Totally random question about privilege

[bowies]

It pains me to write this but I almost find the rivalries between large state universities to be more obnoxious. We're basing it off sports, mostly football or basketball which we do not play, but we're totally happy yelling our opinions at a bunch of young men from (largely) LSE families who are trying to better their life prospects with their bodies. I love sports but damn it can get uncomfortable when a bro acts like he personally owns the team and the players on it. That screams privilege to me.

At least with the Ivies, they're all competing in academics. Throw those dorks a bone and let them have this.

I still maintain that Georgia is a waste of space though.

[bowies]

Also my sorority had songs about the other sororities. It was mostly in good fun.

Valley girl voice: Alpha? Delta? Alpha Delta Pi?
Lick it! Stick it! Right between your thighs!

[patbutcher]

Sept 28, 2015 14:19:48 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

Sept 28, 2015 14:17:36 GMT -5 lg28 said:

I think our respective schools make fun of each other a lot, but I don't think it had anything to do with privilege.

Both schools had things they were known for (mine was the business and music school, vicmo's was math/sci/engineering.

My school was definitely more of a partying school, but it was also a LOT smaller. You did know a lot of people in your year.

Overall vicmo's is probably the "better" school. But I will be damned if anyone from that school can party better than ours

Yeah, but other than maybe Queens, I don't think privilege is really a thing with any of the universities in Canada. Like, not between two universities.

My h has such a thing against Queens. Omg. It's probably jealousy or something because he went to Brock. LOL. MY BIL went to Queens for both undergrad and MBA and h loves moaning about how BIL thinks he is so clever blah blah blah. Is Queen's the equivalent of Cambridge and Oxford? I have never really understood. 

[Deleted]

Sept 28, 2015 14:39:16 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Also, this is why I avoid reunions.

I'm not getting the jean short thing. That is such a random thing to mock someone over. That is why it seems silly more than "XYZ can suck a dick!" or whatever more crude things some people say.

Actually, the biggest "rivalry" I'd ever seen was between the business and law school where I went to grad school. We're smarter, they make more money. Lawyers lose.

Oh Moxie.

It's not serious.

It's just a long running joke. It's supposed to be silly.

I actually feel like mocking someone over something obviously outlandish like this is a lot nicer than bashing a school based on its academics or the Georgia Tech people saying "Everyone who goes to Georgia is a hillbilly with no education." (Even though that doesn't bother me either as I got a great education and am doing fine in my life. And while we're at it, while I do not wear jorts, I am 100% sure the average Florida graduate on this board has better fashion sense than me.)

The point of these things is that nobody ACTUALLY believes them.

[niq]

I believe the joke when I was in school was ...

Q: How many <your H's school> students does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: Two. One to make the martinis and one to call the electrician.

Longer reply coming.

[niq]

The School in New Jersey has a massive inferiority complex and wants everyone to think they're just as awesome as Harvard and Yale. I mean, UMass-Cambridge and New Haven State University . Joking aside this is actually kinda true: the other seven Ivies will refer to "Harvard and Yale", but That School in New Jersey will refer to "Harvard, Yale, and That School". Okay maybe some Columbia people will say "Harvard, Yale, and Columbia", and the Brown Computer Science people will say "MIT, Brown, and the Cornell graduate program". Oh and there is a lot of ragging on Cornell as "SUNY-Ithaca" by everyone

Anyway, eh. The intra-ivy rivalry is mostly just for funsies. The only person who takes it seriously is Ted Cruz and we can all agree he is a world class assclown. Any private college (and some public schools -- looking at you, UVA) will have a fair bit of white dudes in blazers who want to relive their glory days in their frat or the sailing or squash team or whatever. Reunions are going to self-select for this sort of thing. I don't think it's 100% because you didn't have fun in college, the level of rah rah at official alumni reunion activities can be really off-putting. I only go back on 5-year intervals and try to spend as much time as I can with people I knew vs random big events. Most of the people I know did not sail or play squash and are not in finance etc., which elps.

