<p>
[quote]
Who said this girl wasn't smart?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I do. It was a small school. Everyone knew everyone else, and knew what everyone else was capable of.</p>
<p>UCBChem, Michigan and UVa have very wealthy students. Even in-state students generally come from wealthy families. However, keep in mind that international students and OOS students (35% or the undergraduate studend body) generally pay full tuition. I do not have exact figures handy right now, but the percentage of students who come from households earning over $200k per year and over $100k per year at UVa and Michigan is similar to that at many private universities. I do not think the UCs have similar student wealth. I really have to look up the exact figures, I may be wrong.</p>
<p>I did not include several other schools such as Boston College, Boston University, NYU and USC. </p>
<p>I disagree about Rice though. In Texas, SMU is supposed to be where the rich kids go to school. Tulane, University of Colorado and University of Vermont also have wealthy student bodies.</p>
<p>Once again I'd like to lol @ people who insist that "rich" kids should go to a state school to be around people such as themselves. There's a reason top prep school kids don't go to publics....</p>
<p>duke, emory, vanderbilt are full of extremely rich kids</p>
<p>duke, emory, vanderbilt are full of extremely rich kids</p>
<p>I know it's hard for out of state students to digest, but the University of Florida has a wealthy student body. Take a look at slide 10: 50% of the freshmen have a family income greater than 100K and 24% are higher than 150K. Remember, this is in Florida so if you were to adjust it for higher salary areas of the country, the numbers would be significantly higher. For instance, adjusted for New York City, this would translate to 25% of the student families making 200K+. </p>
<p>"If you're looking for schools where rich kids hang out you can take away any state school."</p>
<p>You've GOT to be kidding. There are very wealthy kids from Chicago's North Shore at UIUC, Mizzou, Indiana and Kansas. And a decent number of wealthy midwestern kids at Arizona State. The parents buy condos as investments and the kids live in them.</p>
<p>"If you're looking for schools where it's old money wasps you can take away anything that's not HYP."</p>
<p>Nonsense. Someone didn't read their Preppy Handbook c 1980. There are quite a few schools (often in the northeast) that are known for old money WASPS that aren't HYP.</p>
<p>One way to look at this is the nature of the incoming student body and another is the prospective achievement level of the outgoing student body.</p>
<p>One school that I often hear is a magnet for incoming wealthy types is Rollins College. If you’ve ever been there, it’s not hard to see how spending four years here could be a very pleasurable experience. Another school on this list would be Sweet Briar College, a women’s college in Virginia with a glorious campus and lots of wonderful rolling hills on which the students often ride their horses (strong equestrian program). </p>
<p>As for prospective wealth, I would suggest that the more selective colleges are more likely to provide great future networks. The idea is that quality in and quality out is the most predictable path for identifying college campuses that are likely to provide the best social and professional networks. While far from monopolistic in their ability to produce business and other leaders, there is a history of accomplishment from these colleges that fuels the desire of many students to land on their campuses. </p>
<p>So, look for colleges that have the strongest incoming student bodies. Using SAT scores as one proxy for student strength, here are the colleges where you are most likely to find that strength. </p>
<p>Rank Score College</p>
<pre><code> THE PLATINUM ELITES
</code></pre>
<p>1 , 1520 , Cal Tech
2 , 1505 , Harvey Mudd
3 , 1495 , Yale
3 , 1495 , Harvard
5 , 1485 , Princeton</p>
<pre><code> THE GOLD ELITES
</code></pre>
<p>6 , 1470 , MIT
7 , 1455 , Pomona
8 , 1450 , Swarthmore
8 , 1450 , Wash U StL
10 , 1445 , Stanford
11 , 1440 , Duke
12 , 1440 , Dartmouth
12 , 1435 , Northwestern
14 , 1430 , Amherst
14 , 1430 , Brown
14 , 1430 , Williams
14 , 1430 , U Chicago
18 , 1425 , U Penn
19 , 1420 , Rice
19 , 1420 , Columbia</p>
<pre><code> THE SILVER ELITES
</code></pre>
<p>21 , 1415 , Tufts
22 , 1410 , Carnegie Mellon
23 , 1405 , Notre Dame
24 , 1400 , Carleton
25 , 1395 , Wesleyan
25 , 1395 , Middlebury
25 , 1395 , Cornell
25 , 1395 , Georgetown
29 , 1390 , Wellesley
29 , 1390 , Haverford
