they may not consider themselves tortured, but might well reconsider as they get to know you better.</p>
<p>Not having read the OP's previous posts, I'll bite. It is remarkable the nonsense some of the smartest young people in the country will engage in.
But guess what? The party folk are, from my experience, likely smarter than the nerds. The nerds were the one-trick-ponies, the equivalents to idiot savants.<br>
As someone who has spent half an adult life at the University of Chicago, schools like this and its little sister Swarthmore will breed boredom pretty quickly. Too many folks who developmentally skipped from 14 to 40. Life experience? What's that?</p>
<p>danas: If you define intelligence as life experience, I would agree with you.
However, that is not how you define intelligence. The people who 'developmentally skipped from 14 to 40' are not 'idiot savants'. 'Idiot savants' wouldn't be attending Chicago but rather some school which can help accommodate their needs better.. do you even know what an idiot savant is?
Watch "Rainman" and tell me if most people in Chicago/Swarthmore are like Dustin Hoffman's character.
I know you are saying that they are only the 'equivalent to idiot savants' but it is an invalid comparison nevertheless..</p>
<p>I define intelligence as based on innate abilities.
The 4 year old who can do long division is likely more naturally intelligent than the 40 year old who couldn't do long division till he was 9 even though the 40 year old knows algebra, geometry, calculus when those are things the 4 year old can't do yet.</p>
<p>I don't think that many of the 'partier types' and this comes from MY EXPERIENCE from partying all the time are actually intelligent.
You have to understand many of their ulterior motives.
Many of them are so insecure about themselves that they feel like they have to be perfect at everything- perfect in the social sense and the academic sense.They work hard to achieve perfection in both areas. Does this make them intelligent according to my definition?
Not necessarily.
I know of 'really chill' partiers that practically have panic attacks if they don't get straight A's...</p>
<p>I don't understand the "why would you be intellectual at a party" sentiment here. You don't need to seem pompous or blather about Plato to have interesting, thoughtful conversations while having fun.</p>
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Many of them are so insecure about themselves that they feel like they have to be perfect at everything- perfect in the social sense and the academic sense.They work hard to achieve perfection in both areas. Does this make them intelligent according to my definition?
Not necessarily.
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<p>I don't think that someone who uses his high IQ as part of a screen name is in any position to talk about others being insecure.</p>
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I don't think that many of the 'partier types' and this comes from MY EXPERIENCE from partying all the time are actually intelligent.
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<p>I don't think that someone who doesn't understand the difference between the kinds of academic discussions that might happen in a classroom and the kinds of discussions that might happen at a Saturday night party is actually all that intelligent, either.</p>
<p>Some of the people I though were complete idiots at Hopkins turned out to be the smartest and more incredible people I've ever met in my short life... When you realize that this student that you thought was an idiot was a Hodson trust scholar and recieved this highly competitive scholarship handed out to only 20 students in the entire freshman class... Your like wow, that is incredible. I regret judging ppl based on my premature assessment or "initial impression" in my first encounter...</p>
<p>It takes months and possibly years to find out the intellectual capacity of your fellow peers in college. In some cases, the intellectual prowess of their peers become more readily apparent if you do a study group session with one another. Most students at top universities are tremendously ambitious and hard workers... If you want intellectuallism... Go to Harvard or UChicago.. :-P</p>