<p>I'm surprised that so much attention is focused on the "culture" of college campuses in these posts. I would hope by the time people are old enough to attend classes at colleges and universities they would no longer be compelled to swim with the prevailing current, whatever it might superficially represent. The fact is, there are always many ways of behaving on campuses and if you revel in the impulse to "fit in" you've already compromised the greatest opportunity that a college education has to offer. I'm also getting a little tired of the vociferous paranoia of posters who fear the scourge of alcohol as if it were infectous leprosy. For crying out loud, if you attend a school where parties take place and alcohol is consummed you will not find yourself ridiculed, slandered, or otherwise despised by any meaningful index of "campus life." Get over it. Are we living in such a society that EVERYONE has to like EVERYONE else and do what EVERYONE else does at the risk of seeming to be DIFFERENT, UNIQUE--introspective, intellectual, or just plain squeaky-clean? What, will I only have a pool of 487 people that I might possibly strike up a friendship with instead of the 1358 with whom by all rights I should be able to interact and form lasting relationships because we share the common bond of a collegiate name. GIVE ME A BREAK! I know more than a few current and past students at Swarthmore whose company I wouldn't wish to renew--no, not because they're really serious intellectuals, but because they are dull. Is this a reflection on Swarthmore? I don't think so, but the fact is, I've known my share of fairly uninteresting, self-absorbed people who have been associated with that school. The point is, I'm sure I could find as many complaints about students at any other school in the country. Who cares? Quit obssessing over college choices and the predominantly arbitrary ranking systems that fuel the frenzy. Read what different schools have to say about themselves, research with a clear and unbiased mind, intersect with people at various levels of the college's life, and think about it for awhile.</p>
<p>Colby = hearty, snowy, friendly, & beautiful-- with a beer.</p>
<p>What's Claremont McKenna like? I'll be going there in the fall..</p>
<p>What about Amherst? How would you describe it in one line?</p>
<p>What about Kenyon, can you describe it in one line?</p>
<p>NYU in one line: Big, sophisticated urban school great for smart, self-sufficient kids who aren't easily overwhelmed.</p>
<p>mchs, excellent description of NYU. My son concurs.</p>
<p>pennypac: get off the horse. These one-liners aren't for people like you, who are perfectly happy whether they fit in or not. Obviously, a lot of people want to use and abuse alcohol, as evidenced by the one-liners of many of these colleges, but some people don't. I don't like being around drunk people myself. Even people who aren't quite drunk are loud and obnoxious to me. They're not to you, and that's fine, but I don't want to be around obnoxious people.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I would hope by the time people are old enough to attend classes at colleges and universities they would no longer be compelled to swim with the prevailing current, whatever it might superficially represent.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's BS. Being compelled to be part of the majority isn't related to your age, it's related to your personality type. Some people have it and some people don't, and that's all. The fit-in types aren't going to outgrow fitting-in.</p>
<p>If I had the opportunity to write a new Two Commandments, they would be:</p>
<p>1) The Golden Rule, because everybody is a human, just like you.</p>
<p>2) Don't freak out.</p>
<p>anybody have a one-line description of rhodes?</p>
<p>Anyone who read my reviews of our college visits knows that brevity and I are only passing acquaintances. I did the best I could based on my impressions from our visits. </p>
<p>Blip, I did the best I could with Kenyon. Hopefully, it won't disappoint you. </p>
<p>Centre College-We bluebloods of the bluegrass are surprisingly friendly, academically challenging, invariably polite, and quietly excellent. </p>
<p>Vanderbilt: Even our name sounds expensive and challenging! We know were better than good. Do you have what it takes to join us?</p>
<p>Notre Dame: Can you spell football? Thats good, but youd better be able to do a lot more than that to attend school here!</p>
<p>Oberlin: We have one of the largest concentrations of intense, noncompetitive, high-achieving students anywhere. Do you believe one person can change the world? Were a gathering of individuals who believe you can. </p>
<p>Kenyon: Kenyon is NOT next to Uganda. In fact, were not next to anywhere and weve always liked it that way! A long tradition of excellence in undergraduate education does not go out of style. </p>
<p>Denison: Can you picture yourself being rich and famous in the future? Our graduates were highly successful even when people thought we were only a party school. Were a lot more than that now!</p>
<p>Earlham: Were Oberlin without the edge. One person can change the world, but you have to begin with the person next to you, and you might as well use his/her first name. </p>
<p>Hanover College: No, were in Indiana, not New Hampshire. That mistake wont continue for much longer because youre going to be hearing a lot more about us in the future.</p>
<p>Rhodes' bumper sticker used to say (still does?):</p>
<p>Our ivy is in a league by itself.</p>
<p>Visually, the school tells quite a bit about itself. It has an architectural integrity that makes the lines between the old and traditional and the new and state of the art seamless. It's old school gothic on the outside -- even the newest of buildings are made by stonemasons who hand cut the individual stones and roofing slates on site -- and new and state of the art on the inside. The new library is breathtaking in both senses. Dynamic faculty and a student body that is as diverse as a small LAC can be.</p>
<p>lol...Your readers can never get disappointed of your posts doddsdad, Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>I have to append some of the one-liners above:</p>
<br>
<p>Bryn Mawr: My sense is that this is probably the most similar campus culture to Swarthmore, but a woman's college.</p>
<br>
<p>I attended BMC for two years. It's similar to Swarthmore in that at both schools students take a lot of pride in how hard they work. Quite dissimilar in that the social scene is very quiet, the party scene almost nonexistent, and the student body is vociferously united behind a philosophy they're dead serious about (which I would define as, WOMEN'S EDUCATION, RAR!)</p>
