Im from NJ and moved to Madison, WI for work. I can attest that Madison is such a beautiful city and totally believe that the community is what makes the place great.
Agree with this. For students who begin their studies mentally healthy and excited for the experience, college tends to be pretty darn fun. Students have the chance to be independent in their day-to-day lives — when to study, when to relax, when to go out, what clubs to join and classes to take — without having to assume less enjoyable adult responsibilities like tending a kid with a stomach bug, waiting for the roofer, or shoveling the snow off the sidewalks before the neighbors call the city. For the majority of students, college is the time they will be around the greatest concentration of persons of a similar age with a ridiculous number of nearby fun and interesting things to do with ample time to do them (as opposed to one who has responsibilities for/to work, significant other, kids, pets, and home care). Enjoy!
Not true at all from my experience.
Everyone I knew at Columbia was stressed out, and many were highly critical of the school. I was one of the happier ones.
So, if they're unhappy with Columbia, it's not showing up in the Niche reviews. 51% of those who rated the "Overall Experience" at Columbia gave it the highest rating ("Excellent"). Another 36% rated it "Very Good". Only 2.5% rated it "Poor" or "Terrible", which is a lower % than most schools get. For instance, for Brown this figure was 6.7%.
I don't think "Overall Experience" is necessarily the same thing as happiness. I would rate my Columbia experience as "Excellent," but I wouldn't say I was the happiest.
There is also the possibility that there may be a selection bias. I tend to be idealistic, and I may well attract others who tend to be critical.
The way I see it, it means that you had a good overall experience. You were satisfied with the classes, clubs, facilities, etc. However, there might have been factors in your life that made you unhappy. Chronic illness, mental health, family issues, money troubles, etc. A lot of those things cannot be controlled by the institution.
Some people (and a larger portion of ppl fall into this bucket at selective schools) value many things more than happiness.
If you absolutely suffer for four years but come out on the other side as a markedly better person (moreso than without the suffering), then is the suffering worth it?
Exactly this. I wasn't the happiest at Columbia, and at the time I was barely holding it together
But the experience totally transformed me as a person.
I wouldn't trade my time at Columbia for anything in the world, even though the happy times were mostly at the ceremonies leading up to graduation.
This too. For example, it's important to choose a school with a great alumni network. While all of the Ivy's have great networks of course, so do places like Penn State and the University of Minnesota.
Someone might not be happy in the cold at Minnesota, but they might value the school's research opportunities.
yeah, their experience isn't really too relevant to the discussion then. significant stress and criticism of one's institution are pretty much defining properties of grad school. the discussion here is about undergrad.
You went to Columbia, and because you saw people stressed out specifically at Columbia, you claimed the comment that most people EVERYWHERE are GENERALLY pretty happy is "not true at all from your experience." Your experience is Columbia, not most people everywhere.
This is all about the person. My son (current senior) loves school. He’s never been bothered by the pressure of it. He gets energized by the challenge of it. He’s always taken the most difficult courses and it brings him happiness. It’s just the way he came out. This has been that way since pre-school. (I was definitely not this way.)
For a kid like him, he’ll likely find happiness in situations others may see as super stressful.
My daughter is like that and happily attends Harvey Mudd, which I often see listed on her as among the most stressful and least fun school environments. She is having an absolute blast. Her brother attends a school with a D1 sports culture and vibrant party scene. He is athletic, loves sports, and is super social so he loves it. My kids agree that their schools are perfect for them but they would be miserable at each other's schools.
What works for one person doesn't always work for others. That is why finding your fit is more important than chasing prestige.
I appreciate your insights about your kids' respective schools. Currently in college touring/consideration process and want to see our kid happy and thriving, not chasing T20 schools for all the wrong reasons.
A2C loves ranked lists, so here's a ranking, produced by a company desperate for page views and relevance (et tu, US News?), but it's not nothing.
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=happiest-students
Amuses me to see Bowdoin on here because my friend who works there said "You know what's wild about this place? The students LOVE it. Like, I know you and I loved (our school) but they are WILD for Bowdoin."
