<p>When one makes it into an Ivy League school or another ultra-competitive school, what is the atmosphere like?
Do students drop the competition because they've had to compete so much to get there and do they loosen up? Or do they continue to be ultra-competitive?
I have heard both answers, so if any of you guys have been to ivies, attend, or know someone that attends, it would be appreciated to hear the answer.</p>
<p>the atmosphere is about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, even at ivies. i know. i've been. and taken samples.</p>
<p>but seriously, completely depends on the school. Some (the lame ones) are ultra-competitive, and others (the sweet ones) are completely non-competitive, to the point that even inklings of wanting to know how others did is taboo and frowned upon.</p>
<p>So it depends.
I think my opinions on which is better are clear.</p>
<p>Which ones are which? Like specific colleges?</p>
<p>That's really hard to say, since you're going to see a lot of variation among different majors, too.</p>
<p>Schools like Brown & Syanford are prime examples of the laid-back atmosphere schools</p>
<p>Schools like Cornell & Columbia on the other hand are extremely cut-throat. It gets to the point where students in the library will rip out pages out the library books for themselves and sabotage another students grade in that same class.</p>
<p>I've heard exactly the opposite from someone who goes to Columbia, and for Cornell I've heard that's only true of the Engineering school.</p>
<p>And speaking in the "other high-level schools" area- at Swarthmore competition is STRONGLY discouraged- it's unlikely that you'd even know how others are doing. I think it's a quaker thing.</p>
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It gets to the point where students in the library will rip out pages out the library books for themselves and sabotage another students grade in that same class.
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<p>what the heck?</p>
<p>That's not true at all about Cornell. And engineers actually work together on problem sets. They tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves, but they don't compete against each other. My friends at Columbia also have never complained about the student body being cut-throat.</p>
<p>wheras mine at Cornell, Columbia, Yale, and UPenn all have. OMG no way! people have different experiences!!!! NO WAY!!!</p>
<p>i think generally, swat, brown and dartmouth can all be considered colleges where competition is highly discouraged and cooperation encouraged.</p>
<p>what about the schools like harvard and princeton?</p>
<p>
i think generally, swat, brown and dartmouth can all be considered colleges where competition is highly discouraged and cooperation encouraged.
I don't know about the others, but that has indeed been my experience at Dartmouth. I'm taking a statistics class this term, and we always work together on problem sets.</p>
<p>My son just finished his 1st year at Yale. He had a great year and found it to be a very supportive,non-cut throat community</p>
<p>I am a rising sophomore at Yale and I can guarantee you we have an extremely supportive and cooperative environment in all fields. Everyone strives for his or her best but never at the expense of someone else.</p>
<p>yeah Yale is very laid-back</p>