Schools for the Wealthy Elite

Parents Forum
101

<p>

</p>

<p>Campus culture is also an important determinant of the above. In the case of Oberlin, another college located near cornfields, a critical mass of students would not only prefer to go casual, but also disdain those who dress too fancy unless it is due to absolute necessity(i.e. Con students doing recitals as part of their academic program). </p>

<p>Some of the alums from my era still carry this over today as while mutual friends/acquaintances from schools like Columbia or NYU may come to casual social gatherings wearing corporate wear or dressed up like they’re going to a fancy restaurant, the Obie hosts and alums like myself would have come dressed in something like casual t-shirt/shorts/jeans randomly grabbed from the casual clothing drawer/pile. </p>

<p>I’ve also noticed from being a NYC native and from living in the Boston area for several years that most undergrads in the latter are much more relaxed and casual about clothing choices than undergrads in NYC.</p>

<p>One of the first things I noticed about undergrads in my hometown
especially at Columbia and NYU is a much more visible number of students who will regularly wear fancy corporate-wear(i.e. Hermes Ties) to class and dress formally even for campus parties or dining at casual establishments. </p>

<p>At many Boston area campuses, one can develop a reputation for being an overly stiff tool if one regularly dresses like that every day for class or worse
does so even to eat in a local no-frills pizza joint.</p>

102

<p>I was surprised to find out about the social clubs at Wellesley – which clearly offered the fabulously wealthy the opportunity to have a different experience than regular students. The place had a great deal of rhetoric about how egalitarian it was, but the existence of those clubs sent a different message altogether.</p>

<p>Wouldn’t any college with finals clubs have the same elitist atmosphere?</p>

103

<p>It depends on how expensive the clubs are to get into. At my school, we have somewhat selective “social clubs” that are extremely inexpensive so plenty of students on near full financial aid joined. From what I understand they had a much more egalitarian feel than other, similar institutions at other colleges.</p>

104

<p>I think nearly any good east coast LAC (and all the Ivies) will have a cohort of the wealthy. I can only speak for my time at Harvard - I only knew one person who admitted to being in a finals club during my four years there - though looking at Deval Patrick’s resume at some point I realized he’s at least person number two. Most of my friends came from ordinary middle class families and a handful came from the working class. I had a similar experience in high school. In fact it’s only now when I go to hosted events in NYC or Greenwich that I discover who the fabulously wealthy people in both my high school and college classes were!</p>

105

<p>From a practical standpoint, whether a given college has a significant percentage of uber-rich may be irrelevant if the range of SES students don’t mix much.</p>

<p>I observed in my own children that virtually all of their close college friends come from SES backgrounds very similar to their own, even though their colleges were very diverse in this regard. I don’t think this was a conscious decision on their part (although I never specifically asked); it seemed to be simply a result of common interests and experiences shared by students from similar SES strata.</p>

106

<p>My impression, based on my kids’ experience, is that Yale is roughly as egalitarian now as it was when I went–although there is a bigger Greek scene, it’s still not that big, and it’s not all about wealth. The secret societies are more egalitarian than when I was there. Princeton may be more egalitarian in lots of ways, but it still has some pretty exclusive eating clubs. I think at both schools, and others like them, the big men and women on campus are not likely to be the super-rich, but the super-accomplished.</p>

107

<p>I certainly wouldn’t recommend choosing a school based on where the wealthy go. As others have said, it’s an extreme long shot that such a strategy would increase one’s life opportunities, and in any event social climbers tend to be disdained by the wealthy. But I do think it’s an interesting question where the wealthy go to college.</p>

<p>I just did a quick rundown of Forbes’ list of wealthiest Americans, searching for those who wealth was clearly inherited, not self-made. Among the 100 wealthiest, I found 25 whose wealth was inherited, not self-made. Of those 25, 6 went to Ivy League schools (Columbia 3, Yale 2, Penn 1); 2 went to other top-25 private colleges or universities (Rice and Bryn Mawr, 1 apiece); 6 went to other private colleges and universities (Trinity U, Hobart & William Smith, Finch College, U Denver, SMU, Lincoln U, 1 apiece); 5 went to public universities (Michigan 2, Arkansas 2, Texas 1); 2 were college dropouts (Syracuse and U Miami, 1 piece); and 2 never went to college (understandable, I suppose, if you stand to inherit billions and are not academically inclined). Several others were so protective of their privacy that Forbes had no information on whether, and if so where, they attended college. </p>

<p>There was a strong regional tilt to some of the choices, e.g., members of the Walton family (Wal-Mart heirs) attended Arkansas and Trinity U in Texas; members of the Meijer family (heirs to Meijers Thrifty Acres, a regional grocery-department store chain headquartered in Michigan) attended the University of Michigan; Texas oil & gas heirs mostly attended schools in Texas (U Texas, SMU, Rice); heirs of New York publishing and real estate empires tended toward Columbia.</p>

