Use the Fiske Guide, plus if you want another style Princeton Review’s best colleges and/or Insider into colleges.
Stick to that for now and avoid websites.
ECs: it’s not about quantity but quality. (BTW, when Lindagaf speaks about her daughter and her friends, that’s in colleges not in high school.) Stick to what you’re doing.
Essays: send us drafts. We’ll help.
Minority: how do you treat liberal students right now at your high school? Hopefully, in the same way you’d want to be treated if positions were reversed. You can try watching a little chunk of news from Fox (conservative), MSNBC (liberal), CNN (1/3 conservative, 1/3 liberal, 1/3 independent). Or you can try watching ‘BBC news’ or ‘France24 in English’ for a different perspective yet. If you can withstand watching the different channels you’ll be fine.
Colleges will be supportive of your faith and all will have religious clubs. You can look on each website for faith groups and contact the leaders to share your fears.
I don’t think Carleton would be a good fit because it’s quirky and I’m not sure you’re quirky. 
Yet it’s very very strong in the sciences. How about you read up just about Carleton in Fiske Guide and determine just that?
Then read up on Haverford.
@KelseyM , please stop overthinking everything. You are right, you won’t get into any college if you don’t apply. I get the feeling you are a little to keen to over analyze things. Focus in the schools you like, apply for the fly ins. You are likely to get at least one.
ALL of these colleges will have minority students and you will not be singled out for being a minority. All will be accepting of your religious beliefs and I expect all will have campus chapels with active associated clubs that tend to be very accepting.
Your application is not going to be judged on your ECs, scores, grades, or background. It’s going to be assessed on all those things together, holistically. A low income student applying via QB is not going to be expected to have done ten years of private lessons and headed up the neighborhood Christmas coat drive when your own family needs coats (just an example). Your application is going to be assessed on the context of the information they have about you, not by comparing you to someone who had plenty of economic resources and advantages.
As a QB applicant, they will already have a lot of useful information about you. Their main concern will be “can this student succeed here?”, not “she didn’t create a gardening club and become the president.”
I mentioned my daughter and her friend at college because I was trying to help you understand that it isn’t test scores that make someone a good college student. My daughter had very underwhelming ECs and got into her school (not a QB school) from the waitlist. She was also clearly a good student and I’m sure they cared about that far more than her violin skills. Her friend is not any kind of prodigy. The student is intelligent and works hard. If you are too, you can succeed at any of those colleges, but not if you don’t apply.
Sorry, again, for my emotions. The pressure to actually get accepted to any of these things is overwhelming sometimes.
I have several fly-in apps under consideration: Haverford, Rice, Tufts, Williams, Hamilton, and Swarthmore. Haverford’s is complete (I have the small essays that I submitted with that application if you want to see them), Rice’s is in progress, and the others are under consideration. I had also thought about Carleton, Davidson, and Washington&Lee, but Carleton’s is very selective (60 student max) and the others… I dunno. I figured the other ones would be better. The only thing is, some of them are after the QB college ranking submission date. Should I attend them anyway, or no? Also, should I remove some of these due to their similarities to other fly-ins I’ve listed or the lack of their fit to the things you know about me so far?
I have some general essay drafts: one is incomplete, one is too long, and one is sitting blank. I would have worked on them by now if not for those fly-in app essay requirements. I will definitely send my essay drafts once completed to whomever would like to review and critique them. My UStrive mentor is reviewing the long one and will send me a revised draft of what he did to cut stuff down. If I approve of it (I’m sure I will), I’ll send it your way. I’ll also work on the others as soon as I can.
I am not looking at websites, really, when ranking colleges, but I am looking at CollegeConfidential threads on campus political vibes to get a lot of opinions. I have a lot of info on Carleton, right now, because it’s the only one I’ve researched, and will have more soon. I will post samples of my research in the near future once I have a decent bit on several colleges you’ve recommended to see if what people are saying is accurate and if it is thorough.
I got the Princeton Review college book, but I will tell you about some things with it in the second post. It’s a little long and talks about ECs.
