<p>circuitrider and JoBenny, thank you for your replies.</p>
<p>JoBenny, let me clarify. I was referring to school spirit mainly in the “streaking across the quad” sense of the term. While I don’t mind and would, moreover, prefer a school whose students are dedicated to it, I dislike many forms of school spirit because I consider them to be pompous in that they imply that one’s school is better than other schools, when in reality both are likely very good.</p>
<p>As to the athletic culture having an impact, I think that it is inevitable that a focus on athletics will be detrimental to a school’s academic climate, since the two can occasionally conflict (e.g. do we admit the amazing athlete with decent academics or the amazing student with decent athletic ability?). I’m not saying that a school can’t have both or that Harvard isn’t a good school for academics (lol), just that it and others might be better if they didn’t focus so much on sports.</p>
<p>I’m aware enough that Amherst has a focus on sports and I know that this is a negative for me; my main question revolves around how easy it is to avoid this culture and how important of a consideration this ought to be. Any additional input would be greatly appreciated; thanks!</p>