<p>TheDad,
We visited some reach/match and some safety schools and I also felt that the students at the safeties were much less impressive. I was hoping to find a gradual gradation rather than a somewhat abrupt drop in "brightness". It seems that schools fit more into categories of selectivity rather than being on a continuous spectrum. Other impressions?</p>
<p>The funny part about the "gay thing" is that I think is likely, VERY likely, that the gay population at Yale is higher than the lesbian population at Smith. It is the largest and best funded lesbian-gay studies department in the the U.S., with the best known gay faculty, and attracts very large numbers of gay (mostly male) students for that reason.</p>
<p>As, generally speaking, the gay male population outnumbers is the lesbian population about 4 or 5 to 1, it is Yale that would likely be the "gayer" school. </p>
<p>That said, I think the difficulty folks have with Smith is that it is all WOMEN, and women who are out there about it. I mean a billion dollar endowment for strong, powerful women, 25% of whom come from the bottom third of the population economically, is a very, very strong counter-cultural statement.</p>
<p>And, yes, I think they are a bunch of areas where Smith is stronger, in some cases, much stronger than Yale. Try to find a Yale undergraduate in the first two years doing collaborative research in the sciences.</p>
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I mean a billion dollar endowment for strong, powerful women, 25% of whom come from the bottom third of the population economically, is a very, very strong counter-cultural statement.
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<p>You can spend your $40K to get a strong "conter-cultural statement" from the bottom 25% (economically) of the poupulation, but I think I can get that for free on almost any street corner in America.</p>
<p>YB, your snottiness is showing. You won't find strong academic contributions at a high level from the lower economic quartile on any street corner.</p>
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You won't find strong academic contributions at a high level from the lower economic quartile on any street corner.[
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<p>I was rebutting the poster who seems to equate a "conter-cultural statement" with an "academic contribution." I, and perhaps you, see a distinction; the PCer who made the post apparently doesn't.</p>
<p>I see academics suffering greatly when the student population does not reflect the experience of large segments of the U.S. population. I remember classes I had at Williams some 30 years ago, studying "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" without a single black person in the class, without a single poor person in the class, and I being the only one from a non-private school in a major city, and the level of discussion among top students was truly laughable. And I watched John Kerry just last year stumble and stammer trying to answer questions regarding how he could truly relate to the experience of the vast majority of Americans - the best he could do was refer to his Vietnam experiences more than 30 years earlier.</p>
<p>It isn't a matter of PC - it is a matter of academic quality. Perhaps you can't see the distinction.</p>
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I see academics suffering greatly when the student population does not reflect the experience of large segments of the U.S. population. I remember classes I had at Williams some 30 years ago, studying "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" without a single black person in the class,
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Mini, You make a good point about the importance of having diverse views in the classroom. Even for its time, the Williams of thirty years ago would have been one of the most lame places in the country to discuss the autobiography of Malcolm X. It may still be that today. </p>
<p>However, would you make the same comment that there should be a Polish student in the room when Copernicus or Chopin is discussed, an Italian student for Leonardo Vinci, a Russian for Tolstoy and a South African student (maybe even a white and a black South African) for Nelson Mandela. </p>
<p>And how diverse are the views, even in the hypothetical discussion of Malcolm X? As a recent Harvard study showed, a shockingly small percentage of the blacks admitted under its affirmative-action program are descendants of African American slaves. For example, does the son or daughter of a middle-class black dentist from Bermuda understand Malcolm X much better than a brilliant Asian or white student who has come up the hard way? Personally, I think it's a gross injustice to treat people by the color of their skin, for or against. </p>
<p>Maybe one could argue that just the color of one's skin, i.e. being "black", gives one a special insight into the African-American experience. That's what the supporters of Clarence Thomas argued during his confirmation. That has worked out just so well ....</p>
<p>Mini you didn't mean to include all womens colleges in your comment did you? They exclude everyone with a y chromosone.</p>
<p>Seriously, I agree that diversity is important but obviously there are times when we want to allow the creation of cultural clubs and other experiences that are not completely diverse.</p>