Fussell. That’s the one he loved. It’s possible to pass- but part of it is making it seem you aren’t consciously trying, which, of course, you are.
I like generic UGGs, too. My warmest boots and bought on sale.
Then there’s Trinity CT where the guide tuned to the group and asked, “Where do you all prep?”
funny - because when my D toured Trinity, her take was that it was ‘hipster’. I told her I was pretty certain it was a preppy place, but that’s the impression she got from her non New England tour guide.
But honestly, the most common clothing item we saw across LACs, some conservative, some more liberal, and at bigger universities in different parts of the country were leggings. Leggings, leggings, leggings (and sweatshirts) and most were lulu lemon
The schools usually thought of as elite are really strong schools that tend to attract really top students, some of it is being old, some of it is also the idea that somehow they bestow special privilege automatically, but they are good schools. I think it has gotten ridiculous with the notion that you have to go to an elite school after killing yourself to have the 4.0 gpa, the 8 APs, the EC’s and so forth, I think that in some ways that works against those schools being elite, because they may be attracting kids great at playing the admissions game, rather than being kids serious about learning, but that is another discussion. I think that schools like the Ivies, Rice, MIT, Cal Tech, Berkeley, some of the elite LAC’s, and so forth are great schools, and I think going there being around some pretty accomplished kids, the faculty, and yeah, the networks around them, can be a great experience…but I think also they aren’t the be all and end all, with some exceptions (if you want to get into an ivy law school or business school, it helps to have gone to en elite program undergrad, though it isn’t a requirement. If you want to work at a white shoe law firm or an investment bank, you better come out of one of them).
Some schools are overrated. NYU is in a great area, and while it is a much more competitive admit then when I went there, they spend a lot of time and money trying to make themselves appear elite but to be honest, if you have the stats to get into NYU these days, with a little more work you could probably get into one of the elite schools, and do a lot better. Among other things, NYU touts itself as being elite because it wants to attract people willing to shell out the almost 70k (or more) that it takes, they get a lot of well off foreign students and a lot of well off kids whose stats are up there but not great…and while they have some great programs (leaving out TSOA and the business and law school and medical school), they have a top notch math and comp science department, for example, it isn’t worth paying that kind of money, and NYU’s aid is pretty dismal…they have a huge endowment now compared to when I was there, but they spend it on buildings and buying townhouses for ‘elite’ professors to stay in as a draw.
My real take? If you love one of the elite schools, and want to go there because you feel it is a fit, go there, they are great schools, but also don’t assume that you ‘have’ to go there, that is a load of crap, or if you have to ‘settle’ for a merely ‘good’ school you are destined to do nothing. May be true in China, Japan and Korea, but not here. There is an old joke, that you can tell the ivy league students, that they end up reporting to the guy who went to state school, got c’s and majored in partying (and networking), and there is a lot of truth to that. Guy who founded the firm I work at that is now a giant, got an engineering degree from a state school, and MBA from a cal state school, and look where he went shrug.
Best bet? Go to a school you can get into, because you think you will enjoy it, work hard, have some fun, and you will do fine.
My son would say the land of beautiful people was Miami Ohio. He actaully made a comment when we were there that he’d never seen so many good looking people.
When I last toured colleges, back in 2014, “all” the girls were wearing black leggings, no matter what their body size. I beleive many wore riding boots with them. I didn’t notice a preference for brand.
@magnetron and @oldfort…both hilarious and spot on! I will PM you later if I have time I will also post my gen’l thoughts…still chuckling
The Fiske’s Guide’s report on my LAC back in the mid-'90s quoted one parent who toured the campus that “Students go out of their way to dress ugly”. And by mainstream upper/upper-middle class US norms…the parent wasn’t really off the mark at the time.
