Colleges with a similar "preppy" feel to Harvard and Princeton

100% myth, there is no preference for SAT over ACT. 2015 was the first year the ACT had more test takers than SAT I beleive. Colleges are not going to lose out on 50% of the market. That is a big part of the reason SAT revamped the test. You can look at the Common Data Set for any of the colleges you are looking at, they will all display ACT and SAT scores. As of 2007 every college in the country now accepts scores from both. Beleive me, it is incredibly difficult to get 36 on the ACT. If anything, I would say the old SAT is a little easier, because it lacks the science component. I advise you to familiarize yourself with the CDS of all your colleges, becasue you will see the stats of their accepted students, as well as percentage admitted, ethnicity, etc… It is very easy to come up with dream and reach schools, but more difficult to come up with matches and safeties. At top tier colleges, it is never just about grades and test scores, because everyone has great grades and test scores. Race comes into play, as do finances, ECs, essays, first gen to college, where you live, etc… It’s good you are starting early, by the time application time comes, yiu will be well prepared.

I read something about Hampden-Sydney a few weeks ago basically stating that it was a southern gentleman’s school for manners (reminiscent of Borat, actually). Is there an actual college experience or is it all prep and southern decorum?

Harvard did not really have a preppy vibe when I was on campus in the 80s and 90s. Sure there are enclaves, but it was pretty diverse, liberal, and multicultural even then. I think you’ll find a preppier experience at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club outside of Detroit than in Harvard Yard. Also no one (except Chaplain Peter Gomes) had the stereotypical blue blood accent; everyone, students and profs, were from somewhere else.

@codemachine,
Besides HYP schools, the first that does come to mind is Amherst. If you are talking REAL “preppy”, not just guys sporting Bermuda shorts in May, Amherst is your school…based upon your wish list.
“Preppy” is not about the clothes, it is more a state of mind and perspective: at the forefront–a yearning for a rigorous high school education that includes dialogue within the classroom, and a respect for civility. Please don’t be fooled by schools that some may reference as “preppy”, as I suspect some posters, with all due respect, are referring more to a dress code than the fundamental qualities a prep or boarding school graduate might exhibit.
In my experience, the Ivy League, NESCAC schools, U Chicago, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgetown, Duke, and Vanderbilt are perennial faves.
I have visited most of this schools over the past two years, and if your grades and scores, etc. are in order, consider Amherst near the top of your list.

If you research the composition of the classes at these schools, you may also conclude that “preppies” constitute a far smaller percentage of the classes than they did 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. There are more international students, and more competition from public schools, charter schools, magnet schools, etc. Also, one of the admissions tenets of most of these “prestigious” schools is to admit a significant percentage of students whose parents did not attend or complete college themselves. So Amherst and Harvard and Princeton are just not as “preppy” as they once were.

BTW, back in the day, as you are probably aware, to be very stereotypical and obvious, the Bushes went to Yale (b/c they were Andover graduates and Andover used to be a feeder school for Yale). The children of the Kennedy’s I knew tended towards both Harvard and Brown.
Feel free to message me if you have any more questions. Best of luck, and I applaud you for thinking (and planning) ahead. =D>

Thank you @CallieMom ! Keeping n tune with the first few posters, I’d like to see Vandy and Sewanee, despite how far they are, because they tend to be near the top of everyones list.

Kennedy’s have actually started going to Stanford (cite Congressman JPK III) but in my mindset some of the students would exhibit some of the swagger of Kennedys or Bushes, just as a sign.

To reiterate my previous question, does anyone know anything about Amherst admissions not on the CD set, like class rank distribution? As I’m sure most have figured out I’m leaning towards it as a top option with other EA schools sprinkled in.

Most high schools no longer rank, so I doubt you will find that info. In fact, ranking is becoming obsolete and colleges largely don’t consider it these days, except apparently in Texas. The college will be looking at your high school’s profile and your counselors recommendation about you. Are you taking the most rigorous course load? And where do you fall within students who,have similar course loads to you? I think it is far more likely that colleges look at the percentile of the student body that you fall within, compared to other kids with your course load. I think that info can be found on CDS. And they will look at the courses your school offers.
I also think @CallieMom did a great job of demonstrating the reality of most colleges today: the big trends are diversity and internationalism. If you are white and from a good area, with high grades and test scores, you may well find it more difficult to get into many of the top colleges you are looking at,unless you have a hook. There are a million threads about hooks, and if you are determined to get in to, say, Amherst, you might want to devote time to making yourself attractive to what that school is looking for. That strategy has its own risks, and there is no need to discuss here, as that is a whole different kettle of fish. Anyway, OP, I wish you luck, you are on top of the game at this point.

Thank you once again, @Lindagaf

The point I was trying to make with that Chem course is that even though my final grade may not be optimal, my course load will still be considered “most rigorous” because it is one of the more intense classes in my school, so that is not an issue. Only about 10% of my class is in an Honors/AP/IB curriculum, so I can say (knock on wood) that I’d comfortably be in the top 10%, not likely top 5%.

washington and lee
trintiy college

@ScaredNJDad In my city there are quite a few private schools that don’t have preppy student bodies. I would described a lot of those kids as hippsterish. From what I heard, Hamilton and Bates are appealing, because they’re a mix of preppy/sporty kids and artsy kids.

