Besides the weather…
Architecture. With the exception of Pomona, the West Coast LACs seem to lean heavily toward midcentury modern and Spanish Revival.
Clothing. (Ok, this is based on nothing.)
East coast: Lots of polo shirts. Canada goose jackets.
West coast: Lots of t-shirts/tank tops. Flip flops/barefoot
The difference between East & West Coast LACs is really only important if you go to school in Portland.
Because you need to be sure that you get on the correct plane.
A couple of decades ago, a national news story wrote about a man who got on the wrong plane & ended up in the wrong Portland.
My feeling is that each LAC has it’s own vibe. I don’t think it would be fair or prudent to lump all the east coast and west coast LACs together.
East Coast LACs are from Mars; West Coast LACs are from Venus?
More seriously, an attempt at a geographic dichotomy is reductive and probably not very useful.
Possibly, but I would think there would be some cultural differences as most students would be coming from their respective coasts.
East Coast LACs listen to Biggie; West Coast LACs listen to Tupac.
@Publisher,
I knew that guy! He was from Cameroon. He flew to New York, then got on a plane to Portland. When he landed he got in a taxi and asked to be taken to Bates College. The taxi driver didn’t know where it was, so he got into another taxi, where he got the same response. When he got into the third, he encountered a driver who knew where he was supposed to go. “Bates? That’s in Maine. You’re in Portland Oregon!” The poor guy had to fly all the way back across the county and arrived a day late for our freshman orientation.
My kid who attended a 5Cs college thought it had a more casual culture vibe than midwest or east coast schools.
Flew to the wrong city? It happens more often than most people would have guessed. Here’s one story:
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/americas/dutch-teen-winds-up-in-wrong-sydney-after-bagging-cheap-air-ticket?xtor=CS1-10
This Dutch student wanted to fly to Sydney, Australia for a vacation, but instead, he ended up in Sydney, Nova Scotia at the start of a blizzard.
My D goes to LAC in NYC. During the winter break, she visited her friend at UCSD. She said everyone was chatty and friendly in San Diego - from cashiers, waitresses to Uber drivers. She was a bit annoyed because she was so used to the business-like "you do your job and leave me alone’ kind of attitude. Maybe it’s NYC thing and not east coast thing??
It’s not a comparison of LACs, but the culture surrounding them might be relevant to OP’s question.
My D who visited 5Cs noticed the women (guys – not as noticeable) dressed up more for classes – lots of pulled together and stylish looks as opposed to East coast LACs where pretty much everyone seemed to roll out of bed and head to class.
But that could just be SoCal – am guessing not the same at Reed, for example.
You can legally buy weed in most of the west coast schools, and you can’t in the east?
@AlmostThere2018 Was your D at CMC? Maybe there… not the rest of the 5Cs, I bet.
You can now legally buy recreational weed in Maine and Massachusetts. MA doesn’t yet have many dispensaries but will have more soon. In the other New England states it’s decriminalized, meaning it’s treated like a minor traffic stop-a fine but no jail time or court appearance necessary.
@Sue22 Helpful info…but not happy info, so I wasn’t sure what button to click. Sorry, but I’m a little over having 1/3 of my students stoned out of their gourds!
I agree that the Northeast is a little more fast paced than much of the country. People from other parts of the country can experience that as cold or impatient, whereas sometimes people from the NE experience some other parts of the country as slow or fake-friendly. That same difference can also be a city/country dichotomy. I think because students at most schools come from all over the country those differences are muted on most college campuses.
@intparent Nope, we were mostly at Scripps but noticed it everywhere we went. Granted – it was just a day. And, of course the weather does lend itself to cute sundresses and chic sunglasses!
It is interesting that this thread is focused on east coast vs. west coast LACs. There are LACs in the midwest and south too!
Don’t get me wrong. Maybe the OP is interested only in the coasts, which is fine, but my first reaction was to note that the Midwest, for instance, is home to a treasure trove of LACs.