29 , 1390 , Vanderbilt
29 , 1390 , J Hopkins
33 , 1385 , Emory
33 , 1385 , Bowdoin
33 , 1385 , CMC
33 , 1385 , W&L
37 , 1380 , Vassar
38 , 1370 , Brandeis
38 , 1370 , Hamilton
40 , 1365 , USC
40 , 1365 , Oberlin
42 , 1360 , Grinnell
43 , 1355 , Davidson</p>
<pre><code> THE BRONZE ELITES
</code></pre>
<p>44 , 1350 , W & M
45 , 1340 , Wake Forest
45 , 1340 , Colgate
47 , 1335 , NYU
47 , 1335 , Rensselaer
49 , 1330 , Boston College
49 , 1330 , Georgia Tech
51 , 1325 , UC Berkeley
51 , 1325 , U Rochester
53 , 1320 , U Michigan
54 , 1315 , Lehigh
55 , 1310 , U Virginia
56 , 1305 , Case Western
57 , 1295 , UCLA
57 , 1295 , U North Carolina
59 , 1290 , U Illinois UC
60 , 1280 , Tulane
60 , 1280 , U Wisconsin
62 , 1265 , Smith
63 , 1250 , UCSD
63 , 1250 , U Florida
65 , 1240 , U Texas
66 , 1220 , Syracuse
67 , 1205 , U Washington
68 , 1190 , UC S Barbara
69 , 1185 , UC Irvine
70 , 1180 , Penn State
71 , 1155 , UC Davis</p>
<p>And for those who prefer ACT comparisons:</p>
<p>Rank Score College</p>
<pre><code> THE PLATINUM ELITES
</code></pre>
<p>1 , 33.0 , Harvard
2 , 32.5 , MIT
2 , 32.5 , Notre Dame
4 , 32.0 , Yale
4 , 32.0 , Princeton
4 , 32.0 , Northwestern</p>
<pre><code> THE GOLD ELITES
</code></pre>
<p>7 , 31.5 , Duke
7 , 31.5 , Pomona
7 , 31.5 , Dartmouth
7 , 31.5 , Amherst
7 , 31.5 , Rice
7 , 31.5 , Vanderbilt
7 , 31.5 , Wash U StL
14 , 31.0 , Stanford
14 , 31.0 , Williams
14 , 31.0 , U Penn
14 , 31.0 , Carleton
14 , 31.0 , Middlebury
14 , 31.0 , Emory
14 , 31.0 , Carnegie Mellon
14 , 31.0 , Bowdoin
14 , 31.0 , Georgetown
14 , 31.0 , Grinnell</p>
<pre><code> THE SILVER ELITES
</code></pre>
<p>24 , 30.5 , Brown
24 , 30.5 , Tufts
24 , 30.5 , Columbia
24 , 30.5 , Wellesley
24 , 30.5 , Vassar
24 , 30.5 , U Chicago
24 , 30.5 , Colgate
31 , 30.0 , Swarthmore
31 , 30.0 , J Hopkins
31 , 30.0 , USC
31 , 30.0 , Boston College
31 , 30.0 , Cornell
31 , 30.0 , Brandeis
31 , 30.0 , Davidson
38 , 29.5 , Wesleyan
38 , 29.5 , W & M
38 , 29.5 , NYU
38 , 29.5 , W&L</p>
<pre><code> THE BRONZE ELITES
</code></pre>
<p>42 , 29.0 , U Michigan
42 , 29.0 , Georgia Tech
42 , 29.0 , Tulane
42 , 29.0 , U Rochester
42 , 29.0 , Oberlin
47 , 28.5 , Case Western
48 , 28.5 , U Illinois UC
49 , 28.0 , U Wisconsin
50 , 27.5 , U North Carolina
51 , 27.5 , Smith
52 , 27.0 , Rensselaer
52 , 27.0 , UCLA
52 , 27.0 , U Florida
55 , 26.5 , Syracuse
56 , 26.0 , UCSD
56 , 26.0 , U Texas
56 , 26.0 , U Washington
56 , 26.0 , UC S Barbara</p>
<pre><code> INSUFFICIENT DATA
</code></pre>
<p>na , na , Cal Tech
na , na , CMC
na , na , Hamilton
na , na , Harvey Mudd
na , na , Haverford
na , na , Lehigh
na , na , Penn State
na , na , U Virginia
na , na , UC Berkeley
na , na , UC Davis
na , na , UC Irvine
na , na , Wake Forest</p>
<p>And before anyone makes a charge, I fully accept that standardized test scores are but a single data point in the assessment of a college's student . Undeniably, there is a lot more to the assessment of a student than his/her standardized test score, but IMO this is the best single data point that we have available to us.</p>
<p>Sweet Briar is another college I was going to name -- perfect example, Hawkette. Plenty of big-time preppy money there, and it's not HYP. Someone who thinks that big-time preppy money just hangs around HYP isn't very familiar with the preppy world. Remember, part of preppy is effortless and fun ... the summers on Nantucket type of thing. And true big-time preppy isn't necessarily about Academics Above All (else MIT and UChicago and Caltech would be bastions of the old-money preppy world).</p>
<p>Preppy and prep-school are two different things, BTW.</p>
<p>If you sit at an outdoor cafe on Newbury Street in Boston on an evening in the springtime, all you see walking by, driving by in expensive cars, sitting on the stoops of expensive brownstones, are middle eastern kids who are going to school here and are filthy rich, I mean REALLY rich. Like their father's are shahs and sheiks and oil barrons from overseas. A lot come to school here to put off joining the military which is required for two years. The amount of money these kids spread around that area is astounding. ANd they go to clubs and "party" most nights of the week. A lot of clubs in Boston vary the night of the week they call "Euro night" so they can all share in the wealth of these kids. I know a lot of people who work in stores and restaurants along there and can attest to that. I believe they go to BU for the most part. Oh, and they can often be seen hanging out at the Armani Cafe where a cup of coffee is about ten bucks.</p>
