Five most intellectual schools

Parents Forum
1

<p>If you had to choose the five schools that were the most intellectual in their character, what would they be? I am talking about places where discussions might continue long after class is over, where people do ideas the way Ohio State does football (to paraphrase E.L. Doctorow,) sort of an extended summer camp for nerds.</p>

<p>My ever so tentative set, just to prime the pump:
Yale
Reed
Oberlin
Chicago
Swarthmore.</p>

2

<p>St johns college</p>

3

<p>Harvard, mitt, caltech</p>

4

<p>What if I put the technology/science schools like MIT and Caltech out of bounds. I appreciate people’s thoughts on this. The question is really not idle speculation; it is part of constructing a list of schools for next year’s applications.</p>

5

<p>I think your original list is “spot on.” Mostly.</p>

6

<p>Although St. Johns is a very interesting addition. But I am not sure which of my five I would drop in its (their?) place.</p>

7

<p>I think St. Johns should replace Oberlin on your list</p>

8

<p>I wouldn’t include St. John’s - I think their approach is too esoteric.</p>

<p>See:</p>

<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Racing Odysseus: A College President Becomes a Freshman Again (9780520255418):…](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Racing-Odysseus-College-President-Freshman/dp/0520255410/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279584093&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Racing-Odysseus-College-President-Freshman/dp/0520255410/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279584093&sr=8-1)</p>

<p>and/or</p>

<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Customer Reviews: A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Great-Idea-Time-Curious-Afterlife/product-reviews/1586484877/ref=dp_db_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Great-Idea-Time-Curious-Afterlife/product-reviews/1586484877/ref=dp_db_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1)</p>

9

<p>I also thought the OP’s list was pretty much in line with my thinking. My only quibble is that I don’t generally equate intellectuals with nerds. I would say there’s a higher propensity of nerds at the MITs, Harvards, CalTechs etc of the world.</p>

10

<p>I would take Yale off the list and replace it with St. John’s.</p>

11

<p>There is absolutely no reason to think that Yale is any more intellectual than Harvard or Princeton. That is just silly.</p>

12

<p>^^ HYP, that would be sad if those three colleges had become so interchangeable that the same kinds of kids go to all three.</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>They are quite similar and, thus, attract similar students.</p>

14

<p>I would also suggest Carleton.</p>

15

<p>Wellesley</p>

<p>Deep Springs College (2 year)</p>

16

<p>Deep Springs College</p>

17

<p>Eliminating the tech schools and Deep Springs/St. John’s (just way too small):</p>

<p>Carleton
Chicago
Reed
Swarthmore
Yale</p>

<p>If I had to round out a top 10: Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Wesleyan, Williams</p>

18

<p>How about making it a “Top 10” list and add schools instead of dropping them?</p>

<p>In that case, I’d add Thomas Aquinas College (CA).</p>

19

<p>Wbwa’s list seems reasonable to me.</p>

20

<p>What about some of the Claremont schools: CMC, Pomona</p>

<p>And if HYP are picked, why not Stanford? What is intellectual to one is not going to that for another. Ask conservatives about Reed and they will not consider it intellectual at all.</p>