A friend of mine knows a kid who is currently at WashU. The kid told him that the student body at WashU is pretty nerdy. I was surprised by that because I’ve read a lot about WashU on here and I’ve never seen any mention of a nerdy student body.
That has me wondering about some other schools my daughter is interested in, but hasn’t visited yet. My daughter isn’t anti-nerd, but I think she is worried about being at a school where the students are too serious. A lot of the reviews on the student review sites seem to equate drinking with non-nerdiness. I don’t think my daughter sees it that way. I don’t think she’s necessarily looking for a crazy drinking culture, but I think she would be unhappy if the kids were on the whole, too serious, too quiet, or not very outgoing.
By the way, I’m not trashing WashU or saying the kids there are like that. I don’t have any details about what the kid at WashU meant by nerdy, and I personally love nerdy people. I’m just trying to give my daughter’s definition of it.
Here are some schools I’m wondering about:
Lafayette
Rice
Georgetown
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
Case Western
Cornell
Dartmouth
UPenn
I’m assuming Vanderbilt and Duke aren’t very nerdy at all, but since I was apparently way off on WashU, I’d like to hear about them too if anyone has an opinion.
Any info about the nerdiness of any of these schools would be greatly appreciated.
My daughter and her boyfriend graduated from Cornell few years ago. They’re the complete opposite of being “nerdy”. Both on attitude and fashion sense. At least on what my definition of the word.
Such a subjective question! :). I think the reality is that any top school is going to have a lot of serious students. Doesn’t necessarily make them “nerdy” by my definition, and partying/drinking varies greatly on your list. Of the schools you listed, I would say Dartmouth has the biggest drinking/partying culture. Probably because of their location.
UPenn is not nerdy! We live in a suburb a few miles away they are diverse and hip. My D and I went to Case last year for accepted students day-verdict is nerdy and owned it. Let your geek flag fly! JHU we went to visit and did not apply. My d said she got a “cut throat vibe”. I got it too. We did not see a lot of students even though it was an active campus day. Can’t speak to the rest.
You might be confusing a serious academic student with the word nerdy. Some might say or say not that a serious academic student is or can be nerdy. I think it’s someone perception vs what they consider themselves. I think your complete list you will have some pretty serious student bodies. Some will tinker towards your perception of nerdy and some won’t. But like being nerdy on some of these campuses can be the new cool… Lol…
Most of the schools will be academically competitive but if you ask the students themselves I don’t think they see it the same way. Hope that makes some sense.
Your list has some very top schools, where for the mostpart you will find students who are there for the academic enrichment opportunities, intellectual stimulation, etc. If she is lookig for a party school, these wouldnt be the primary schools to target, IMO (except for perhaps Dartmouth).
You are targeting schools with strong students who take academics seriously. On the whole. Given that, nerds will represent. For sure.
But each school is not necesssarily monolithic.
Cornell’s student body is, IMO, particularly diverse, due to its differerent colleges. It has a lot of fraternities, sports teams that some people are into, and a large intramural sports program. It still has a lot of nerds though.
Dartmouth has a high percentage of students in fraternities, IIRC.
Some people choose Northwestern vs. some other schools because they care about big-time sports.
If you think “nerds” are more represented in the sciences, you could look at the Common data sets and count which schools have proportionally fewer science & engineering majors. (cough cough Georgetown ?)
If a serious focus on academic success is your definition of “nerdy, then you’ll probably find it at most top academic institutions. That’s how top students get there, by focusing and succeeding at what they do.
If your D is concerned about “nerdy” students and a focus on academic success, perhaps she can Google “Top Party Schools” for some suggestions.
@AlmostThere2018, thanks for the info on John’s Hopkins. We’re going to visit, because my daughter likes what she has heard about the academics, but I’m expecting it to be toward the nerdy side.
@momofsenior1, thanks for the feedback on Dartmouth. That’s one of the colleges on her list that I’m optimistic about - as far as fit goes. Getting in, that’s a whole other thing
@mom517, thanks for the info. UPenn is a school I have absolutely no feel for. It sounds like we should visit, though It’s another one that’s a total long shot, but I think it’s worth trying.
@Knowsstuff, thanks for your thoughts on the topic. I realize that these top schools will have a lot of very serious students. My daughter is very serious about school, but she’s also very social and wants to find a school with a good balance of serious academics and fun, outgoing kids.
@jym626, thanks for the reply. I agree that most schools at this level of selectivity will have very serious kids, but she’s looking for one of the exceptions. Dartmouth sounds like it’s one of them. Thanks.
@happy1, thanks for the feedback on Lafayette. I visited the school with my oldest daughter and I loved it. We didn’t interact with too many of the kids, though, so I left there not having a great handle on the student body.
I haven’t been there with my second daughter yet, but we’re planning to go soon. Thanks for the info.
@RichInPitt, I tried to define nerdy, but I don’t think I did a very good job, because you and a lot of other people got the wrong impression. I used the phrase too serious, but what I meant is that she doesn’t want to be at a school where the kids are serious too much of the time, in her opinion.
She’s dead serious about her school work. If she weren’t, she wouldn’t be looking at any of the schools on that list. She just wants to be at a school where the kids are very social in addition to being serious about school. Maybe nerdy isn’t the right word.
It sounds like you mean “grindy” and not “nerdy”? Nerdy to me (and I’m super pro-nerd) means smart but in a quirky, curious, fun, funny way. I’m a prof at Penn and I can tell you that we have all types - nerds, grinds, jocks, frat boys, lax bros, SJWs, artists, basics, entrepreneurs, and all 'round rockstars. The whole gamut. It’s a great mix, and you can find “your people” no matter who those people are. I will say in their defense that a lot of FGLI students may come across as serious or reserved or intense but I think the stakes feel super high to succeed and they are terrified of screwing up.
