The Differentiation of the Collegiate Experience: What’s unique about your college?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>In choosing among colleges of similar academic and student quality strength, the search for the right “fit” is commonly the deciding factor. That choice is often influenced by some of the unique experiences that a certain college or type of college can provide and which may not be easily duplicated elsewhere. </p>

<p>I have posted often on my passion for top academic colleges that also provide superior social life and athletic life experiences, leading me to favor colleges such as Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Rice and some of the top publics. Other posters have responded with examples that were unique to their undergraduate college and which contributed fond (and perhaps ongoing) memories, eg, swimming in the gorges at Cornell or attending the great breadth of cultural activities at Northwestern or participating in the annual P-rade at Princeton (which was yesterday!), etc. </p>

<p>What was the activity at your college that was particularly special to you as an undergraduate and/or which provides ongoing pleasure to you as an alum? Please share it and help those looking for a college understand the differences among the many excellent universities that they will have to choose from.</p>

2

<p>Rice has one of the most unique social events on the American college scene. It’s called Beer Bike and is greatly enjoyed by the Rice student body. Following is a good description:</p>

<p>Beer-Bike, a Rice tradition since 1957, is a combination intramural bicycle race and drinking competition. All nine of the residential colleges plus the graduate school participate with a men’s, women’s, and alumni (co-ed) team, and winning a race warrants a great deal of pride. Each leg of the race is a sort of relay in which a team’s “chugger” must chug 24 ounces for the men’s division and 12 ounces for women before the team’s “rider” may begin to ride.</p>

<p>In conjunction with the increase of the Texas legal drinking age to 21 in 1986 the rules were amended to permit underage chuggers to chug water instead of beer. Over the years underage chuggers increasingly exercised this option. In recent races even some students of legal drinking age have begun to chug water, and on some teams beer chugging may have disappeared altogether.</p>

<p>An excellent male chugger can finish a 24-ounce container in about three seconds (beer or water). Colleges place great pride in the skill of their chug teams (many holding chug practices every Thursday night for the entire year), though the vast majority of separation between teams is due to the cycling component. Ten riders and ten chuggers make up a team. Elaborate rules include details such as a prohibition of “bulky or wet clothing articles designed to absorb beer/water or prevent spilled beer/water from being seen” and regulations for chug can design.</p>

<p>Prior to the race, the colleges parade the wrong way along the one-way campus inner loop while participating in a water balloon fight, with 2008’s battle featuring some 200,000 balloons thrown in an hour’s time. In 2008, the colleges began at Lovett Hall and proceeded to the stadium, a change from recent years. Preparations for the water fight and jacks begin at least a month in advance.</p>

3

<p>I’m pretty sure all universities have weird fun events like what was posted above. The thing that makes some schools fundamentally different than others is the student body’s idea of fun.</p>

4

<p>Yes, all colleges have unique things about them…and my hope is that folks will post about these and how that adds to and differentiates the experience at ABC College. </p>

<p>The academics can be pretty undifferentiated for most students at several different colleges, but certain colleges are definitely better fits for certain personalities than other colleges. Hearing about, thinking about and sorting out some of these different characteristics should IMO be important considerations in the college search process. For students who are academically serious (and highly talented), like the appeal of the residential college system and a smallish university and also like to have a good time, then Rice would be an excellent choice.</p>

5

<p>Great thread, Hawkette - that is really the value of this site, not fighting over whether which tippy-top school is the tippiest of the top.</p>

<p>One thing I have found interesting in the postings of folks from Cornell (and I have no ties to Cornell) is that it seems as though there’s a real philosophy from Ezra Cornell himself that shapes the philosophy of the offerings and the overall college … Many human endeavors, many fields of study, expansive in nature. It’s like what Ben Franklin might be to Penn or better yet Thomas Jefferson might be to UVA. I have to say, that while I love(d) NU, I didn’t have any such feel – I can’t say that we all felt that we were carrying out a specific person’s vision. I couldn’t even tell you the founders other than a bunch of men developing a university for the Northwest Territories, hence the name. Whether the idea of being linked to a founder’s vision is appealing or not is each person’s call, but it might be interesting to find out what colleges really “bear the stamp” of a founding individual and how that influences the experience.</p>

6

<p>First, I’ll say that Cornell is not for everyone so what I list as “unique” or positives may not be viewed as such by others. I also won’t go into most of the traditions or fun events since every school has them. Instead, I guess I’ll talk more about academics and the character of the school/student body.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I think Cornell is the most democratic out of the top 15 schools. If that translates into “least selective” for you, then so be it. I like the fact that it has the largest freshman class and also a very large transfer class. A lot of the posters on the Cornell board were transfers and it’s pretty apparent that they tend to appreciate Cornell more in some ways than the normal students. Having a large student body allows you to literally surround yourself with whatever kind of friends you want (frat/sorority, 1500+ SAT scorers, Asian, whatever). The student body is large enough that you can find people of all types, backgrounds, and interests. </p></li>
<li><p>Because it’s a large school, it has large academic departments. The class sizes tend to be a little too large (esp. in the science majors). But, the benefit of being in a large school, academically, is that there is a tremondous diversity of course offerings. You can go in-depth in any subject you want because most likely Cornell offers 10+ courses in it. </p></li>
<li><p>The 7-college system. Most universities have your standard liberal arts and engineer colleges. Cornell does as well (hence, if you want to compare apples to apples, compare Cornell’s Engineering and A&S colleges to other schools). However, it also has top notch programs in Industrial and Labor Relations, Architecture, Hotel Management, etc. This means you can take fine arts classes if you want or a culinary course or course where you can sample wines. </p></li>
<li><p>The gorges, of course. Fun to swim and play around in.</p></li>
<li><p>True college experience. Because Ithaca isn’t that fun of a college town, most of the happenings take place on campus. The campus has everything from its own bowling alley to its own movie theater and art museum. So, if you want more of a college campus experience, Cornell is it. </p></li>
<li><p>Food. Can’t speak for most other colleges but Cornell supposedly has the best food in its dining halls.</p></li>
<li><p>Student body characteristics: pre-professional (as opposed to intellectual), 30% Greek, down to earth, large NY, NJ, and CA contingent; type of student most successful: hardworking, assertive, self-motivated, doesn’t need to be coddled, has good learning and studying skills, takes initiative, independent</p></li>
</ol>