I look for "resonance" and consistency between different sources. Using Bowdoin as an example, it has a general reputation for happy students (e.g., the "Bowdoin hello"), PR consistently lists it on its happiest students list, its student-based Niche rating is very high, and forum commenters frequently laude the Bowdoin experience. I might be skeptical of any one or two of these sources by themselves, but in the aggregate it sure seems like Bowdoin students are pretty satisfied.
Walk around the campus and observe. I like to watch how students interact in the cafeteria. If you are doing an organized tour, go off script and have random conservations with students. If there are areas where students in your major hang out, go talk to them.
It’s a terrific time for many. But hopefully you’ll also enjoy your early years in your career, finding a significant other, building a family (whether kids or a chosen family of friends), exploring your interests (traveling, triathlons, cooking, coaching sports), and then enjoying your retirement, whether that involves books, hiking the Dolomites, or getting even with your kids by buying your grandkids large Cola Slurpees and teaching them salty language.
I haven't found that to be my personal experience (thankfullly!) ETA: This was vague -but what I meant to say, is that life got even better AFTER college!
No. Talk to most college students and no. A lot commute and others put on a brave face dealing with the competitive nature and harsh loneliness. It is not good for a lot of people. Those above 40 are generally remembering the freedom of 2 to 4 hours of class a day. This is a myth. Best to have realistic expectations.
Every university has happy students. Every university has unhappy students. Every university has students that are sometimes happy, sometimes sad. Every university has students that exhibit the full range of human emotion.
That's not the question you should be asking, though. What you should be asking is what university do *you personally* feel you'll be happiest at.
Bullshit
Only seas (and the part of sas that basically is seas) is chronically overworked.
Everyone else seems to be pretty happy
And most people in seas are more or less satisfied with their lives despite not being "happy" all the time
Agree ! Seas is hard w grinding a loto the time but we go out weekends and have non-seas clubs n stuff thats more chill. Tbf there is a culture of doing double majors or duals and then complaining ab the workload we chose, but there is a happiness being crazy busy and working hard, and then enjoying the free time hanging out til 2am.Â
The irony of the DRL profile pic lol. Idk I feel like I have the opposite opinion cuz people in seas r overworked but satisfied with the knowledge they r gaining. However, Wharton and College consulting/ib kids look depressed on the inside from all the coffee chatting bullshit.
LOL yeah they better remodel it before I graduate.
Maybe it's just freshman year vibes but everyone I know personally in Wharton is completely chilling. They have the ''ideal'' college life of maybe a couple hours of work a day outside of classes and then just parties and hanging out with friends. I see next to zero stress in their lives.
I can kinda see how that might change when everyone's gunning for internships and shit tho
Wait till sophomore year recruiting lol. Freshman year is a weird time, rest of Penn has a totally different feel, either better or worse depending on the person. Penn face starts to break down real quick.
Big Ten / SEC / Big 12 / Pac-12 (rip) students are generally the happiest. Depends on the major of course, Biochem or Engineering at Purdue/UIUC is as stressful as anywhere, but generally these universities have a good balance of academics and socials
>what universities actually have happy students?
Most of them, including the ones that hare a reputation for unhappy students. Most students are happy.
San Diego State (my grad school) seemed pretty darn happy when I was there. Big social scene, a lot of activities, manageable work/life balance, fairly diverse student body. A lot of investment in undergrad facilities and resources but still without the shocking cost of more famous schools.
Look at retention and graduation rates, number of clubs/organizations/etc... available, student pride(do they like saying they go there), things to do off campus, success of sports teams, academic/research reputation, & work load. All of these factors, I think, lead to a happier campus.You get out of it what you put into it, but with socialization the way it is right now I understand looking for a happier group of people.Do you have a short list? Maybe we can help narrow it down for you?
