<p>Wait, there are colleges that require gym class?</p>
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<p>It was many years ago. There was also a mandatory swimming test that everyone dreaded.</p>
<p>After watching my son completely stress throughout his whole four years of attending Business Week’s voted fourth most rigorous college in 2011; not realizing the course load could have gotten worse than the absurdly demanding h.s he also attended …and watching my daughter go to penn state with yes demanding classes, but which also allowed for a social life that helped make her a completely well rounded and very socially adept individual…I now seek out schools that are on the party list for my third one entering college, and then compare them with other colleges of interest…SO yes…in response to a much more previous post…there are parents out there, like me, who would definitely pay for a school on the so called PARTY LIST…and I’ve always been partial to Princeton Review’s…and really, these lists are just fun to look at anyway.</p>
<p>^^ Many schools still have swim tests today. I think Columbia’s official justification is “Manhattan is an island”, so of course the engineering students petitioned to be waived because “we know how to build boats”. A famous philosopher refused to take the swim test, could not get his Columbia BA, earned a Columbia PhD instead and, 60 years later, finally awarded an honorary BA :)</p>
<p>Sobering data concerning party schools and young adults age 18-23. 12% of binge drinkers age 18-23 develope clinical dependence syndrome (addiction) within 10 years. 8% of binge marijuana and 16% of cocaine users in the 18-23 age group develope clinical dependece syndrome within 10 years. About 88% of party students end up OK, 12% don’t. Just something to think about.</p>
<p>I went to Penn State. Husband went to University of Wisconsin-Madison. We both went to graduate school at RPI. What a couple of losers we are according to these lists.</p>
<p>BTW - I took figure skating at Penn State as a PE class and loved it. I remember having to hustle from the ice rink to the engineering building, opposite ends of the campus, in the winter. That was certainly a rigorous exercise! </p>
<p>Skating became something that I enjoyed doing between hours in the library. I didn’t know how to skate at all when I started, but after 2 semesters, could do a teeny tiny jump. I dragged my friends to the rink on Friday nights during open skate. It was a great stress reliever for my pre-med roomates and me.</p>
<p>And guess what - first date with my husband, we went ice skating! I’m sure glad I didn’t make a fool of myself. I guess if nothing else, I can thank PSU for that.</p>