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iwbb, This reminds me of a conversation between one of my coworkers and me a few years back. (Both of us had college age child at that time.)</p>
<p>When I mentioned to him that DS commented that the most he appreciates in his college’s offering is the activities in the evening, my coworker said to me that “You should correct his attitude.” But this is really what DS believed back then, and he did not neglect his academics that much because of this attitude. (He did neglect “premed ECs” somewhat as I think he really did not want to focus too much on premed stuff in college.</p>
<p>The parents of his close friend/suitemate who was also a premed once joked with us (in their beginning of senior year) that DS has some “catch-up” work to do as a premed. That friend is a much more dedicated premed, who planned all the courses to take in 4 years in the first month of his freshman year, while DS’s academic advisor once said in an email to DS that he appears to have taken many courses in a random or even reverse order: occasionally the more challenging ones first and then the more introductory ones (but still required for graduation) later.</p>
<p>Because these colleges emphasize so much on the achievement in ECs in their college admission process, it is likely that the concentration of peer students who excel in various areas in ECs could be higher. Since DS enjoys one of these ECs, this could be a “good fit” factor for him, I think.</p>
<p>Another undeniable fact is that the “wealthy effect” of a higher percentage of the families of their students, for good or for bad, depending on how you look at it. I heard around 40-50% students are full pay.</p>
<p>BTW, I think somehow Brown and Yale tend to attract more students with this attitude. Maybe even more so at Brown than at Yale because the former has the open curriculum and the latter was originally estalished because their founders thought H had lost their “work ethics” at that time – thus “4 additional courses before graduation” policy exists till today.</p>