<p>Does preppy == pretentious? Because if we’re talking about being down-to-earth, friendly and mirthful, then from what I have observed UVA has no lack of such students, at least in my incoming class. If the OP has this absolute prejudice against anyone who participates in Greek life, then well …</p>
<p>I say this as someone who is himself suspicious of socioeconomic privilege and has a long history of problems with snobby students.</p>
<p>And the OP should remember that the reputation that matters is the reputation that your employers will be familiar with, not whether you can be boasted about at the Thanksgiving dinner table.</p>
<p>To dismiss the entire Northeast because everybody’s preppy or pretentious or whatever childhood angst you’re rebelling against? I think the OP has a bit of a caricature of top universities. </p>
<p>I went to Cornell and a vast majority of my friends came from very economically unstable backgrounds. They were the furthest thing from pretentious you could imagine. I, too, at your age needed to escape the hyper-elitist culture of rich prep school kids. Cornell afforded me the opportunity to acquire the same quality education but avoid them like the plague. In so doing, I expanded my personal boundaries and immersed myself in cultures foreign to my prep school upbringing. Made me a far more well-rounded and educated person.</p>
<p>Sure, there were a lot of “pretentious” people there too, and I could have just as easily immersed myself in their social circles at Cornell, but it’s a big school. Find your niche wherever you choose.</p>
<p>But I would recommend not attacking people for trying to help you.</p>
<p>MickJag, I think your concern about preppyness and pretension is misplaced. Big schools have so many students that you’re pretty much guaranteed to find your niche. Does UVA have its share of Southern frat boys? Most certainly. But with so many thousands of students, it has its share of virtually every other type of student too. I think it would be a shame for you to ignore some great suggestions simply because you don’t fit in with some of the students.</p>
<p>Could you maybe give us some insight as to what makes you perceive students as elitist, pretentious, etc.? You seem to assume that students from wealthy backgrounds are automatically snobby and pretentious. But what conclusions do you think people would draw about you if they were told you’re a Stanford legacy? Any assumptions that you are stuck up would obviously be misplaced. Many of the stereotypes you throw around are dated. I go to Princeton which is commonly labeled the most elitist of the Ivy League schools. And yet more than 50% of the student body is on financial aid. My point in saying all of this is that to label entire student bodies, indeed entire regions of the country, as pretentious comes across as pretentious in its own right.</p>
<p>How about you guys just let the OP choose what schools he wants? If he says “I don’t want to go there”, why do you keep shoving it down his throat? Put yourself in their position - how would you feel if you didn’t want to go to XXX school, but people keep suggesting it? If you have a fixed opinion against a school, that won’t go away.</p>
<p>Fair enough but if the reason for not liking a school is based on assumptions that are possibly misplaced, then I don’t see anything wrong with us questioning these assumptions.</p>
<p>Is your goal to get out of California? Both ASU and U of Arizona would likely offer up a lot of merit money and are high on the laid-back scale.</p>
<p>Also check out UNC. In a wierd way it is less southern than UVA, something you need to check out for yourself.</p>
<p>I know it’s been stated before, but U of A!!!</p>
<p>The honors college is amazing, the campus culture is quite diverse (though there are the fair share of kids there solely to party), the weather to most people is a major draw (not for me, seeing as I’ve been in Arizona for over 10 years now). </p>
<p>ASU is pretty good too, but only if you make it into the honors college. otherwise, in my opinion ASU can easily be topped.</p>
<p>Just a word of advice: if you find that a school meets all your criteria except for the pretensious/preppy part…I think it would be in your best interest to visit. The vibe of a campus is hard to discover online, or from a book, or even from someone else who visited. it would be a shame is you let go of a good fit because of some preconcieved notion of the student body…only to find out later that you would’ve fit in perfectly! </p>
<p>Weasel. I think it’s more important to judge a schools socioeconomic diversity on pell grantees, rather than the number of students on financial aid.</p>
<p>I agree that one statistic can’t provide the definitive word. My point in throwing out % on FA was that Princeton is socioeconomically diverse, and I am confident that other statistics back this up. I’m skeptical of giving a lot of weight to Pell Grant numbers. You don’t get a Pell Grant unless you’re dirt poor, so that statistic says nothing about how well colleges accommodate the middle income folks who have traditionally gotten poor FA.</p>
