Ga Tech among the "New Ivies".

Got to walk around the GT campus for the first time a few weeks ago as my 7th grade son was in a "KidVention" competition hosted there. It's a nice campus. Other than the nearby horizon of tall buildings, you wouldn't know you're in a downtown metro area when on campus.
 
CJones said:
Got to walk around the GT campus for the first time a few weeks ago as my 7th grade son was in a "KidVention" competition hosted there. It's a nice campus.
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Much nicer and very different than it was 40 years ago. I go down there these days and there are places on campus that are unrecognizable from "my" era. Shoot, they even airconditioned the old dorms...
 
kyleb said:
Much nicer and very different than it was 40 years ago. I go down there these days and there are places on campus that are unrecognizable from "my" era. Shoot, they even airconditioned the old dorms...
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Even TECHWOOD???? :eek:
 
JOhnH said:
Even TECHWOOD???? :eek:
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Only if tearing it down counts.

"Techwood" dorm was a Ga Tech dorm that was at the perimeter of the campus adjacent to the first federally funded public housing project. It was built simultaneously with the public housing, by the same builders, and to mostly the same spec's. Those spec's weren't good. When I was there, one of my jobs was to do repairs and maintenance on the dorms. I learned very quickly that the walls in that building were 2" of plaster and lath.

How'd I find out? I was told to go mount a set of bookshelves in a room and my first move was to drill a hole all the way through the wall into the next room. Rrrr.

That dorm and the balance of the Techwood housing project were torn down to make way for the 1996 Olympics. That event (and the demolition of two housing projects near campus) made a huge improvement to the entire area.
 
Anthem said:
that list is a joke. Under Private schools, how are you missing Duke, Stanford, Uchicago. And I get the too focused research institute, but if you include Johns hopkins, then you absolutely have to accept CalTech and MIT in there.

On the public side - its a lot more encompassing. But I would say excluding UCLA, UC Berkeley is a pretty big omission in top public universities.
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While Stanford, MIT, Caltech, and Duke are not technically Ivy League schools, they have long been considered equivalent in terms of selectivity and prestige. I think the list makers considered them "old ivies" from that perspective.
 
kyleb said:
Only if tearing it down counts.

"Techwood" dorm was a Ga Tech dorm that was at the perimeter of the campus adjacent to the first federally funded public housing project. It was built simultaneously with the public housing, by the same builders, and to mostly the same spec's. Those spec's weren't good. When I was there, one of my jobs was to do repairs and maintenance on the dorms. I learned very quickly that the walls in that building were 2" of plaster and lath.

How'd I find out? I was told to go mount a set of bookshelves in a room and my first move was to drill a hole all the way through the wall into the next room. Rrrr.

That dorm and the balance of the Techwood housing project were torn down to make way for the 1996 Olympics. That event (and the demolition of two housing projects near campus) made a huge improvement to the entire area.
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I wondered about that when I posted. I keep forgetting how old I am. It's been quite a few years since I've been back to the campus and it was a lot different from what I remember even then.
When I was there we had about 8,000 undergraduate students, of which less than 100 were female.
 
kyleb said:
Much nicer and very different than it was 40 years ago. I go down there these days and there are places on campus that are unrecognizable from "my" era. Shoot, they even airconditioned the old dorms...
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My Dad went to homecoming last year and you can imagine his thoughts since it was the first time back since he graduated in 1959.
 
Pugs said:
My Dad went to homecoming last year and you can imagine his thoughts since it was the first time back since he graduated in 1959.
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I'll bet your Dad didn't change much in those 65 years though.

I went for my 50 the reunion and I can't believe how old all those people got. Canes and walkers galore. But the worst part was the women I had a crush on, or at least lusted in my heart after.
 
I wonder about the future of UARCs.
 
JOhnH said:
I'll bet your Dad didn't change much in those 65 years though.

I went for my 50 the reunion and I can't believe how old all those people got. Canes and walkers galore. But the worst part was the women I had a crush on, or at least lusted in my heart after.
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Funny. He's 86 and I still think of him as Dad as he always was. He still flies R/C models three times a week and is a sage voice of moderation and common sense (as opposed to my Mom)
 
Anyone heard of the Goat Farm? If so, I'll tell a good story about my uncle, GT '50 grad and the origin of that name.
 
I lived in Techwood in 1980, during the days of the Techwood Bat Patrol. This was at the peak of Atlanta's Missing and Murdered Children saga, when a large group of vigilantes from the projects got together to continuously patrol Techwood Homes, all carrying baseball bats (and I'm sure a few concealed weapons). Other than a trip to Juniors for a "Dress 2 Cheese side" and occasionally going to class, we stayed cooped up most of the time in our roach-infested dorm ;-) My two kids, who both graduated from Tech with honors, had a bit different experience.
 