[qcinoct]

Sept 28, 2015 14:07:42 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

Sept 28, 2015 13:59:17 GMT -5 chickens987 said:

I don't think I'd go so far as class wars though. They're not being assholes to people who couldn't get into (or pay for) Princeton, they're being assholes to people who might otherwise have gone there but chose not to.

Hmm, this seems like a good point - it might be different if they were putting down a hbcu or a local community college or high school grads who didn't go on to post secondary education?
(I'm Canadian so I've just wandered into this post accidentally.)

oh, Canadian schools go at it. There is an on-going 'war' between the university in my city and the one in Jennyanydots's city. It's kind of gross, and usually centres around football.

[D2M]

My H maintains that my non-Ivy state school is one zillion times douchier than where he went. Aaaaand he might be right. So many "traditions" of dubious origin, so much pride over random stuff that may not be merited. That said, my H is not very hoo-rah on school spirit and has never been to a single reunion at his alma mater. He also is not from a privileged background (neither am I) and recognizes that a lot of his former classmates are big DBs. I largely agree with bowies that people are just... jerks, in general.

[Brie]

One of the popular cheers at my (private, expensive, highly ranked) undergrad was to shake your keys at the opposing team (generally a public school) and say, "that's alright, that's okay, you're going to work for us someday!" which always felt super gross to me because I was on work-study and most of the student body was extremely wealthy.

That's all I've got.

[bowies]

Just so you know the most recent trash talk signs at colleges allude to cargo shorts. Roughly half of you need to check yo spouses.

(I don't know how the jorts thing started honestly but I know it was centered around the raving jealousy Tebow incited in our foes. It's just a silly thing. The camera operators go to great lengths to pick out the most hillbilly fan at every game - we will just say no other school has room to talk.)

[bowies]

Sept 28, 2015 14:54:53 GMT -5 Brie said:

One of the popular cheers at my (private, expensive, highly ranked) undergrad was to shake your keys at the opposing team (generally a public school) and say, "that's alright, that's okay, you're going to work for us someday!" which always felt super gross to me because I was on work-study and most of the student body was extremely wealthy.

That's all I've got.

Oh yes, ours did this too. And the running joke that "would you like fries with that" is printed at the bottom of FSU diplomas.

[niq]

Oh and I would way rather be obsessed with college spirit vs high school spirit. Which happens and is not just an upper-middle class thing.

[Deleted]

Sept 28, 2015 14:54:53 GMT -5 Brie said:

One of the popular cheers at my (private, expensive, highly ranked) undergrad was to shake your keys at the opposing team (generally a public school) and say, "that's alright, that's okay, you're going to work for us someday!" which always felt super gross to me because I was on work-study and most of the student body was extremely wealthy.

That's all I've got.

I agree that this sort of thing is gross.

[Deleted]

I feel like I should say in this thread that I have never been to a college reunion, nor do I ever plan to.

I did go to a sorority reunion once but it was just to rubberneck because they did a huge renovation on the house and I wanted to see it.

I am more about watching games. I really don't even trash talk. I have talked more trash in this thread than I have anywhere in the past year.

[Alyssa]

I went to a state school that was known to party it's ass off. The unofficial motto there was 'Our Drinking Town Has a College Problem"

There was no football team at that school, we really didn't have any rivalries with anyone...well maybe Sac State but no one was really into school pride and all that.  You would show up, go to class and then hang out with friends and plan your evening.  I think my highschool had more school spirit. 

[kershnic]

The main thing running through my head as I read this post is a Cornell hockey cheer that goes "Princeton's in New Jersey" in that singsong obviously-this-is-a-bad-thing voice.

My in-laws live in Wisconsin and I would say the UW pride I've witnessed is way more intense than most of the Ivy League pride I've seen.

