The PREPPIEST Schools Of 2011

Once upon a time, the prep was a variation of a traditionalist, East Coast-born, equestrian-riding, upper class WASP that attended a northeastern private university and boarding school before that. But the elusive noun is ever-changing, and nowadays members of this subculture are more defined by their attitudes than their creeds: If they play lacrosse, wear boat shoes, and bring a date to a football game, they're preppy. The attachment to traditional "old school" beliefs and attitudes isn't necessarily there, just an outfit that makes 'em look like their parents own several yachts and a place on the Vineyard. We're ringing in an age of the "New Prep."

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University Of Virginia

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At a school that refers to the quad as "the Lawn," it's no surprise that many of the frat and sorority houses are situated along "Rugby Road." The school isn't lacking in Southern tradition (students joke that UVA's mantra is "guys in ties, girls in pearls"). Having been ranked by U.S. News World & Report as the number two public university among "National Universities" in the United States in 2009, 2010 and 2011, it's no surprise that it draws a more and more diverse crowd. As one student reviewer explained, "While the preppy Old South crowd may be most prominent, UVA's 13,000 undergrads come from every walk of life."

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At a school that refers to the quad as "the Lawn," it's no surprise that many of the frat and sorority houses are situated along "Rugby Road." The school isn't lacking in Southern tradition (students joke that UVA's mantra is "guys in ties, girls in pearls"). Having been ranked by U.S. News World & Report as the number two public university among "National Universities" in the United States in 2009, 2010 and 2011, it's no surprise that it draws a more and more diverse crowd. As one student reviewer explained, "While the preppy Old South crowd may be most prominent, UVA's 13,000 undergrads come from every walk of life."

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Comments

[BigWillyG]

11:31 AM on 08/29/2011

Is it bad the name Sewanee makes me think of some dude in blackface singing?

[Ben Pope]

11:42 PM on 08/01/2011

Well, In Honor of my Alma Mater, Miami University....here is a song I wrote....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT5XOeufPtM

[GuiltyUndertaker]

01:11 PM on 07/27/2011

Where are Duke and Vanderbilt and Smith and probably the worst one of all -- Yale?

[WadeLaycook]

09:57 PM on 07/25/2011

This list is suspect. Abercrombie has never, and never will be, considered "preppy." In fact, among most preppy fraternity circles, Abercrombie and American Eagle are considered "GDI" (non-Greek) attire. UVA and Sewanee are the only two schools that deserve to be on this list. What about Vanderbilt? W&L? UNC? Most of the SEC schools?

[kalley88]

02:51 PM on 07/14/2011

Washington & Lee not on the list? I've been there and to quite a few colleges on this list and it far surpasses almost all of them!

[John Acree]

04:45 AM on 07/13/2011

Sewanee is an Episcopalian school founded partly by a Civil War general. They wear black robes to class as seniors (like judges do). It's isolated in the rainy, overcast, mountains of east Tennessee. Tedious boredom leads to wide-scale drug use among students. Very cliqueish (sp?) place.

Elitist attitude may have a bearing on the fact that some graduates of the school and some graduates of the adjoining Episcopal seminary there use criminal date-rape drug 'scopolamine' to scam wealthy retirees. This would include such graduates as attorney Austin Catts, GA Bishop Henri Louttit, former Peace Corps member Ted Dennard, and Rev. Nancy Pickering. All of them now live in Savannah or St. Simons Island, GA.

Scopolamine has long been a CIA drug used for mind control. Leads one to wonder if CIA recruits heavily on this Episcopal campus like they do on Catholic campuses like at Notre Dame.

Sewanee had a fine English teacher there many years, the Agrarian Andrew Lytle.

For more info on the criminal network, just engine search 'scopolamine' and 'island'.

[nelsoac88]

12:20 AM on 07/14/2011

Mr. Acree,

First and foremost, "cliqueish," as you put it, is quite probably one of the last adjectives (if "cliqueish" can even be called one) anyone remotely familiar with the school would use to describe its social atmosphere. Of course, various groups of friends emerge. Where does this not occur? Perhaps my non-participation in the Greek system gave me a different perspective than the large percentage of undergraduates who do join fraternities and sororities; however, I can attest that aside from the typical friendly competitiveness between the different organizations that one would observe at every institution with Greek life, the students within each group usually had close friends in others. Similarly, while students naturally spend large amounts of time with their fellow departmental majors, my best friend was the only English major with whom I was close. Like the above article mentions, Sewanee students are generally friendly and hospitable to everyone (with the obvious few exceptions that still do not justify your claim).

