Just wondering if anyone knows which school has quirkier students? Just looking for a school culture that is warm and welcoming, not a lot of “cool” kids (because want them to be accepting of and friends with a quirkier student). Any opinions or information would be great. My son is not interested in Greek life or club sports. Thx!
Rochester has by far the largest percentage of international students (17%), which may increase the range of student types with which your son could associate.
It’s probably a toss-up between Rochester and Tufts, but Tufts definitely tries to portray itself as “quirky” and “nerdy”, while Rochester is a little less quirky but probably more nerdy. Tufts has the fewest fraternities of the three. That said, it’s still a lot more traditional that most LACs (esp. Bard, Reed, Marlboro, etc) and fraternities do dominate the social scene at Tufts for a large percentage of students. And while sports do not factor heavily into campus culture, Tufts has very successful athletics and it can feel pretty jocky if you eat at at Dewick. (eat at Carm instead)
Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin, Vassar, Wesleyan, Kenyon (ish), Knox College, Whitman, Earlham, Guilford, Sarah Lawrence are some others. And of course Brown is the “quirky” Ivy. Of these Carleton is probably the closest to what you are describing.
But warm and welcoming sounds like Colleges That Change Lives: ctcl.org.
Rochester. It has affinity with Chicago, which supposedly defines “quirky”. WUStL has a vibrant arts program that may give it a quirky edge but its core is NE establishment and Midwest conservative. Tufts is not quirky but may be relatively “warm and welcoming” compared to the nearby Ivy.
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Thanks so much for your replies. If anyone else has experience with any of these three schools and can give me a general feel for the student body I would really appreciate it (quirky vs. very mainstream, dominance of Greek life, drinking culture, friendliness of the student body, etc…) Thanks so much!
Generally, UAA schools tend not to be associated with drinking cultures relative to other colleges.
What are UAA schools? Not sure what UAA means…
The University Athletic Association.
Got it. So that would be U Rochester and Wash U. I have heard that Emory has a fairly strong Greek presence and a lot of drinking on that campus. Don’t know if that’s true.
As for URoch particularly, my relative stayed for an overnight there and had a good experience. She would definitely have reported negatively if she had perceived a drinking culture. She was not specifically seeking quirky, however.
All three schools were on D’s “short list.” Rochester was her first choice, at least in part because she found the campus culture most like what she was looking for.
I would definitely say that the students at Rochester tend to be more nerdy than quirky. The culture is also very accepting and open minded, though, which means there’s probably a niche for just about everyone. I’ve met preppy kids and quirky kids, conservative kids and liberal kids, jocks and musicians. And they all seem to get along for the most part. “You do you” is sort of a mantra.
To me, Rochester seems to have a combination of midwestern “niceness”, NYC acceptance of diversity, and the variation in POV that comes from having a lot of multicultural students.
There is a Greek system and some drinking on campus. The Greek system does not predominate the social scene, even if you’re in a fraternity or sorority yourself. Like with most schools, there are parties with drinking on campus. But, again, it’s not something that is necessarily at the center of the social life for most students. Because there’s not a huge sports culture there, weekends during the fall are not dedicated to tailgating and football like they are at some schools.
I do think the social scene at Rochester may be more campus-centered than that at Tufts, though. At Tufts, Davis Square with lots of dining and entertainment, is right there. Rochester doesn’t really have anything like that nearby, so off-campus fun tends to be more planned than spontaneous.
I’m not sure what “quirky” means to you, but Wash U is the least economically diverse of all the elite universities in America. So if quirky is there, it’s going to be the “upper middle class or wealthy” kind of quirky.
Tufts’ Quidditch team was formed in 2009, U Rochester’s in 2010, Wash U’s in 2011. So there you have it, solid evidence to support my claims.
Thanks so much @EllieMom for all the great information! Did your daughter end up going to U Rochester? Is she happy? It does seem like there are fewer things to do socially (other than parties) at Rochester and Wash U since their campuses are more enclosed than Tufts which is one of my concerns. To give you a better idea- my son isn’t really nerdy, he is more intellectual than nerdy and kind of awkward. Also, since he isn’t interested in parties and drinking and does not watch or play sports, it makes it difficult to find the right school for him. I am worried that Wash U may be too mainstream, Rochester may have too many international students that he may have trouble connecting with and that Tufts’ students may have a more artsy flare and be more earthy/hippie-ish than my son is usually friends with. Any additional information would be great. Have you scene the Wash U campus? Any opinions of that one?
@hardworking99, I wouldn’t worry about your son at tufts. I have a son who’s a junior at tufts and he & his friends aren’t the least bit hippy/earthy. He’ll find his peeps there.
Thanks @RenaissanceMom. That is definitely good to know!!
@hardworking99 Yes, D is at Rochester now. She loves it. My description of her would sound a lot like your description of your son. And she’s definitely found her niche at Rochester. There’s a large international student population, but because all the freshman live in the same dorms, everybody sort of mingles together. Some of D’s closest friends are international students, but the fact that someone is from Jeddah or Hong Kong is just an interesting detail about their background, like being from Chicago or San Francisco. PM me if you’d like more info. I’d be glad to share more details privately.
We also toured WUSL, and I was blown away by the campus and the “South Forty” residential area. WOW! It’s beautiful. I don’t know as much about the campus vibe there. We had heard that there tends to be some separation based on SES because of the difference in dorm costs and a more competitive atmosphere among the premed students. Those were two things that sort of turned my daughter off. But, honestly, it’s only heresay and could be completely off-base. She also did not like the fact that the Greek scene is so big at WUSL. Ironically, however, she joined a sorority at Rochester and says it’s nothing like how she imagined it before going to college. I think part of the issue is that Greek life varies from campus to campus. At Rochester, it’s pretty laid back, inclusive, and not very expensive. But that’s not the case everywhere. I’m not sure what it’s like at WUSL.
I’d say it’s a tossup between Tufts and Rochester…with the edge going to Tufts.
However, neither are as quirky in student culture compared to schools like Reed, Oberlin, or Antioch…especially when I attended Oberlin in the mid-late '90s.
That wasn’t what I observed during my multiple visits to Tufts nor was it the experience of HS classmates and friends…including a post-college roommate I lived with for several years had. While Tufts does have fraternities, they didn’t dominate the campus social scene.
Incidentally, the greek social scene seemed more prevalent at Rochester…especially for the engineering/tech majors.
Had one HS classmate friend who pledged to a fraternity as an engineering major and an older cousin who declined. Both loved Rochester…and the cousin ended up getting his MS in engineering from Tufts and said he only went because his employer was paying full cost so long as his grades were B or higher.
Also, from my visits and chats with a relative and friends who are Tufts alums, the campus can be pretty quiet on the college weekends because most tend to go into Cambridge or Boston for college parties(especially at MIT as they had the reputation of throwing some of the best college parties in the Boston area) or for restaurants/nightlife.
Another reason why I found the comment about greek life dominance at Tufts to be a bit odd.
@cobrat yes I was just saying that when students choose to stay on campus, frat parties are really the only large group social events, except for a dance or two here and there. There are smaller (~20 ppl) parties at off-campus houses but these are mostly upperclassmen. So you are right, they don’t dominate the social scene but mostly because it is so fragmented (including MIT’s famous parties). I am getting this from D19 who is pretty anti-greek and feels like “everyone” joined a sorority last year so it may be a little biased.
Don’t know if you’ve said this before, but where does your daughter go to school? @ormdad