<p>I graduated undergrad a little over 2 years ago, and I came to the realization that college wasn't really that diverse. I thought about it and realized, admission was mostly based on numbers and a few essays/recommendations,and most who were accepted and went to their choices probably were mostly similar in backgrounds (other than race) and life experiences except for a few exceptions here and there. After being out in the real world, I have learned about different people so much more,people that I did not encounter in the bubble of college. I just want to know if I am being crazy to think this because I was thinking college would be a life changing experience and it didn't feel that way to me (life as in emotional life).</p>
<p>I think that some of the lesser-known LACs do a good job with true diversity and a life-changing experience. This was the case with me, and I see it today with the children of several of my friends and colleagues. At some schools kids leave a few years older and a few pounds heavier but unchanged in their knowledge of self or philosophy of life.</p>
<p>Well, when you go to college, you won’t encounter the people who do not go to college, so the diversity in educational goals and (future) educational attainment will be lower than in most high school or community situations.</p>
<p>SES diversity varies considerably from one college to another.
<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2009/09/10/new-rankings-college-economic-diversity”>http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2009/09/10/new-rankings-college-economic-diversity</a></p>
<p>what are you complaining about? that is what you think about two years out of college looking back? </p>
<p>College is a bubble. While the college might aspire to have a diverse student body, it is still a group of same age people following an academic path, with some kind of financial support such as parents, loans, financial aid. No matter how many people of different backgrounds are admitted, it is still a bubble. This temporary situation is designed to prepare you for your career in the larger world, but it can not give you all kinds of experiences. </p>
<p>Don’t focus on what your college lacked, but on what you gained. Now, you can meet people with different backgrounds, and you will continue to do so. </p>
<p>Ages and stages in life. People like you chose your college, people in your post college world chose other paths. College is a bubble and not meant to resemble the “real world”. I don’t get the reference to a LAC being more diverse than other schools. “True” diversity??? There are many different kinds of diversity that can all be equally valid.</p>
<p>Thanks for your thoughts snarlatron, ucbalumnus, pennylane, and wis75.
Now that college has guided me into a career, I seem to be settling into the type of crowd that also chose to be there, much like the college population. I guess the only time to expand as a human is really outside work hours, or to do something drastic, such as saving some money for a while and then quitting everything and just live every day freely exploring the world.</p>
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Not complaining, just commenting/wondering about a lack of a certain fulfilling feeling and asking others about it. And yes I do think about this two years out, but certainly not only this.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. If your social activities happen to be those which draw diverse (by whatever measure) participants, then you will encounter more diversity than if your social activities tend to draw mostly people like you.</p>
<p>I find that the differences are on the inside not the outside.
Go deeper.</p>
<p>What do you mean by diverse? I think in the ‘real world’ similar people cluster together a lot. In most jobs you work many hours a day with people quite similar to yourself. Diversity for the sake of it it means nothing.</p>
<p>I don’t get the concept of “expanding” as a human. Is being a jack of all trades better than a master of one or a few? You seem to think superficially touching upon many different ways of living is better than exploring yours in depth. There is nothing wrong with being happy in your niche in the world. No one can do everything. Being aware that there are many different ways of being human is sufficient.</p>
<p>I think it depends on where you go and what kind of diversity that school values. Personally, I was/am a Not Wealthy person that went to a large school on a full scholarship. My university valued class diversity and put money where its mouth was and actually funded lower class/poor kids going to the school. So there was a lot of class diversity at my school, though plenty of the “poor” kids were white. They weren’t so great at broad racial diversity–there was plenty of international diversity, religious diversity… but not so much on reflecting the demographics of the United States (ie: not a lot of black students, not a lot of Hispanic students). This was odd for me b/c I actually went to a very racially diverse high school.</p>
<p>It’s not really a college’s job to give you a diverse environment (their job is to educate you), and to a certain degree it’s just impossible for them to offer true diversity–a fraction of Americans even GO to college, so you’re dealing with a self-selecting pool (and class disparity plays a HUGE role in who does and doesn’t go to college). Schools try as much as they can, and students are able to be selective about where they go if this is truly a priority. Anyway, you’re past it now so it’s a bit too late to bemoan the lost experience. </p>
<p>But it’s also kind of GOOD that certain types of people gravitate to certain schools. College is where we find our people. A little uniformity of intent/ideas is a good thing… and then hopefully the school has done its job and there’s some diversity of some kind, so you’re finding your people and they’re not all exactly the same. That’s the best we can hope for, I think. Going out in the “real world” will of course expose you to true diversity, and hopefully college has given you the critical thinking skills and empathy to embrace that difference. Which it seems it has. I take that as a positive.</p>
<p>If you desire such diversity, and if you are white(for example) then choose to live in D.C. or Atlanta or join a predominantly black church. Those cities have a disproportionate number of blacks compared to U.S. population. If you are black(for example) then move to Wyoming, they have a disproportionate number of whites. Many other examples for different races or differences other than race.
Or, if you tended to be conservative in politics, you should have attended Oberlin. You’d be in the minority there.
The point I’m trying to get at is that to be amidst diversity one has to be where different kind of people are.
“Where’s all the white women at?” Was a line that came from the movie Weird Science. 2 white fellows went to a bar attended only by blacks then were disappointed they were the only caucasians.
You just can’t go where most are like you and then lament a lack of diversity. As sorghum said, like people tend to cluster together.</p>
<p>There are many ways to meet people who are different than you are. You could volunteer at a soup kitchen- where you will meet the clients and your co-volunteers. You could volunteer to tutor kids in an after school program, or with the elderly. “Diversity” can include people of different ages, and also backgrounds.</p>
<p>"What do you mean by diverse? I think in the ‘real world’ similar people cluster together a lot. In most jobs you work many hours a day with people quite similar to yourself. "</p>
<p>I disagree. Depends on what you do. For example - let’s say you’re a doctor in private practice and you spend your days in an office. Your coworkers are predominantly going to be receptionists, office managers … people who have a lot less formal education than you. Your patients aren’t necessarily going to be like you from an educational or SES standpoint. </p>
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