<p>You’re going to find elitist, pretentious people wherever you go, whether it’s at Penn or Penn State. That being said, you can avoid them wherever you go and you should not base your college decision on stereotypes of whether or not student body is elitist or pretentious.</p>
<p>Smoke-fire. There have been FAR too many anecdotes about Duke from the thinly veiled book on down.</p>
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<p>Read my post again, carefully. I stated that the overally wealthy student body present at Duke compared to other schools is purely my speculation for explaining why Duke is seen as a bit elitist in front of many folks. I am not equating wealth with elitism. I am suggesting that wealth may have correlation with elitism, in this case. But, when it comes down to it, the more money and power one person has, that person is more likely to possess a mentality of superiority over others compared to the middle class, poor folks, which may not be necessarily the case for all wealthy men.</p>
<p>Sweeping generalizations? Really? He’s made statements about schools and areas of the country that he doesn’t want to go to, and rather than listen to him people in this thread are just ignoring it and continuing to make arguments that don’t make sense, essentially taking the minority stance and arguing it. </p>
<p>For example, say I didn’t want to go to Arizona because it is “too hot”. You’re essentially arguing “well, in January and February it’s nice, don’t completely dismiss it!” Or I don’t want to go to Minnesota because it’s “too cold”. “Well, in June-August it is nice, don’t dismiss it!”</p>
<p>Rather than ignoring the wants of the OP, how about you listen to them, make suggestions based off of them? How does “I am outgoing, love sports, and am laid back.” suggest an Ivy League school? There’s more people in this thread attacking the OP rather than helping him, and that’s not what this community is about.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter about whether or not his statements are wrong. I grew up in Ann Arbor and wouldn’t apply to Ohio State even though it was a school that had everything I was looking for. Just because I could never sell my soul to the devil. Does that mean I am wrong? No! It’s just personal preference. He’s made a preference to not go to schools by getting a negative vibe from the students. </p>
<p>It’s often talked about how “feel” is one of the most important things in selecting a college. If the OP feels that they don’t want to go to a certain area of the country, they don’t want a school of a certain type, then how is that wrong?</p>
<p>Lets make a move to be more HELPFUL rather than argumentative, because that’s what this forum is about.</p>
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I didn’t have a point, do I need to be making a point when I’m asking a question? What numerical amount is “hardly anyone”? Again, lets try being helpful here.</p>
<p>A2Wolves6, let’s review your quote in context. You said:</p>
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<p>To me this suggested that you thought that the % of independent students was an important measure of socioeconomic diversity. In addition, you appeared to be implying that private colleges are lacking in socioeconomic diversity because they don’t have many of these students. When I responded with “what’s your point”, I was challenging what I thought was your point: that colleges with few independent students are not socioeconomically diverse. I admit that I never considered the possibility that you didn’t have a point. But it doesn’t seem very helpful to ask a question that has nothing to do with the OP if you’re not making a point. :rolleyes:</p>
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<p>This is a poor analogy. It’s fair for you to dismiss schools in Arizona because of the weather. In point of fact, Arizona is hot. No one disputes this. The OP on the other hand dismissed the idea of going to school in the Northeast because that entire region of the country is apparently too preppy. This characterization is not established fact, and I suspect that nearly all of us living along the BosWash Corridor, who collectively account for one sixth of the US population, would disagree with it.</p>
<p>So now, in a forum where people come to ask questions and get answers, I am being seen as “unhelpful” by asking a question? First I had to have a point to ask a question, now I shouldn’t ask questions because it’s not helpful?</p>
<p>Tell me Weasel8488, in this thread, how many schools have you suggested to the OP? Someone creates a thread asking for school suggestions, how many school suggestions have you made?</p>
<p>You’re not even finding the point in the Arizona analogy. I’ll break it down so even someone from Princeton can understand. I have a dislike for heat. He has a dislike for the northeast. Why then should I consider going to Arizona? Why then should he consider going to Cornell? </p>
<p>When you make a suggestion on a school for someone, you cater to their wants and needs. That’s not happening here, rather individuals are instead coming on and telling the OP that they’re wrong in their wants and needs and rather than helping, creating off-topic discussion that is being deleted.</p>
