Where are all the middle-of-the-road kids?

<p>Hi,
I'm from small-town Ohio, and my NY LAC has been such a huge shock.</p>

<p>I don't consider myself liberal or conservative, preppy or hipster, rich, or poor.</p>

<p>I hate pretension and elitism.</p>

<p>Where are all the normal people? Should I go back to the Midwest? I miss the nice, friendly, completely laid-back ppl I knew in high school. Everyone seems so ambitious, elitist, snobby, and a little strange. Everyone is so obsessed with reaching the top, making a lot of money, and celebrities. What is with the pop culture obsession? My friends in HS could care less.</p>

<p>And is it just me, or has the East Coast city chic taken over the mainstream fashion? It seems to be everywhere these days.</p>

<p>You won't find any of them here, that's for sure. </p>

<p>That's one of the reasons why I am glad I don't go to a "good" school. In place of grade-grubbers we have people that've decided they'd rather be at their part-time job working than in class or doing homework, though. Puts a bit of a damper on group projects and whatnot. Wish they'd just drop out entirely.</p>

<p>i feel your pain OP. i come from a family/school taht is very laid back. my parents never really stressed grades in high school (although for some reason they care now that im in college) and my friends were all really chill. Sometimes i wish i went to junior college with them because the kids going to the big universities are so much different than i am. I definately feel that everyone is trying to reach the top, and not only that, but leave everyone else at the bottom. Also the materialistic mayhem is not only disgusting but also makes me mad. Im hoping ill get used to it here, but it seems unlikely.</p>

<p>I don't understand the question. Elitist, snobby, politically polemical people come with the territory you've chosen... a New York liberal arts school.</p>

<p>What were you expecting? People from/going to college in arguably the biggest, most important city in the world, and majoring in some type of political/historical subject wouldn't have extreme outlooks and severe prejudices associated with those views?</p>

<p>Yeah maybe a big state school would have been a better bet with a nice variety of socioeconomic classes and modest kids. I'm sure there are some exceptions but Ohio State is probably a great example.</p>

<p>Although from what I gather that may be too big for you. In that case, a regional public university would be best. I don't know of them in Ohio but in Wisconsin we have a "UW System" with campuses as small as 4,000 people, most of them being fairly reputable.</p>

<p>or maybe somewhere like earlham or depauw, which are more regional LACs but still offer a good academic program.</p>

<p>that's why im glad I didn't goto my first choice school... it was in NYC and I'm not really the city type (as I type this in Los Angeles) i don't know, I didn't think i would fit in at NYU.</p>

<p>If you wanted to live a quiet life, eh, wrong place. NYC is the most important city in the world with probably the most educated urbanite population. These people want to reach for the top and they know it. </p>

<p>If you just want to live a life of mediocracy, go back to the Midwest. You can't hack it on this coast.</p>

<p>::If you just want to live a life of mediocracy, go back to the Midwest.::</p>

<p>I think that's going a bit too far. Things are a bit more slow paced in the midwest, true, but people have aspirations and goals the same as anywhere else. Not to mention the fact that there are plenty of top universities in the midwest, as well as outstanding LACs. NYC is just too abrasive for some people, it has nothing to do with mediocrity (by the way, clearly you don't go to school in NYC, because if you did you would know that it's mediocrity, not mediocracy, which has an entirely different meaning. this coming from someone who studies in the midwest! ha!)</p>

<p>I guess NYC wasn't the right choice for you :( Sorry to hear that.</p>

<p>Im from Virginia, NOVA specifically, although its not really southern in culture, it's still more hospitable than New York. NY is one hell of an experience, in a positive way, for me at least...</p>

<p>But for you the culture shock must've been pretty bad, from what it sounds like...sorry man.</p>

<p>I know what you mean, I'm in a super-competitive NYC public high school right now with all the grade-grubbers. I think if you look hard enough in any place you can find the more laid-back people--there are seven million people in NYC, and not all of them are bankers/lawyers/doctors/investors!</p>

<p>I'm getting to love NYC more and more, in certain ways, but I also think it'd be nice to live somewhere less...overwhelming for a change. I have family in Canada, and I think I might want to live there when I'm older--compared to America in general, Canada is a little gentler, less cutthroat, more balanced and with less extremes of wealth and poverty.</p>

<p>Uh, people, the OP never said s/he actually went to school in NYC. The state's a lot bigger than just a few square miles.</p>

<p>Personally I was surprised with the large amount of hipsters/scenesters when I got to college - at my high school we had a few people wearing studded belts and the one girl who'd dyed her hair purplish-grey and listened to metal, but that's about it. I was also surprised to find that while I thought my family was strictly average in terms of income and whatnot, and most of my town would have agreed with me, college was full of people whose parents made twice as much as mine and thought that they were strictly average. I'd also gotten used to assuming I was smarter than about 99% of the school. I think that's where a lot of the shock comes from, not used to being around such people, if you haven't spent the past 4 years of your life in some super elite private prep school where everyone spends all their time preparing to attend a super elite private university.</p>

<p>So I wrote a nice long reply to everyone, then lost it. So I rewrote it, and lost it again. Guess it's just not meant to be. I'll try again later. So for now, I'll just say, I don't go to school in NYC, I go to Vassar in the Hudson Valley, 70 miles North of NYC.</p>

<p>I say just deal with it.</p>