<p>The best colleges for a rich student are the same as the best colleges for any student. On the other hand, I think there's definitely schools where there's a significant advantage to being rich. As someone else mentioned, the biggest problem with NYU is their lack of financial aid, so if money's not a problem, then it's probably a much more attractive option than for most other people.</p>
<p>Thanks for the further replies. I'll digest the information recently posted and then have some follow-up questions. Keep it coming meanwhile.</p>
<p>One way of determining the wealth of the overall student body at a university is to look at the percentage of students who fall into the following categories:</p>
<p>Pell grant recipients:
Generally speaking, most elite universities have anywhere between 8% and 16% pell recipients. Universities within that range will not have a large "lower income" student population. If more than 20% of the students are pell recipients, chances are, the overall student population is not going to be wealthy.</p>
<p>Students with family incomes over $100,000:
I consider $100,000 family income to be "middle income". If more than 60% of the student body is at least "middle income", the overall student body is going to well off. If fewer than 40% of the student body comes from families with family incomes over $100,000, chances are, the overall student body is not going to be that well off.</p>
<p>Students with family incomes over $200,000:
I would define a family with a combined income over $200,000 to be "upper income". If more than 20% of the student body come from family incomes greater than $200,000, chances are, you are looking at a wealthy student body. If fewer than 10% of the student body come from families with combined income over $200,000, you probably aren't looking at a very wealthy student body.</p>
<p>If at school X, only 10% or the students qualify for Pell grants, over 60% of the student body comes from families with family incomes over $100,000 and over 20% of the students come families with family incomes over $200,000, you are looking at a relatively wealthy student body.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if at school Y, over 25% of the student body qualifies for Pell grants, fewer than 50% come from families with greater $100,000 family incomes and fewer than 10% of the students come from families with greater than $200,000, you are looking at a not-so-wealthy student body.</p>
<p>Any of the schools with expensive price tags that do not give much financial aid.</p>
<p>If it weren't for my pre-conceived notions, I would think the list should consist primarily of schools that give no merit aid. Logically it seems like these schools would have student bodies in more of a have/have not situation. Everyone is either so rich that the price of tuition is no problem, or on financial aid. Fewer of the middle class families for whom $50 K a year is a real issue. But these schools don't all have a rich kids "culture," and some of these schools have been so generous with financial aid, so this criterion doesn't yield what the OP is looking for. And some middle class families have saved a lot or are really willing to take on debt for undergraduate tuition.</p>
<p>My pre-conceived notions say "Sweet Briar, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Bowdoin, Colgate, Trinity, etc."</p>
<p>And of course "the very rich" kids will find others like them at HYPS, too...</p>
<p>If I were a kid for whom money was really no object, there would be an advantage to having a few friends in the same boat, I suppose. For, say, impromptu trips to Paris. </p>
<p>:-)</p>
<p>We are not rich.</p>
<p>But we know some families who are.</p>
<p>And a lot of these families have very nice, level-headed kids.</p>
<p>Wake Forest. The school is like a country club!</p>
<p>I would say Brown. It does not have need blind admissions. You still have to be a great candidate to get in, but not applying for aid may push you over the edge and help you to beat the competition.</p>
<p>In follow-up to Alex's comments about Pell grantees, here is some data for those colleges ranked in the USNWR Top 30 national universities.</p>
<p>% of Pell grantees within student body, School</p>
<p>39% , UCLA
35% , UC Berkeley
21% , USC
17% , Columbia
17% , Caltech
17% , Cornell
16% , MIT
15% , U North Carolina
14% , Dartmouth
14% , Stanford
14% , U Michigan
14% , Carnegie Mellon
13% , U Chicago
13% , Emory
12% , Brown
12% , Vanderbilt
11% , Yale
11% , Tufts
11% , Georgetown
11% , Rice
11% , Duke
11% , U Penn
11% , Johns Hopkins
10% , Northwestern
10% , Notre Dame
9% , Harvard
8% , Princeton
8% , U Virginia
8% , Wake Forest
7% , Wash U</p>