Super intellectual, hippie-type of kid...Suggestions?

spideygirl · 10-04-2007, 01:10 PM

Any suggestions for schools in sunny places for this sort of person? California, especially? Reed and University of Chicago would probably be good matches, but are there places like that where it is sunny?

BedHead · 10-04-2007, 01:19 PM

Sunny and what you are asking for may to a certain extent be non-overlapping. In California, Berkeley probably comes to the closest, though it is certainly sunnier in SoCal, just not as intellectual.

Berkeley, especially the city, has a hippie element. The school has tremendous diversity and is certainly not a hippie place to any great degree at this point. But the milieu has that element.

Another one you might consider is UC Santa Cruz.

jazzymom · 10-04-2007, 01:31 PM

Pomona or Occidental in L.A. area. Rice in Houston. Maybe the New College of FL (small LAC in Sarasota).

Weskid · 10-04-2007, 01:47 PM

I agree with Pomona (as someone looking for hippyish intellectual schools, it was my faviorte in California). Also Pitzer, which is in the same consortium (Pitzer is actually the more "hippy" school, though not as competitive as Pomona. It's worth looking into and perhaps applying to both). I also agree with Occidental.

Swarthmore and Haverford could also be good for that type of student. They are are in PA, which is no SoCal, but is sunnier than Portland and Chicago, which (if what I've heard is correct) get a lot of rain. Also Goucher college in MD.

Is the issue here really sun, or warmth, BTW? Because if the problem is that your kid doesn't like rainy weather but CAN deal with cold, Carelton and Macalester in Minnasota could both work--it's REALLY cold around where they are, but according to my friend at Carelton, there are a lot of really pretty, sunny days.

Also agree with the New College of FL. Also maybe Evergreen State? I have no idea what kind of weather they get.

sac · 10-04-2007, 02:01 PM

Reed, UC Santa Cruz, Hampshire, Evergreen, Wesleyan come to mind, though none particularly sunny. Don't know about hippie, but intellectual and sunny could fit St. John's which has a New Mexico campus; also, honors college at Arizona State I think. Occidental in LA? Not sure how intellectual, but a good school, diverse, sunny.

spideygirl · 10-04-2007, 02:26 PM

Thank you, everyone! If anyone has any more suggestions, please post...

jazzymom · 10-04-2007, 02:51 PM

Oberlin fits the intellectual "hippie" requirement, I would think. Probably a mixed bag on the weather, though. I was going to say St. John's in New Mexico too for the sunny and the intellectual; don't know about hippieness.

HSN · 10-04-2007, 02:55 PM

Vassar, Sarah Lawrence, Bard. Not all that sunny, but sunnier than the Pacific Northwest and not as cold as Minnesota.

Chedva · 10-04-2007, 03:08 PM

Weskid, I've never seen a preppier school than Haverford; I can't think of a place that a "hippie" type would be less comfortable. They have a varsity cricket team, for gosh sakes! Swathmore's not much less preppy. Goucher? Maybe.

I do second Bard. If he can stand the cold, perhaps Middlebury.

bdmrad · 10-04-2007, 03:22 PM

Reed, St. John's

etselec · 10-04-2007, 03:36 PM

Chedva, I disagree about Swarthmore and Haverford. From my experience after visiting Haverford, it's not exactly a hippie school but it's certainly less preppy than Amherst or Middlebury.

Swarthmore? Preppy? Sure, there's a contingent, but it's definitely not a preppy school (in general there's very little judgment about clothing, few status symbols, etc.). Though it does depend on the particular type of "hippie" we're talking about, I would say that in general "hippie" is a vibrant and accepted subculture here. Though it might not be as hippie as Bard or Hampshire, I think the "super-intellectual hippie-type" describes many Swarthmore students who fit in here just fine.

Weskid · 10-04-2007, 03:44 PM

Chedva: Really? All of the people I know at Haverford are at least quirky, if not hippy. It is preppier than some of the other schools listed, but the student body still seemed pretty intellectual and quirky to me.

And I really disagree about Swarthmore--it may not be the first school I think of when I hear "hippy" but it IS one of the first I think of when I hear "super intellectual," and it really didn't come off as preppy to me, so I could see the OP's kid being happy there.

huskem55 · 10-04-2007, 04:19 PM

what about Pitzer? very very liberal, in Cali
Warren Wilson in Asheville, NC is a mecca of hippiedom

notthatgood4 · 10-04-2007, 07:38 PM

Cal-Berkeley has its fair share of hippies for a public school. There are a bunch of students living in trees in order to protest their destruction. Seems pretty hippy to me.

mamenyu · 10-04-2007, 08:49 PM

Re Berkeley: The folks in the trees are mostly not students; same thing true of People's Park. Nor is the campus particularly hippyish these day, but the town is a bastion of former hippidom.

Of the UC's, Santa Cruz is the only one that could be called "hippyish." Nice weather and a beach; beautiful campus, in the redwoods.
I don't have the impression that Occidental is either hippyish or super-intellectual; nor are the Claremont schools reputed to be hippyish (with the possible exception of Pitzer). Not a very SoCal thing to be hippyish these days.
Oberlin, Wesleyan, Reed, Brown come to mind as excellent schools of the sort you might like.