Upstate NY schools - Bard, Skidmore, Ithaca

cobrat
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:26:08 +0000

emilybee:

My son applied to HWS and he is far from preppy even though he went to a prep school. I certainly don’t think it’s preppier than Hamilton which DS crossed off his list because of that reason.



When I used the term “preppy”…it is not to denote private school graduates…but students with clothing styles, attitudes, and conversation topics nearly the polar opposite of the earthy crunchy vibe sought out by the OP’s child.

When I said preppy, it means someone who tends to dress a bit too formally for occasions(i.e. undergrad wearing formal corporate dress where it is not required or even appropriate like a college classroom or rock concert*), extremely materialistic about life and career goals, brags about possession of markers of materialistic wealth and/or social prestige associated with upper/upper-middle class or goes on endlessly about aspiring to do so(i.e. Hamptons real estate), is skeptical of earthy crunchy hippie folks/values, and tends to lean on the conservative side of the political/social spectrum.

As for Hamilton, I was actually surprised that it was mentioned and associated with the “crunchy” vibe the OP’s child was looking for. Only classmates/acquaintances I knew who attended Hamilton and were happy there fit the preppy vibe to a T…and we all graduated from NYC public high schools.


Knew a colleague who is preppy and was clueless enough to wear a gown/dress with pearl necklace to a pop-punk concert. She later related how embarrassed she was when she realized everyone else was wearing ripped jeans, ripped t-shirts, colored/spiked hair, etc and being stared at for wearing something more appropriate for an opera night at the Met.