I want to think I can be a QB finalist, but I’ve seen how selective it is and how pressure-inducing it is for some students. I’ve seen some people talk of their situation that are even lesser fortunate than I am (asian migrant family of 4 on 15,000 income, etc.), and I even had someone in my summer Chemistry class that was actually a counselor in Georgia previously who told me during labs about how she and other Counselors would coach low-income students on applying for QB, and she said she had 2 last year who got the scholarship. That kind of scares me. What should I do if I don’t get it? (If it helps at all, here’s a tidbit of info about my financial situation: I ran the NPC calculator on Vanderbilt with my father’s accurate tax information as well as mine and the net price total turned out to be $800, minus their estimated amount of student self-help via a job each year) I want to apply ED to a bunch of the colleges on the list, but the problem is that some (or all) ED applications are binding if you get accepted. Would I be in hot water if I applied ED to multiple colleges and got accepted by more than one if they were both/all binding colleges? How does that work?
(long post about EC ideas and concerns, TL;DR is below, but crucial details are in the meat of this text.)
I have also borrowed the Princeton college review book from the library and now have it in comparison to the Fiske Guide. I am already liking the Princeton book more; the details are more distinct and the rankings are more detailed. However, there is something I saw on Vanderbilt’s page that concerned me. Princeton’s book has a list of things to consider when creating your application for schools, and ranks each aspect of the application from most important to least important. One of the “Very Important” items on Vandy’s list was extracurriculars, however it was second to last in the list, with the essay and other obviously crucial factors above it. It is also noted in a lower section that strong extracurriculars are typical of a Vandy student. I compared this section with a few LACs to see if it was consistent, and LACs have ECs ranked in mostly “Important” or “Other Factors” sections. Should this concern me when applying? I know Linda says applications are viewed holistically, but Vandy is one of my top choices (It has very high rankings in many of Princeton’s “Social Life” and ". Currently, other top choices I’m thinking about are Rice, UChicago, and Haverford, and possibly more when research is fully under way. I have 2 strong ECs and could really use a third… I have a UStrive mentor (it’s an app linking students with mentors they choose, and has a ton of trackers you can start for schools you like as well as essay trackers, etc.) who graduated from Vandy, and he told me the best thing to do that really makes you stand out is to have an EC involving “something you started”, which he suggested something like a biology club. I really like that idea, but the huge problem is that my school is a below-average school when it comes to academics. It doesn’t have APs (Cambridge and DE instead, MYOS knows and has helped me, I am maximizing my academic rigor with Cambridge, DE, and self studied AP classes), its only strength is athletics, it is poorly funded and maintained, and a LOT of the students have domestic issues at home, causing a lot of them to not care about school. This is not me judging, this is a problem noted by all of the staff at school and even some county leaders. I want to find a way to make them happier, solve a big problem, or even start that club like Shiva, the mentor, talked about, but I haven’t met a single soul with a passion or at least meager interest in science like I do. When I interview people, they mostly tend to deviate towards humanities courses or work-based learning courses, which involve blue collar work like mechanics, carpentry, etc., since the community is rural and benefits most from these classes since their academics are lower. I doubt I could get a club started with this kind of audience, and it’s understandable, but difficult. The only other person I’ve met who shares my passion is a teacher, and he was in a passionate discussion with my lab supervisor about the huge problem with vaping at our school (>80% of kids do it) and how he really wants to immerse them in better things, including science classes, but he doesn’t see a good future because of how hard it is to convince people in higher positions to fund Bradley. I saw these problems too, and I really felt a connection with him, almost like a student may feel towards a professor at an LAC. I want to help him, but our community is so poorly cared for we don’t know how. I don’t know if creating a biology club would be feasible. I have a strong passion to teach my peers and younger kids about the INTERESTING parts of biology, and how to apply their knowledge they know about it now to a potential future career. It gets me so excited when I think about it, I want to tell everyone about the potential for science and how the workforce needs people like them to contribute to these innovations. That’s what got MY interest in biology started: The importance of proteins and their uses in cells, the manipulation of DNA with technologies such as CRISPR to cut out dangerous mutations and incorporate healthy genes, such as removal of sickle cell anemia or the introduction of a Plasmodium-resistant gene into mosquitoes to immunize them against malaria and reduce, possibly eliminate outbreaks in time, the creation of monoclonal antibodies and identifying them in medicine commercials (with the suffix -mab and the middle part indicating its type) to use them to target cancers and other diseases, the creation of vaccines, and the introduction/manufacture of the bacteriophage to treat previously incurable diseases and highly drug resistant bacteria that could end the war with antibiotics. I want to teach these things, but I don’t think my community cares about that in their life right now. Is there any way I could use this desire and put it into something else?