<p>In short, the college choices of the super-wealthy appear to be not so different from yours or mine. Keep in mind, however, that these people ranged in age from their 40s to their 70s, so their college decisions were made several decades ago, perhaps in some cases before the business success of a parent propelled them into the ranks of the super-wealthy. And notice also that there’s very little “old wealth” among the nation’s wealthiest. Most of the nation’s multi-billionaires have either made their own fortunes, or stand at most a generation or two descended from an extraordinarily successful entrepreneur, and to that extent they might all be considered nouveau-riche. Where “old money” attends college might very well be a different kettle of fish.</p>

108

<p>Bay,
Again, that depends on the school. As others have mentioned at some schools, particularly LACs in rural areas, there seems to be a greater mixing of rich and poor students than even at many public institutions. If all of the events are free or close to it, all of the students live in housing that costs about the same, and there’s little to do off campus, students may interact with the full range of students more readily than they would if they went to a school where this wasn’t the case. </p>

<p>I can’t think of any peer group at my school (besides the internationals) that were almost exclusively comprised of students of a similar socio-economic background. I know at my new public school, which boasts a much higher percent of Pell Grant students, there seems to be less economic “mixing” because the students are able to segregate themselves based on activities they can afford, where they live, and other factors even if it’s completely inadvertent.</p>

109

<p>

</p>

<p>Are you serious, momzie?? There are maybe 3 or 4 of those societies, they are organized around academic themes (arts, Shakespeare, language) and all it means is that they live in little houses that are on campus and are literally across the street from the “regular” dorms and participate in some teas / social events within those houses. They aren’t “for the fabulously wealthy.” They are tiny and completely irrelevant to the campus experience for the vast majority of girls who simply aren’t in them and don’t have any interest in their activities. </p>

<p>As for the living accommodations, the homes may be charming, but the dorms at Wellesley are all pretty stunning architecturally too (with the exception of the Bates/McAfee complex), and we’ve all seen Mona Lisa Smile. I don’t wish to speak to the influence of finals clubs or eating clubs at other colleges, but I think that’s a very odd charge to make that the teeny-tiny societies at Wellesley “send any kind of message” whatsoever other than there are girls who like to bond together over certain academic interests.</p>

110

<p>

</p>

<p>By contrast, in Evanston, all the student apartments convenient to campus are pretty cruddy IMO, so even if you had money, there isn’t some fancy high-rise condo with doorman for you to spend it on! There is one “fancier” high rise above a Whole Foods that’s close to campus – but it seems to be mostly Kellogg business graduate students, not undergrads.</p>

111

<p>

</p>

<p>This would seem to describe Yale, where one of my Ds attended. While I don’t doubt that there was significant “interaction” among SES groups there, my observation was that D’s close friends were all of the same SES background.</p>

112

<p>Connections are made on the basis, truly, of personality, likability, integrity, loyalty, work ethic, resilience, stick-to-it-tive-ness
 qualities possessed (or not) by students at ANY college or university and from any social/ economic strata. So distressing to see such obvious “getting a leg up on” being demonstrated with the question.</p>

113

<p>And let’s face it - the kids who are from “public” money / fame households (like celebrity kids) have a very highly tuned radar about who is trying to get to know me because of me and who is trying to get to know me because my parent is so-and-so.</p>

114

<p>So true, Pizzagirl. My daughter will be classmates with the son of a 3-time Oscar winner, and one can already see the hopeful actors trying to connect with this young man via Facebook, as well as on Admitted Student’s Day.</p>

115

<p>I think we are all friends here. Could I put in a request for an autograph?</p>

116

<p>When I went to Wellesley, the ‘arts social club’ didn’t actually take any o the arts majors, including the gifted concert pianist, cellist, etc. It took a lot of very wealthy girls from Latin America. I stand by my previous post.</p>

117

<p>Momzie,Is this what you’re referring to at Wellesley? If so, it looks interesting. Looks somewhat diverse. Maybe things have changed since you were a student? [Tau</a> Zeta Epsilon](<a href=“http://www.tauzetaepsilon.com%5DTau”>http://www.tauzetaepsilon.com)</p>

118

<p>Vance Packard, in his 1959 book The Status Seekers writes about the subcultures and social clubs at various universities like HYP. At the time, there was apparently a social distinction between the scions of wealth (i.e. those with inherited money and social status, usually from socially-elite prep schools that were not necessarily academically elite back then) and the strivers (i.e. top students, often from public schools). The former tended to enter exclusive social clubs while being content with gentleman’s C grades, while the latter strived to excel academically, even though they may have been excluded from the “most prestigious” social clubs.</p>

<p>Of course, things may be different now compared to 1959.</p>

119

<p>

</p>

<p>I still observe some of this contestation here on CC when some parents/students who seem to be/exhibit the mentality of the “scions of wealth” who are ok with mediocre/average grades and disparage striver students/their families through disdainful terms like “grinder” or “one-dimensional”. </p>

<p>Maybe this contestation has continued in more subtle ways than was the case in 1959.</p>

120

<p>Pizzagirl - Evanston Place is a doorman high rise with a pool, gym, great lake views and across the street from campus. There is parking in the building, don’t know how it’s included for tenants. The penthouses (I think there are 4 - two in each building) are wonderful. Not at the level of a Chicago luxury high rise but really quite nice and possibly the nicest apartment my daughter and her roommates will have for many a year, especially because many are moving to NY.</p>