How Colleges and Students Differ: The Intangibles

Where Do Students Live?

Most colleges with residence halls require or strongly recommend that freshmen live on campus but are more flexible when it comes to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Where do most students live after freshman year? On or off campus? How far away do students live if they are off campus? Do they seem generally satisfied with their housing options? Campuses where most students live on or near campus tend to feel more like a community than those where many students commute from a distance. Consider your own preferences, including the economic implications of commuting to school but probably saving on food if you live off campus, and factor them into your decision making.

Campus safety can also be an issue. Is the campus well lit at night? Is an escort service available for a student who is working late at night in a library or lab and would prefer not to walk back to the dorm alone? Is access to dorms secure? Unfortunately, no campus is immune from crime, but a campus can take steps to reduce it. Federal law requires every campus to publish an annual Clery Report providing statistics about crime on campus. Entering “Clery Report” on a college’s home page will take you to that institution’s report.

What Is the Campus Social Life Like?

Do fraternities and sororities play a big role on campus? What percentage of students affiliate with a Greek organization, and how many live in a fraternity or sorority house? Do the answers fit with what you are looking for? Campuses also differ in their ethnic, racial, and geographic diversity. Some are very diverse, others less so, and some quite homogeneous. Colleges readily provide information about the gender and racial mix of their student body, as well as their geographical diversity. These numbers can give you a preliminary sense of the diversity of the student body. Other factors contribute to the social atmosphere as well. How big a role does athletics play on campus? Is there a lot of team spirit, and does campus life tend to revolve around home games? Does this appeal to you? Finally, some campuses are known for their liberal, eclectic student bodies, while others have a reputation for attracting more conservative students. These labels develop and stick because people like to put colleges into categories. The labels may not be real, or they may be out of date, as the campus has changed. Each school probably has more variety inside it than can be seen from the outside. Think about where you would best fit, but don’t take the labels at face value any more than the rankings. They may serve someone else’s purposes more than your own.

What Is the Intellectual Atmosphere of the Campus?

Campuses differ in their reputations for academic intensity. Although some students work harder than others at any college, some colleges seem to have greater expectations for intellectual engagement among their students. And at some campuses, students seem to place greater demands on themselves. Campuses known for intellectual rigor and the work ethos of the student body can be exciting places in which to live and study. They can be a perfect match for some students—and a poor fit for others. Swarthmore College and the University of Chicago fit this description quite well, but many others do too.

Ultimately, however, academic intensity is subjective. Different people will assess it from their own perspective. We encourage you to do some thoughtful research both about colleges and yourself. High school students who are overtly intellectual are often hesitant to admit this because it rarely makes anyone the most popular kid in their class. But every college is looking for students with what one school calls “intellectual vitality.” Your own assessment of a campus is, after all, the only one that really counts in the end.

How Do Students Spend Their Time Outside Class?

A typical full-time student takes three or four courses each term, and classes don’t meet every day as they usually do in high school. That leaves lots of time outside of class, even after studying is over. How do students spend their free time? Do students have a wide choice of student groups to belong to? More important, are there groups in your areas of interest? Are the recreational facilities attractive and accessible? Will there be enough for you to do on Saturday night? If you visit a campus, ask your tour guide and other students you meet how they spent last weekend.

Campuses also vary to some extent in their tolerance for alcohol use by underage students. Excessive and abusive use of alcohol among college students is a serious problem at the national level and at all types of colleges, except the most religiously observant. Although no college we know of encourages underage students to drink alcohol, they differ in how strictly they enforce the rules and hence in how much drinking takes place on campus. Do students feel pressured to drink by their classmates, or can you be comfortable in abstaining? Are alcohol- and substance-free residence halls available for those who want them?

How Easily Can You Get Help If You Have a Problem?

Students occasionally get sick or injured and need to go to the campus health center. Some experience psychological difficulties and need counseling or psychiatric care, and some just get lonely or homesick. Others have learning disabilities or may need to bolster their study skills or get extra help in some subjects. And almost all need help in selecting their courses, deciding on a major, and applying for jobs or graduate school. Colleges offer support programs to meet these needs, and you should try to assess their effectiveness and accessibility. How good is the student advising program? What resources are available for students with learning disabilities or physical disabilities? How good is the medical care at the student health center? (Parents worry about this more than students.) Where do students go for help with study skills if they need it? What support services are available in residence halls? Overall, how well does the campus take care of its students? It is well worth asking current students these questions, probing more deeply into the areas that are of special interest to you. In particular, we strongly encourage parents of students with preexisting mental health problems or learning disabilities to contact the appropriate campus offices to discuss the available support services. You want to be sure that appropriate help will be there when it is needed.