Big city or something more rural? Does it matter?

millie210
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 04:14:07 +0000

I think you have to look at each individual school. I went to Wesleyan, so a LAC in a town with, at the time, very little to do, less than now. In various ways, the school made sure there was plenty to do on campus. The film society showed something like 5 different movies every week, either free or very cheap. There were concerts and plays and activities. The student government administered something called small party funds, to help underwrite the cost of throwing, well, small parties, alternatives to big drunken frat parties, although there were those, too. Lots of other things. There was never a shortage of things to do.

My advice would be that whenever you visit a school, you ask lots of people what they did last Friday and Saturday night and maybe what other choices they might have had, on campus and off. You’ll start to get a sense of what’s available.

As I’ve been looking at schools with my son over the last couple of years, I’ve come to believe that some school administrations do what Wesleyan did and does: make sure there are all sorts of affordable things to do on campus.

But some schools seem less concerned with making sure there’s lots to do on campus and to be content to just assume that frats will provide the social life, which, of course, translates into lots of drinking and/or to assume that there’s plenty to do in the city they’re in. If you’re going to count on a city to provide social life, remember that city activities come with city prices, which may be an issue for you or your friends. Of course, students at a school in a city will likely take at least some advantage of that and it can be a lot of fun.

In short, there are plenty of suburban or rural schools where there are lots of things to do besides party. Look at each school individually.