Life at an Ivy League

<p>Here are the top 20 Universities in percent international students. Seven of the top 20 are Ivies. (from IPEDS)</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon University 12.08%
University of Pennsylvania 9.86%
Princeton University 9.23%
University of Southern California 9.13%
Yale University 8.27%
California Institute of Technology 7.99%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7.85%
Cornell University 7.85%
Boston University 7.84%
Columbia University in the City of New York 7.78%
University of Chicago 7.63%
Brandeis University 7.35%
Clark University 7.34%
SUNY at Binghamton 7.28%
Georgetown University 7.02%
Worcester Polytechnic Institute 6.84%
Harvard University 6.49%
University of Miami 6.39%
Brown University 6.39%
Pepperdine University 6.27%</p>

<p>Easy! With the obviously quantifiable unit of measure of Demeanons! Most ivies rank around 25 deameanons.</p>

<p>woo! we’re number 2! we’re number 2!</p>

<p>Yes, life is different for everybody everywhere but I think it is possible and helpful to characterize what is essential and distinctive about a group of schools (although difficult).</p>

<p>tokenadult, I love numbers too but some of the truest and most important things in life are difficult or impossible to quantify, like “demeanor”. Can’t we trust that most people will sense differences in demeanor when they experience it?</p>

<p>The English language is full of words that have meaning without numbers.</p>

<p>Just a side note on evil<em>asian</em>dictator’s post.</p>

<p>“HARVARD=cutthroat students, hard academics and elitist(Final Clubs)
YALE=laid-back student body, vibrant social life and somewhat elitist(Secret Societies)
PRINCETON=hard academics(grade deflation), preppy students and very elitist(Eating Clubs)”</p>

<p>I tend to see this alot but the students at Harvard, Yale and Princeton aren’t that different at all. I’ll agree that Harvard and Princeton are harder than Yale but with regards to elitist, I don’t see how the Eating Clubs make Princeton the most elitist when the vast majority of upperclassmen join an Eating Club. Secret Societies and Finals Clubs are far more selective, far more restrictive and therefore, more elitist (at least in the sense that I view the word elitist). Most anyone can still attend the vast majority of parties at the “bicker” clubs but non-members aren’t even privy to the events that Keys or Porcellian would have…</p>

<p>From Wiki: “Porcellian, for example, never allows non-members past “the bicycle room” in the building’s foyer, while the Delphic generously permits its guests access only to its basement by a separate entrance.” Now that sounds a heck of a lot more elitist and exclusive than anything at Princeton.</p>

<p>“There are values implicit in the quality of interactions with others.”</p>

<p>What SPECIFIC values implicit in the quality of interaction with others would I expect to see at an Ivy that I shouldn’t equally expect to see out of any of the top non-Ivy schools or anywhere where bright young people are gathered in an academic setting?</p>

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For last year’s freshman class, it’s number 1. :)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/4481856-post1.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/4481856-post1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Oh, I think we can count on human beings to sense “vibes” of various kinds from the environments they are in, but we can also count on human beings to have understandable pride in whatever college was alma mater. So when some student who has attended NO college asks, “What is life like in {set of colleges},” I expect the graduates of each kind of college to speak up in favor of colleges like their alma mater. That’s no surprise, but it’s also not a firm prediction of what other people (e.g., hiring supervisors at companies, graduate school admission officers, etc.) with different old school ties will think. </p>

<p>Has the OP returned to this thread? Or are we having a private conversation without her?</p>

<p>who cares! These conversations are never about the OP so much as ourselves anyway ;)</p>

<p>Collegehelp, it’s a winless argument. I get what you’re saying and there’s a truth within it (though to suggest it’s inherently more than other schools is beyond reason). Having gone to school in the Ivy League, you of all people should have figured out the difference between perception and reality. </p>

<p>Does that Dartmouth professor suing her students for disagreeing with her embody this Ivy League superiority? What about the president of Columbia embarrassing his school and our nation by caving into media pressure and insulting the Iranian president while introducing him? </p>

<p>On that same note, the president of our nation has proven his minimal capacity for philosophical and nuanced insight into complex issue despite a background in what many perceive to be the greatest education one could hope to achieve at Harvard and Yale. On top of that, Cornell’s got Ann Coulter’s profound expositions on what makes someone a “f*ggot”.</p>

<p>I know these are just individuals, but let’s stop with this inherent superiority track. It’s not necessarily true across the board - not even at Harvard.</p>

<p>Well, this debate is over. On Jeopardy right now, the kid from Harvard just got smoked by the kids from Michigan State and U. Colorado.</p>