<p>Haha
at least the Internet is omniscient and she is a representative of it.</p>
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<p>Honestly, Hawkette, I think that’s because you’re from the South and because <em>you</em> personally find warm weather an important part of a college experience. Having lunch with your friends outside in the sunshine is no more or no less social than having lunch with your friends in the cafeteria when it’s cold outside. There is nothing inherently more “relaxed” about shorts and sandals versus jeans, sweatshirts and jackets.</p>
<p>And I can say the frats at my alma mater certainly had <em>lots</em> of fun dunking a brother who had achieved some kind of milestone or honor in the cold lake when it was freezing outside :-).</p>
<p>“She made a ranking, based on her own chosen factors, and posted it here for us all to see. No reason to be upset. Heck, if you don’t care for her ranking then why are you even bothering with this thread?”</p>
<p>In my case, I never read any of her threads unless someone quotes from them. I do however believe that everyone has the right to be critical here, especially against certain posters who have obvious agendas and constantly post opinions as if they were facts.</p>
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<p>As someone who went to college in the North and then transferred down to the South, I can attest to the huge impact that weather has on an individual’s social life. Up North there were many occasions in which people didn’t go out on a Friday or Saturday night because it was too darn cold out. Additionally, we did things like play frisbee or beach volleyball for the first month up north, but had to stop because the weather prevented us from continuing with this for most of the year. In the South, the experience is much better. Being able to socialize outdoors for most of the year is definitely preferable to being cooped up inside.</p>
<p>“Being able to socialize outdoors for most of the year is definitely preferable to being cooped up inside.”</p>
<p>This is true. Of course one could try studying a bit more when the weather is lousy. :-)</p>
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<p>Haha good point, this may explain why my grades have dipped since I transferred back to the South.</p>
<p>I don’t know, frat parties seemed to be fun enough even when the weather was cold outside. Don’t see what difference it made, except maybe the Walks of Shame were rougher, LOL.</p>
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<p>Clearly you never read her “employer preference rankings” that were 100% her opinion and not based on any sort of input from employers. She has a long history of downright misleading threads.</p>
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<p>how “guys”, “girls”, “diversity”, “weather” and “athletic life” factor into social life is beyond me. I don’t think there can be even a semi-accurate weighting or picking of factors, because students often look for the opposite factors and qualities in a school’s social life. On the other hand, no one would want to go to a school with less resources, lower sat scores, or worse job placement for those specific qualities, that’s why there can be rankings for those other metrics and not for social life. Any ranking on social life, and by extension, your ranking on schools’ social life is bullsht.</p>
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<p>Easy. If you like tailgating, going to games (and winning them), and hanging out with hot girls/guys at the afterparties, then you’re probably gonna have a pretty decent social life at the schools hawkette listed.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if your school has lousy athletic programs, bad weather, and unattractive people, your social life isn’t going to be as good as it could be.</p>
<p>I can see how they do factor in, but those 4 are very trivial. Sure not many people play frisbee in cold weather, but not many people ski in warm weather. I don’t think there is any correlation between personality and how hot you are. Athletic life (not how good your team is, but how much your school supports it) does bring people together, but 2.5 times more than nightlife?!? it should be 2.5 times less than nightlife.</p>
<p>If I were to rate #1 for Social Life, it would have to be UNC. </p>
<p>Other publics, like Michigan, Texas-Austin, UVa and Wisconsin are also great. </p>
<p>Among private universities, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, Northwestern, Penn, Rice, Stanford, USC and Vanderbilt are all excellent.</p>
<p>What is your methodology?</p>
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Good post. I concur. :)</p>
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Some people should spend more time skiing…</p>
<p>I would dispute the placement of Columbia at the bottom of the rankings. In my experiences with the university, Columbia students are open, welcoming, tolerant and sophisticated. These factors are directly relevant to social life.</p>
<p>Note that while I haven’t (yet) attended Columbia, I’ve thoroughly researched the university in considering the GS program. I’m also an NYC resident who has attended several events on campus, has met numerous Columbia students and is frequently in Morningside Heights.</p>
<p>The rankings would benefit from including social inclusiveness as a factor. Many universities have a vibrant social life which isn’t accessible to everyone. For those left out, the social life may as well not exist. Note that diversity isn’t the same thing as inclusiveness. A university might have diversity but still fail to include many of the different groups in the broader campus community.</p>
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Somebody has to be at the bottom of a ranking (I personally think social life is too personalized to be ranked, but that’s neither here nor there), and I don’t think many would dispute that Columbia is a strong contender. </p>
<p>Sure, it has “open, welcoming, tolerant and sophisticated” students. So do all of the other universities.</p>
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<p>That is an outstanding point. For example, all the frat party / woo-hoo football team madness that Hawkette loves so much doesn’t mean much if it’s at the kind of school where, say, students of certain ethnic, religious or sexual orientation backgrounds are marginalized.</p>
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<p>Looking at Hawkette’s list, I don’t see too many schools on there where discrimination or marginalization of any type is a large issue. That said, if you are looking for a more quiet, introverted school then you probably wouldn’t go for one that is well-known for its social scene.</p>
<p>My son, a first-year at Columbia, seems to do nothing but study, party, eat and sleep (in that order). Perhaps his joining a frat has something to do with it, but if those 24 universities have more active social lives, I’d be very surprised…</p>