One way I had discussed with MYOS was the purchase of a graphics tablet to use my artistic talents for more professional things - i.e. merging it with science and creating fun, educational videos about science or professional medical illustrations involving either real or fictitious characters. It was a thought, and I’m trying to work a lot more to save money for it, but I save time to study for this stuff and do my lab internship.
Also, I had started an application at my mother’s work to volunteer at a retirement home, cooking, cleaning, etc., basic things. That hasn’t officially started yet, and since it’s not related to science, would it be worth it at this point to do it? I care about my community, but don’t they want to see subject-specific activities so ECs aren’t “all over the place”?
TL;DR: Vandy likes ECs according to Princeton book, has me concerned because in other parts of book LACs don’t care about ECs as MUCH as Vandy and other unis, so because I worry too much here are some EC ideas you can evaluate if you want, but there are some pros and cons to each (details above obviously)
These are some thoughts I wanted to share with you to see if you liked them or not. If you think I’m okay where I’m at, being a member of National Honors Society at school for 2 years, working a part time job, and doing a lab internship, let me know.
Ok, it’s useful knowing you are Asian. I can tell you that, in general, Asians are unquestionably at a disadvantage at top universities, while at many of the LACs, being Asian can be a small boost. At the most elite colleges, Asians are ORM, not URM. This is not to scare you. It’s just reality. MANY Asian applicants apply to top colleges such as Princeton and U Chicago.
What’s your goal? Getting a QB scholarship at a very good school, or getting into a prestigious school with a super low acceptance rate ? Frankly, in your shoes, I would do my very best to ensure I’m applying to a college that I have the best shot at getting into.
Why Swarthmore? I think it’s already been mentioned that it has a liberal, social justice-y vibe. Doesn’t sound like you, from what we’ve been hearing. Carleton is a great school, but as MYOS said, it’s quirky. MYOS knows her stuff, she doesn’t think it sounds like you. Rice is liberal. Williams is VERY tough to get into, and a lot of old-money families send their children there. Great school, of course. You already know that U Chicago and Princeton are ridiculously selective, and you are at a disadvantage as an Asian.
I think Haverford, Hamilton, Vanderbilt, and Tufts seem like solid choices. MYOS already suggested applying to several fly-in programs. Yes, you’ll have to rank your choices I guess before you see them all. I am not that familiar with how QuestBridge works, sorry. But you should visit the colleges regardless, if you are awarded a fly in. I guess if you aren’t awarded a fly in at a school, you’ll at least be able to take that school off the list, or move it lower down your list.
Re EC’s , you have what you have. Are you going to not apply because you don’t feel they are good? Then you won’t get in. Stop worrying about what is out of your control. And you probably have other ECs. Do you take care of your siblings or elderly family? Do you have to clean your house and cook meals so that your parents can work? Do you work to earn money for your family? Are you involved in your church? Those are all extracurricular activities.
Read up on W&L and Davidson. They might love an applicant like you. Reread what MWolf and MYOS have written. Don’t have your heart set on a dream school. Apply to the colleges that you feel you can be happy at and have the best chance of getting a QB scholarship. Stop worrying about ECs. Understand that ALL of these colleges are excellent, you will find like-minded people at all of them, and you will get an excellent education at all of them.
I will send you a private message.
Can you list all the things you do with your church?
At this point it isn’t about starting a new EC. For a lower income kid you have lots of good ECs. Starting a sparsely attended Biology club at your school wouldn’t help and would use up tons of time for no good reason.