[osulori]

It sounds more like a school spirit thing to me too...but let's remember I went to undergrad at Ohio State and live smack in the middle of a city where I'm pretty sure people sit around all day thinking of jokes to make about Michigan (the University, the state...doesn't matter). Plenty of people leave the "I" out when they write Michigan (they do M*ch*gan, like its a cuss word) or refer to it as that state up north, which are annoying as fuck to me. So I tune a lot out.

[mlt]

I loved college and went to a small private school. BUT I detest any kind of negative song like you are describing. The older I get the less I can tolerate that type of meanness or put downs. They aren't funny and they seem really immature. Also LOL to P putting down H and Y. No. They are all amazing schools, some of the best in the world. Just stop.

[rugbywife]

I went to U of T. Highest ranked school for like a bazillion years - football team has won one single game in like a decade.

U of T is split into colleges. I went to the smallest, most elite, hardest to get into. This was only because I had to justify to my parents why I wasn't going to take my acceptances to Queens and McGill. I wanted to move to Toronto - desperately so.

My college is interesting. It is a mix of old white boy private school types and yet hugely diverse - but that's only because U of T as a whole is diverse (so is York, but friends don't let friends go to York).

My college was essentially like Yale/Harvard/Princeton. We had a secret society, we wore black academic gowns to dinner, sang songs in the street...etc...I loved parts of it, others not so much. I am close friends with two friends from that time. One of them is my BFF, we were each other's MOH. Other than them and FB friends, college is a bygone era for me.

[Deleted]

Sept 28, 2015 14:17:36 GMT -5 lg28 said:

Sept 28, 2015 14:08:36 GMT -5 @vicmo said:

My university calls the other local university "the high school down the street", lol.
lg28

Fwiw, they make fun of us (accurately) for being uncool dorks and nerds.

I think our respective schools make fun of each other a lot, but I don't think it had anything to do with privilege.

Both schools had things they were known for (mine was the business and music school, vicmo's was math/sci/engineering.

My school was definitely more of a partying school, but it was also a LOT smaller. You did know a lot of people in your year.

Overall vicmo's is probably the "better" school. But I will be damned if anyone from that school can party better than ours

Walk and talk -
Go to Brock.
But that's what we said about Brock in high school because it was the local school.
I don't remember making fun of other schools. But you know Toronto - we are so high on ourselves, we don't even notice the other schools.

[Deleted]

I was unaware that college reunions were a thing before this thread. I can now add that to the list of stuff I have learned from GBCN.

Signed,
Girl that attended a small state university

[rugbywife]

We had a ten year this spring. I delivered 10 days prior. Did not go

Lol. 15 year. I am old.

[Deleted]

Sept 28, 2015 15:25:26 GMT -5 rugbywife said:

I went to U of T. Highest ranked school for like a bazillion years - football team has won one single game in like a decade.

U of T is split into colleges. I went to the smallest, most elite, hardest to get into. This was only because I had to justify to my parents why I wasn't going to take my acceptances to Queens and McGill. I wanted to move to Toronto - desperately so.

My college is interesting. It is a mix of old white boy private school types and yet hugely diverse - but that's only because U of T as a whole is diverse (so is York, but friends don't let friends go to York).

My college was essentially like Yale/Harvard/Princeton. We had a secret society, we wore black academic gowns to dinner, sang songs in the street...etc...I loved parts of it, others not so much. I am close friends with two friends from that time. One of them is my BFF, we were each other's MOH. Other than them and FB friends, college is a bygone era for me.

Vic is better than Trin.

[Deleted]

Do you think it's privilege or that you're just not much of a joiner? I'm not a joiner at all so I feel ridiculous and awkward at pretty much any forced bobding activities like that. I've never gone to a reunion and I doubt I ever will (and I did have a good college experience - I'm just over it).. It sounds like a weekend in hell to me.

Add the privilege aspect in and I'd be pretty BEC about the whole thing.