<p>That’s a real disappointment because the CC community is so much more than that. It’s truly a shame because I know there are people out there who are good people, who want to help others (even people who have posted in this thread) but it’s being covered up by garbage by posters with alternative motives.</p>
<p>A2Wolves6- thank you for the support and guidance. It’s funny that everyone is arguing with you, despite the fact that you have been one of the most helpful posters here. A lot of people in this thread are trying to push their own schools while completely ignoring my interests and specifications for what I looks for in a school.</p>
<p>I’m very tired right now. I flew into Portland quite early and am now in Eugene. I walked around the campus briefly (my brother showed me around)- it’s absolutely gorgeous. Tomorrow I will be speaking to an admissions officer. </p>
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I don’t want to go to school in the Northeast because of the atmosphere, not because of the way people dress. Compared to the West Coast, people in the Northeast are very uptight, high strung, and seem to be quite stressed out. I have to been to New York City and Boston many times. Boston is a great city, but most of the people I met were quite unfriendly and standoffish. Compare the people in San Francisco or Seattle to people in the Northeast - huge difference.</p>
<p>Have fun at Oregon MickJag, I’ve never been out there but I have heard it is gorgeous (it is in the pictures). Please update us on any info you get!</p>
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<p>The question seemed about as relevant as asking Martha Stewart’s birthday. I didn’t and still don’t understand why you brought it up. </p>
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<p>You’re right. I’m not. Arizona’s hot weather is undisputed. The OP’s characterizations of different schools are disputed. It’s appropriate for us to challenge the truth of assumptions while it wouldn’t be appropriate to challenge your dislike of the heat. We’re not saying he’s wrong to want a laid back, unpretentious atmosphere. We’re saying he can find it at private schools as well as public schools.</p>
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<p>Fair point.
[ul][<em>]UCB: I know you said you didn’t want to go there, but you never said why. It seems to satisfy most of your criteria: big school, good sports, strong academics, pot friendly.
[</em>]Ditto for UCLA and UCSD
[<em>]Rice: not very good sports, but it’s laid back and the academics are great. I wouldn’t call Houston super conservative. Besides, you’ll be around college students who lean left.
[</em>]Reed: I know it’s not big, and I know it doesn’t have sports, but it has great academics, is on the West Coast, and there’s a very strong drug culture. Maybe you’ve already visited, but if not I think it’s worth checking out. Stay overnight and see for yourself.
[*]Michigan: this has already been discussed, but if you have further questions you might wander over to the Michigan forum. Alexandre is a mod there who knows a lot about the school.[/ul]</p>
<p>Berkeley is too cutthroat and too close to home. I already talked about it in this thread. UCLA is a great school but I don’t like LA. UCSD (UC Socially Dead), no thanks. One of my friends is transferring out of there.</p>
<p>I’m not interested in liberal arts school, so Reed is out of the picture.</p>
<p>I’m considering Rice and Michigan.</p>
<p>Today I toured the campus of University of Oregon and spoke to an admissions officer from the honors college. First of all, the campus is incredible. One of the nicest college campuses I’ve ever set foot on (and I’ve been to Berkeley, Stanford, Yale, etc.) The campus is so green and I love the architecture. It has a very classic college look and feel.</p>
<p>The students I met (there weren’t many around, but summer school is currently in session) were extremely friendly. One guy even offered to show me around parts of campus. I can tell that it’s a really laid back school. The only negative about the campus is the dorms. Most of the dorms are older. Honestly though, the dorms aren’t any worse than Berkeley’s and they are a lot better than UCSB’s. I was also told that they have honors dorms. I still haven’t decided if I would want to be in one of those because I fear that they might not be as social. I learned about the Freshman Interest Groups that they have setup, where you take some of the same classes as people on your hall. Apparently, it really helps new students become acclimated to a new environment.</p>
<p>One other bad thing was the lack of parking on campus, but I don’t think I’d need my car freshman year. In the honors college, they talked to me about some of the success that former students have had as far as getting into graduate schools. The honors college sends quite a few students to some of the top graduate schools in the college. All in all, it was a great visit. I got to hike Spencer’s Butte with my dad and it was only about 15 minutes away from campus. The weather was gorgeous - high 70’s, warm, with very little humidity. Eugene is a lot bigger than I expected it to be and it seems like there’s a lot to do for college students.</p>
