I can categorically say that “nothing to do but drink” is false because Grinnell spends a lot of money to offer options. The fly-in will help in that it’ll make you see whether the activities are interesting to you personally.
You can also look at the “new student orientation” or “newly admitted” or “welcome first year students!” Pages for all colleges, so that you see what’s planned for the first few days.
In my experience, you’ll find students who say such a thing on every campus. It only shows their lack of imagination and of (un)willingness to engage with what’s offered.
There will be students at all of these colleges who don’t just party and drink, there will be more who do it only occasionally, there will be some who do a lot of it. And believe it or not, you might actually decide you want to partake at some point. It’s okay if you do. It’s okay if you don’t. As you mature and gain confidence, you might find yourself stepping out of your comfort zone. That’s a good thing, not something to be worried about.
If you go to any fly in looking for only negatives, you will find them. I suggest you look at positives, and focus on them. Then decide if the negatives are deal breakers or not.
Okay, let me rephrase my question: Was there something about Grinnell that made you go to all the trouble of researching it and making it the very first college to toss out for discussion after a significant relaunch of the thread’s trajectory?
There is going to be heavy drinking at EVERY college. I went to UT-Austin, a big party school. I had no problem at all finding alternate activities. TBH, this would not be one of my criteria in selecting a school.
For what it’s worth, Grinnell isn’t known as a big party school. The students there tend to be very smart, serious about learning, collaborative, down to earth, sometimes “crunchy”, sometimes “live&let live”, sometimes creative (none of these is exclusive of the others!).
If you are still interested in Rice, there is a fly in program called SOAR. The application is open now and is due August 5. It requires a bit of work and some documentation so it is best not to wait until the last minute to submit it. There is a link to the application and discussion of SOAR on the Rice forum. Rice admits a large number of Questbridge Scholars and has a robust financial aid program called the Rice Investment for low income students. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/2149631-soar-2019.html#latesthttps://financialaid.rice.edu/thericeinvestment
I have applied to Rice’s and Haverford’s fly in. I will be applying to Williams, Tufts, Hamilton, and most likely Grinnell now. I am considering Davidson and Washington&Lee but am unsure. Because of the research I did for Rice when applying for this fly-in, it has now become my second top choice succeeded only by Vanderbilt. This ranking is not complete and is subject to change.
Grinnell was recommended by MYOS for it’s stellar programs and safer acceptance rates. I will do what I can to trust her and go ahead and do the fly in app regardless of what I’ve read.
My only concern with it is the location, but I’ll do it anyway.
I’m inclined to put a fairly equal amount of LACs with unis, so I’ll make sacrifices of my preferences, I guess.
I’ve just been uncertain on how to rank these colleges if I am recommended to disregard comments like these. What do I look at? Should I even have preferences like this? Does that make me nit-picky?
I don’t care about the political environment unless it’s similar to Oberlin or has very high political activism that no student can really avoid. For a political minority who now doesn’t want to disclose opinions unless asked, this could be a bad thing.
Should k consider college clubs that are tailored to conservatives? My dad agreed with this discussion that political affiliations of colleges shouldn’t matter unless it would be a significant problem. People have told me only Oberlin, Wesleyan, and Reed fit this description, but that assumption is not from me. This should eliminate a preference.
Its too early in the morning to figure out what MYOS is an acronym for (besides make your own software ) so please clarify.
My DS went to Rice. Great school, and checks all your boxes. Don’t overthink all this.
Copying large chucks of copyrighted material is not allowed. You can quote a couple of sentences and paraphrase the balance. Turning the thread into a debate over social issues is not allowed. Most of the rules are based in common sense and are not dissimilar to the rules from other sites… But this is not a situation where the big bad moderator is stifling your free speech, because there are a number of things you have said with which I do not agree, but did not edit. Nor have I heretofore commented upon your writing style, or edited your posts to make them easier for users to read. Like pointing out that paragraphs are your friend. Or tagging users with the @ sign before the name. Or using BBCode to quote. That said, the rules are here for a reason, and they are enforced.
You are receiving lots of great info here, not the least of which is that it is unlikely that any college-bound student will find a college that checks off 100% of the boxes on his/her checklist, particularly where finances come into play. So by all means do your research, but please show willingness to listen. Research is only going to get you so far, since, IMO, the fly-ins will be key.
I will also say that even if a college is liberal (or conservative), there are plenty of students at the other end of the spectrum. Few colleges are so small that a person cannot find a like-minded group.
BTW, a friend’s son who is conservative leaning went to Tufts. It was not a great fit for him. You will find your people" wherever you go, but the NE, and the Medford/Boston area, might be a bit too liberal for your liking.
As for drinking, the only thing I can say about that is that I would like it if the school has plenty of opportunities to become socially involved/active on campus that doesn’t involve drinking, wild parties, and Greek parties. Hell, to be honest with you, I know NOTHING about Greek life or if I’d be into it, but j wanted to be on the safer side and go with a campus without an overwhelming presence just in case I didn’t like it. I don’t know how these college kids drink, if it’s the same at every college. Am I better than anyone because I want to drink at the legal age and drink very modestly when of age? No. If I go to a party, I want to be around people who drink responsibly and don’t get drunk, but drink to loosen up and relax. Like I’ve said, I’ve had the privilege of dealing with college kids at work who’ve had a little too much. Kids at big league colleges may be different than these kids. I don’t know. I know zilch. If this is setting a high bar, I’m sorry, I’ll change it if I can. This is why I really like LACs like Hamilton, because of substance free housing and ways to get involved other than parties. I’m sure many other colleges I haven’t looked at yet don’t have these problems and I’m again overthiking it. I don’t have paper skin and can make a sacrifice for this if it means getting a good education and experience I would otherwise miss out on.
jym, MYOS is a user that I’ve become trusting of. She helped me in my first thread figure out what to do and is a big reason why I got a 34 on my ACT. Merc and Linda havd also been a big help.
I want to listen to you about that liberal area, but again, I can make sacrifices.
I appreciate the clarity, skeiurope, but I feel it would be safer to hold research unless asked. I get it. My opinions aren’t popular. I apologize for that. I’m open to change my mind, and that’s why I can attend these campuses.
OP - I’m not sure Hamilton is the best fit for you. It’s a great school academically but very rural, very small, and over 20% greek. We had family who lived in that area and even high school kids would go to campus to drink and party. I’m sure there are others that will disagree but I think the schools on your original list sound like better fits.
Hamiltons nearby Clinton and New Hartford are very similar to my hometown of Cleveland TN with Polk County mixed in with it. I could get behind it there, there’s some shopping and stuff to do. Of course, I don’t know how the winters would render me. I have a car but I don’t know how it’ll transfer.
And I’m only about halfway done with my choices, haha. Vandy, rice, Tufts, Haverford, Hamilton, UChicago, and either Davidson or Washington & Lee. We’re getting there, but thank you!
The students there tend to be very smart, serious about learning, collaborative, down to earth, sometimes “crunchy”, sometimes “live&let live”, sometimes creative (none of these is exclusive of the others!).