Best College for a Rich Student?

College Search & Selection
141

<p>Interesting points all. I find the OP's question somewhat academic, though, as those uber-rich families are unlikely to be here on CC looking for college advice. :) With good advice from family, friends, and private prep school GCs, they know where they want to send their kids, so I guess this discussion is an exercise in understanding how the top 5% view college choices for their offspring.</p>

<p>I'd suggest the rich students fall in three (why not?) categories: </p>

<p>1) those who are academic achievers with ambition -- with their $$ and often legacy status, they can afford to pay full price for any elite college they can get into, so will often go to HYPS or LACs of the same ilk. </p>

<p>2) those who are decent students but don't work too hard, with well-connected parents who are big contributors to top private universities-- the best connected of these end up at the elite schools, too (a certain pres?) while others will fall just a little futher down the top private college scale with thanks to great prep schools and full pay. </p>

<p>and 3) those who are not academic achievers but who, due to family and $$, will attend the partying rung of private colleges. Beautiful campuses with big Greek scene and lots of tradition. Of course, many of these colleges have been working hard on improving their academics, so that's a bonus.</p>

<p>As for the question of how well the less-advantaged students will blend with the rich kids on those campuses, it will depend on how much specific kids, rich or poor or middle class, have in common. Since their economic backgrounds are so diverse, they'll rely on their talents, EC interests, brains, and personalities.</p>

142

<p>"As for the question of how well the less-advantaged students will blend with the rich kids on those campuses, it will depend on how much specific kids, rich or poor or middle class, have in common. Since their economic backgrounds are so diverse, they'll rely on their talents, EC interests, brains, and personalities."</p>

<p>Well put. It does seem that there are certain colleges for whatever historical reason are schools in which a poorer kid would potentially feel uncomfortable. Tulane, SMU and Pepperdine are three that come to mind. In their own way, there is just a lot of visible wealth among the students on those campuses, IMO, and a college culture that is dependent upon participating in a lot of leisure / outside activities (for which the student without discretionary income would feel disadvantaged and out of place).</p>

143

<p>^^ I disagree with some of madbean's last post. Many very wealthy folks got there by being quite savvy and smart. CC is a valuable resource, and, as has been noted repeatedly, has better and more complete information on various college-related topics than many college counselors have (even those at top prep schools). Why do you think CC is only a resource for less wealthy families? I suspect there are plenty of very affluent posters on CC- they just don't advertise it. I have crossed paths with families in the uber-rich category and most of them would be delighted to know of this resource. They care about making the right choice for their kid as much as anyone else does.</p>

144

<p>I'm still scratching my head as to why we are SO concerned about what's the best fit for the "rich" students, as I understand the OP to be defining them. Don't they (or their parents, guidance counselors, college consultants etc) already KNOW what schools will best allow them to continue to live in the style they are accustomed to? :confused:</p>

145

<p>Earlier in the thread, laxattack posted the link to the Economic Diversity of Colleges website. The data there is a little older (2-3 years) and is ok, but should be used carefully. For example, one of their main measurements is the percentage of students that APPLY for financial aid. If you look in the CDS of a college, you quickly see that the numbers that apply are not necessarily all recognized as needing financial aid. There is a fall-off in numbers and sometimes it is significant. </p>

<p>% of Student Body on Fin'l Aid , % of Student Body who filed for Fin Aid , Falloff from Application to Actually Receiving Aid , College</p>

<p>70% , 77% , -7% , Case Western
63% , 71% , -8% , MIT
63% , 85% , -22% , Rensselaer
57% , 53% , 4% , U Texas
55% , 52% , 3% , Princeton
52% , 69% , -17% , NYU (06-07)
51% , 54% , -3% , Carnegie Mellon
51% , 69% , -18% , UC Irvine (03-04)
50% , 60% , -10% , Dartmouth
50% , 59% , -9% , UC Berkeley
50% , 69% , -19% , UC Davis
49% , 56% , -7% , UCLA
49% , 66% , -17% , UCSD
48% , 60% , -12% , U Michigan
46% , 54% , -8% , Stanford
46% , 54% , -8% , Vanderbilt
46% , 65% , -19% , UC Santa Barbara
46% , na , na , Penn State
45% , 47% , -2% , Brown
44% , 63% , -19% , Cornell
43% , 42% , 1% , Yale
42% , 61% , -19% , Northwestern (06-07)
42% , 60% , -18% , U Illinois
41% , 58% , -17% , Lehigh
39% , 50% , -11% , Emory (06-07)
39% , 48% , -9% , U Florida
32% , 55% , -23% , U North Carolina
32% , 61% , -29% , Georgia Tech
32% , na , na , U Washington
30% , 47% , -17% , W&M
29% , 48% , -19% , U Wisconsin (06-07)
26% , 42% , -16% , U Virginia</p>

