Rising junior, 4.0 GPA, not many test scores yet, rigorous Course Load, two 5’s and a 4 on my AP exams. Suburban white Jewish girl. Many long standing extracurricular interests in creative writing, political activism, debate, etc. Looking for a school with an intellectual environment, but also looking for a school where a disproportionate amount of alumni LOVE love love their school and rave about their time there for years later. I know answering this question requires generalization, so please do generalize and use anecdotes; I don’t mind. So far I know I love Yale (which really seems to possess this quality) and I love Brown but those are long shots for everyone. Also interested in Wesleyan— also reach. Any suggestions for what I’m looking for? Feel free to ask me to clarify this if unclear.
Thanks so much
Texas A&M, ha. They love to brag that there is no such thing as an ex-Aggie. You are an Aggie for life. “Rabid” would be a good word to describe them. I doubt your daughter would like that school, though!
Google Forbes Grateful Grads list. A lot of LACs and state schools have very passionate donors too. Focus on numbers of people donating, rather than how big the donation is.
The US News rankings show the % of alumni that donate to their college…that’s a pretty good indicator of how alumni feel about their alma mater.
Here’s the link for @Lindagaf 's post:
As mentioned, LACs tend to generate a disproportionate amount of alumni donors and supporters.
@MaineLonghorn haha, I’m actually the rising junior herself— my mother does not use College Confidential 
cool to know about A&M but I think you’re right it would not be a fit for me!!
A high alum giving rate can indicate a high level of satisfaction (as well as the tenacity and efficacy of the development offices), but a low rate of alum giving doesn’t necessarily indicate dissatisfaction, particularly when comparing public and private colleges. UNC Chapel Hill has a comparatively low giving rate relative to some of its peer private universities, for example, but alumni are fanatically loyal and bleed Carolina blue for life.
It should be noted that the Forbes “Grateful Grads” list includes only private colleges because a public/private comparison is not viable. It can be used only to compare private universities and private LACs.
@LindaGaf @merc81 thanks!! That’s helpful. many of those schools are on my shortlist already in fact.
@warblersrule I agree with you. I think it’s a very imperfect measure. schools with less homogeneity among their student population might have higher giving? just a thought
OP, when my D was researching colleges, one of the factors I looked at was almini involvement. I think it’s smart to look at that, because invested alumni help create job opps for grads as well as give money. But @warblersrule brings up a good point. A lot of public U’s don’t have a lot of donors, but the ones who do donate and are involved are still passionate, so don’t discount them. Two good friends adore SUNY Oswego, their alma mater. The loved their college experience, still donate, and think it’s a great school, but it is probably fair to assume that the college doesn’t produce a ton of grads who are in a posititon to donate, even if they do love their school. I would prioritize academics and freshmen retention rates over alumni involvement. You can also use Niche to see what kids think of their schools.
The OP named three: Yale, Brown and Wesleyan. I’d add Williams, MIT, and Princeton. All have alum who have shamelessly admitted to attending their class reunions recently,
Northwestern alumni fit the bill.
Dartmouth, for sure. There’s a reason it’s ranked second on the Grateful Grads lists. And alumni tend to maintain very close ties to the college. Even though I graduated in the early 80s, we have a Facebook group with 389 members (out of a class of 900-something graduates and most of my close friends aren’t even on Facebook.) In addition to mini-reunions and our five-year actual reunions, there’s a certain day of the year where we do a virtual reunion, with each of us posting something from wherever we are, depending on the theme (what we’re currently passionate about or whatever it happens to be.) The bonds of friendship and loyalty to the college are strong and very real.
For what it’s worth, the only other Ivy that seems to engender these kinds of ties over the decades, from my experience, is Princeton. I do think there’s a correlation with a focus on undergraduate education, as opposed to graduate.