Vaping: have you read the Washington Post article about the teen who had to drive 250miles with an exploded jaw? To me it poke about ‘medical deserts’ but of course it was about vaping and it’s dangers.
@Lindagaf
I’m not entirely sure about Haverford [li], but Carleton is very, very liberal — almost as liberal as Reed and Oberlin used to be. It is roughly on the same part of the politcal spectrum as Macalester, Grinnell, Wesleyan, Vassar, Scripps and Brown. A conservative would definitely feel “out of place” on today’s Carleton campus, especially a cultural conservative. Carleton consistently makes the list of Princeton Review’s Most Liberal Students list (#15 this year), occasionally the PR Birkenstock Tree Hugging list, and various lists of LGBT-friendly colleges. It’s also #18 on Niche’s list of most liberal schools, but you have to take the Niche list with a big grain of salt (the year-to-year volatility suggests to me that their sample size is very small; Carleton was #2 a couple of years ago). I will agree with your comment regarding rigor wrt both Carleton and Haverford, through.[/li]
@KelseyM
You say you’re looking at Carleton. If you think the atmosphere at Carleton would be acceptable to you, but are concerned that it is too difficult to get into, then you should look at Macalester, Grinnell and Vassar. Those schools are slightly easier to get into than Carleton, but are, as I mentioned above, roughly about as liberal as Carleton. Grinnell is almost like Carleton’s sister school — small LAC, strong in the sciences, similar students, culture, vibe and environment. Actually, if Carleton is tolerable to you, then pretty much all the Questbridge schools should also be, with the exception of Oberlin. On the other hand, if you think Carleton is too left-wing for you, then you should probably cross all of those in the previous paragraph (Macalester, Grinnell, Vassar, Wesleyan, Brown, Scripps) off your list as well.
Results from CIRP survey [**] of first year students (keep in mind that students tend to move left during their college years (especially on left-leaning campuses), and therefore the following schools are, as a whole, more liberal than what these numbers suggest):
| Far | | | | Far |
| Left | Liberal | Moderate | Conservative | Right |
-----------+--------+-----------+----------+--------------+---------+
Carleton | 18 % | 58 % | | 3 % | <1 % |
frosh only |........!...........| |..............!.........|
(2015) | 76 % | 20 % | 3 % |
-----------+--------+-----------+----------+--------------+---------+
Carleton | 14 % | 60 % | | 5 % | <1 % |
frosh only |........!...........| |..............!.........|
(2008) | 74 % | 21 % | 5 % |
-----------+--------------------+----------+------------------------+
Reed | 19 % | 62 % | | 3 % | 0 % |
frosh only |........!...........| |..............!.........|
(2010) | 81 % | 16 % | 3 % |
-----------+--------------------+----------+--------------+---------+
Oberlin | 19 % | 65 % | | 2 % | <1 % |
frosh only |........!...........| |..............!.........|
(2006) | 84 % | 14 % | 2 % |
-----------+--------------------+----------+------------------------+
Grinnell | ?? | ?? | | ?? | ?? |
frosh only |........!...........| |..............!.........|
(2006) | 72 % | 23 % | 5 % |
-----------+--------------------+----------+------------------------+
Year in parenthesis is matriculation year
Here are all the Questbridge (and a few other non-Questbridge) schools ranked from most liberal to most conservative by Niche. Here L 007 means 7th most liberal (out of 687 schools), C 100 means 100th most conservative (out of 725 schools). Like I said above, you need to take this with a huge grain of salt. Reed College being #213 is complete nonsense and means the sampling is very, very, very bad! Grinnell, Macalester should be much closer to Oberlin. The only reason I’m using it is because it’s the only place I can find all ~40 schools. I feel the Princeton Review lists and any CIRP data you can find and even many school newspaper polls are more trustworthy than Niche, at least for the small colleges. The figures might be a little bit more reasonable for the large schools. Hence, these should only be taken as very rough ballpark suggestive indications. With that huge caveat out of the way:
L 010 Oberlin (Barely even made top ten?)