<p>No CDS , 45% , na , Harvard
No CDS , 47% , na , U Penn
No CDS , 69% , na , Caltech
No CDS , 47% , na , Duke
No CDS , 37% , na , Columbia
No CDS , 63% , na , U Chicago
No CDS , 39% , na , Wash U
No CDS , 52% , na , Johns Hopkins
No CDS , 51% , na , Rice
No CDS , 65% , na , Notre Dame
No CDS , 46% , na , Georgetown
No CDS , 53% , na , USC
No CDS , 49% , na , Tufts
No CDS , 49% , na , Wake Forest
No CDS , 61% , na , Brandeis
No CDS , 74% , na , U Rochester
No CDS , 49% , na , Boston Coll
No CDS , 71% , na , Syracuse
No CDS , na , na , Tulane</p>

146

<p>One way to get a sense for the income levels of students at a school is to look in the parking lot and see the kinds of cars kids drive. Lots of BMW's, Lexus', Audis, Mercedes, etc. to be found at Babson and University of Denver.</p>

147

<p>financial aid data is difficult to use as a metric because one would need to control for the costs of the institution in question, perceptions about the availability of financial aid, additional barriers to application (profile schools), school policies actively recommending that all students apply, whether one must apply for financial aid to receive merit aid, et cetera. it just gets too messy.</p>

<p>that said, i doubt there are a ton of students enrolling at selective schools, the rather expensive elite publics included, who have family incomes below $60,000 and did NOT apply for financial aid. assuming this to be true, the economicdiversity data DOES give us a good sense of the numbers of students at these schools who are, in terms of family income, above the national average (coincidentally, ~$60,000).</p>

<p>of course, the lack of poor students does not necessarily result in a large number of truly wealthy students, especially as ones definition of 'wealthy' increases. my gut suggests that many of the public schools on this list fall 'victim' to this (enrolling relatively more kids from $100,000 per year families than $1,000,000 per year families) than their highly selective private peers.</p>

<p>regardless, a top 50 list for moderately selective, traditional four year colleges:</p>

<p>01 92.97 Washington and Lee University
02 92.30 University of Richmond
03 92.08 Washington University, St Louis
04 91.12 Davidson College
05 91.01 Harvard University
06 90.76 Middlebury College
07 90.69 Muhlenberg College
08 90.54 College of William and Mary
09 90.12 Fairfield University
10 89.88 University of Mary Washington
11 89.22 University of Delaware
12 89.20 Colby College
13 88.98 University of Virginia, Main Campus
14 88.87 Saint Josephs University
15 88.50 Elon University
16 88.48 Villanova University
17 88.27 Kenyon College
18 88.22 Tufts University
19 88.00 Connecticut College
20 87.90 Loyola College in Maryland
21 87.61 University of Notre Dame
22 87.52 Lafayette College
23 87.46 Yale University
24 87.40 Bates College
25 87.40 Boston College
26 87.40 Boston University
27 87.31 Princeton University
28 87.25 James Madison University
29 87.10 Northeastern University
30 87.00 Catholic University of America
31 86.98 George Washington University
32 86.98 University of Missouri, St Louis
33 86.98 University of Pennsylvania
34 86.95 University of Wisconsin, Madison
35 86.95 Wake Forest University
36 86.89 Washington College
37 86.80 College of the Holy Cross
38 86.77 Yeshiva University
39 86.75 Xavier University
40 86.70 Providence College
41 86.67 Duke University
42 86.56 Georgetown University
43 86.50 Santa Clara University
44 86.48 Lehigh University
45 86.48 Miami University
46 86.43 Merrimack College
47 86.36 Quinnipiac University
48 86.32 St Mary's College of Maryland
49 86.23 Dickinson College
50 86.22 Rhodes College</p>