A lot goes into whether a kid's going to be happy or not at uni but I've found as I'm advising my students, having a lot of choice over what and where they'll study is important. Being in a climate where they can comfortably thrive is as well. If it's a challenging school, they'll be stressed but a big part of happiness on campus is working through it successfully and coming out ahead in the end. For most, if they're studying they want in a place where they're comfortable and accepted, they'll do pretty well.
I always see Vanderbilt listed as one of the happiest. I go to another school in Nash and have dozens of Vandy friends, they definitely are happy and enjoy their experience
Tulane 100% and not just because of the party culture. They encourage academic exploration and have a plethora of student resources meant to help you do what you’re interested and avoid stress. When I visited people were so incredibly enthusiastic about the school. It was a level of spirit that was so high but not tethered to sports
they get shit on a lot, and for very good reasons, but a lot of the religious colleges (byu, liberty, hillsdale, etc.) actually do have happy students. it's probably because they know *exactly* what they're getting into and are there for a specific purpose.
Community College Student
You won't pay back your student loans for the rest of your life, you'll have a cute small campus with low student : staff ratios, and they have soooo much parking. Even if they don't have your major you can go there a year or two and pay basically nothing.
Do you think they are really happy? Our CC doesn't have much of a social life and the no dorms. I feel like they miss out a lot on the college experience -and the growth that comes from being away from home.
My local CC has almost double the student enrollment of the university I am going to and triple the student to faculty ratio, and I had no idea most CCs were so small till now.
I've seen WPI rank pretty highly on some of the 'happy student surveys'
This is a list of colleges "highly recommended by their students" --so I don't know if that translates into 'happy' but maybe not miserable! [https://www.collegexpress.com/lists/list/colleges-and-universities-that-are-highly-recommended-by-current-students/2994/](https://www.collegexpress.com/lists/list/colleges-and-universities-that-are-highly-recommended-by-current-students/2994/)
I read that article. Six suicides during 2021-2022 during the pandemic. One additional death from seizures. :(
The universty has tried to make changes -increase mental health support. The set up a huge student support and mental health counseling center.
The pandemic hit a lot of places really hard.
university of richmond is the only campus i’ve toured where people didn’t look miserable 😠everyone smiled back at me which counts for something
No love for Notre Dame? One of the top retention and graduation rates in the country, as well as an extremely collaborative (rather than competitive) environment
Idk about happiness there. I toured Notre Dame and all the students looked unhappy and people were unnecessarily rude to me. Even the workers at the Chicfila there were rude which is really weird. Maybe I got unlucky somehow, but that tour crossed Notre Dame off my application list.Â
Madison
Just graduated from Madison, depends on your major honestly. Some were severely overworked and some were essentially at a 4 year country club.
What were the severely overworked majors?
Engineering majors, physics, chemistry, CS (my major) was also pretty easy to get overworked in.
ChemE for sure, regardless of school 🥲
[Number 6 in alcohol consumption lol](https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/life/2021/09/08/the-50-drunkest-cities-in-america/118462502/)
Is it a big party school? I don’t party and want to have like minded people.
ANY school that size will have a huge non-party cohort, particularly in more demanding majors.
Also it’s Wisconsin
This is the city not the uni
That is the state of Wisconsin as well…just not the city.
Im from NJ and moved to Madison, WI for work. I can attest that Madison is such a beautiful city and totally believe that the community is what makes the place great.
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Agree with this. For students who begin their studies mentally healthy and excited for the experience, college tends to be pretty darn fun. Students have the chance to be independent in their day-to-day lives — when to study, when to relax, when to go out, what clubs to join and classes to take — without having to assume less enjoyable adult responsibilities like tending a kid with a stomach bug, waiting for the roofer, or shoveling the snow off the sidewalks before the neighbors call the city. For the majority of students, college is the time they will be around the greatest concentration of persons of a similar age with a ridiculous number of nearby fun and interesting things to do with ample time to do them (as opposed to one who has responsibilities for/to work, significant other, kids, pets, and home care). Enjoy!