L 016 Vassar
L 018 Carleton
L 019 Wesleyan
L 022 Northwestern
L 028 Columbia
L 040 Swarthmore
L 044 Bowdoin
L 053 Brown (should be a little higher, I think?)
L 062 Grinnell (should be much higher on this list)
L 063 Macalester (should be much higher on this list)
L 071 WUSTL
L 080 Tufts
L 089 Rice
L 091 Colorado (I would’ve predicted it to be a bit higher)
L 099 Wellesley (ditto)
L 101 Chicago
L 108 Scripps (I think this should be much much higher)
L 111 Pennsylvania
L 132 Yale
L 139 Stanford
L 145 USC
L 190 Pomona
L 199 Emory
L 213 Reed (NO WAY!! Should be in top 20 at the very least!)
L 236 Hamilton
L 241 Williams
L 264 Haverford
L 265 Harvard
L 287 Claremont McKenna
L 297 Vanderbilt
L 306 Amherst
L 318 Cornell University (thought Cornell, Harvard & Yale would be closer to each other)
L 346 Colby
L 368 Dartmouth
L 375 MIT
L 392 Virginia
L 400 Duke
L 471 Princeton (OP doesn’t want any Ivies, but only 4 QB schools are to the right)
L 586 Davidson
C 693 Caltech (OP doesn’t like California - there are only 2 QBs to the right of CIT)
C 216 Washington & Lee
C 067 Notre Dame
[*] Sources:
Carleton: The Carletonian. October 14, 2016 Vol 137 #4, p. 3
Reed: https://www.reed.edu/ir/assets/images/graphs/Reed2010CIRP.pdf
Oberlin: http://www2.oberlin.edu/instres/irhome/assessment/2006cirp.pdf
Grinnell: https://www.grinnell.edu/sites/default/files/documents/CIRPsummary.pdf
[] I can’t find data for Haverford first-year students, but I did find this article:
http://haverfordclerk.com/we-are-the-7-conservative-students-and-stigmatized-discourse-at-haverford/
which seems to suggest that the Haverford campus as a whole is somewhat more moderate than Carleton, but still pretty liberal
Yes, @hokupaa , Carelton is liberal, but it has little of the social justice vibe that would more likely be found at Oberlin, Swat, Wes, and Reed. As OP has been made aware, there are few “conservative” schools on the QB list, and those two, as has been stated by another poster, are a little more “old money” conservative.
Rankings like that are pretty meaningless, tbh. OP, I would not pay a lot of attention to them. As has already been stated, there will be conservative and religious students at all of these college. Even Oberlin has at least 20 religious groups representing many faiths, a Republican Club and a Republican/Libertarian club. I see not much use in the list provided and think the OP would be better off looking at Princeton Review and the like to help form her ideas. I also do recommend the site Niche, which is student-based. It will help give OP and idea of what actual kids on campus think of their colleges.
I’m not sure how commonly available they might be, but you may want to look for opportunities for research that have been incorporated into the curriculum. For example, Biology 298 at Hamilton offers a variable credit scale and can be repeated.
https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/departments/Courses-and-Requirements?dept=Biology
I’ll respond more thoroughly later, but just to clarify, I am not Asian. I am a white female. The example in parentheses was an example of someone having it harder than me that I saw on this website.
I’ll discard Williams, Swarthmore, and Carleton.
Rice hasn’t been described as liberal in other threads, but moreso with more influx of conservatives from Texas and other parts of the South. I’ll get back to you on other things I find though.
I’m going to recommend that you keep Swarthmore on your list.
I’d keep Grinnell and Williams - the opportunities for a serious scientist there are just too good to pass up. I wouldn’t keep Swarthmore.
Wonderful info, guys, much appreciated. Alright, I’ll apply for Williams. I haven’t been a fan of what I’ve heard from Swarthmore, IF it is as liberal as one says. Are any of you absolutely sure I should keep or remove Swarthmore? I’m still unsure about the school largely myself. Is Caltech really a conservative school? I never would have guessed. I might look at it some more.