148

<p>Momofwild, I agree with you. We have caring and curious parents of every economic level visiting CC to learn about the best schools and opportunities for their sons and daughters. (Heavens, would a CC addict like me question this? Never!) I simply was doubting if super affluent families would come here searching for info on which colleges are the most cushy for fun-loving, not terribly academic rich kids (as per original post guidelines). Mind you, the OP wasn't asking for schools that might fit high achieving rich kids' majors or academic strengths, etc, but seeking which universities will let rich kids hobnob amongst their own kind.</p>

<p>Families with a history of wealth have a good idea of which schools fit this don't-have-to-work-too-hard, lovely campus bill from generations of upper class tradition, great present day college guidance--private and paid for or through prep schools, and current stories passed from friend to friend. How many CC threads have asked for recommendations of schools for rich kids who don't want to work too hard? </p>

<p>I have enjoyed reading about the % of students on finaid, etc, but many schools of the historically wealthy can be gleaned by looking at the size of their huge endowments (reflective of the wealthy alumni families going back generations). Ironically, these endowments now allow elite universities to choose among the brightest and most accomplished low income students as well. So the more recent wrinkle at these bastions of upper class education is the influx (however low the percentage of Pell grantees) of smart poor kids.</p>

149

<p>A good school for a 'rich kid?' I'd say a school where he/she will be surrounded by students who aren't as privileged. What's a 'rich kid' gonna get out of a college where he's'/she's just going to be surrounded by equally fortunate peers. </p>

<p>I really, really do not like the tone of the OP's original post. He/She seems to be fishing for schools where his/her littler prince/princess will have minimal interaction with lower income students and be surrounded by equally pampered kids.</p>

150

<p>I would suggest that a wealthy student go to a school where not everyone is wealthy so that he/she might get a picture of what life is like for the other 99% of Americans.</p>

151

<p>hunt, by high level of athletic involvement I think you aren't talking about skiing, sailing, golf, equestrianism, tennis, crew, squash, rugby union, et cetera?</p>

<p>(quite a few of those, by the way, are the bread and butter of Ivy League sports)</p>

152

<p>I agree that skiing, sailing and equestrian probably wouldn't have a leveling effect, but I think tennis, crew and some of the others could. A poor kid can row as well as a rich kid.</p>

153

<p>
[quote]
A poor kid can row as well as a rich kid.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>especially if he/she grew up in a large urban city...or on a farm in the midwest - when not playing tennis, of course! ;)</p>

154

<p>Things may have changed since I was in college, but big strong kids were recruited to row crew who had never seen a boat, much less rowed one.</p>

155

<p>This thread sorta makes me ill that it even exists. </p>

<p>The rich congregating amongst the rich? Come ON.</p>

156

<p>
[quote]
I really, really do not like the tone of the OP's original post. He/She seems to be fishing for schools where his/her littler prince/princess will have minimal interaction with lower income students and be surrounded by equally pampered kids.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You have entirely misread the original post and whatever other parts of the thread you have read if you think that.</p>

157

<p>"I really, really do not like the tone of the OP's original post. He/She seems to be fishing for schools where his/her littler prince/princess will have minimal interaction with lower income students and be surrounded by equally pampered kids."</p>

<p>The OP, Tokenadult, is as far from a pampering rich parent spoiling his little prince as you can get. He poses lots of interesting hypotheticals and this was one of them. He stated in the OP this was not his family's situation.</p>

158

<p>Yes, crew is rather egalitarian in some ways. My favourite sports myself are skiing and sailing. Although to be good enough for college tennis one would have taken lessons, and I remember my coach charged $40 an hour. </p>

<p>In any case, this is irrelevant. the very presence of leisurely and enjoyable pursuits like sailing or squash on campus improves the level of experience for the student, rich and poor. I am not a very good rider, but I could very much imagine that galloping around the college could only generate a nicely quaint and homely atmosphere. (Smith College). I very much would enjoy such a college myself.</p>

159

<p>Crew is indeed egalitarian. It is comprised of whoever scores highest on the erg machine.</p>

<p>Fencing... now there's your blueblood sport! Fencing while on horseback (english saddle only please!) would be the epitome of blue bloodedness!</p>

160

<p>
[QUOTE]
Fencing... now there's your blueblood sport! Fencing while on horseback (english saddle only please!) would be the epitome of blue bloodedness!

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>The blueblood hand/eye coordination with sticks while on horseback sport would be polo.</p>