Yep. Loved it last night when the men’s basketball team picked off #9 Arizona.
I loved my alma mater so much when I was a student there and for years afterwards, but by the time I had children the school had soared in stature, to the point where I knew neither of my kids would ever be admitted. I still feel fondly towards it and still get a little thrill when I drive through the campus. And if I ever find myself with a boatload of money, I’d love to endow a scholarship there, but I’m more attached to my kids’ schools at this point. Maybe it won’t be as selective by the time I have grandkids. 
I’m an alum of Ohio University…and very proud to be one. The school gave me the skills for a fabulous life career. I still keep in touch with college friends. In give annually to my department, and have done so every year since I graduated.
I love mine. My D loves hers as well.
No.
Although for the OP’s sake, as a MI native, I will root for Michigan or Michigan State whenever we happen to catch them on TV (though, if they’re playing each other, MSU wins out in that my husband started kindergarten at Spartan Village Elementary).
Both my husband and I went to a denominational college in western Michigan that at one time was theologically distinctive–calling out both the right and the left sides of the political/economic spectrum. We both enjoyed our years there at the time. But it’s not the same place now, not even close. A former president sold out the soul of the college to the right wing of the Republican party in order to get donors, but still left the college in massive debt. Majors have been eliminated, faculty laid off, and in some instances, academic freedom squelched.
My husband and I were unified in that neither of our sons would follow in our footsteps to our alma mater.
Very, very attached to my undergrad, Bates, as is my husband. So much so that it rubbed off on my kids, both of whom applied early and are now Bobcats.
Not very attached to my grad school, Harvard, not that Harvard needs me to be or would even notice! 
Got a good education and my mom got to brag but I have no real emotional attachment to the place. Part of the reason may be that I worked there for 5 years before grad school.
That’s how those of us who lived in Cambridge could always tell a Harvard Undergrad from the horde of tourists wearing Harvard t-shirts; they’d be wearing a Kirkland House shirt, a club sailing shirt, a shirt with some Harvard in joke.
I attended a medium size college in the midwest. I loved every minute of it from the time I first visited the campus.
I think I found the right place at the right time for me. I wish everyone the same.
I loved my undergrad experience (went to Colorado College) and when D1 started looking at schools two years ago I totally forgot to even mention my grad school (Colorado State) when she was making her list. It’s really weird that it slipped my mind, especially since Boulder was on the list, I guess subconsciously I just dismissed it as a grad/professional school! Crazy because I liked my time at CSU (great school) and Ft Collins is a fantastic college town. I guess when we sat down to craft the list it just didn’t occur to me that it would interest her as an undergrad option
Loved Texas A&M but I know it is not for everyone. My S will attend UT (t.u.) next year and while I am very proud of him for getting in and making his own decision, I will not wear burnt orange-ever.
Loved my time and got a great education, but alas the state is kind of killing the University of Illinois. The major sports are floundering, but the minor sports are improving.
Engineering and Business programs are still strong, but I fear for the future if current trends continue.
Of course, maybe these changes improve the school for others.
I like Oberlin, but it’s mixed with feelings I didn’t fit the campus culture back then despite seeming to do so to some here on CC.
Ironically, if I had attended Oberlin just a few years later when it mellowed out a bit on the “more radical leftier than thou” atmosphere, I’d likely have enjoyed and fit in so much more over there.
Conversely, some older undergrad classmates and friends have stated they’d loved our alma mater the way it was when we attended in the '90s and hated how “more conservative” and “more conventional” the campus and its students had become since we graduated.
Find I’m loving how going there had given me many more creative/performing arts friends and contacts that I wouldn’t have had if I had attended most of the other colleges on my dream and admitted list.
I don’t know. The California relatives and their neighbors who are UCB and UCLA alums seem to have just as much fierce pride in their colleges as USC and Stanford alums.
The constant back and forth among neighbors and extended family between UCLA vs USC or UCB vs Stanford is one good illustration of this…especially when it comes to sports or some friendly trashtalking of the rival school.
Agreed. I have one friend who was so gung ho about his pride of being an MIT alum that even his close friends assumed he went there for undergrad through PhD in electrical engineering.
