<p>Most of the liberal arts colleges seem to fit into one of the following categories:</p>
<ol>
<li>Rich, liberal, pot-smoking, “hippie” crowd (i.e. Oberlin, Swarthmore)</li>
<li>Rich, conservative, elitist, frat boy crowd. (i.e. Washington and Lee, DePauw)</li>
</ol>
<p>What are some well-respected ones that fall in neither category? With a balance of political views and perhaps more middle to upper-middle class students.</p>
<p>Well there are lots, and also I think it wouldn’t be accurate to stereotype any of the colleges you mentioned above, because there’s always a mix of students-no college can be completely uniform in its political/social culture.</p>
<p>The ones that are perceived to be more “middle of the road” in any case are Amherst, Pomona, Davidson, Haverford, Middlebury, Bates, Bowdoin etc. There are many more, but of course this also varies from person to person, and most lists like these tend to be subjective because one man’s liberal maybe another man’s conservative, but generally these would be considered to have more balanced student bodies.</p>
<p>Knox College and Denison University are pretty middle of the road.</p>
<p>Look into public liberal arts colleges such as SUNY Geneseo or St. Mary’s College of Maryland.</p>
<p>I think most in the mid-west would be relatively middle of the road (notwithstanding Oberlin).</p>
<p>Occidental, Lewis and Clark, Whitman, Willamette.</p>
<p>Those are god-awful stereotypes whose adherents make up 5-6 members at most of a 1,800+ strong student body.</p>
<p>Amherst and Williams can create and do create this sort of balance.</p>
<p>Lewis and Clark?? not middle of the road by any stereotype I’m familiar with!</p>
<p>Centre College in Kentucky comes to mind immeditately.</p>
<p>Remember though that at any elite school there will be an elitist attitude, regardless of whether or not it is liberal or conservative.</p>
<p>Truman State University - the midwest’s leading public LAC. It’s cheap, pretty decently respected, and pretty diverse (politically and socioeconomically).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not sure why you’d think that. Carleton—academic home of the late Sen Paul Wellstone, arguably the U.S. Senate’s left-most member in his day—and Macalester have student bodies that are overall very liberal, though the Mac students have a reputation as more activist. St. Olaf, on the other hand, is more middle-of-the-road, that is to say, balanced across the spectrum; plenty of liberals, plenty of conservatives, plenty in-between. But I suspect you’ll find a range of views at almost any good LAC. I’m not sure those in the Midwest are significantly different than their East Coast peers.</p>
<p>Lawrence, Knox, Carleton seem pretty normal to me.</p>
<p>Kenyon College
Lawrence University
Illinois Wesleyan University
Knox College
Trinity University in Texas (not the one in Connecticut)
Bates College
Franklin and Marshall College
Dickinson College
Claremont McKenna College
Whitman College</p>
<p>Holy Cross, Bucknell, Bates.</p>
<p>the stereotypes you bring up, as mentioned by kwu, apply to very few of the students at LACs. yes, some like Oberlin have mostly liberal student bodies, and maybe the percentage of pot smokers is slightly higher. however, most of the students aren’t “uber-liberal” and in fact, many students are quite mainstream. have you visited some of these schools? I’d urge you to check out a school like Swarthmore, or Oberlin, or Wesleyan, or Bowdoin, etc. and see what they’re like and if you can tell the difference. most student bodies at the top LACs tend to overlap, with that 10% that doesn’t overlap representing the “reputation”</p>
<p>note - pretty much every elite new england LAC will have a majority-liberal student body. not crazy liberal, but liberal.</p>
<p>What about Claremont McKenna?</p>
<p>Look at Allegheny as well.</p>
<p>Lafayette College in PA and Union College in NY.</p>
<p>I second Dickinson College.</p>
<p>Occidental; Dickinson; Whitman; Denison; St. Olaf; CMC;</p>