Grinnell is in small town Iowa, even though it has fantastic programs, which kind of distances me. Should I apply anyway for the fly in to at least see what it looks like? I think I’d rather be at Swarthmore since it’s closer to the city.
Again, more thorough responses later. I’ve done some stuff on Carleton and will do more later tonight on other colleges if work isn’t busy (I’m at work). My next little research plan would be for Hamilton, I guess. I will share the things I have for Carleton.
Here’s the bit I had for Carleton. Keep in mind, I’m a social conservative. Here are some things I’ll establish:
Social conservative, yet not overly vocal; fiscally moderate, as I am uninformed
Will be prompted to voice opinion when my stances are questioned or if liberal political activism on campus is very high and abundantly obvious
Silently and slightly against gay marriage, but majority of friend circle is homosexual. They do not know, nor do I really care. I can be friends with people I disagree with. However, these are not overly prideful homosexuals. I cannot befriend people who include being LGBT as a personality trait. Homosexuals I can be friends with treat it as heterosexuals treat their sexuality - nothing new or special; ordinary.
Silently against gun control, globalized/free healthcare, prioritization of climate change/global warming programs, and immigration. Can easily be friends with those who disagree, and can have respectful debates over.
Vocally against abortion, but will only speak out if there is an influx of pro-abortion marches/protests on campus. Harder to be friends with vocal pro-choicers. Debates regarding this topic will be very tense, but not emotional. I can hold my ground in a debate. This is my biggest and most leaning conservative opinion.
Am a Christian, but not active in a church, unfortunately. My idea of Christian involvement includes having intellectual discussions about deciphering the text of the Bible and what it means for us. I like thinking of bold controversial questions that most Christians don’t like asking, such as “Why can’t I question God?”
I’ve also added a new preference: I’d prefer it if campus drinking, partying, and drug use wasn’t excessive. I’d like to avoid it if possible.
Anyway, here’s some stuff about Carleton:
Political Environment
Conservative Presence Rating: 4 (more liberals, more aggressive than other colleges in recent years)
Political Activity Rating: 7 (very liberally politically active; pride parades, marches, protests, etc.)
Predominantly liberal; some say it’s more open than some colleges when it comes to discussing opinions, some say it definitely isn’t
For years, conservatives have been a distinct minority on campuses like Carleton, a prestigious liberal arts school in Northfield. But now, some on both sides of the aisle are worrying openly that many campuses have become so politically lopsided that there’s little room for dissent or debate. “I know students who have conservative views on abortion and gun control, but they would never say it publicly here,” said Berry, a 21-year-old senior from Chicago. Since Donald Trump became president, conservatives say that college campuses have become less hospitable than ever to their opinions. “It is, I think, a tough time to be a campus Republican right now,” says Brian Rosenberg, president of Macalester College in St. Paul. Berry, who graduates in May, says he wishes both sides were more open to listening. But for now, he’s not optimistic. “It is an unhealthy dynamic,” he said. “And I don’t think it’s going to change for the better anytime soon.” - StarTribune article, April 2018
“It’s pretty liberal, according to DS. But I would think most students are thoughtful enough to realize that tolerating the viewpoints of others is an important part of the experience at small colleges like this. And I suspect that the school’s emphasis on diversity includes diversity of opinions. Based on my one visit to campus, and the Carleton students who have visited my home, I would think you could find a fair, like-minded group to hang with as long as you too are respectful.” - Pootie, CollegeConfidential member in “Liberal” thread, September 2012
“If by “thrive” you mean that you would like to attend a college or university where you can join a group of conservatives/libertarians to have discussions, contribute conservative articles to a publication, or be an outspoken conservative, then Carleton is definitely not the college for you. If you hold conservative opinions and occasionally air them, that is perfectly fine and will just be considered another one of the quirky traits that Carleton students appreciate in one another.” - singleparent2005, CollegeConfidential member in “Liberal” thread, September 2012