It was only after his younger sister inadvertently blurted out that he went to Princeton for undergrad(sometime in the '80’s) one evening and his unhappy facial expression at her revelation that we started figuring out that he not only attended Princeton for undergrad, but had such an alienating experience there that when he finally “found his tribe” at MIT, his “true” alma mater within his heart is MIT.
Clearly you don’t have to love your Alma mater to be successful, but there is a strong correlation between enjoying your time at school and future well being (as seen in the Gallup-Purdue Index polling). As parents, that’s one factor we and our kids should take into account , will the kiddo be happy at this school?
Yes! Loved it! (BU) But at the same time, I am not pushing my kids to go there. There are so many schools out there and it’s nice for the kids o have their own unique college experience.
I loved my undergrad but didn’t love my grad school, both Ivy’s. But what surprises me is how some of these posts refer to the fact that it can seem like bragging to wear your college t-shirt. I wear it because I LOVED my college - I would never worry that someone would thing i’m bragging. That’s like saying that if you go to Syracuse you can wear the shirt proudly, but if you attend Yale you are “punished” by never being able to wear the name. My children are at top colleges, and I wear their stuff too. Truthfully it never occurred to me that somebody would think it’s obnoxious, and I’m certainly not going to prevent myself from wearing the name because the college is ranked too high!
This sounds like one of those correlation/causation things. I would speculate that people who love their undergraduate colleges tend to love their lives more because they are people who tend to love whatever they are doing, not because going to the right college makes you a happier person for life. If you are the kind of person who tends to be “thriving in all elements of well-being” and “engaged with [your] job,” then there has to be a pretty strong chance that you were thriving and engaged wherever you went to college.
So the lesson I take from this is not to ask whether my child will be happier at College A, B, or C, but rather to ask if I have raised my child to be happy and engaged at any of them.
@JHS Even a “happy” child can end up not being happy at a school.
If your happy child says they would be happier at school A than school B, it still something you should consider (as one factor out of many). I guess we normally we call it “fit”, as they feel this is the best “fit” for them…
People who loved their experience are found to be more likely to donate (and even small amounts are ok.) Now you make me wonder if that’s about the school experience or the giver’s personality.
@Gator88NE , of course (pretty much). And that’s how I did it with my kids, even beyond the point of economic rationality. But to my mind, that was supremely self-indulgent, and in retrospect I wish the attitude I had inculcated in my kids was not to ask “Where will I fit in best?” so much as “What is the best opportunity? – because I am going to fit in anywhere.”
And here on CC, among both parents and students, I think the attitudes are far too much on the side of “I need to get into that one perfect college!” versus “I need to figure out how I am going to thrive at a college I can get into and afford!”
@JHS 's comment about being the sort who would have loved whatever school attended: Looking back, I think that describes me. I’m extremely devoted to Yale – sat on various alumni boards, held positions, donate, etc. Heavily involved w/the recruiting & interviewing in my locality. I had a wonderful time and the school welcomed a midwestern, blue collar kid with its generous fin aid and inclusive residential system. However, I don’t think my loyalty would be different if I had attended one of the other schools that accepted me.
As time has gone by, I’ve found myself a Michigan fan (bought my first home near the “Big House”) and follow IU sports (my wife’s alma mater, mostly because they’re the underdogs in football!) Will cheer for Mich State unabashedly for regional loyalty reasons too.
With D1 in college athletics, we’ve gone a dozen times to her school (DIII) to cheer them on and I have lots of that school’s “gear” as well. I’m heavily involved at my D2s’ high school athletics parent groups and have lots of its gear too! She’s only a freshman so I have 3 more years to go, at least! I’d rarely even have occasion to wear a Yale sweatshirt! A few years ago, I was travelling to CT often for work and loved taking excursions to New Haven. Wistful memories. I seriously considered a career shift to a position they had. In the end, it wasn’t meant to be. Oh well.
In my career field, it’d be an unusual circumstance to find another Yalie. Only a few close peers even know my alma mater. It just doesn’t come up and I don’t mind.
“However, I don’t think my loyalty would be different if I had attended one of the other schools that accepted me.”
That’s how I feel too. They just would have been different experiences and taken me down different paths, that’s all. Core happiness is something that’s inside.