<p>QW553,</p>
<ol>
<li>vc08 is a girl.</li>
<li>She's going to UCLA because she got better scholarships from UCLA.</li>
<li>It's Cal, not CAL.</li>
<li>Living in Socal, UCLA appears to have more school spirit than Cal...likely have a different opinion in the Bay Area.</li>
</ol>
<p>QW, VC (a woman) has no personal reason to hate USC. She was admitted into CAL, Michigan, UCLA and UVa. She has chosen to attend UCLA because it was the best financial deal. Her first choice was Michigan but the price difference was not justifiable.</p>
<p>^ Again, it's Cal...not CAL. LOL! ;)</p>
<p>Good/Great schools with great school spirit:</p>
<p>Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Georgetown University
Lehigh University
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
Pennsylvania State University-University Park
Stanford University
Texas A&M University-College Station
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Florida
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Southern California
University of Texas-Austin
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>I am sure I am missing some schools, but those are the ones that come to mind.</p>
<p>"^ Again, it's Cal...not CAL. LOL!"</p>
<p>I know. I did it intentionally! hehe!!!</p>
<p>"School spirit" is obviously subjective. But money talks. So for a quantitative and meaningful measurement, simply open the USN&WR rankings and look up "alumni giving rate". This is the percentage of undergraduate alumni who have enough "school spirit" to donate $$ in any given year. </p>
<p>The schools with the most loyal alumni can count on the majority of their graduates to send a check every year (i.e. alumni giving rate > 50%). How's that for school spirit ? </p>
<p>Strangely enough, you'll find that the schools with the highest alumni giving rates are mostly LACs, not big universities with famous athletic programs.</p>
<p>Corbett, Alumni donation rates aren't always related to school spirit or alumni loyalty. They can be of course, but other factors must be taken into concideration, such as size of institution and affiliation (public or private).</p>
<p>Michigan state university has to be up there in the schools with the best school spirit. Northwestern, stanford, ucla, usc, michigan, washington, washington state, ohio, penn state, florida, florida state, texas, unc-chapel hill, u virginia, notre dame, auburn, alabama, texas a&m, and louisiana state are among the top also</p>
<p>IMO, school spirit has a lot to do with the willingness of students to dress up all out for their school and their attendance of sports/other events completely decked out in school colors/gear. You can have huge school spirit w/o giving back to the school as an alumni.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Alumni donation rates aren't always related to school spirit or alumni loyalty.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No, but it seems like the single most significant factor.</p>
<p>Granted, there may be other reasons for low alumni giving rates. For example, public universities may have lower rates than private ones, because the graduates of public schools may feel that they already support the school via tax dollars.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if a school has an extraordinarily high giving rate, (say 50-60%), then you are pretty much forced to conclude that it has unusually loyal and supportive alumni. What other interpretation is there?</p>
<p>
[quote]
You can have huge school spirit w/o giving back to the school as an alumni.
[/quote]
Ask the Development Office at your school if they agree.</p>
<p>Corbett, let me start by saying that a very high alumni giving rate almost always means supportive and loyal alums. What I am saying is that it does work the other way around. </p>
<p>This said, let us be honest, LACs would not exist if it weren't for alumni support. Historically, they depended almost entirely on tuition and alumni generosity. LACs that have survived are those that effectively collected money from their alums. Many LACs today have endowments over $1 billion and those schools are now financially secure. But many LACs still depends on alumni donations to survive.</p>
<p>On the other hand, state universities were historically among the wealthiest universities in the nation. Until the 1960s, private universities envied state universities their financial health. Only recently (1970s-present) has it been a necessity for state universities to seek out alternative sources of funding. It is going to take a LONG time for state universities to catch up to LACs and private universities in their ability to effectively reach out to their alums for donations. </p>
<p>Also, I think it is important to differentiate between alumni support/loyalty and school spirit. They are not entirely the same.</p>
<p>University of Maryland - College Park has gotta be on there</p>
<p>Pitt-- no team wants to go to the Pete and face the Oakland Zoo.</p>
<p>Anyone claiming Northwestern is very school spirited is mistaken.</p>
<p>
[Quote]
Clearly you prior posters are not from the South, and it looks like everyone on this thread is just going to tout his or her school or regional schools -- so I guess I'll do the same. Clemson fans are a virtual cult, and Alabama, LSU and FSU are pretty "spirited" as well.
[/Quote]
</p>
<p>I'm from CA, and you'll notice that I only included 2 teams from the west coast, and 1 from California. To me, school spirit is a measure of how ALL sports teams are supported, not how many people show up for a spring football scrimmage.</p>
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[Quote]
vc08 is a teen USC hater, how do you think of his opinion He said he is going to UCLA but constantly promoting CAL. It is especially skeptical since even most of CAL alumni think UCLA has more school pride than CAL.
[/Quote]
I've been to a USC game, and you're 100% right, it was packed! But, it seemed like half the people there had no relation to the school, they were just LA residents who followed the team bc it was good. To me, that's not school spirit. School spirit is students supporting their team. When I see Michigan students standing outside in 18 degree sleet to get tix for a hockey game against Lake Superior State, that's school spirit. I believe SC students love their school, of course! But the schools I listed were the ones I felt showed the most student support. I'm sure others will disagree, and that's fine! But that's just my $.02, if you don't like it than that's fine because honestly I really don't care what you think ;). And, it's Cal, not CAL.</p>
<p>That being said, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find more die-hard basketball fans than at UCLA!!! woot Go Bruins!</p>
<p>And everyone else pretty much spoke up for me, so yeah I was admitted to lotsa cool, amazing schools, but chose the best financial deal, just like 80% of high school seniors do :P..and btw I didn't even consider UCLA until mid-April, so don't pull that "USC hater" crap. Stanfuurd on the other hand....haha jk ;)</p>
<p>It seems like Yale has a lot of school spirit too surprisingly.</p>
<p>vc08, I won't profess to know much about school spirit for the west coast schools, and I acknowledge that you included a few from the south, but the fact that you included Duke, UNC and UVA (each an ACC school, known primarily, at least in two cases, for basketball) and not Clemson, FSU, UGA, Tennessee, Florida and many others instead, tells me you don't have much of a feel for the southern schools. And I'm not just talking football. UGA, for example, has won national championships in a host of sports over the years, including baseball, men's and women's tennis, golf, gymnastics, swimming, etc., with great fan support. Florida, of course, was reigning champs in both basketball (back-to-back) and football a year ago. Perhaps you were trying to factor in some degree of academic prowess?</p>
<p>yeah emory has "school spirit" just none of it has to do with sports- so we need to define which is which</p>
<p>Penn State University Park is definitely in the top 10.</p>
<p>UT... but thats cause I'm in Texas..
UM has made its way down here, jeez... My dad went there... I always hear "Go Blue!" from all the other Michiganders...</p>