<p>Which of the ivy league schools has the worst social scene and worst u-grad experience?</p>
<p>I've often heard that Harvard's social scene isn't one of the best... any confirmation/rebuttal?</p>
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I've often heard that Harvard's social scene isn't one of the best..
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<p>Well, what else do you expect at Harvard? Beer pong and dance parties?</p>
<p>Kowloon,
I asked a similar question in 2007 and created a thread about social life of the USNWR Top 20 national universities. Different things will appeal to different people so one person’s “worst” may not be seen that way by all. To help frame the comparisons, I also set out the following 10 criteria for evaluating the social life at a college:</p>
<p>*Welcoming nature and friendliness of the students
*Musical scene (both locally and for bands that come through)
*Athletic scene for entertainment purposes, ie, sports teams
*Greek life (good or bad)
*Strength of party scene
*Size, diversity and cohesiveness of the student body and how this impacts social life
*Weather and its impact on social activities
*Proximity to urban life/arts
*Student activities including community service, club activities, intramural sports, etc.
*Alcohol and drug scene</p>
<p>This wasn’t as popular a thread as I had hoped and thus not a deep sample, but for those who responded, for the subset of Ivy colleges, the rank order from best to worst social life was as follows:</p>
<p>U Penn
Dartmouth
Brown
Princeton
Cornell
Yale
Columbia
Harvard</p>
<p>If you or others want to post your own ideas, perhaps even including all of the Top 20, I’d be interested to read any thoughts that you or others have on these colleges.</p>
<p>I just had my Cornell interview with an alumni near my area.</p>
<p>And he says it is TOTALLY AWESOME/ Beer pong and crazy stuffs everywhere.</p>
<p>but seriously, i hope Cornell has the best scene. ^^</p>
<p>"undergraduate experience" is a broad term that means different things to different people.</p>
<p>One person's ideal undergraduate experience could be the exact opposite of 'best social scene' because they're a total nerd and hate people.</p>
<p>The two people I know at UPenn just get drunk every weekend at frat parties and obsess about their girlfriends who are 1500 miles away. It sounds like a really miserable place. But I guess it depends on what you like to do for fun. I'm not big on just drinking until I end up vomiting on the bathroom fall and then talking about how awesome it was the next morning and repeating it again that night. But I'm sure since it's in Philly, there are alternatives to frat parties.</p>
<p>There's no real answer to this question since it really depends on who you are. The best we can say is that they are different.</p>
<p>In my experience the best (most active) are Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton and maybe Brown. Columbia has the weakest campus social scene.</p>
<p>Columbia's social scene isn't constant parties, of course, but the students are very actively involved in city life. They all really seem to enjoy Manhattan. </p>
<p>Cornell and Dartmouth offer the most traditional college experience, IMO.</p>
<p>that's WHY Columbia kids aren't as involved in campus life...because they are involved in city life.</p>
<p>Me, I want some time with college life. I have the rest of my life to do city life.</p>
<p>^^ well, how is Penn's social scene? Do the students leave campus a lot because it's Philly?</p>
<p>The "traditional" social scene in the Ivy League is pretty terrible from top to bottom any way you look at it. If you're looking for strong Greek life or just generally a good campus party scene without sacrificing top-notch academics, check out Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, a good state school(Virginia, Maryland, Michigan) etc.</p>
<p>If by "traditional" social scene, you mean getting drunk off your *** after a tailgate, or going to your twelfth house/frat party by Tuesday then, yes, the Ivies are somewhat lacking (particularly in the first regard), but if you mean a collegiate atmosphere and active social scene, then the Ivies aren't that bad -- except for Harvard and Columbia. Of course, no Ivy can compare to Duke or Stanford (especially Stanford) socially. You get everything there -- sports, top academics, name recognition, decent weather -- except a decent college town. They are the ideal research universities in my opinion.</p>
<p>Then again, a big Greek scene isn't everyone's idea of a great college social scene. You might not have noticed, but they aren't very inclusive or diverse (the token Asian 'brother' ain't diversity). Consequently some students feel excluded from the school social scene if they aren't a part of the largely white fraternity system -- particularly minorities and males that weren't chosen. And everyone isn't a sports fanatic (though if you go to Stanford for a semester or two, you will be). Big tailgates and house parties aren't everyone's cup of beer either. Some would take a cohesive campus community brimming with diversity that's entirely inclusive over a 'traditional' one dominated by Greek life, campus parties, and sports any day. </p>
<p>I wouldn't -- I'd just go to Stanford or Duke -- but some would.</p>
<p>NearL,
I don’t know if I am misreading your comments, but your comments come off rather harshly toward the “traditional social scene” and in the process indirectly impugn some pretty darn good colleges. Parties and Greek life are important parts of several campuses, but there is a lot more going on and a lot more “diversity” there than you may realize. </p>
<p>For example, look at Northwestern. Northwestern has a major sporting environment and an attractive tailgating scene for its football games. The school also has 32% of its men in fraternities, 38% of its women in sororities, yet I doubt that students there would say that it dominates the social life of the school. In fact, I would guess that students at Northwestern would say that there is a very cohesive campus community and one that displays a great deal of diversity. In fact, measured as a combination of the % of students who disclose their race, Northwestern has 30 % Asian/Black/Hispanic which ties with U Penn and is a larger total percentage than three of the Ivy colleges (Yale, Cornell, and Dartmouth). Diversity has been spreading at all of the top colleges and all now have sizable (and growing) percentages on their campuses. </p>
<p>I will, however, agree with your comment that the “traditional” social scene or a large athletic scene aren’t for everyone, but they are valued and enjoyed by a lot of students and may be of interest to many students looking for their right college fit.</p>
<p>And, fwiw, I think that Stanford and Duke are the two best colleges in the country and offer the best balance of great academics, great social life, and great athletic environment of any in the country.</p>
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well, how is Penn's social scene? Do the students leave campus a lot because it's Philly?