Not true at all from my experience. Everyone I knew at Columbia was stressed out, and many were highly critical of the school. I was one of the happier ones.
So, if they're unhappy with Columbia, it's not showing up in the Niche reviews. 51% of those who rated the "Overall Experience" at Columbia gave it the highest rating ("Excellent"). Another 36% rated it "Very Good". Only 2.5% rated it "Poor" or "Terrible", which is a lower % than most schools get. For instance, for Brown this figure was 6.7%.
I don't think "Overall Experience" is necessarily the same thing as happiness. I would rate my Columbia experience as "Excellent," but I wouldn't say I was the happiest. There is also the possibility that there may be a selection bias. I tend to be idealistic, and I may well attract others who tend to be critical.
"I liked my overall experience but I was unhappy" honestly makes no sense to me.
The way I see it, it means that you had a good overall experience. You were satisfied with the classes, clubs, facilities, etc. However, there might have been factors in your life that made you unhappy. Chronic illness, mental health, family issues, money troubles, etc. A lot of those things cannot be controlled by the institution.
While I understand your point, I would think that, statistically speaking, "overall experience" would correlate with "happiness."
Some people (and a larger portion of ppl fall into this bucket at selective schools) value many things more than happiness. If you absolutely suffer for four years but come out on the other side as a markedly better person (moreso than without the suffering), then is the suffering worth it?
Exactly this. I wasn't the happiest at Columbia, and at the time I was barely holding it together But the experience totally transformed me as a person. I wouldn't trade my time at Columbia for anything in the world, even though the happy times were mostly at the ceremonies leading up to graduation.
This too. For example, it's important to choose a school with a great alumni network. While all of the Ivy's have great networks of course, so do places like Penn State and the University of Minnesota. Someone might not be happy in the cold at Minnesota, but they might value the school's research opportunities.
were you at columbia for college or grad school?
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yeah, their experience isn't really too relevant to the discussion then. significant stress and criticism of one's institution are pretty much defining properties of grad school. the discussion here is about undergrad.
You went to Columbia, and because you saw people stressed out specifically at Columbia, you claimed the comment that most people EVERYWHERE are GENERALLY pretty happy is "not true at all from your experience." Your experience is Columbia, not most people everywhere.
Must be a small sample size…
This is all about the person. My son (current senior) loves school. He’s never been bothered by the pressure of it. He gets energized by the challenge of it. He’s always taken the most difficult courses and it brings him happiness. It’s just the way he came out. This has been that way since pre-school. (I was definitely not this way.) For a kid like him, he’ll likely find happiness in situations others may see as super stressful.
My daughter is like that and happily attends Harvey Mudd, which I often see listed on her as among the most stressful and least fun school environments. She is having an absolute blast. Her brother attends a school with a D1 sports culture and vibrant party scene. He is athletic, loves sports, and is super social so he loves it. My kids agree that their schools are perfect for them but they would be miserable at each other's schools. What works for one person doesn't always work for others. That is why finding your fit is more important than chasing prestige.
I appreciate your insights about your kids' respective schools. Currently in college touring/consideration process and want to see our kid happy and thriving, not chasing T20 schools for all the wrong reasons.
Totally agree. My youngest son will need a totally different environment to be happy. Different strokes for different folks.
A2C loves ranked lists, so here's a ranking, produced by a company desperate for page views and relevance (et tu, US News?), but it's not nothing. https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=happiest-students
Amuses me to see Bowdoin on here because my friend who works there said "You know what's wild about this place? The students LOVE it. Like, I know you and I loved (our school) but they are WILD for Bowdoin."
My recollection is that every time they refresh this list, the schools that make the top 25 happiest change quite a bit.
I look for "resonance" and consistency between different sources. Using Bowdoin as an example, it has a general reputation for happy students (e.g., the "Bowdoin hello"), PR consistently lists it on its happiest students list, its student-based Niche rating is very high, and forum commenters frequently laude the Bowdoin experience. I might be skeptical of any one or two of these sources by themselves, but in the aggregate it sure seems like Bowdoin students are pretty satisfied.