7

<p>There are a lot of things that I could name about MIT. </p>

<p>The fact that you get to choose where you live, and that the living groups are real student-created communities with their own personalities, turned out to be pivotal for me. I still feel warm and fuzzy about my living group, and think of it as a sort of spiritual home, and it had a tremendous impact on my life.</p>

<p>It’s a culture that loves research and exploration. 80% of undergrads do research in MIT labs, and around 20% get published. But beyond formal research, it was a place where I could go into the lounge and see people building a robot, or a new table for the lounge, or whatever, or making liquid nitrogen ice cream. It was a place where we built a roller coaster in the courtyard.</p>

<p>The hacking tradition, as chronicled at [IHTFP</a> Hack Gallery: Welcome to the IHTFP Gallery!](<a href=“http://hacks.mit.edu%5DIHTFP”>http://hacks.mit.edu), is something special. How many schools do you find where a firetruck or life-size replica of the Wright brothers’ plane might appear on a rooftop one morning?</p>

<p>Along those lines, it’s a culture that embraces eccentricity.</p>

<p>It’s also a culture that embraces participation. There are tons of student groups. It has one of the highest rates of intramural sports participation in the country, and dozens of club sports. You can walk on to most varsity sports having never played before - you’re not relegated to spectator status just because you’re not an awesome athlete.</p>

<p>It’s hard, but everyone’s in it together. There’s a great sense of camaraderie. People look out for each other. There’s no class rank or Latin honors, and no incentive to compete academically against others - just against yourself, and for most MIT students, that’s plenty of competition right there.</p>

<p>Most of these aren’t unique, but they seem within the spirit of the thread. If you want unique, there’s the student-operated nuclear reactor, which is also pretty cool.</p>

8

<p>Great Thread Hawkette,</p>

<p>The United States Naval Academy is unique because the students who attend the storied institution in Annapolis, Maryland earn more than a degree when they graduate. They also earn a commission as an officer in the United States Navy or Marine Corps.</p>

<p>The 4 year program (similar to West Point and the Air Force Academy) is on par with most high caliber institutions as the grueling experience begins with the application process where only 12% of candidates will make the cut to be admitted as U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen. Candidates must earn the trust and endorsement of a U.S. member of Congress or the Vice President. The 4 year program offers a bachelor of science degree in 19 separate fields.</p>

<p>While most college students are focused completely on studies, students at USNA must focus on their professional development to become competant officers and leaders in the military. The buildings on the “Yard” commemorate the leaders who have served before us and have a mixture of old French architecture and modernized facilities to teach midshipmen.</p>

<p>A school that has produced leaders such as Jimmy Carter, John McCain, Montel Williams, Ross Perot, Roger Staubach, Albert Michelson, and David Robinson, the Naval Academy’s mission is to produce leaders who can assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship, and government, and has been doing so since 1845.</p>

<p>Most people on CC focus on getting into big name schools like Harvard and Princeton, and at USNA, you will find many people who turned down such institutions to serve a cause greater than themselves. The students here are talented, intuitive, and innovative and are one of the most diverse student bodies you will find as students come from all 50 U.S. states and come from all different types of backgrounds.</p>

9

<p>Every spring, the Johns Hopkins campus transforms into a playground for a three-day event called Spring Fair. I understand it to be the largest such event in the country, with over a hundred food and crafts vendors, major non-profit vendors and dozens of student group booths promoting their organizations, more than 20 performers, carnival rides and games, and average attendance of over 25,000 people.</p>

<p>Spring Fair includes: a Beer Garden, in which student groups fund raise by distributing beer as live music plays; a large evening concert event; local and international food vendors; arts and crafts vendors; local and state-wide organizations; and interactive games and contests.</p>

<p>It is great fun.</p>

10

<p>At Northwestern, one of my personal highlights was going to Waa-Mu; it is sort of Northwestern’s equivalent of Star Search. It’s a student-written revue. What was fun is knowing how many now-famous people got their start in Waa-Mu, and that, as you were watching, thinking … which of these students will be a big movie or TV star and I can say I saw them back when??</p>

<p>One of the fun games we NU alums play when we watch TV is “name the NU connection.” Any major TV show or sitcom past or present, there’s an NU actor. Just off the top of my head, Scrubs/Zach Braff, Friends/David Schwimmer, Will & Grace/Megan Mullaly, Cheers/Shelly Long, MASH/McLean Stevenson, ER/Laura Innes and Noah Wyle, Sex and the City/Cindy Chupack (writer), Friday Night Lights/Kyle Chandler, According to Jim/Kimberly Williams, and there are tons more that I’m not remembering. And of course our most relevant alum today is Stephen Colbert. There is an “NU Mafia” both East and West for those in the theater. Having this aspect to the campus added to my enjoyment of the experience and made it more well-rounded.</p>

<p>I also loved the diversity of being friends with wonky engineering types and save-the-world journalistic types at the same time.</p>