[rugbywife]

Sept 28, 2015 15:32:48 GMT -5 @hannymaren said:

Sept 28, 2015 15:25:26 GMT -5 rugbywife said:

I went to U of T. Highest ranked school for like a bazillion years - football team has won one single game in like a decade.

U of T is split into colleges. I went to the smallest, most elite, hardest to get into. This was only because I had to justify to my parents why I wasn't going to take my acceptances to Queens and McGill. I wanted to move to Toronto - desperately so.

My college is interesting. It is a mix of old white boy private school types and yet hugely diverse - but that's only because U of T as a whole is diverse (so is York, but friends don't let friends go to York).

My college was essentially like Yale/Harvard/Princeton. We had a secret society, we wore black academic gowns to dinner, sang songs in the street...etc...I loved parts of it, others not so much. I am close friends with two friends from that time. One of them is my BFF, we were each other's MOH. Other than them and FB friends, college is a bygone era for me.

Vic is better than Trin.

Lol. That's what you want to think.

I knew at least one of the Canadians would know.

TBH, I lived in France when I applied to university. I knew nothing about u of t. I applied to Trin, New and Innis. Trin because it was hard to get into. New and Innis had nice res set ups. Priorities!!!

[chickens987]

Sept 28, 2015 15:23:00 GMT -5 @choco said:

My undergrad wasn't big on school pride, but maybe @mrsbecky remembers better than I do and saw stuff. We didn't have a football team so our best joke is that we are undefeated

Columbia's best joke my senior year is that they were the only school to lose every single league football AND basketball game.

School spirit as it pertained to sports was not A Thing, at all.

[chickens987]

I have to share my sister's college fight song here, just because it is so hysterical:

Fight, fight, inner light!
Kill, Quakers, kill!
Beat 'em, kick 'em, knock 'em senseless!
Do we really need consensus?

[carolinagirl831]

Eh, I think it's just one of those things. I went to a big 10 University and there were plenty of chants and yells about other schools in particular one that involves tshirts that say MUCK FICHIGAN which is hilarious now given the state of our football program.

anyways you are right. It is privledge. But I think it's all harmless fun and rivalry.

[spunkarella]

I don't care about one Ivy bashing another Ivy. Good fun IMO. @brie's example is a little gross to me, though.

My college has a bit of a reputation for being the place for people who couldn't get into page's school. It's the truth for some people, but there's some good-natured hating on her school by people who actually like my school. (wilted)

If you see someone wearing a shirt from my school, it's because they went there. If you see someone wearing a shirt from her school, it's because they went to Wal-Mart (I hear Tech people saying this too).

[Deleted]

Sept 28, 2015 14:16:08 GMT -5 @marshmallows said:

Sept 28, 2015 13:56:43 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

gavel - your H is wrong. This isn't "fun" this is weird douchebaggery. Although A&M and UT do the same thing, so I don't know that the Ivy thing is what bugs me about this.

Guess where he went to law school?     I enjoyed their reunion, though.  It made me want to move to Austin.  

Yeah, I guess the rivalry isn't really as bothersome to me as the obnoxious school spirit, so maybe I would feel that way about any similar event.  I just remember looking around at all these rich white people and thinking, "my, my, aren't we particularly proud of ourselves?  I wonder how proud you'd feel if you weren't a legacy and didn't have $2000 worth of Kaplan or whatever it was back in the 90s under your belt."  I realize this is not altogether fair, I was just overwhelmed.  There were so many of them, and so much orange and black.  They dress up every 5 years.  There are themes!  

Ugh, I'd be so BEC about this. I don't even know if my H could get me to go, lol. This reminds me of the "Penn not Penn State" shirts I used to see around. How rude is that?!

Eta: And how schools like Duke and Harvard chant "safety school" at schools like UMass or UNC. I know it's supposed to be in fun it it seems kind of obnoxious to me.