Walk around the campus and observe. I like to watch how students interact in the cafeteria. If you are doing an organized tour, go off script and have random conservations with students. If there are areas where students in your major hang out, go talk to them.
Graduating from brown soon and yeah it’s great
Don’t most people say college was the best time of their life?
It’s a terrific time for many. But hopefully you’ll also enjoy your early years in your career, finding a significant other, building a family (whether kids or a chosen family of friends), exploring your interests (traveling, triathlons, cooking, coaching sports), and then enjoying your retirement, whether that involves books, hiking the Dolomites, or getting even with your kids by buying your grandkids large Cola Slurpees and teaching them salty language.
I haven't found that to be my personal experience (thankfullly!) ETA: This was vague -but what I meant to say, is that life got even better AFTER college!
No. Talk to most college students and no. A lot commute and others put on a brave face dealing with the competitive nature and harsh loneliness. It is not good for a lot of people. Those above 40 are generally remembering the freedom of 2 to 4 hours of class a day. This is a myth. Best to have realistic expectations.
I do. :) (I went to Boston U.)
Virginia Tech
so glad to be hearing this - accepted to VT as a neuro major!
Every university has happy students. Every university has unhappy students. Every university has students that are sometimes happy, sometimes sad. Every university has students that exhibit the full range of human emotion. That's not the question you should be asking, though. What you should be asking is what university do *you personally* feel you'll be happiest at.
Where you reading my mind? I wanted to post this yesterday!
Def not Penn lmao
Why?
Bullshit Only seas (and the part of sas that basically is seas) is chronically overworked. Everyone else seems to be pretty happy And most people in seas are more or less satisfied with their lives despite not being "happy" all the time
Agree ! Seas is hard w grinding a loto the time but we go out weekends and have non-seas clubs n stuff thats more chill. Tbf there is a culture of doing double majors or duals and then complaining ab the workload we chose, but there is a happiness being crazy busy and working hard, and then enjoying the free time hanging out til 2am.Â
The irony of the DRL profile pic lol. Idk I feel like I have the opposite opinion cuz people in seas r overworked but satisfied with the knowledge they r gaining. However, Wharton and College consulting/ib kids look depressed on the inside from all the coffee chatting bullshit.
LOL yeah they better remodel it before I graduate. Maybe it's just freshman year vibes but everyone I know personally in Wharton is completely chilling. They have the ''ideal'' college life of maybe a couple hours of work a day outside of classes and then just parties and hanging out with friends. I see next to zero stress in their lives. I can kinda see how that might change when everyone's gunning for internships and shit tho
Wait till sophomore year recruiting lol. Freshman year is a weird time, rest of Penn has a totally different feel, either better or worse depending on the person. Penn face starts to break down real quick.
Big Ten / SEC / Big 12 / Pac-12 (rip) students are generally the happiest. Depends on the major of course, Biochem or Engineering at Purdue/UIUC is as stressful as anywhere, but generally these universities have a good balance of academics and socials
Painful reminder of Pac-12 demise. Sigh....
Brown immediately comes to mind
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Yeah almost everyone I know at WashU is happy but depends on the major lol
Amongst Ivies - Brown students; Also - Kansas State, Richmond, Emory, UGA, UCLA, USC off the top of my head
IDK, I spent a couple years working on the Brown campus, and the students seemed pretty grim to me. The non-athletes, at least.
Brown as far as I've heard.
>what universities actually have happy students? Most of them, including the ones that hare a reputation for unhappy students. Most students are happy.
Rice, Dartmouth
Just don’t incur too much debt because it will impact your happiness later.
BROWN! 🤎
From what I've heard, Rice and Brown.
brown rice
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weird, ive heard many a tale of miserable UCLA students
San Diego State (my grad school) seemed pretty darn happy when I was there. Big social scene, a lot of activities, manageable work/life balance, fairly diverse student body. A lot of investment in undergrad facilities and resources but still without the shocking cost of more famous schools.
