<p>S reports he has found students at UChicago to be very supportive of one another. He says the 2nd year & up students often try to be available to give advice and help the first year students. He also likes how the students feel free to argue, question, and explore topics together even if one is not taking the course.</p>
<p>My favorite story from first year were the House (somewhat) enforced Sunday night, 10 or 11 pm, study breaks where they would provide such things as root beer floats to the students in the common area.</p>
<p>Stanford is another good choice. In fact that is one reason my son chose it, and chose not to apply to some other schools, where he had heard of cutthroat competition such as mentioned earlier in this thread. Stanford, perhaps because of that nice California sunshine, tends to be more laid back and foster a cooperative atmosphere, even though the academics are, of course, excellent.</p>
<p>Boston College is very selective but I know a pre-med student who transferred from there to Bates. He said the Bates pre-med classes are MUCH more difficult and competitive.</p>
<p>Harvard was certainly not cutthroat when I attended and I had the impression that it hadn't changed significantly in this respect from the intern I had last spring. I do think it varies a lot by major however. What happens at Harvard I think is that kids get cutthroat about their ECs and then end up cramming for coursework.</p>
<p>emeraldkity says:
[quote]
I also however, wouldn't call Reed selective as the term is often used- re USNEWS ranking- while the GPA and SATs and high, and their admittance rate is getting lower all the time, the graduation rate isn't as high as other schools ranked higher-& I think didn't USNEWS
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<p>I have two Reedies (one current, one graduated) and I've gotta say there's no way Reed isn't "selective." What US N&WR has to say about it is irrelevant because Reed long ago ceased to cooperate with their commercial "ratings." I absolutely agree, though, that academics at Reed would be highly stressful for any but the geekiest of geeks, and that the stress comes from Reed's intellectual culture. They certainly do know how to have fun. D is ecstatic.</p>
<p>well ya- ;) thats why I made sure to make it clear that I was using USNEWS reference points- since many of those that read the boards do still seem to use USNEWS as the standard
and I did say that their GPA & SATs are high, even higher than when D applied, and they were pretty high then.
However- I hope that Reed continues to use other measures for admittance than numbers, because that makes for a more interesting class-instead of only looking at the very top ranked students, so that they will continue to admit students like my D, whose numbers weren't high, but who was able to benefit from the environment.
I think they continue to have students who self select, several students of my aquaintance for example, who were intriqued by Reed, decided not to even apply after a visit- strictly because of the workload- so even while their admit rate is lower than in the past, it still isn't as low as other schools with comparable student body.</p>
<p>I think Brown fits this description perfectly. You can pick each and every course you take (excepting the required ones for your concentration...but you should like your concentration anyway), you can pick your grading option, I've never ever seen anyone refuse to help out another student, professors are accessible, etc. We don't have the "happiest students" for no reason.</p>
<p>UChicago definitely has co-operative learning and a supportive environment, but it's in no way "relaxed." I think the schools with the least stressed and most relaxed students would be ones with easier grading systems and lenient rules for dropping and retaking classes.</p>
<p>Wesleyan is a great school with so much help available to those who want it, it's "almost" easy. Schools with this type of support would fit the OP's bill, I think.</p>
<p>mathmom: I don't know if Harvard and the perception of cutthroat varies from 1 major to another. However I can tell you that my daughter is premed and life sciences 1a is made up of mainly premed and they are certainly not cutthroat.</p>
<p>Well I've been at Stanford for a quarter now and I can say that even though the academics are definitely not the easiest in the world (I spent two weeks pretty much living in the library!) the support you get at Stanford is amazing. Everyone helps everyone else (I have personally gived and recieved a lot of help this quarter) and there is no cut throatness whatsoever.</p>
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<p>The perception that Harvard is cutthroat, elitist or all the other garbage that people throw around is total nonsense.<<</p>
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<p>I agree with DocT. D is in her junior year now she's has to work very hard on her academics but has always found Harvard to be a helpful and cooperative place rather than cutthroat. I don't know why people insist on keeping that canard going. Just part of the perpetual H-bashing I guess.</p>
<p>These are different editions of the same book by Howard Greene. The books are a bit dated,but I doubt the results would change. Greene surveyed students at about 20 top schools. One question he asked was something like "Are your classmates cutthroat?" Not a single student at Wesleyan said yes. One half of one per cent of Brown students did. Forty per cent of Johns Hopkins students said yes. (That was the highest.) </p>
<p>While I admit the surveys were done about 10 years ago, I still think that quick look at that chart in the book is a good way to get a general idea of how competitive students are at the 20 or so schools surveyed. It helps too to keep in mind that at all of the schools surveyed, the MAJORITY of students said that their classmates were not cutthroat.</p>
<p>I agree with Coureur and DocT too. My daughter finds her peers at Harvard more than willing to help each other out and eager to participate in study groups. Many are indeed passionate about their ECs.</p>
<p>The ongoing Harvard bashing is an enigma to me. I find the kids there to be very happy, and they definitely appreciate the opportunities that the school as well as Cambridge and Boston offer.</p>
<p>The OP had nothing to do with which schools are "cut-throat" but rather were intense-difficult academically. From what I can tell both the University of Chicago and Reed aren't cut-throat at all, but are certainly a difficult row to hoe academically. Same with Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Cornell is also supposed to be intense and Stanford relaxed. My son, who recently graduated from an Ivy, had friends who did a term at Stanford. They found it very relaxed with a lighter workload than they had been used to.</p>
<p>Danas - I've heard that over and over again too. Suffice it to say that it's not true. </p>
<p>Harvard is not the most relaxed school academically. The students work hard ... however, they don't work against each other. In fact, one of the best things about Harvard is how the students enjoy learning from one another.</p>
<p>I think every college has its share of students who are competitive. It's not unique to the most selective schools.
I used to tell my S that after high school, college would be easier as there would be only four courses per semester instead of the 7 or 8 he used to take. Ha!</p>
<p>I'm sure there are gut courses if you want to seek them out. And there are profs who may grade more generously than others. But that's not why people apply to Harvard and that is not the main criterion for choosing classes. Next semester. my S will have three problem sets per week and will probably take a course with 150 pages of reading per week. But he will have the support of his study groups mates, some of whom he got to know as a freshman. He won't be stressed, I hope; but he won't be basking in idleness just because he got into Harvard already.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
My son, who recently graduated from an Ivy, had friends who did a term at Stanford. They found it very relaxed with a lighter workload than they had been used to.
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Well I have to say that it really depends on the workload they had and the type of courses they took. I can tell you for sure that the workload for engineering majors and permeds is no joke.</p>