In regards to your overall point concerning Sewanee graduates' use of scopolamine, there is essentially no information available online, at least through Google, that discusses such assertions. The links that do contain the two terms, interestingly, include your name and/or a "Don Acree," who I don't have much doubt is likely a relation of yours. If you have legitimate documents and evidence that prove your statements, by all means, reply to this post with the instructions on where I might locate them.

Sincerely,
ACN, C’11

[nelsoac88]

12:26 AM on 07/14/2011

Additionally, your remark about black "robes" is misinformed. They are referred to as "gowns," which derives from the academic honor society established during Sewanee's fledgling years as a university called The Order of Gownsmen. Eligibility is hardly limited to seniors; because membership depends on the achievement of earning a certain above-average GPA, students can be initiated as early as their sophomore year (such as I was).

[John Acree]

02:12 AM on 07/15/2011

Thank you for the corrections.

No info online til now cause perps don't like pub. Don and John are same person - John Donnally (Don) Acree - so you found the relevant website. Second page "Background" has positive tox results (click on second mouse-over link). They were positive even though stalled for 4-1/2 months!

[Bruce Henderson]

09:37 PM on 07/12/2011

Taught at St. Lawrence in the 80s. Arrogant students without motivation or intellectual curiosity. The faculty were even worse.

[Maddy Barnhard]

11:56 PM on 07/12/2011

I am sorry to disappoint your profound observations about Saint Lawrence Students, Mr. Henderson, but their educational capacity and burgeoning intellect far surpass your "open-minded" comments. You may want to make a more up-to-date assessment before posting trite remarks.

[Joshua Boone Wilcoxson]

05:04 PM on 07/13/2011

Gonna have to go with Bruce on this one. Maddy, your comment reads like you are trying to throw around pompous words. It doesn't make sense.

[JohnGault3]

09:33 PM on 07/12/2011

What's cool about Sewanee is the 13,000 acre campus with 12 lakes, horses, hiking trails, and beautiful scenery. Also, the facilities are all first class and it is true, the students dress for class. A very friendly place.

[stratsticks57]

07:35 PM on 07/12/2011

I transferred to CMC from SMU. First, I wouldn't put CMC in top 50 preppiest schools, and second, I can't believe SMU isn't on this list. Although I do appreciate HuffPo not acknowledging it's existence...

[peacekitten]

09:54 PM on 07/28/2011

ever since SMU agreed to house the george bush library, it's dropped off the face of the earth, and rightly so.  that's got to be the most boneheaded decisions they could have ever made.

[hugatree]

06:41 PM on 07/12/2011

College of Chareston preppy? I got my MA there. Lots of preppy profs, but aside from the formal spring graduation tradition mentioned in this article or the ubiquitous Southern debutantes whose sense of fashion seems to be halted in the Laura Ashley 80s, it has a VERY beachy, slacker vibe.

[jonrice]

02:43 PM on 07/12/2011

CMC is bro, not preppy. Jussayin’

[cabaretchatnoir]

11:17 PM on 07/12/2011

It really is both. I saw lot of collered shirts with dockers Jon. The time really determines what is being warm.

[cmillen89]

12:44 PM on 07/12/2011

Elon is full of northern transplants who think they know what preppy is. It doesn't deserve to be on this list.

[ackezzy]

12:30 PM on 07/12/2011

Georgetown?

[Kyle Duffy]

09:25 AM on 07/12/2011

Its amusing that Miami University gets the "small school in Ohio" title when it is 10 TIMES the size of the school before it...

I agree about Elon though, should be on this list

[Nick Averwater]

04:51 PM on 07/14/2011

Well when you consider MU is smaller than U of Cincinnati, OSU, Bowling Green, Northern Kentucky (Not TECHNICALLY Cincy but...) it may not be "small" persay, but it is smaller than most of the schools in Ohio.

[PostGrad]

04:48 AM on 07/12/2011

Where is Elon? I transferred to Elon from UVA and it is without a doubt preppier. Both of my brothers went to College of Charleston and my sister went to Bowdoin and they all agree Elon is by far the preppier institution. Whether that's a good or bad thing you can decide, but ultimately the school represented a ridiculous concentration of wealth. Most students could go straight from class to the country club or a cocktail hour and not have to change clothes. The school is nearly all-white, extremely greek-oriented, full of over-acheivers, and students look like they step out of ad's for Lilly Pulitzer, Vineyard Vines, and JCrew...because they are IN ad's for companies such as these.

[OhPleez]

12:19 AM on 07/13/2011

Where is Elon? Not on this list, because NOBODY's heard of you.

[PostGrad]

12:59 AM on 07/15/2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/14/the-preppiest-colleges-ph_n_537912.html#s80458&title=HampdenSydney_College

http://www.thebestcolleges.org/most-beautiful-campuses/