<p>I also spent a great deal of time at Oberlin (my college boyfriend went there and I lived in his dorm for weeks). Oberlin is bright, hardworking, and musical, but also bi-curious, unshaven, granola, pierced, vintage, flannel, and far to the left of the Democrats. Very cool place, although I personally could not endure the cornfields.</p>
<p>Bates: Outdoorish and artsy with vocal radical left-wingers and republicans alike, great value, study hard play harder. Some senior thesis writers have been known to lock themselves in the library never to be seen again.</p>
<p>Daughter and I are making a flash visit to Haverford tomorrow, just to get the ball rolling and have something to work from. No interview, no tour (season has ended), but students will still be around taking finals.</p>
<p>If I can manage to interview a couple of students there, I will post their views here. I will tell them what I am doing, of course, and will try to get as balanced a view as possible under the circumstances. If the natives are really friendly I will try to get them to post themselves.</p>
<p>Haverford = warm, enthusiastic, earnest, & slightly nerdy people trying for utopia in a stunning setting.</p>
<p>Upenn.....</p>
<p>I recently met with someone who teaches an art at UPenn, as an independent instructor. She immediately noted how "driven" the student are. She was surprised about how many students were most interested in the "bottom line"...the result of the program. She spoke about the serious tone the students placed on her class...frowning on her own smiles. But, she noted, the students spoke about their plans to party after class/in the evenings....and she noted that they were as serious about their "party" as they were about their time in class.....(an she shook her head and smiled at that point, to indicate that parties are serious business).</p>
<p>I've heard this on many occasions....and I believe it. </p>
<p>Good for Penn and it's students! My son's motto is "Work Hard, Play Hard"</p>
<p>Chicago it's not. And the students wouldn't have it any other way.</p>
<p>Welcome to Rensselaer, the home of "The Tute Screw".</p>
<p>Ten ways to identify an RPI student:</p>
<ol>
<li>You wear glasses.</li>
<li>Your favorite TV show is "Star Trek."</li>
<li>Your next favorite TV show is "Star Trek: The Next Generation." </li>
<li>You know your weight in Newtons.</li>
<li>You truly love Calculus, Physics and Chemistry-- not necessarily in that order.</li>
<li>You believe that Ohm's Law is superior to Murphy's Law.</li>
<li>English is your second language.</li>
<li>Pascal is your first language.</li>
<li>Your favorite type of "Pie" is 3.14159..</li>
<li>You think in RPN (Reverse Polish Notation). </li>
</ol>
<p>The RPI Grading System:</p>
<p>A
fictional grade. </p>
<p>B
Dean's List minimum. Keeps the financial aid just out of reach for most students ... </p>
<p>C
Engineering average, otherwise known as the "C'' Vortex. The typical grade of 70% of most students. Keeps you in through 8 semesters. </p>
<p>CD
Calculator Died during final. </p>
<p>D
Passing. As the old adage says, ``D equals P.'' </p>
<p>F
Foom. Your tuition money, that is. </p>
<p>FO
Failed due to oversleeping on day of final (note: this isn't Final Overslept; it's short for Fool). </p>
<p>I
I really tried to finish the project but ... but ... I just didn't have time because I had to study for the final...which I failed because I was trying to finish the project...oh please, please don't fail me, etc. </p>
<p>IP
In Progress. Yes, we know you think you're still working on this course, but you better show us some results. Soon. </p>
<p>P
Punted course. </p>
<p>S
Satisfactory. This isn't worth any points; it means that you put the course on Pass-Punt, and then you passed it.</p>
<p>SC
System Crash. Equivalent to F on CompSci courses. </p>
<p>TS
Tute-Screwed --- when everything imaginable and then some goes wrong and you have a -15 average in many of your classes and your roommate did nothing but annoy you all semester and life in general sucked for four months. A frightfully common RPI dilemma.</p>
<p>birdofprey:</p>
<p>"Being compelled to be part of the majority isn't related to your age, it's related to your personality type. Some people have it and some people don't, and that's all. The fit-in types aren't going to outgrow fitting-in."</p>
<p>Ah, there you hit the nail squarely on the head. Needing to conform to the majority is indeed not age related in the sense that you mistook me, but I was speaking of emotional maturity and clearly from outside the accepted norm of how the majority perceive the raison d'etre of the college experience. Emotional maturity is bought at a certain price, and the psychological shifts that must take place are pretty clearly mapped out in the development of human integration. That we, as a society (one hesitates to say "species"), don't really care to nurture such wholeness nor give more than lip service to the possibility of its attainment, says less about its potential efficacy than it says about our relatively impoverished state of--how do you put it?--being a "type," fit-in or otherwise. For all you know--or don't know--obnoxious people might be just what the doctor ordered for you. At the bottom of everything I find it best to begin by holding a mirror up to nature, at least there we can be sure of what we are dealing with. How many drunk college students do you think come to see the inconsistencies of the illogical arguments around them, or recognize in the self-inflated posturing of CC posters the countless times the pot is caught calling the kettle black? I would guess the statistical averages vary little according to the sobriety of the individual. There are many conditions of drunkenness, some are fueled by substance abuse and others by lack of insight, emotional cowardice, intellectual sloth, possessiveness, brutality, greed, and maybe even by just plain old "fitting in." After all, that's a pretty comfy place. Why, I almost feel like just closing my eyes, doing my "homework," and waiting to find out what mommy will make me for my midnight snack. </p>
<p>To sum up, and more importantly, to acquiesce to the golden rule: Integration doesn't come of its own accord as do the years we use to keep track of our lives; it requires vigilance and hard work. How do I know this? I used to be a "fit-in" type, and believe me, some people do outgrow it.</p>
<p>What about Princeton in a line? Can it be done? :)</p>