Friend went to Yale and told me about some cool traditions like the First Year Holiday Dinner, Spring Fling Concert, the “snowball fight”, etc. I know most colleges have some traditions, but what are some colleges that have a lot of fun traditions throughout the year that they’ve really kept going to bond the community together?
Yeah, but I’m talking about colleges that have a LOT of traditions throughout the year, not just one or two unique ones.
I feel like almost every college has great traditions. Purdue has the fountain run, the jumping of the tracks (for freshmen), lots around their rivalry with IU, the Christmas show, the Grand Prix, etc…
William and Mary has a ton. I mean it’s been around for 300 years so it should.
NOD (night of decadence), Baker 13, sweep week & beer bike at Rice University (ya gotta look them up!)
What could be more fun than USNA’s Herndon Monument Climb where the 21-foot granite obelisk is slathered with 200 lbs of vegetable shortening so a sweaty, shirtless pyramid of plebes can attempt to swap the “Dixie cup” hat at the top with an upperclassman’s hat?
Believe me, there’s more. You just don’t want to know what constitutes fun at a service academy.
St. Andrews! @Twoin18 reminded me of this, because the beach scene in Chariots of Fire was filmed there, but there are lots of amazing traditions at St. Andrews: Traditions - Study at St Andrews - University of St Andrews
Of the colleges my S24 looked at, I would say Carleton, William & Mary, and St Andrews truly stood out as having a serious commitment to fun traditions beyond the normal level. Yale honorable mention (and that tells you how competitive it was to be in that top group). By reputation, Rice should be on this list, but he wasn’t interested in looking at Rice.
Are you looking for colleges with fun traditions above a certain number? what is your definition of “fun” and "tradition? what number are you thinking of? Or are you looking for colleges with strong bond of community? I know Rice has a very strong bond of community and several events throughout the year; however, whether they are “fun” to you is subjective.
Since both William & Mary and St. Andrews have been mentioned by other posters, I thought I would share this overview of the traditions at both schools from the William & Mary/St. Andrews Joint Degree Programme. Students participating in that certainly get a tradition overload.
On a tour of Colby, I recall the guide telling us about some fun traditions. I don’t recall a single tradition from my four years at American U. Mostly replying just to follow the thread.
Dartmouth has a lot of fun traditions.
For sheer volume of traditions - and the seriousness with which they are treated - it’s hard to beat Texas A&M.
University of Virginia
Dartmouth has a snowball fight, and their winter carnival and homecoming both have lots of traditions too. (there is even a movie about winter carnival from way back when;)
I think the older the school more like there are lots of traditions (but didn’t study this scientifically;)
Penn has spring fling, Hey Day, and of course throwing toast.
This made me laugh because when we toured American I asked the tour guide if there are any fun traditions and she said no.
I asked a different tour guide and she mentioned midnight scream during finals.
I think a lot of women’s colleges have cool traditions- Mount Holyoke and Hollins come to mind from people I know, but I bet they all do.