Despite the consortium, they are still completely different colleges with separate endowments and financial aid policies. Pomona’s endowment per student is about $1.7mm. whereas Scripps is about $450k per student. So Pomona can afford to be more generous.
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Really? How so?
And by ‘conservative’, I don’t mean in the Hillsdale College sense. I meant relative to its Ivy League peers. I don’t attend school there, which is really the only way to really know one way or the other. I’m sure it’s become more liberal over time … Laura Ingraham might not be as comfortable there today as she was as a student, for example.
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As a starting point, I think CC has a little anti-Greek bias. It’s almost taboo. Although Greek life is an integral part of Dartmouth’s culture, simply noting that fact is reductive if one doesn’t understand Greek life at Dartmouth, which many people make little attempt to do. (I’m aware of Animal House and the Rolling Stone article and the criticisms of the latter.) I suspect that many assume Greek life hasn’t evolved since the 80’s and 90’s when most of us were in college. The resulting assumption seems to be that Greek life in general is constituted of some combination of elitism, toxic masculinity, binge drinking and wild parties, and, to be painfully blunt, rape. It’s almost become an ideological symbol.
But what I’ve noticed on CC is a huge difference between (a) first and secondhand accounts of Greek life at Dartmouth and (b) those simply repeating Dartmouth’s reputation for Greek life without elaboration. The former explain that Dartmouth’s Greek system is incredibly inclusive now. Parties are not just open to everybody, but there are a huge variety of fraternities and sororities. The way numerous Dartmouth students have explained it, gay, straight, trans, POC, liberal, introverted, extroverted, and every other flavor of student are involved in the Greek system. While there are certainly parties, that does not seem to be the raison d’etre for many of the fraternities and sororities. It some ways, it seems almost more like Yale or Rice’s residential system but self-selecting and beginning sophomore year. The thing I’ve heard quite often from Dartmouth students is that they didn’t plan to participate in Greek life and probably wouldn’t have done so at any other college. And, of course, there are many Dartmouth students who never join a fraternity or sorority and still have a fantastic time.
To be sure, I’m not saying that Dartmouth’s Greek life is for everyone. It is a structured form of socialization, and that by itself is likely to rub many people the wrong way. (FWIW, I don’t think I’d participate if went to Dartmouth.) But I don’t think the reality of Dartmouth’s Greek life always jives with most folks’ superficial perception.
As for politics, my sense is that Dartmouth’s student body trends heavily liberal to moderate liberal but is, on the whole, less overtly political or activist than other schools. A true conservative student would probably feel more comfortable there than at, say, Brown. But that hardly makes Dartmouth a conservative school. (Fun read: A History of Changing Views: Tracking Campus Politics - The Dartmouth)
And thus ends my defense of Dartmouth or at least certain misconceptions thereof. But I think it illustrates the bigger epistemological struggle for us helicopter parents to really understand a school we’ve never attended. By necessity, we all have to rely on third-party accounts. And, in a digital age, there are so many accounts that it’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. But I’ve noticed that on CC*, this process of giving nuance to echo-chamber stereotypes often turns on whether a particular college has defender participants on this forum. For example, if I were to claim that the culture of Williams is dominated by preppy athletes (as some have done before), I’m confident that 2 or 3 Williams alumni or parents on the forum would “well actually” me. While there are many NESCAC champions here, there currently seem to be few Dartmouth supporters to help correct overstatements.
*For the record, I think this forum is great overall. I’m continually impressed by its supportive nature and, compared to other venues, the accuracy of advice.
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Preaching to the choir. Or, I am wrong, and everyone at Wesleyan thinks exactly the same thing about everything and it is a campus on political fire each and every day of the week. I get it. I am one such “well, actually” parent. I see it here all the time. There are some generalizations that are embraced and others that are hotly contested (academic drones being one of the latter).
That said, about Dartmouth, I was responding to your statement that Dartmouth’s Greek life is categorically different from most other schools. On that reference, while again I take your point about monolithic reputation, I think we can agree to disagree. I think you can say what you said about several schools that have some level of Greek life present on campus. So, for example, those schools with Greek life but no Greek housing. That’s a distinctive departure from the norm.
Dartmouth, OTOH, yes by overwhelming reputation but also from basic observation, falls a little more traditionally Greek. And, of course, their hazing past (and I confess I don’t know when the last hazing issue occurred) is the stuff of NYT articles. NVM Animal House. It at least seems to be still the most fratty of the Ivies. Whether that’s good, bad or other (I myself have never found it to be an affront to the sensibilities) is another matter for the CC community to adjudicate.
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I’ve been meaning to share my hearty congratulations to your D on her decision to enroll at Pomona. As much as I hold Swarthmore in high regard, and never having visited the 5Cs, I think that she’ll have an even richer arts experience at Pomona between the offerings at Pomona and Scripps, the vibrant on-campus museum, and the wider art world of Los Angeles.
Fondly,
A “well actually” Williams parent 
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What an eloquent explanation! I may just have to copy and paste your post, when the subject of Greek Life at Washington and Lee University comes up. So many people with zero experience of the school, let alone its fraternities and sororities, have such strongly held stereotypes, and closed minds!
SO MUCH has changed in the last 40 or 50 years!
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Sorry, I didn’t mean the “well actually” comment pejoratively. I think it’s a very good thing when people correct popular misconceptions!
cquin85: Let me rephrase my contention because I don’t actually have much knowledge of contemporary Greek life at other colleges and know very little about other Ivies. Here goes with my revised, scorching-hot take: I think Greek life at Dartmouth is different from what many people assume it is. 
While it’s often difficult to provide a full, nuanced view of a particular school on an internet forum, I think simply opining that “Greek life is pervasive at Dartmouth” is reductive in the same way as opining that “Liberal activism is pervasive at Wesleyan.” Both can be true yet still somehow misleading.
Next up in our collegiate mythbusters series 
:
- Are Princeton’s eating clubs as elitist as they sound?
- Are all of Berkeley and UCLA’s classes conducted in Rose Bowl-sized auditoriums?
- Is “intense” the only adjective in the English language capable of describing Swarthmore?
- How many times will I get murdered if I go to Johns Hopkins?
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I wasn’t offended and didn’t think you were directing your comment at me or anyone in particular. You made an astute and accurate observation. You’re one of the most thoughtful participants on CC. I look forward to your posts.
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I’m still an agnostic as far as the “Dartmouth has more in common with Bowdoin and Wesleyan than its Ivy League peers” observation:
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Not that I’m here to proselytize you, but here are the commonalities as I see them:
- Broad education that’s more about breadth than depth
- Few graduate programs
- Easily accessible, undergraduate-focused professors
- Remote-ish New England campuses that are not particularly close to a major city
- Smaller size
- Tight, campus-based community
- Big per-student endowment and generous financial aid (compared to half of the Ivies)
- Alumni include half of the Game of Thrones show-running team
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