Creating a College Atmosphere Matrix

College Confidential Community
1

<p>For those of you who are unfamiliar with On the Issues, here’s a link to its super-cool political chart where it could place you or a politician on a map to give a rough visual on where they stand. Go ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM of these pages to see:</p>

<p>[Mike</a> Huckabee on the Issues](<a href=“http://ontheissues.org/Mike_Huckabee.htm]Mike”>Mike Huckabee on the Issues)</p>

<p>[Ron</a> Paul on the Issues](<a href=“http://ontheissues.org/Ron_Paul.htm]Ron”>Ron Paul on the Issues)</p>

<p>[John</a> Edwards on the Issues](<a href=“http://ontheissues.org/John_Edwards.htm]John”>John Edwards on the Issues)</p>

<p>So, I was thinking I could try to put one together as a rough guide to the atmosphere at different colleges. BUT I NEED YOUR HELP as my opnions on college atmospheres are likely wrong. The two axes will be political leaning and party/sober.</p>

<p>For each (or as many as you would like) of these schools, tell me where they are politically on a scale of -5 to 5. -5 is conservative, 5 is liberal, 0 is neutral/balanced/apolitical.</p>

<p>Then, tell me how the social life is on a similar scale. -5 is quiet, 0 is average, 5 is party-hard.</p>

<p>I chose these schools not because they are neccessarily the best (though merit did play a role), but because they provide a good cross-section:</p>

<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Brown
Dartmouth
Penn
Cornell
Columbia
Stanford
Duke
Vanderbilt
Chicago
Northwestern
Rochester
Tufts
Michigan
UVirginia
Baylor
William and Mary
UCLA
Berkeley
USC
Pepperdine
Wake Forest
G’Town
Boston College
Notre Dame
Lehigh
UT-Austin
Gonzaga
Clemson
Rice
Temple
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Georgia Tech
Emory
Wisconsin
Syracuse
George Washington
Purdue
Miami (OH)
U of Washington
WashU (St. Louis)
Miami (Fla)</p>

<p>For example:
Brown: +5 (liberal) +2 (slightly partyish)
Vanderbilt: -1 (slightly conservative) +5 (super partyish)
Chicago: 0 (neutral) -5 (not a party school)</p>

2

<p>Harvard: +2, -1
Princeton: 0, -2
Brown: +5, +2
Vanderbilt: -1, +5
Chicago 0, -5
Dartmouth: +1, +3
Columbia: +4, 0
GWU: 0, +1
G’town: -1, -3
UND: -3, -1
Uva: -1, 0
MIT: +2, -5
Lehigh: -1, +4
Duke: 0, +1
Stanford: +4, 0
Cornell: +3, 0
Penn: +1, 0
Yale: +4, 0
UC-B: +5, +1
UCLA: +4, +1
Pepperdine: -4, -2
Nwestern: +3, 0
W&M: 0, +1
Baylor: -5, -1
Wake: -3, -1
Tufts: +3, 0
BC: 0, +1
Clemson: -4, +2
Zaga: -3, +1
JHU: +1, 0
UMia: +1, +5
MiOH: -1, +3
Rochester: +2, -2
Rice: 0, -1</p>

3

<p>What about Emory?</p>

<p>aaaaaaaaaaand this should probably go in the College Search forum.</p>

4

<p>I put it in the College Search forum but it got moved.</p>

<p>I personally don’t know enough about Emory. I’m looking for other voices who may.</p>

5

<p>Emory: 0, +1</p>

<p>Actually Iron, I’d say Princeton: +1, +2</p>

6

<p>Yeah, Princeton was a tough one…because they attract students of every sort (partiers, liberals, religious, laid-back) their personality is whatever you make of it. </p>

<p>Remember, this is a poll…I’m looking for as many opinions on schools as possible so that I can make up a chart…I’ll average everyones thoughts on each school to place them.</p>

7

<p>Harvard: +3, -3
Princeton: +1, +2
Brown: +5, +2
Vanderbilt: -1, +5
Chicago 0, -5
Dartmouth: +2, +4
Columbia: +4, -1
GWU: 0, -2
G’town: -1, +1
UND: -3, +2
Uva: -1, +2
MIT: +2, -4
Lehigh: -1, +4
Duke: 0, +2
Stanford: +3, +1
Cornell: +3, 0
Penn: +2, +3
Yale: +4, +1
UC-B: +5, +1
UCLA: +4, +1
Pepperdine: -4, -2
Nwestern: +2, 0
W&M: 0, +1
Baylor: -5, -1
Wake: -3, -2
Tufts: +3, -1
BC: 0, +1
Clemson: -4, +2
Zaga: -3, +1
JHU: +1, 0
UMia: +1, +5
MiOH: -2, +3
Rochester: +2, -2
Rice: 0, -1</p>

<p>UNC: +1, +5</p>

8

<p>Chicago is definitely left of center, with students and professors generally preferring to vote for Democrats. I don’t think the school has an equal and opposite conservative counterweight, and those who would consider themselves liberals (yours truly is an example) tend to be skeptical. All things said, I would rank it as a +1 or +2 politically.</p>

<p>Consider that academia tends to be biased to the left:
<a href=“http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~ngross/lounsbery_9-25.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~ngross/lounsbery_9-25.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>Yeah…especially the elite schools (which make up most of this list) lean to the left.</p>

<p>I’m trying to keep it kinda relative. Relative to Brown, Princeton is conservative. Relative to Princeton, Virginia is conservative.</p>

<p>More opnions? The more, the merrier. How about you, unalove?</p>

<p>Still need opinions on:
Purdue
Syracuse
Wisconsin
Temple
UT-Austin</p>

10

<p>I don’t feel I know enough to comment on other schools.</p>

<p>Probably the best way to judge social life (I’m assuming social life=party scene by you) by doing a Thursday and Friday visit to a school, and probably a way to judge political leanings is to read the campus newspaper or look at the campus Dems/ campus Reps website.</p>

11

<p>I’m not really doing this for myself. I’m trying to collect data and make a chart out of it. When I’m done, I’ll try to post the chart somewhere for reference for all CCers.</p>