Forbes Grateful Grads Index and Endowment per Student are both good indicators of where alumni show the love
Forbes Grateful Grad Index
1 Princeton University $29,330 46% 100
2 Dartmouth College $27,464 43% 99.99
3 Williams College $22,891 52% 99.88
4 Bowdoin College $22,121 45% 99.83
5 Amherst College $20,866 48% 99.67
6 Claremont McKenna College $23,276 41% 99.28
7 Davidson College $18,187 48% 98.77
8 Wellesley College $17,451 49% 98.23
9 Haverford College $15,182 42% 94.77
10 University of Notre Dame $16,840 36% 94.28
11 Carleton College $14,876 46% 93.98
12 Washington and Lee University $16,255 36% 93.45
13 Duke University $30,725 28% 91.98
14 Yale University $30,154 28% 91.86
15 Stanford University $30,826 28% 91.76
16 Brown University $22,542 28% 91.4
17 Massachusetts Institute of Technology $42,136 24% 89.6
18 Bryn Mawr College $16,272 29% 89.52
19 University of Chicago $20,484 23% 88.35
20 Swarthmore College $13,671 38% 87.66
21 Middlebury College $14,033 35% 87.15
22 University of Pennsylvania $17,734 22% 86.88
23 California Institute of Technology $53,845 19% 86.22
24 Harvard University $25,122 19% 86.14
25 Rice University $15,806 24% 85.32
26 Pomona College $13,118 37% 84.13
27 Washington University in St. Louis $15,221 21% 82.59
28 Columbia University $20,708 13% 82.45
29 Vassar College $13,813 28% 82.24
30 Johns Hopkins University $23,707 12% 82.02
31 Northwestern University $15,494 15% 79.68
32 University of Southern California $13,560 25% 78.88
33 Colby College $12,092 38% 78.44
34 University of Rochester $14,527 15% 77.18
35 Trinity College $12,772 28% 76.82
36 Vanderbilt University $13,430 19% 75.1
37 Berea College $13,878 15% 74.79
38 Cornell University $13,262 19% 74.18
39 Hamilton College $11,158 41% 72.95
40 Colgate University $11,075 40% 71.6
41 Reed College $12,089 25% 70.58
42 Kenyon College $11,206 36% 69.81
43 Smith College $11,555 28% 68.15
44 Mills College $12,211 15% 65.05
45 Wake Forest University $11,702 20% 64.82
46 Brandeis University $11,483 20% 63.04
47 Case Western Reserve University $11,767 15% 61.8
48 University of Tulsa $11,679 16% 61.73
49 Yeshiva University $11,513 10% 56.95
50 Wesleyan University $9,594 38% 56.33
Endowment per Student / Endowment (mm) / # of students
Princeton 2,707,860 22,153 8,181
Yale 2,063,759 25,409 12,312
Harvard 1,644,857 34,542 21,000
Stanford 1,410,720 22,398 15,877
Pomona 1,193,626 1,985 1,663
MIT 1,164,591 13,182 11,319
Swarthmore 1,104,997 1,747 1,581
Amherst 1,098,972 2,032 1,849
Olin Coll. of Engin. 1,005,714 352 350
Williams 1,004,900 2,256 2,245
Cal Tech 940,625 2,107 2,240
Grinnell 967,155 1,649 1,705
Rice 803,865 5,324 6,623
Bowdoin 744,858 1,340 1,799
Wellesley 721,099 1,784 2,474
Dartmouth 701,144 4,474 6,381
Notre Dame 687,577 8,374 12,179
Washington & Lee 650,177 1,472 2,264
Smith 566,110 1,627 2,874
U of Richmond 530,138 2,190 4,131
Claremont McKenna 525,574 709 1,349
Duke 461,165 6,840 14,832
Northwestern 454,923 9,648 21,208
Bryn Mawr 450,028 797 1,771
Univ. of Chicago 445,186 7,001 15,726
Hamilton 441,622 817 1,850
Washington U in St. L. 435,386 6,462 14,842
U Penn 430,736 10,715 24,876
Emory 429,290 6,402 14,913
Middlebury 396,279 1,001 2,526
Colby 389,589 711 1,825
Vassar 379,184 929 2,450
Carleton 366,435 738 2,014
Haverford 365,891 472 1,290
Reed 356,528 497 1,394
Davidson 339,487 662 1,950
Macalaster 337,675 700 2,073
Harvey Mudd 338,290 273 807
Denison 333,023 716 2,150
Brown 326,573 2,963 9,073
Columbia 323,563 9,041 27,942
Mt. Holyoke 301,580 668 2,215
Vanderbilt 301,277 3,822 12,686
Scripps 299,292 296 989
Lafayette 289,380 733 2,533
Colgate 280,834 822 2,927
Oberlin 265,517 770 2,900
Cornell 262,874 5,758 21,904
DePauw 256,250 615 2,400
Wesleyan 245,379 770 3,138
Notre Dame. Wisconsin. Almost any SEC of ACC school.
My father has fraternity brothers from UMass who have vacationed together, have retirement homes near each other, and have a huge party every (EVERY) year for all the unfortunate brothers who don’t live in the same neighborhood. This year they are also going to a UMass game at Fenway. These guys are in their 80’s.
My sorority sisters are celebrating 40 years since we signed the charter. Fifty-four signed, and I think 30 are coming to the reunion, with another 10 or so who were in the years behind us. And a few kids and husbands and parents too.
Any school can be good for alums who want to be involved.
University of Miami. Our grads throw up the U hand signs everywhere, including on the red carpet in Hollywood. I have a Princeton coworker and do enjoy their colorful class outfits.
It’s worth noting that many pubic university alums believe that paying taxes counts as donating to the school. I know many passionate public university alums who believe their state taxes are enough.
The Forbes Grateful Grad Index appears to be including ex-graduate students when computing each school’s alumni base, a notoriously indifferent segment of the college community.
@circuitrider, maybe so - use the Endowment per Student then as it’s a great indicator as well.
Be aware that giving rate at a small school can change dramatically from year to year. For example, Middlebury was rated number one just a few years ago. This list has it ranked, while still very high at 21, but 20 spots lower. I doubt that is an indication of new dissatisfaction, but rather a change of just a small number of alums or, even more likely, a change in the Development department’s apprach to alumni giving.