<p>With respect to the snootiness, you’ll generally find students open and friendly, but if you are from a low-income background, you can feel unintentially excluded at times. Low-income is quite relative in the elite-school context, also. I go to another top-10 school, and supposedly the average family pulls in nearly 250,000/year, which I’m told is on par with other elite schools. So, while my family is by no means poor, it makes quite a bit less than the average.</p>
<p>What I mean by exclusion is that you will see other students eat out on a regular basis, talk about topics or hobbies to which it is difficult to relate–for instance, quail hunting and golfing–and perhaps take vacations to places that aren’t in your budget. Some people go to Europe for Spring break and spend summers in the Hamptons or Martha’s Vineyard. However, these statements don’t apply to everyone, and I believe most schools have reached the point where ~50% of their students are now on financial aid of some form.</p>