Universities not discussed in CC

College Confidential Community
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<p>In that case, you are thinking wrong again - on all three counts. I'm neither female, nor gay, nor was I arguing that guys select girls by which school they go to.</p>

<p>What I was pointing out was the inconsistency of Will's (and your) position. You assert that it was some moment of great cinematic beauty when Will takes down the puffed up Harvard guy, but in the very next moment you applaud when he puts the moves on a puffed up Harvard girl.</p>

<p>So is being a puffed-up Harvard person acceptable or not? You can't have it both ways. You seem to be saying that if you're a guy it's not, but if you're a hot girl then its okay. </p>

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<p>Right, but she is clearly attracted to him because he is so smart and well-read, not because he "is from a very rugged/sourly abusive situation" If she were attracted to people from rough backgrounds, the streets of Cambridge are littered with all sorts of derelicts from very rough backgrounds. She could have any one of them. She likes Will <em>despite</em> his background, not because of it.</p>

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<p>Have you seen the movie? The Harvard guy was being puffed up and jerky, saying things that the stereotypical elitist might say to someone they feel superior to (and how can some of the Ivy students avoid such feelings?). I never said that all Ivy leaguers are puffed up and jerky in their own mind did I? Nevertheless, I did say the perception of outsiders might fit this stereotype, if the student themselves aren't arrogant and proud above the crowd. </p>

<p>here's how I put it: "Harvard, et al. coeds are probably puffed up a little more than needed<--if not for themselves, at least as perceived by others."</p>

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<p>I have seen the movie, which is why I disagree with you.</p>

<p>I prefer this simple interpretation of the scene:</p>

<p>Matt takes down the jerk, not because he goes to Harvard, but because he is a pompous ass. Minnie is impressed, not because of his rough background, but because he is so smart and because he took down the jerk.</p>

<p>But back in post #7 you injected the notion that this scene is a big victory for anyone who didn't go to a fancy school - '"top of the world" diddly tech' as you put it. I don't think it is anything of the sort. I think is says something much more about pompous people vs regular people, or college people vs. blue-collar working people. I don't think Matt was attacking Harvard, or Harvard people, per se, because as I said, Minnie is also a Harvard student and we are not meant to hate her. If we were supposed to sneer at Harvard people, Matt would have written the bar scene for him, after disposing of the jerk, to turn around and walk away from her too - right after delivering some withering put-down. </p>

<p>So the conflict here is not Harvard vs. non-Harvard college, or Ivy college vs. non-Ivy collge. It is college vs. no college and rich vs. poor.</p>

<p>So getting back to your post #7, the scene should not, as you suggest, be viewed as a victory for all of us college people who, like me, didn't go to a fancy college like Harvard. It's a victory for all the smart people who didn't go to college at all. But my guess is you won't find many people fitting that description here on CC. This is the college and college-bound crowd.</p>

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<p>Right, which is confusing. The term "coeds" means women who are attending college, so you seem to be talking about the Minnie Driver character. But again, she is not the villain in the scene. The jerk is.</p>

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<p>Well, your opinion of the movie scene differs from mine. </p>

<p>I take the scene as a conflict of stereotypical elitism found at certain schools vs. educated "blue collar" folk (whether they went to college or not) and rich vs. poor, or rather haves vs. have nots, according to petty social rankings. Skylar does have a pompous way about her, especially when she asks Will if he loves her as if he is supposed to. Also I don't think she ends up finishing her degree and was only at the school for her dad or something (i'll have to go back and re-watch it, because I think there is some dialogue about such).</p>

<p>You have to admit, though, that in the real world, someone who isn't affiliated with Harvard in some way would probably be socially shunned at this Harvard bar, or at least around a group of Harvard students. Especially if they were to admit that they go to "nobody knows my school" State. </p>

<p>Ofcourse, you might be an advocate for the pompous crowds found at schools like Harvard et al. (not just Ivies, but others that attract this attitude), and you may be able to respond with an argument that completely shows how students at prestigious schools are never haughty, and include everybody into their clubs. LOL, that would go against every grain of the way our higher education system is set up!</p>

