VictoryMBA wrote:
I will be applying for fall 2009 admission, and right now my list of school includes UCLA, Tuck, Yale, and Duke. I was just hoping that some of you could shed a little light on the culture of some of these schools.
I went to ugrad at UCLA (born and raised in LA), I have a few friends who are in grad programs there, and I've been to Anderson...so I *kind of* have an idea of their culture. I attended the Duke diversity weekend back in November...and I *definitely* got a nice dose of their culture. In a nutshell...undergrad redux with some serious team fuqua spirit. Almost felt like a giant coed fraternity...I kind of enjoyed it. The following week I took a tour of Yale, which couldn't have been more different. I was only on campus for a few hours however, but my impression was that the students were a very intellectual, socially conscious group...who were friendly (maybe even a touch of New England reservedness)...but not overbearing by any means. I really didn't have enough time to garner a complete image of the school (which is driving me nuts because I adore their curriculum). As far as Tuck, the only thing I've heard was that the students enjoy binge drinking on a fairly regular basis. This tid bit came from a guy who attended Tucks diversity weekend...so who knows if it was actually representative of real campus life.
It’s easy to walk away from a schools website after having read all about their curriculum feeling like you have a good foundational understanding of what to expect in the classroom. The same doesn’t apply to the culture of the student body…and this is an important aspect especially considering you will be spending countless hours over the course of two years with these people. Some questions that come to mind are, how competitive/helpful? Is there a “go team” group spirit, or is it more individualistic? Are the students more likely to go to a coffee shop or on a pub crawl Friday night? Anything else that you can add, or anecdotes from visits would be great, thanks!!
P.S. I think the pub vs. coffee shop on a friday night is actually pretty important.
I'm in LA too - went to USC. I'm actually visiting Tuck this month so I'll let you know my impression. I've also heard that it has a frat party like atmosphere. To be honest that is sort of what I'm looking for. Maybe not all out frat party but I do want to have a good time for the next 2 years and I want to go to school with friendly, sociable type people. Duke is another school I'm considering so it was great to get that info from you, that just might push it onto my final list of 5 apps. Also, I would suggest checking out the princeton review website. If you sign up for free it will let you read writeups on the schools that were based on student surveys. They include tons of useful quotes from current students such as the following from a student at Cornell (Johnson): "If you enjoy going to dive bars and getting drunk with classmates this is the place for you. If you seek international conversation about global events over wine, look elsewhere." It also said Cornell has some of the friendliest students, team oriented (rather than competitive), etc. Same type of info is available for Tuck, Yale, etc. One quote from Tuck - "The environment is extremely "intimate" and "supportive.". It also mentions a frat like atmosphere