“There is a less politically charged quality to the campus, unlike, for example, Wesleyan, Vassar or Macalester. Students are an open-minded bunch, more have some sense of connection to organized religion than one might expect, and there is a Minnesota “nice” and Minnesota political independent-mindedness that makes life for a mainstream conservative seem, well, pretty mainstream on campus. If you are yourself a politically “charged” type and a right of center conservative, you may find yourself more at home at a place like Claremont McKenna or Davidson.” - 1190, CollegeConfidential member in “Liberal” thread, September 2012
“As a freshman conservative at Carleton, I can easily say I don’t feel marginalized or discriminated against in any way, it really is not hard to fit in here. However, I will agree with previous posters that if you feel strongly/are vocally against gay marriage and believe global warming to be a hoax you may find yourself in a lot of arguments with few allies.” -ehazoo, CollegeConfidential member in “Liberal” thread, September 2012
“At Carleton, students are, “on the whole, pretty liberal” as well as “politically and environmentally aware,” and “are highly interested in activism on the whole.” Generally, they are very welcoming, extremely kind, dedicated to their studies on weekdays but want to party on weekends, and kind of dorky. Everyone loves to have meaningful conversations, people are very self-aware, but not self-centered, and the best part is that they all keep open minds.” - Various students interviewed in The Princteton Review’s The 381 Best Colleges, 2017 Edition
““Diversity and racial issues are big on campus,” observes a freshman. “Even though there are diversity talks throughout the year, there is still obvious segregation on campus.” - Freshman quote in the Fiske Guide to Colleges: 2018 Edition
18 in Niche’s “Most Liberal Colleges in America” ranking
Natural Environment
City Life Rating: 5 (pretty campus, but small)
Pretty campus; lots of flora, like a nice park. Similar to visuals in Coolidge Park
Would not be well equipped for the long, harsh winters often complained about; would restrict travel even further
After a while, the cute little village dissipates into plains and farmland for many miles; even Minneapolis isn’t that big, and you won’t be going in the winter
Social Environment
Party Life Rating: 3 (easy to avoid, but present and can be found if actively searched for)
Greek Life Rating: 1 (no Greek life on campus)
“There are parties with alcohol on campus. It’s sort of an unwritten rule on campus that you can have a party as long as it stays in your room, is not excessively loud and is over at a reasonable hour. When any of these rules get broken security will shut it down. There are also a number of options for you if you do not want to have to deal with parties on your floor such as substance free housing and 24 hour quiet hour housing. Although I have lived on regular floors for a couple of years and only had a real problem with it once.” - IceEx, CollegeConfidential member in “drinking on campus?” thread, September 2007
“Student’s decisions to abstain are respected. Carleton students value the uniqueness of the individual.” - fireflyscout, CollegeConfidential member in “drinking on campus?” thread, September 2007
Notice how people switch from “liberal, but open” to “liberal, not safe for conservatives”. Which is it?
Swarthmore offers proximity to major cities (Philadelphia, as well as New York and D.C.) which interests you. Academically, it would be excellent for biology, including for research. I think you would experience a good connection with its intellectual students, irrespective of their politics. For these reasons, you might find more to like about the school, particularly in substantive areas, than not to like.
Regarding Hamilton, it’s partly defined by its spatial aspects. Since at one time it was two colleges with different attributes, you will find a diversity of housing and dining options. More so perhaps than might be possible at most other small colleges, you could choose your social environment according to your preferences.
Alright, I’ll be working on those applications then!
Both political activism and substance use tend to be less widespread in STEM-focused schools. Students there generally spend more time on academics and less on political activism. Caltech is the most academically intense of all such schools and political activism is relatively rare. Its students may not be as passionate about politics as schools with lots of humanities/social science majors, but if you ignore sciences because of your beliefs, religious or otherwise, you’ll get into lots of arguments.
Science and logic comes before anything else for me, no worries. CalTech is definitely interesting, but it’s selection rate is intimidating.
Based on what you’ve written in #54, it seems you have an affinity for viewpoints prevalent in your general geographical region. For this reason, you might feel a sense of familiarity at schools such as Vanderbilt, W&L and Davidson. These colleges do have their own social aspects that you would need to disentangle (e.g., the high Greek life participation at W&L), but in general you would be more likely to be aligned with their students socially and politically in comparison to those at their northern counterparts.