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<p>I admit no such thing. In fact I deny it based on personal experience. As has been pointed out, my daughter attends Harvard, and she and her Harvard friends are simply not part of any haughty crowd. They haven't joined any exclusive clubs and they hang out with plenty of non-Harvard kids. In fact her best very friends go to ordinary state schools. </p>

<p>I don't think you have ever spent any time at Harvard or hung out with any real Harvard students. You seem to be basing everything you know about the place on tiresome stereotypes and the scripts of Hollywood movies. The Harvard kids I know don't go around "shunning" anyone. They all seem like very regular kids to me, perhaps a little wittier than average, but certainly no snottier as a group than any other group of college-age kids I know. Not that I think all Harvard kids are perfect. I'm sure there are some real arrogant jerks at Harvard. There must be - just like there are everywhere. I just haven't met any of them yet, which makes me think that they are relatively rare.</p>

<p>I don't know where you went/are going/will go to college, but you seem to have an enormous chip on your shoulder about fancy colleges. You should get over it. I went to UC Davis, a regular state school, and I'm proud of it. My education has served me well, and I don't feel the least need to show up, or take down, or somehow get even with graduates of fancier schools. Life is too short to spend time feeling inadequate over nonsense like that.</p>

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she and her Harvard friends are simply not part of any haughty crowd.

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<p>I said, "someone who isn't affiliated with Harvard in some way would probably be socially shunned at this Harvard bar, or at least around a group of Harvard students.</p>

<p>You, obviously, and your daughter, and her friends ARE affiliated in some way with Harvard.... so you didn't make a very strong point. I left a probably in there, which gives way for some doubt. </p>

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I don't know where you went/are going/will go to college, but you seem to have an enormous chip on your shoulder about fancy colleges.

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<p>Where do you derive this from? </p>

<p>I go to Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. I'm in love with the school I go to...wouldn't go anywhere else. It has top of the line facilities, small class sizes, and a well-rounded student body. My whole posting was in regards to the OP and how some schools, which are great schools, are over looked...My original intent was not to ruffle you or your daughters Harvard feathers, but more just to give a way for people to "let it go" when they feel inadequate (quite easy on this site if you aren't amongst the students attending big time schools according to USNWR and it's Ivy league team of editors).<br>
The argument you and I have indulged in seem to be more about personal opinion regarding Matt Damon's character in Good Will Hunting, which I enjoy for some of the underdog features he portrays... I am one for the underdog, it's in my nature. And if it weren't for the filter put on by my employer (which only allows education or business sites for me to browse while I work), I probably wouldn't spend much time on this site, because I don't fully relate anymore (I'm a senior in college, and pretty much have decided where I'm going for grad school, and feel it's adequate enough)... I do like to argue points and play devil's advocate, however, and so I have found myself in the middle of some debates here. And at times, I have found myself with defensive feelings because of the way some of the "I'm so elite" attitudes make their points.</p>

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<p>As I said but you apparently missed: "They haven't joined any exclusive clubs and they hang out with plenty of non-Harvard kids. In fact her best very friends go to ordinary state schools."</p>

<p>The non-Harvard kids are perfectly welcome at Harvard and in the Cambridge area. Next time you are in the Boston are stop in - wear your Westiminster hoodie for good measure. Get a burger and buy a beer - I'm sure you'll feel as welcome as you would in any college town. In fact my daughter often wears her old Berkeley hoodie around campus because she likes it, and she has never been shunned on account of that.</p>

<p>Look, one thing that is unusual about Harvard compared to man other schools is that it is a popular tourist destination. Families, high school kids, people on vacation, curious foreigners, and even large guided tour groups are constantly trooping through campus and the surrounding area. They are a daily presence on the campus and in the surrounding area - eating at restaurants and yes, drinking in the bars. So it's just not practical for Harvard students to develop snotty attitutudes about strangers in their midst. To do so they would have to be perpetually in shunning mode, since the outsiders are always right there.</p>

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<p>People on this site need to learn to quote...it is quite handy</p>

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quoting is fun

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