Ed Haywood said:
While Stanford, MIT, Caltech, and Duke are not technically Ivy League schools, they have long been considered equivalent in terms of selectivity and prestige. I think the list makers considered them "old ivies" from that perspective.
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Hard to say. GT has been on "Ivies" lists for many years, whether they called them "public ivies" or "southern ivies" or "new ivies" or whatever. I didn't see anything particularly startling, or even very new, in the article.

Heck, even when I was in school back in the early '80s, MIT was known as "The Ga Tech of the North" and I had a t-shirt to prove it.
 
David Loftus said:
I lived in Techwood in 1980, during the days of the Techwood Bat Patrol. This was at the peak of Atlanta's Missing and Murdered Children saga, when a large group of vigilantes from the projects got together to continuously patrol Techwood Homes, all carrying baseball bats (and I'm sure a few concealed weapons).
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In the early '80s, GT rented out the Lucky Street YMCA as an overflow dorm and I lived there for a couple of years. Had to drive through the Techwood projects every day. I recall that after about 10 at night, no one dared stop for the stop signs in Techwood. Just slow down enough to make sure it was clear, then roll right on through. The cops understood and didn't bother about it.

Crime in that area was pretty bad back then. My car was broken into several times, a guy I knew from the Y was mugged on the sidewalk outside the place, a friend across the hall witnessed a shooting in the alley below his room one night, etc., etc.

Lockheed Martin used to recruit pretty heavily at GT, so I got to make trips there from time to time over the years and I saw the campus evolve into a much more appealing place. There's always construction, and I doubt that any class has ever graduated from a "finished" campus. The last time I was at GT was in 2014, when I was the speaker at an Order of the Engineer ring ceremony. I'd like to get back there just to see how much it's changed since.


JOhnH said:
When I was there we had about 8,000 undergraduate students, of which less than 100 were female.
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I graduated in 1984, and even back then GT had some very attractive femmes on campus. I met both of them, dated one of them.
 
BTW, fellow ramblin' wrecks, today is George P. Burdell's 98th birthday! :happydance::drink:

For you unfortunate folks who didn't go to Tech, Mr. Burdell is GT's most famous alum. He has been on campus for most of his life, has earned multiple degrees, and occasionally has been know to enroll in every class offered thanks to his great enthusiasm for learning. A pilot, he flew 12 bomber missions over Europe in a B17 during WWII. In 2001, he received 36% of the vote to become Time Magazine's Person of the Year (President George Bush was second, with only about 4%). For many years he was on the BoD for Mad Magazine.

 
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Half Fast said:
I graduated in 1984
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If you were hanging around outside the GT student center in the fall of 81, you might have seen a Karate demo by a local school. One high school kid was asked to break a board with his head, something he had never tried. It took 3 attempts, accompanied by much laughter, and resulted in a cut to his eyebrow. This was an issue because he had fibbed to his parents about skipping school to do the demo.

You probably don't have to ask why I know so much about this event.
 
David Loftus said:
Other than a trip to Juniors for a "Dress 2 Cheese side"..
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Junior's. That brings back memories. A slightly off campus diner with a very strong resemblance to the "Cheeburger, cheeburger, no Coke, Pepsi" skit on SNL from the '70's. The place had its own ordering lingo. I think a "Whatchamacallit" was the fried shrimp. Juniors was about the only relatively inexpensive place to eat near campus - I probably ate a thousand meals there. I still remember most of the staff. Henry, Walt, Mom, Anne, Tommy...
 
kyleb said:
Junior's. That brings back memories. A slightly off campus diner with a very strong resemblance to the "Cheeburger, cheeburger, no Coke, Pepsi" skit on SNL from the '70's. The place had its own ordering lingo. I think a "Whatchamacallit" was the fried shrimp. Juniors was about the only relatively inexpensive place to eat near campus - I probably ate a thousand meals there. I still remember most of the staff. Henry, Walt, Mom, Anne, Tommy...
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And the French toast. Sigh.
 
As for myself, I had a North Avenue Trade School ball cap until I lost it.
 
The first place I heard my undergrad school called a "public ivy" was on The Simpsons, and I thought it was a joke.
The second time was on this list.

Nauga,
who doesn't care
 
Pugs said:
Funny. He's 86 and I still think of him as Dad as he always was. He still flies R/C models three times a week and is a sage voice of moderation and common sense (as opposed to my Mom)
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I’m gonna **** some people off by saying this, but my dad was 88 last year when he died, and I know exactly what you mean about moderation and common sense. That generation was just better than what we have today. They were involved in civic activities in their retirements (and even while still working), cared about the community, didn’t take to the internet to concoct hare brained conspiracies or just regurgitate stupid modern politics. They stayed out of that because it was all lies, and they were above that, and the people who fuel that world. Can’t say the same for the younger boomers and gen X, who whole heartedly (to generalize) embodied the “me first” generations. Sorry not sorry, you all should be embarrassed for turning politics into a sport, and ruining social media, and teaching your kids your same selfish ways. We should have never let you on. (Not directed at you pugs, and this is certainly a broad generalization, I will admit)
 