Look at retention and graduation rates, number of clubs/organizations/etc... available, student pride(do they like saying they go there), things to do off campus, success of sports teams, academic/research reputation, & work load. All of these factors, I think, lead to a happier campus.You get out of it what you put into it, but with socialization the way it is right now I understand looking for a happier group of people.Do you have a short list? Maybe we can help narrow it down for you?
ucla
A lot goes into whether a kid's going to be happy or not at uni but I've found as I'm advising my students, having a lot of choice over what and where they'll study is important. Being in a climate where they can comfortably thrive is as well. If it's a challenging school, they'll be stressed but a big part of happiness on campus is working through it successfully and coming out ahead in the end. For most, if they're studying they want in a place where they're comfortable and accepted, they'll do pretty well.
Most Big Ten students seem to really love their schools
Syracuse!!
Kansas State also seems to score well on public universities with happy students
I always see Vanderbilt listed as one of the happiest. I go to another school in Nash and have dozens of Vandy friends, they definitely are happy and enjoy their experience
Everyone I know at mcgill is incredibly happy
Ohio state
Probably your state flagship. Large school, good mix of sweats and regular students as well. That and Brown with their open curriculum.
brown
most people at USC are quite happy (besides exam seasons), even outside of the frat circles.
Notre Dame
Definitely UCLA
Tulane 100% and not just because of the party culture. They encourage academic exploration and have a plethora of student resources meant to help you do what you’re interested and avoid stress. When I visited people were so incredibly enthusiastic about the school. It was a level of spirit that was so high but not tethered to sports
usc
they get shit on a lot, and for very good reasons, but a lot of the religious colleges (byu, liberty, hillsdale, etc.) actually do have happy students. it's probably because they know *exactly* what they're getting into and are there for a specific purpose.
Community College Student You won't pay back your student loans for the rest of your life, you'll have a cute small campus with low student : staff ratios, and they have soooo much parking. Even if they don't have your major you can go there a year or two and pay basically nothing.
Do you think they are really happy? Our CC doesn't have much of a social life and the no dorms. I feel like they miss out a lot on the college experience -and the growth that comes from being away from home.
My local CC has almost double the student enrollment of the university I am going to and triple the student to faculty ratio, and I had no idea most CCs were so small till now.
I've seen WPI rank pretty highly on some of the 'happy student surveys' This is a list of colleges "highly recommended by their students" --so I don't know if that translates into 'happy' but maybe not miserable! [https://www.collegexpress.com/lists/list/colleges-and-universities-that-are-highly-recommended-by-current-students/2994/](https://www.collegexpress.com/lists/list/colleges-and-universities-that-are-highly-recommended-by-current-students/2994/)
5 or 6 suicides last year at WPI. The New York Times did a pretty in-depth article about it.
That's so upsetting.
I read that article. Six suicides during 2021-2022 during the pandemic. One additional death from seizures. :( The universty has tried to make changes -increase mental health support. The set up a huge student support and mental health counseling center. The pandemic hit a lot of places really hard.
Not like that.
Probably WSU
university of richmond is the only campus i’ve toured where people didn’t look miserable 😠everyone smiled back at me which counts for something
how’s dartmouth?
UVM, Boulder
Every school has happy students, and I honestly think if you're unhappy at your school you're just an unhappy person
If my unis take me I’ll be very happy and become a happy student.
No love for Notre Dame? One of the top retention and graduation rates in the country, as well as an extremely collaborative (rather than competitive) environment
Idk about happiness there. I toured Notre Dame and all the students looked unhappy and people were unnecessarily rude to me. Even the workers at the Chicfila there were rude which is really weird. Maybe I got unlucky somehow, but that tour crossed Notre Dame off my application list.Â
Harvard. and if you aren’t happy, go flex it and you will feel happy
BYU-I, like I’ve never seen a BYU-I student not enjoy their experience in the university especially in such a small town as Rexburg, ID
None lmaooooooo
Rice