<p>So true. I take after my uneducated immigrant grandfather – I’m the type who still has the first dollar she ever earned. Even when I was at a law firm and making a lot of money, I shopped at the discount outlet and brought my lunch to work. I think this has a lot to do with what kind of culture I was (and wasn’t) comfortable in at school. If I have $500 to spare, the last thing in the world I’d buy is a fancy purse! I can’t say I have many friends who think that kind of thing is important.</p>
<p>So here’s an article about how some of the Questbridge students view Williams. I’m surprised that no one has pointed this article out… Oh wait… The article reflects very positively on Williams… so I guess I’m not that surpised after all.</p>
<p>What happens when rich kids and poor kids become friends at college and beyond? Ill tell you what happens when rich kids and poor kids become friends at college and beyond… The world explodes thats what happens!!! Its a crazy idea, crazy I tell you!</p>
<p>“What happens when rich kids and poor kids become friends at college and beyond? Ill tell you what happens when rich kids and poor kids become friends at college and beyond… The world explodes thats what happens!!! Its a crazy idea, crazy I tell you!”</p>
<p>People have mentioned how Brown was in the past, but does anyone know how Brown is now? I’m a lower-middle-class thrift-store shopper (how I love it! Express jeans for $5!) who’s heading off next year with the expectation of being hideously poor. (Not really, but I’ll have next to no money for anything but books.)</p>
<p>The student whom I know who’s going to Brown is middle class with a teacher mom. When my son took her class, she introduced the whole class to the wonders of shopping at Goodwill.</p>
<p>Where I live, most solidly middle class folks use the thrift shops because of the wonderful bargains there. </p>
<p>You probably can find out a lot about Brown’s culture by visiting the Brown board on CC and by looking at the Brown interest groups at Myspace.com</p>
<p>A question particularly for parents: How economically diverse are your group of friends?</p>
<p>I have friends ranging from people who are very well off, who even have old money – to people who do shop at thrift shops out of necessity. Some friends have much more lavish homes than I do. Some have more modest ones. It doesn’t matter to me.</p>
<p>My son has a similar spread in his friends. It’s no big deal. When it comes to doing things with friends, we all do what the friend who has the least can afford to do.</p>
<p>My friends have done well economically on the whole. H’s friends are well educated but chose to go into fields which don’t pay as well. The same goes for his sibs. I’d say that our kids’ cousins have the most modest lifestyle, which is an eye-opener for mine. They’re not spoiled, but they do forget that not everyone has our lifestyle.</p>
<p>Most kids at Brown are middle to upper-middle class but being a thrift shop shopper would not be a problem among most students there – there are a variety of social groupings and it is not an especially snobby school --despite its Ivy status-- brains, talent, personality–all count more than designer labels.</p>
<p>I hate diesel… i think lucky is better although it still has a $100 price tag.
With that said, I will be attending an expensive LAC in the fall that is known to have plenty of rich kids (by midwestern standards at least) and during my visit i noticed a large contrast in the classes. I noticed all the girls with the $200+ ralph lauren sweaters and the $100+ lucky jeans all seemed to stay close to each other and all the aero wearing stuck together. I also noticed that with guys this trend didnt stick. Actually most of the guys dressed rather cheaply in just a t-shirt and some everyday jeans and the ones who did dress nice fit in just as well.</p>
<p>I’m a kid pitching in here - I have always considered myself a rich kid because we have a big house, go on vacation every summer and my mom takes us shopping a lot. As I get older, I realize how polarized the world can be. I read In Style magazine and the “affordable” items they feature are from Banana Republic, which is a mass market brand, yes, but is also very expensive my standards. I hear about Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan’s extravagant lifestyles and its impossible to not feel envious. As a teenager, I think, “God…I will do whatever I have to do to live like that!!” But then, you look at some third world countries where more than one meal a day is a luxury, and they have one set of clothes, and live in refugee camps. Because of war and corrupt government, they have absolutely nothing of their own and live day by day. I think of those type of people when I start getting that feeling that I need more things, that feeling that I won’t be good enough if I don’t have stuff. Its really ridiculous, and selfish, to think that way.</p>
<p>Class matters
Lower-income students bonding at elite schools</p>
<p>By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff | May 13, 2006</p>
<p>NEW HAVEN – When Aurora Nichols arrived at Yale University, obvious markers set her apart from wealthier classmates. She worked in a campus dining hall, and, lacking a laptop, she haunted the often-empty computer lab. But the swiftest betrayal of her roots was weekend planning.</p>
<p>''I found myself having to say things like, ‘We don’t have a house in the Hamptons – and, by the way, I don’t know where that is,’ " said Nichols, 21, whose mother works as a truck driver and whose father is a self-employed handyman in Virginia. ''I mean I am glad to be part of this club, this very elite, very private club. I just wish someone had given me some clue about what it was beforehand."</p>
<p>This semester, Nichols has banded together with fellow lower-income students in a support group called ''Class Matters."</p>
<p>marite, thanks for that link. It’s an excellent article; I laughed at the part about watering down the soap. It brought back a memory of the dorm bathroom at the college I attended. There was a drought going on one fall and water conservation warnings were being proclaimed everywhere. But there would be these rich girls, constantly just letting the water run and run while they chatted, etc. One time I lost it and turned off someone’s faucet. Needless to say, that was not a good social move. But I grew up with people who used dish rinse water to water the flowers!</p>