35 AoA said:
I’m gonna **** some people off by saying this, but my dad was 88 last year when he died, and I know exactly what you mean about moderation and common sense. That generation was just better than what we have today. They were involved in civic activities in their retirements (and even while still working), cared about the community, didn’t take to the internet to concoct hare brained conspiracies or just regurgitate stupid modern politics. They stayed out of that because it was all lies, and they were above that, and the people who fuel that world. Can’t say the same for the younger boomers and gen X, who whole heartedly (to generalize) embodied the “me first” generations. Sorry not sorry, you all should be embarrassed for turning politics into a sport, and ruining social media, and teaching your kids your same selfish ways. We should have never let you on. (Not directed at you pugs, and this is certainly a broad generalization, I will admit)
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I'm not disagreeing with you but I don't know what your point is, and I don't have enough info to put it in context. For instance, how old are you?
How does this age rant tie into the fact that employers would rather hire from schools like Ga. Tech than the traditional Ivy league schools?
 
nauga said:
The first place I heard my undergrad school called a "public ivy" was on The Simpsons, and I thought it was a joke.
The second time was on this list.

Nauga,
who doesn't care
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I think Embry Riddle called themselves the Harvard of the sky. Heh heh!
 
JOhnH said:
I'm not disagreeing with you but I don't know what your point is, and I don't have enough info to put it in context. For instance, how old are you?
How does this age rant tie into the fact that employers would rather hire from schools like Ga. Tech than the traditional Ivy league schools?
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Valid questions. And before i go on, let me just say that sometimes the internet is great for **** posting when you are annoyed at the world. So maybe I came off the top rope a little bit too much there. To answer your questions, I’m in my early 40’s (42 to be exact). The rant is actually tied to a really thoughtful conversation i had on a long layover eating dinner at a nearby restaurant, accompanied by a couple complete strangers. These two were about my mom’s age (late 70’s), him being a retired Navy doc (has since retired from both that, and his subsequent private practice) and her being a homemaker for kids a little younger than me. We were chatting about a lot of things related to right now, but service to the community became the major topic. Both of them had spent years volunteering time to multiple organizations. It made me think of my folks, my dad being a Rotarian for decades, an EAA officer of their local chapter for years, Vestry member and ultimately president (I can’t member if that’s the exact title) at their church, an in-retirement “consultant” for many years at his retirement job, and countless community volunteer activities. My Mom retired from the same place, and while she pretty much cut ties to them in retirement, she participated in CASA (Court Appointed Sponsor Advocate) program for many years advocating for youth in troubled/abusive homes, was also a church vestry member and also a president later on, and also a long standing PEO (a sorority group of teachers, of which my grandma was originally a part of). The two of them agreed that such things were just normal activities, and she said she wished she had emphasized more of that to her (now adult) daughters. And then she turned to me and said “it’s your turn now”. I dont think i will forget that. The old boomers and the silent generation have been holding that torch for far too long, while those of us younger have just assumed they have it for all of us. They dont. They’re not only retired, but quickly becoming too old to really participate. These two are living a great retirement, homes in Coronado and Ann Arbor, vacationing between the two, kids in med school and kids who are docs, with many little grandkids coming to visit. They should be focused on those things now. I am a supreme hypocrite because all i have really done is mil service. Just like the people I am criticizing, I have become too engrossed in my own career(s) to spend much time giving back to the community. But I think that is what we should be focusing on now. Especially in light of events recently. There are people that need our help. That was just a really badly worded way of saying this. My dad would be rolling over in his grave if he knew what was going on in this country right now. And he was never a partisan, just a reasonable man, who didn’t suffer fools
 
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35 AoA said:
Valid questions:
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And valid answers. Thread drift is a part of life in these forums so I wasn't criticizing you. I appreciated your context.

One thing I want to amplify from your post, although many people already know this, but many don't. You mention your Dad being in Rotary. Some people just think it is a group of rich men in it to promote themselves. Rotary's main premise and motto is "Service Above Self". My time in Rotary was often spent helping younger students in some of the more disadvantaged areas learn to become solid citizens. A friend of mine (a dentist) often participated in free dental clinics and also served a couple of term on the HOPE ship. And both of us, and many others, were part of the younger end of the Boomer generation.
 
Anthem said:
That being said - most of the success and money tied in the United states also belong to that same club of old, white, male.
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Well, about 1/3 of the population of the US is white males over 40 (and at 61 not sure I consider 40 old but the US median is 44) so we have a head start in just numbers.

When it comes to the decrease in philanthropic social clubs it's tied pretty closely with when schools started requiring mandatory volunteer time as requirement to their graduation criteria.
 
I guess I’d ask what you would rather middle aged/old white men do? Sabotage the economy and buy more when the going is cheap? Or engage in some sort of a philanthropic activity while they still have the mental acuity and mobility to do so? Is there any activity they could do that would be satisfactory?
 
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