Noticed things have greatly changed based on what I’ve heard from younger alums and seeing some recent campus pictures with students. They’re certainly seem to embrace mainstream upper/upper-middle class fashion norms much more than my classmates and I did back when we were in college when when conforming to those norms* would have meant most classmates considered one a “bourgeois conformist/capitalist tool”. Not sure I’d be able to get away with wearing nothing but hand-me-downs from older relations for my entire undergrad nowadays compared to when I attended.
- With the exception of Conservatory students who were required to dress formally for their mandatory recitals.
@cobrat:
lol…you pretty much said what I was thinking. I went to school in the early 80’s at NYU, and while we had some of the then popular “preppy” crowd, most of us dressed like, well, jeans and t shirts or sweathshirts, and that included both the women and men (other than some other groups, like the punk rocker type, but not a lot of them). Last time I walked around the NYU campus my jaw hit the ground, some kids in the jeans and sneaker look, lot of kids, especially girls, wearing pretty expensive looking outfits, casual or not.
A little tale. When my girls were little, we toured one local k-12 prep that prides itself on individuality. My girls liked jeans as well as dresses. All the kids at that school were in jeans and tees. That school was so non-conformist that it was overwhelmingly…conformist. Blech.
If you go to NYU, you have a chance to get an education that is much broader than what you get in a classroom.
The city is so diverse it is amazing. There is so much going on in the city. There are values in this.
The school is very expensive and maybe it is not worth the money. I am not sure any of these schools are worth the money. 
Isn’t there a song lyric, “If you can make it there, you can make it everywhere, New York New York!”?
The lyric isn’t, If you can make it there, you can make it everywhere, Columbus Columbus. 
Just be happy you don’t have a Ford. At least you didn’t steal your car.
@dstark - and people don’t wonder whether I was an a-hole before I got the car or only after.
Some of these threads are much more entertaining than others.
I just opened this thread and am surprised and delighted you are talking about clothes. That is always entertaining to me.
I have to back up to the boat shoe discussion. My husband does not like to shop for clothes or shoes. He buys shoes so seldom as humanly possible, maybe once a decade or so. I take his shoes to be resoled. Repeatedly. He doesn’t have a clue this ends up costing more than buying new shoes, but he is appreciative he gets to keep the comfortable, broken-in shoes.
Last time he was forced to finally go shoe shopping at the mall, no one (in the shops he was willing to enter) knew what boat shoes were. Finally, he started asking for lace up, leather shoes. And at one point asked me “they are called boat shoes, aren’t they?”
I don’t think they are popular where we live now.
My husband is not a WASP. He grew up with a small motor boat, suitable for fishing in a lake.
I am a WASP. I grew up with a small cabin cruiser we took out on coastal waters overnight, and a ski boat. I don’t think we ever wore boat shoes. I know I never owned a pair in my life. I wore Keds. Or flip flops on boats in my youth.
Thanks for the social promotion. I only wear them because I don’t like to tie my shoes (like sneakers) and they are sturdy (I can’t wear sandals).
I do prefer Top Siders, but often get them at TJ Maxx or at Dillards with a sale, coupon, and extra discount.
My husband, who likes “boat shoes” thinks they are supposed to cost $5. $10 max. He doesn’t think inflation applies to shoes.
Our kids went to “supposedly” elite colleges.
Hard to believe it is already 10 years ago that this advertising campaign went viral, definitely a marketing success.
Anyone remember this East Coast parody? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTU2He2BIc0
Followed up by the West Coast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-4XKTHJGs
The East Coast one is so much better to me, probably because I know people not to far off from the parody.
@1214mom, lol.
@doschicos, those are great videos.
My mama’s 24 but she is really 62. Lol
I think my son lives some of that east coast life… as a guest.
Those are both great! I find the west coast one funnier, maybe because I’ve rarely run into people like that so I’ve been less annoyed by them. “Check out my acting reel”, lol.
Then there’s this bit of genius:
You are cool, doschicos. You, too, greenwitch.
But I associate red pants with Virginia (and further south) prep schools. My neighbor is from one of those.
Driving moccasins (Tod and Gucci) are grown up version of boat shoes (Sperry).