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<p>Philadelphia is a wonderful little city but it is not New York City--which in the case of those in search of a somewhat traditional 'woo! college' sort of experience, is to Philly's benefit.</p>
<p>While people will go downtown (I myself have gone downtown 3 times this week--once for banking, twice for restaurant adventures), the Penn center of gravity is definitely on Penn's campus. This is because Penn is bigger, Philly is smaller and Penn is much closer to the downtown area (~20 blocks) so leaving isn't really a big deal--you can always come back in as little as 15 mins</p>
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little city
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<p>... little city? It's a big city, methinks. Not as big as NY--which is a metropolis--but still pretty big. =p</p>
<p>The funny thing is, I go to a school that's often billed as having the "worst" social life (the U of Chicago), which, after a year and a half of being here, I've decided is the silliest thing, as a party is a party, and we have them too (along with lots of other activities).</p>
<p>I've had friends who have had friends from other colleges visit for the weekend from "party schools" (schools like UC-Boulder, Vanderbilt, Miami). These kids went to our parties, and even they conceded it was more or less the same thing. Alcohol+music+a tad of sexual tension= a good time, no matter what, no matter where. It's a good formula to remember!</p>
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that's WHY Columbia kids aren't as involved in campus life...because they are involved in city life.
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That's what I was saying. </p>
<p>But I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Not everyone wants the traditional beer-and-frat-parties experience. Some people prefer the more eclectic, urban experience. It all comes down to personal preference. </p>
<p>Thus, I wouldn't say that Columbia's social life is bad...just different.</p>
<p>According to the US Census Bureau the definition of "metropolis" in the United States is 50,000 people in a single incorporated area.</p>
<p>By that definition, University City itself is a metropolis!</p>
<p>A more interesting definition is the GaWC 'Global Cities' system (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city</a>)</p>
<p>It counts New York City as an "Alpha" world city (think Brave New World). Then comes beta and gamma and then a fourth "D" category of "cities with evidence of world city formation." This category is further subdivided into "D1 - strong evidence" "D2 - some evidence" and "D3 - minimal evidence" Philadelphia falls into D1.</p>
<p>As for Ivy cities overall, we have:</p>
<p>Alpha: New York City
Beta: Boston
Gamma: none
D1: Philadelphia
D2: none
D3: none</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, New Haven and Providence fail to make it into even D3, meaning they lose out to such urban luminaries as Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Tijuana, and Baltimore.</p>
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According to the US Census Bureau the definition of "metropolis" in the United States is 50,000 people in a single incorporated area.
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<p>What does "incorporated area" mean, exactly? I'm thinking density, which would make sense -- I wouldn't consider Philly a "metropolis," but parts of New York definitely seem like a metropolis -- like Manhattan, which supposedly has ~67,000/sq mile.</p>
<p>I was going by my own perception of "metropolis," which has always been "omg big city." 100,000 to me is a small city. 1 million+ is a large city (though many cities, such as SF, seem like large cities, even though they don't have quite 1 million).</p>
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Alpha: New York City
Beta: Boston
Gamma: none
D1: Philadelphia
D2: none
D3: none
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<p>So... Philly falls into the "troll" category? =p</p>
<p>I think defining cities should be largely based on density, and perhaps a little on crime rate (both of which seem to be positively correlated, so the latter may be superfluous). And Philly is denser than LA. It would seem that students would leave Penn to go out into the city often, though that's just speculation. You're the expert here. =)</p>