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[quote]
Dartmouth is not even close to Cornell in the intensity
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<p>How could you possibly know this? As I'm sure Dartmouth's intensity varies by major, so does Cornell. In fact, because of Cornell's breadth, it is difficult to make sweeping generalizations like this. Intensity varies by undergraduate college and by major. In fact it varies right down to the individual. There are laid back engineers and uptight Hotelies. In the end, I stand by my earlier statements that Cornell and Ithaca are very laid back friendly places.</p>
<p>The irony of this situation is that to be arguing about who is more laid back belies a certain intensity of opinion.</p>
<p>Slipper is vociferously adamant that Dartmouth is chill. LOL</p>
<p>Well slipper, my brother is a freshman at Dartmouth and this is what he tells me. I have to believe him since he is at the source and all, unlike some people who make sweeping generalizations.</p>
<p>BTW, the whole "Princeton is the capital of pretention" schtick is an outdated sweeping generalization/dated stereotype too. Besides, a bit of healthy competition always helps to keep students motivated and fresh. UChicago is a great example of a place where kids thrive under pressure (I am a witness to this as I visited my former classmates who attend UChicago when I stayed overnight at a program there).</p>
<p>I understand your brother might have had trouble getting into a couple of classes, but its all relative- its nothing like other schools. At Columbia my first year I got into less than half the classes I wanted, my brother at UNC is struggling to get the classes he wants as a SENIOR, at Dartmouth that was never the case. So yes, I understand your point of view, but you have to look at this in comparison to other schools.</p>
<p>The professors don't believe in work. A paper, an exam and call it a semester. This place is a total academic fraud from the get-go and has been since the day it went co-ed. The honor code is a total copout. Students walk up open other students bluebooks and return to their seats to finish their answers. The place is a total ripoff.</p>
<p>got to agree with Dartmouth - i'm a 09 here, and while there is sometimes a lot of (hard) work, I've never found other students to be competitive. Yes, having exams all the time does get a little tiring, but people are always very willing to help each other prepare and whatnot. Profs are pretty chill too - last term, one of my mine asked if any of us needed to take the final at a different time - if we said we did, he'd let us reschedule, no questions asked. </p>
<p>As for getting shut out of classes, there was an article in the D yesterday about this. Apparently it only occurs with ~3% of class requests, it just seems like more to some people because it only really happens ever in Govy and Econ, so those kids might experience it more than once. I've never had any difficulty getting into the classes I want, anyway.</p>
<p>I visited bryn mawr and actually know someone who attends it, and got a very different impression of the school. people were always stressed out and the opposite of relaxed. people were seemingly friendly (upon first meeting them) before learning about the rampant lesbian drama that occurs amongst the mawrters. people try to top each other with their brags about who has the most work to complete and who has been sleeping the least. i dunno, but just wanted to share my opinion.</p>
<p>Contrary to what many may think Yale is also a pretty chill place. Students who are cutthroat are a very small minority. And the work is pretty challenging.</p>
<p>based on previous posts, birch45 seems to be very bitter towards the nescac schools- i assume your kids didnt get into one of them? because as a parent/adult you shouldnt be able to have a sense of how friendly vs cutthroat these schools actually are...</p>
<p>Ouch.
This thread is pretty pointless now.
No one has and will prove anything because the answer depends on who you are as a person. Perception and fit differ person to person. All schools can be 'chill' for someone, as 'chill' is defined by previous experiences.</p>