My daughter at RPI says she has these sort of conversations often, but more science related, not politics.
+1 for Reed, Oberlin
Well yes, you should be able to find this at any school. But I don’t doubt that it is easier to find/more prevalent at some than at others. So legit question IMHO. I would say Excellent Sheep paints with a pretty broad brush, though.
Reed, Amherst, St Johns College, Stanford, Hampshire, Smith, Marlboro, Williams, and Harvard to some extent
“So legit question” (#22)
Entirely.
HBCU and maybe some christian colleges.
Wow. I went to a big state school, was NOT in Honors, and had lots of intellectual conversations with other students outside the classroom, and even (gasp!) in my non-honors dorm.
(They even let me study an interdisciplinary major, despite the fact that I was not in Honors! )
I really dislike the notion that only Honors students at state universities are truly intellectual, or “smart”.
And that ALL students at LACs are intellectual.
If you desire intellectual camaraderie, you should be able to find it easily at any given 4-year university or college - It may help more if you choose to study Humanities, but every STEM major I ever knew was also someone I’d consider “intellectual.” Even Accounting majors are probably intellectually curious at some point…
@BeeDAre LOL! My physics/math geek also loves philosophy and theology. He also enjoys discussing issues with people with different POV.
“I really dislike the notion that only honors students at state universities are truly intellectual . . . [and] that ALL students at LACs are intellectual.” (#26)
For good reason. Intellectualism is pretty rare in general in my opinion, and it’s pockets of it here and there that one may be fortunate to find at a range of institutions.
“It may help more if you choose to study humanities” (#26)
I understand that you offered this as a tentative comment, but I tend to disagree with it. Physics majors, for example, are often inherently intellectual.
@GMTplus7 #13: Judging by the responses, a lot of other people do, too.
le sigh
Well, I agree, @merc81 and @Mom2aphysicsgeek ! I did say, every STEM major I’ve ever met was also somewhat intellectual. Scientific inquiry and intellectual curiosity often go hand-in-hand.
I also agree that intellectualism is pretty rare, but - we are talking about college campuses here!
This was my D2’s #1 criteria in a college, and really drove her application process. Sure, you can find SOME of this at almost colleges, but it is definitely a stonger part of the culture and more common at some than others.
Intellectual conversations will be available at almost any decent college. How “common” they are is a very different question. It is not unreasonable to suggest that schools can be differentiated somewhat based on their overall vibe, say, pre-professional versus intellectual/nerdy. Places where tons of undergraduates are taking philosophy are going to feel more like that than places where the undergraduate are mostly studying business (and there is nothing wrong with studying business). I don’t think anyone should be surprised to find, for example, that the atmosphere is more “intellectual” at UChicago than it is across town at Northwestern, even though both are superb colleges. Or at Yale vs. Dartmouth. Northwestern and Dartmouth are jammed with brilliant students, but the atmosphere is just different.
My list of the schools with notably intellectual atmospheres would include UChicago, Yale, Columbia, Brown and the top LACs like Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams, Pomona and Carleton. Also consider Reed, Oberlin and Wesleyan.
1 Like
I could not agree more with these two statements! 100% true
Not saying that such conversation doesn’t exist in all schools… obviously, every school has its fair share of student groups and certain groups are more fervent to constantly have cognitive discussions.
What I was asking was which schools are they more common (meaning the majority of students participate in such activity) in???
Also, thanks for those of you who answered! 
Really helpful!
I recognize that’s what you were asking. It’s ultimately actually an unanswerable question (e.g., do weed-induced conversations about the nature of humanity count as intellectual?—I mean, they seem intellectual in the moment…), but I maintain, based on my own personal experience with a very wide range of different types of colleges, that there is actually no difference between student bodies on this count.
The only conditions that may—and I stress the word may—affect it are size of the student body (maybe size of the student body divided by physical size of the campus?) and number students living on campus, both of which simply make it more likely that intellectually oriented students will be in close enough proximity to each other to begin a conversation. But as far as differences between different colleges or types of colleges? No. Simply no.
The Reeds and Oberlins always get credit for being places where there is a vibrant exchange of ideas…but they are also the same places where anybody who doesn’t leap aboard the prevailing bandwagon is vilified as a racist, sexist moron.
2 Likes
According to my children, Oberlin and Wellesley both fit this description. From my days in college, so did Mount Holyoke. There are probably many others. Any good liberal arts school, for example, or the honors dorm at a state U.
William & Mary for sure
Yes, @sensation723, I totally overlooked Christian schools. My kids have friends at Boston College, Gordon, Calvin, and Wheaton, and they have remarked several times on the intellectual discussions that take place. At Liberty? Not so much. I think you have to be at a traditional orthodox Christian school rather than one that is more about Christian culture. Think C.S. Lewis or the Jesuits vs. Jerry Falwell.