<p>My dad and I also drove over to Autzen Stadium. The stadium looks incredible and from what other students (and my brother) told me, the atmosphere is incredible. I was really blown away by the University of Oregon. It actually exceeded my expectations.</p>
<p>I found a picture on google that really captures the beauty of the campus
<a href=“http://farm1.static.■■■■■■■■■■/10/15407189_33eaa28045.jpg[/url]”>http://farm1.static.■■■■■■■■■■/10/15407189_33eaa28045.jpg</a></p>
![http://farm1.static.■■■■■■■■■■/10/15407189_33eaa28045.jpg[/url]](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/10/15407189_33eaa28045.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>Tomorrow, we will be driving up to Seattle to check out the University of Washington.</p>
<p>I would say rice or brown</p>
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<p>Is this even important to you? Seems like the schools many people think of as the best are the ones you think of as most pretentious. Would you be willing to go to one of these places for grad but not undergrad?</p>
<p>^graduate students don’t speak english. it doesn’t matter how snobbish they are if you aren’t going to be able to communicate with them anyway.</p>
<p>MickJag, I think that you’ll find at essentially any large public school will have bad dorms and bad parking. Good thoughts and keep letting us know how things are going.</p>
<p>Les Grandes Ecoles in Paris. The Sorbonne especially. Yeahhh.</p>
<p>You sold me on Oregon. I want to go there. That picture is georgeous, with the trees and mountains in the background. I’m sure you’re aware you will have gray, misty weather most of the school year, but people seem to adjust to that just fine. I want to hear your comparisons with UDub. </p>
<p>I noticed that you might consider Rice. Fine to look at it, it is beautiful, but it doesn’t sound like a match to me. It is anything but laid back. People may be nice, but you will be studying most of the time. It is extremely intense and academically hard. I have a friend who went to Rice whom I consider close to a genius. He says it was damned hard and his GPA wasn’t that good. He is proud of the degree, though. If you go for a visit there or UT Austin, get ready to be blown away by the heat this time of year, but bear in mind these schools have beautiful, clear, warmish weather all during the school year.</p>
<p>If you want a Liberal College with “liberal environment”, you might wanna take a look at the Claremont Colleges. CMC and Pomona are good ones for liberal arts and Harvey Mudd for science and engineering.</p>
<p>Swarthmore and Haverford. The Quaker philosophy isn’t big on prestige, and the students at these schools are every bit as smart and capable as those at any Ivy League school.</p>
<p>I don’t know why people continue to recommend liberal arts colleges. I have no interest in those Northeast liberal arts colleges. One of my cousins went to Pomona - nice school, but not a good fit for me. I’m sorry, but I’d really appreciate it if people read my posts before making suggestions.</p>
<p>Today I visited the University of Washington. The campus is incredible. There were cherry blossoms, lots of trees, and the architecture was amazing. The student union at UW is incredible. They have everything that you could possibly imagine including a bowling alley. I saw Husky Stadium and while the actual stadium wasn’t very impressive, it’s pretty cool how it’s on the water. The U-District has a lot to offer in terms of restaurants, shopping, and nightlife. It’s a common misconception that UW is right in downtown Seattle. It is like it’s in its own little college town within a major city. The library was very nice, though I think I preferred the Knight Library at Oregon.</p>
<p>Now for the negatives. The campus is absolutely massive. It seemed even bigger than UCLA. The campus is very large and takes a long time to get across. The parking is atrocious, even worse than situation at Oregon. I won’t be bringing my car up next year, so at the moment, this isn’t too much of an issue. The dorms were among the worst I’ve seen on a college campus. They seemed very cramped. One of the biggest issues I have is what I heard from a current student. He told me that many people who go to UW are from the Seattle area and tend to go home on the weekends. I didn’t realize that it was a commuter school. This could have an impact on the social scene at UW.</p>
<p>In some ways, the school just seemed a bit overwhelming. The campus was beautiful and some of the views were spectacular. I was very impressed with the school, but I’m not sure if this would be a great place to go as an undergraduate. I’m still going to apply here, but I think I preferred University of Oregon. However, UW would be a great place to go to for grad school.</p>
<p>For someone so against “pretentious schools” you’re sure coming off as pretentious yourself, scoffing at practically every great school listed..</p>