Most top schools have most kids in the top 10% of their class. Not necessarily because they look at rank but perhaps because kids with great rigor, grades and scores tend to be highly ranked, if their schools rank, that is.

That said, Amherst cares less than most, as you see on the CDS.

I’m not sure what the working definition of preppy is here, but Amherst has many kids from Deerfield and Exeter and Andover and a lot of varsity athletes - and their teams are good, but it also has lot of kids who aren’t. A high % of Pell students (20% I think), kids from 48 states and IDK how many countries. My kid’s friends seem to span a very wide range of income levels and types.

OP, Would you consider yourself preppy? Sometimes the people we want to be around are not so welcoming. Maybe you want to go to school with the Andover and Choate kids, but will they hang out amongst themselves or open their arms to suburban public school kids? I don’t know the answer, but I would research that. I guess if you are all on a team together you would have that shared bond, but sadly people often “stick to their own kind”. Most important thing is you go where you will fit and be comfortable. That said, there are some schools on your list that have a variety of students from all walks of life.

@OHMomof2 How do you mean? I tried locating rank distr. on the CDC for Amherst and found no mention. Are you telling me that some kids are accepted outside the top 10%? Any GPA distr.? Also, I gave a “working definition” of preppy a few posts back, but I’d say you covered it! Thank you!

@citymama9 Perhaps not in the conventional sense, but I golf, have a Wasp side to my family, and could exhibit traits of the upper echelon of the bourgeoisie at times. I don’t have connections at Yale, I’m not dining on caviar every night, nor do I enjoy a rousing game of polo with the Kennedys (obvious over exaggerations, but you get my point.) I’m sure that a lot of these kids are close knit with ones they went to a school like Hill or Choate with, but they also tend to be liberal and somewhat inclusive from what I understand. Friends of mine who attend(ed) Harvard and are minorities were very well accepted by prep school kids and suburban kids alike. I can’t imagine its much different at Amherst or Trinity.

@codemachine - the CDS has the list of what’s very important, important, considered, etc and Amherst puts rank at “important” only. Its peers mostly put it at “very important”. Some kids outside the top 10% are accepted everywhere, a few % more at Amherst than some other schools.

https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/CDS_2015-2016-C_FY%2520Admission.pdf

Holy Cross, Colgate, W&L

I think a place like Amherst is very diverse and you will meet all kinds of people, preps and everything else. I would look for schools with a balance of public and private students just in case you find that the preps all gravitate towards each other. Also, it makes for a more interesting environmen when you’re exposed to a variety of types. You’re still young and you don’t know for sure yet what “type” you will end up being in a few years. GL

The majority of selective colleges in the Northeast (NESCAC and Ivy) were founded by various protestant denominations up through the second enlightenment (just before the Civil War and the Morrill land grant acts).

Since culture tends to endure over time, you can sort the NESCAC and Ivy
schools based on founding culture. Inclusiveness and what tends to be called “preppy” tend to be inversely correlated.

The most inclusive (least “preppy”) cultures are: Universalist (Tufts) and the more liberal Arminian branches- Free Will Baptists (Bates) and Methodists (Wesleyan)

Then there are the Baptists (Brown) and Northern Baptists (Colby)

The least inclusive (most “preppy”) are the Calvinist branches: Congregationalist (Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Williams), Presbyterian (Hamilton, Princeton) and Episcopalian (Trinity).

Based on you interests you should consider International Relations (PolySci + History+ Econ+ Foreign Language/Culture+ Philosophy) and use it as a way to make computers more interesting. I went to an interesting talk at Tufts (by a professor from Stanford) about the emerging area of “Cyber Relations”. He was looking for students to do graduate research. The room contained both IR and Computer Science majors. IR and Computer Science are the two most popular majors at Tufts.

The culture at Tufts may or may not fit you (there is a small frat population), but you could look into the same area at a more “preppy” school. Williams might fit better.

In terms of where a Kennedy would consider, all the Kennedy’s do not have the same personality. The “less outgoing, more creative” Kennedys have gone to Tufts:

[quote]
Kara Anne Kennedy was born on Feb. 27, 1960. She graduated from Tufts University and went on to a career in television and film. She produced a film for the institute’s inaugural gala, as well as several videos for Very Special Arts, an organization for people with disabilities, which was founded by her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith. Until 1990, she was a producer of “Evening Magazine” on WBZ-TV in Boston.

[quote]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/us/politics/kara-kennedy-allen-daughter-of-edward-m-kennedy-dies.html

Someone mentioned Emory. I don’t know if it is preppy but I know it has a good percentage of Jewish students, many from the Northeast, and has excellent debaters. It also has a strong Greek life and secret societies. Might be worth checking out.

Interesting thoughts, @Mastadon ! Do you know of the professor, I’d like to look more into him! IR is a possible major dependent on the school, should the PoliSci department be weak and no major called “Government”.

@Jennings99 I’ve heard good things, as well. I believe Tulane (although not being preppy) has a similar culture, and it has piqued my interest! Greek life is nice, too!

I got preppy vibes from providence college, wake forest, Boston College, Fordham, and Vanderbilt U.

Any more thoughts on Bowdoin? Trying to do more research on it, looking for cheap Amtrak tickets to visit this spring or summer hopefully. I’ve heard its preppy, but relatively cut off as well.