<p>OP, I understand your worry about top universities being pretentious or snobby. That was the case when your Dad went to Stanford but it is not the case today. Most kids are humble, down to earth while being wickedly sharp. I think you would be selling yourself short by limiting yourself to large public schools with a huge sports scene. First and foremost, some of these schools aren’t exactly the best place to get an education. Secondly, at some of these schools you’ll meet some of the people you were trying to avoid, preppy, pretentious and rich. Now I’m not going to lie to you, at top schools, the majority of the students are rich-regardless of what the percentage of kids receiving FA says. But in no way does that make them feel like they are better than you. If you want specific school choices I would advise Cornell and Stanford. Cornell because it is relatively large compared to its peers, is very egalitarian and offers a top notch education. I would advise Stanford because of its non-pretentiousness and sports scene. If you have any questions about these schools or others feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Because the reasons he gives are fundamentally flawed and misguided about both schools and regions. If he comes on here seeking advice, then he puts himself in a position to be corrected when he has incorrect assumptions.</p>
<p>If the OP wants to choose a school himself, then why come on here at all?</p>
<p>On that note - you will definitely find the people you’re trying to avoid at both U Mich and Wisconsin. But you will also find the people you seek.</p>
<p>I get the feeling that student body at Yale, Stanford, Cornell, Brown are pretty down to earth in general. Meanwhile, student body at Princeton, Harvard, Penn, and especially Duke are known to be a bit snobby and elitist.</p>
<p>patlees, at first I thought you were throwing around the same worn out stereotypes, but then you surprised me and mentioned Duke. How exactly did you come to your conclusions?</p>
<p>His reasons are flawed because they don’t agree with yours? ROFLMAO! After need based aid, the average student at Cornell is paying $25,507/year. </p>
<p>Why would he come on to the site? So maybe some people who have resources and information that he doesn’t have can share it with him to make a better college decision? Why did you come to this site?</p>
<p>The fact that people are looking at the OP, seeing the test scores, and immediately suggesting that he’s making bad decisions in the schools he’s interested in is hysterical. Who are you all to tell him what his likes and wants are?</p>
<p>I want to know just how many people at private schools are independent students - those not living off of Mom and Dad’s money to put them through school. I don’t want financial aid statistics, I don’t want Pell Grant statistics, I want the percentage of independent students at private schools.</p>
<p>To the OP - check out TheU.com or Princeton Review for reviews of the student body. These are fairly accurate and don’t dance around stereotypes like students on this message board will.</p>
<p>Just read threads on CC and you’ll know why Duke is included.</p>
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<p>No, his reasons are flawed because he makes sweeping generalizations about entire schools and regions of the country that are fundamentally wrong. I don’t give a hoot where he goes and have no interest in pushing any school. I can’t even think of a school that would fit what he wants.</p>
<p>You’re turning this into some sort of public versus private school thing. I don’t understand what that has to do with it. No one’s made any issue out of it.</p>
<p>Personal experiences, anecdotes, and some speculations. My cousin is a recruiter for a major consulting company and he thought that the student body at Duke, who were interviewing for his company, were a bit elitist about their educational and social background. I also heard numerous accounts of such charateristic prevalent especially among many Duke alums. The fact that Duke attracts many upper middle to upper class, previledged students may explain this. Over 60% of entire student body at Duke receives zero financial aid, meaning, the majority of student body at Duke come from very previledged background to begin with having to pay 200k for 4 years of schooling. Not counting recruited athletes and URMs, who come from poor families in many classes, I would say most Duke students hail from very wealthy families. I am not implying that only Duke has subsets of student body like this, but it is my feeling that it may be more common at Duke compared to other schools. And, my experiences with numerous Duke posters on this forum only reinforce my speculation.</p>
<p>^^^but that also means that 40% are on FA-which includes our son, who has had no problem avoiding snooty people who are at Duke and also at all other prestigious universities. BTW: having means does not always equal eltism.</p>