Absolutely Unique Features About Colleges?

College Search & Lists
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<p>It seems like every time I visit a college, students will say, when asked what makes their college unique, something like “the quality of the athletic facilities” or the “accessibility and friendliness of the faculty”. These are kind of generic answers that, aside from being rather subjective, don’t really make the school UNIQUE.</p>

<p>My question is, what are some ABSOLUTELY INDISPUTABLY UNIQUE features about certain colleges (it could be academics-related or not) that you can think of?</p>

<p>One that comes to mind is Bjorklunden at Lawrence University. I can’t think of any other school with a private lakeside retreat where classes are available.</p>

<p>Another one is the free fifth year at Rochester, an option for those who want to learn simply for the sake of learning. Don’t know of any other program like this.</p>

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<p>Cornell
New York State land grant Ivy League with agriculture school, hotel school, labor relations school, and many programs unique among Ivies, beautiful hilltop campus location with deep gorges and mountain streams that gush after rain and in the spring.</p>

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<p>Princeton has eating clubs?</p>

<p>Dartmouth has the D-plan?</p>

<p>Brown has no curriculum?</p>

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<p>Harvard has a five billion dollar endowment :)</p>

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<p>Vandy’s campus is a deignated a national arboretum and has one of every tree indiginous to Tennessee on campus.</p>

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<p>corrections:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>harvard has a $35 billion endowment</p></li>
<li><p>brown has an open curriculum (as does amherst, and some other schools)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>also,</p>

<ol>
<li><p>eating clubs at princeton are similar to societies at several other ivies</p></li>
<li><p>the d-plan at dartmouth is similar to the system at northwestern and several other schools</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>Vanderbilt has no athletic department; all the varsity teams are under the student life department.</p>

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</p>

<p>Not exactly. You join an eating club at the end of sophomore year. Some are selective (you go through a process known as ‘bicker’), while others are first-come first-serve and you simply sign up - there’s nothing selective about them (other than the fact that it costs money to join). You take your meals at the club, and much of your social life revolves around it. A large proportion of Princeton students belongs to a club. </p>

<p>In contrast, the Final clubs at Harvard and the secret societies at Yale involve only a small proportion of students, and in the case of Yale they’re only for seniors. They’re a very small part of campus life, while at Princeton the eating clubs loom large and in many ways set the tone for social events on campus.</p>

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<p>Duke: K-ville :)</p>

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<p>What is an eating club?</p>

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<p>Stanford: it’s in possibly the most expensive area in the US. :p</p>

<p>It also has a huge arboretum and owns the largest contiguous area of land among colleges. (I probably say this because I’m a tree-hugger. :))</p>

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<p>DougBetsy, Wikipedia gives a good explanation: [Eating</a> clubs (Princeton University)](<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_clubs_(Princeton_University]Eating"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_clubs_(Princeton_University)&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>College of the Holy Cross (west of Boston) is the oldest Catholic College in New England (20 years older than BC) and its campus is a registered arboretum with 1,000 trees on campus, representing over 600 different species. It is the top ranked Catholic College on the US News & World Report rankings for liberal arts colleges.</p>

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<p>Stanford has 27,000+ individual trees growing on central campus alone. I don’t even know how many in total. ;)</p>

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<p>Cornell College in Iowa and Colorado College have one-course-at-a-time: You take just one course for three and a half weeks.
St. John’s in New Mexico and Maryland has a true great books curriculum – those are the only textbooks.</p>

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<p>Boston College (not completely unique but whatever)</p>

<p>no greek life at all
more catholics on campus than the vatican
largest jesuit housing in the country (i think?)
name is completely misleading: not really in boston and a university, not a college</p>

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<p>There is only one “national” (federally-supported) arboretum; it’s in Washington DC. However, there are literally hundreds of college campuses that have absolutely gorgeous campuses with open space and lots of trees, flowers, and other plants. Many of these are “official” arboreta – i.e., registered as members of the AABGA – so I would not consider that to be a “unique” qualification.</p>

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<p>Carnegie-Mellon is the only school in the US to offer a bagpipe performance major.</p>

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<p>UCLA, UCI, UCSD, and UC Berkeley all have Asian majority</p>

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<p>Well, unique is a term of art. It doesnt necessarily mean “the only one in the country (world).” It means something special, which may be similar to somewhere else. Something to remember it by.</p>

<p>How about Special Alumni? Fordham: G. Gordon Liddy, Alan Alda, Geraldine Ferraro, Denzel Washington, Vince Lombardi, William Casey (Director of CIA for Reagan). Also, Captain Kangaroo, Frankie Frisch, Charles Osgood (CBS), Mike Breen (ESPN).</p>

<p>Notable faculty include Daniel Berrigan, SJ, Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ (nephew of Allen Dulles and John Foster Dulles: namesakes of Dulles Airport), Marshall McLuhan, Joseph Abboud (fashion designer who used to appear on Don Imus television show a lot), anthropologist Margaret Meade, Nobel Laureate Victor Hess,
How about movies? Fordham: Exorcist partly filmed there and the Jesuit in the movie was a Fordham Jesuit. A Beautiful Mind was about a Princeton Professor (true story), but most of it was filmed at Fordham. Love Story, Kinsey, The Gambler, Awake, Quiz Show and The Verdict were also filmed at Fordham.</p>

<p>The Church on Fordham’s Campus is not a Cathedral, but its stained glass windows were a gift from The King of France and intended to be put in St. Patrick’s Cathedral then under construction, but somehow ended up at Fordham. Call it Jesuit intuition.</p>

<p>Fordham used to be called St. John’s College, but is not affiliated with St. John’s University, another Catholic college in Queens. Its Founder was “Dagger” John Hughes, Archbishop of New York. There is a restaurant on campus called “Dagger John’s”.</p>

<p>Fordham has three campuses: Westchester (graduate school), Lincoln Center (Law School, prestigious Theatre program, and some undergraduates), Rose Hill-Bronx (the original and main campus on 90 acres of lush green lawns, magnolia trees and gothic buildings right smack in the middle of Da Bronx!)</p>

<p>Fordham is adjacent to the Bronx Zoo and New York Botanical Gardens and shares programs with them.</p>

<p>Fordham’s Football team was immortalized as the Seven Blocks of Granite!</p>

<p>Fordham used to have the same colors (magenta) as Harvard. So they decided to settle the dispute about colors over a series of baseball games. Fordham lost and changed to Maroon. But Fordham’s baseball team has produced several major league players. Harvard later abandoned maroon for crimson. True story.</p>

<p>Fordham was at one time considered for inclusion in the Ivy League Athletic Association at its inception, but was voted out because of religious issues. </p>

<p>The basketball gymnasium is the OLDEST basketball gymnasium used for NCAA Division I-A competition in the nation, still in usage.</p>

<p>Fordham has an annual Encaenia, a sort of Lord and Ladies of the Manor celebration for Seniors. Everyone, including faculty processes in their regalia, the Valedictorian gives a speech, and they announce the winner of that year’s Lord and Lady of the Manor award. Its very regal!</p>

<p>The Founder of Fordham was New York’s first Archbishop, John Hughes, D.D.
Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, retired Archbishop of Washington DC, is a Fordham Alumnus, both Fordham Prep and Fordham University. Cardinal McCarrick is not a Jesuit however. He earned his Doctorate at Catholic University and is fluent in seven languages. He is much beloved and is a frequent personage on national television, particularly regarding Papal and Vatican Matters. </p>

<p>Is that enough or unique enough? LOL.</p>

<p>oh…and several Fordham buildings are alleged to be haunted. There have been sightings…not kidding.</p>