<p>HH–I don’t think that someone who doesn’t care about his clothing would be considered to look “preppy.” I guess it would be more like needing to wear certain namebrands (like, I don’t know, I guess A&F or American eAgle), a tucked in neat look, popped collars, etc. I’m not an expert, but I gather it’s something you’d have to be pretty deliberate about.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure my S in saggy thread-bare jeans from Kohls or Bob’s, and stretched out of shape Tshirts of his favorite sports teams, with his shoulder length hair and scraggly beard, would never be mistaken for preppy!</p>
<p>There were loads of prep school graduates at my D’s LAC. But they for the most part, didn’t dress the part. Which it seems is a deliberate choice.</p>
<p>So yeah, you can’t tell who someone really is from their clothes, but I think a school where most people choose the prep look is going to, on the whole, feel different from one where they don’t.</p>
<p>When we toured Haverford, my impression was definitely a preppy-but-not-trying to be look, rather than a how-preppy-can-i-look look, if that makes any sense.</p>
<p>You would mistake him for preppy, trust me, especially in the “preppy-but-not-trying-to-be” category. Tall, healthy, blond, wholesome looking kid, short hair (no bother), freyed cap never removed from head, buys “good” clothes that he wears until they’re in shreads, and a natural ease in clothes because of not caring. </p>
<p>Younger son - prefers black, longish hair and sideburns, presents much more of an “artsy” look and yet is politically much more conservative than older son.</p>
<p>I don’t know, I just know too many teenagers whose looks don’t match up with their politics (and I’m assuming by “preppy” we’re really talking about Republican).</p>
<p>Bethie,
I was sincere when I asked what makes a prep. I think of that as someone who wears button down shirts, kind of a republican, doesn’t rock the boat and always behaves correctly. But, that’s pretty judgemental, maybe it’s just clothes…</p>
<p>I only know a couple of people that have gone to Haverford from my kids HS and didn’t really know them, they weren’t part of my kids group, but they dressed and acted pretty preppy. The area that Haverford is in is a very upscale suburban place. I am a big fan of visiting (if at all possible) during the school year just because of the doubts you are mentioning. Please don’t let my passing comments about possible preppyness have any effect on your son’s choices. </p>
<p>As an aside, my son asked for more button down shirts when he first got to Roanoke because he said that most kids dressed a little nicer (he’s pretty much a t-shirt, sweatshirt dresser) but on Sunday when he called he said he had too many clothes and asked me to take the polo shirts home when I come down this weekend. go figure.</p>
<p>I know you want schools in PA, but my S goes to University of Oregon, and boy is it crunchy! My S who basically hates vegetables became a vegetarian for a short time there. They do give aid, and it is a large university with an LAC feel. The honors college offers good opportunities for top students, and they are on a list of best buy colleges.</p>
<p>What this says to me is that if S is accepted at Haverford, he’d better do an overnight before making a decision. It sounds wonderful academically, but I feel like it’s worth doing a little extra leg-work to find the best match possible (especially at the prices we’ll be paying!).</p>
<p>In addition to the clothing, I guess I do sort of think more conservative, less quirky, more sports-focused possibly when I think of preppy. Maybe less politically active? Less likely to want to spend hours per day grappling with weighty philosophical ideas?? Not less smart, just smart in a different way from my son.</p>
<p>kathiep</p>
<p>I certainly won’t turn my kid off to Haverford. When/if the time comes, I’ll just suggest a closer look on-site. Thanks!</p>
<p>May I point out that you should eyeball Virginia schools because we have so many people with more of the Middle Atlantic state attidudes (hey…new word…I think I will keep it rathr than correct) Yes we have AttiDudes from our beltway population?<br>
Mary Washington is a fine school and I know a Virginian with lesser scores who got in after waitlist in mid June. The day I took my eldest son there, we strolled and stopped in a shop on Main. Young man who waited on us was a sophomore. I asked him about Frats there. He said, “No, here at MWC we don’t pay for our friends.”<br>
They are also 60/40 female/male so there might be a hint of preference for males and a rather good dating life.
They have a symphony orchestra where you earn a 500 dollar stipend annually or so for playing (info on that is a bit dated…check)…which is not exactly Conservatory standard but you didn’t say if your son is talented enough for a competitive symphony or band position. If he is competitive in performance, James Madison might be interested in him.
Anyway…it looks like a private college and even at OOS rates, may be cheaper than some privates. </p>
<p>Dickinson also comes to mind as a possible. Bennington in Vermont as a likely happy fit. good luck searching and no matter what…enjoy the process and time with your S. </p>
<p>Fredericksburg is uber charming…as long as you don’t want to get on the expressways just outside of it. RR station within a walk from campus with cheap seats into DC for internships etc. Yet it has a Mayberry RFD typle ice cream parlour, cool bluegrassy guitar shops, high brow antique stores and the real deal in both colonial and civil war historic sights. We know several kids there. There is a bit of buzz that many northern Virginians can’t resist running home on Saturday. But I know Long Island has students there.</p>
<p>St. Mary’s in MD is also an honors college with stats similar to his in a quiet bayside sailing remote but lovely campus. Excellent relations between faculty and students and fine classroom experience there. Goucher?</p>
<p>My D gives me very little info about Muhlenberg. I know she is active in the Theatre Association, and that is where she finds the quirkier kids. I stayed out of the discussion of Muhlenberg because I live so far away, I don’t feel like I know the student body too well. And being a Left Coast dweller, the campus culture at all the East Coast schools is foreign to me.
If the OP wants to consider Ohio and Oberlin, how about Kenyon?</p>
<p>I think Juniata is probably among the “crunchier” of the schools in PA but as far as I know, it does not have a music major. Juniata does a lot of things very well but music is mostly secondary to other majors. How about Lebanon Valley?</p>
<p>Oh, Lebanon Valley, that’s a good idea. We had two kids stay with us a couple of years ago for an orchestra festival at our High School and both were going to attend Lebanon Valley. Beautiful campus.</p>
<p>How come no one has mentioned Temple? On the preppy continuum, you can’t get further away. Lots of REAL diversity! I believe it has an excellent music department. However, I suspect it’s a tad TOO connected to real life for most of our questioning, philosophical, liberal “crunchies.” :)</p>
<p>dude,
The OP specifically asked for PA schools. Well, I guess everyone else was chiming in for far afield schools too. Hey, op, where are you anyway? Maybe you want to be a little more specific about what kind of liberal crunchy school (city, no city, son’s stats, etc.) and if you want more out of the area suggestions.</p>
<p>(1) Just to be clear, when I was talking about “preppiness” at Haverford, I was talking about real preppiness – as in having gone to a prep school, or being demographically, educationally, and attitudinally similar to kids coming out of prep schools. I didn’t mean “Republican”. I didn’t mean popped collars. I did mean a sense of entitlement, noblesse oblige, and civic engagement, and a tendency to be wealthy but to disdain ostentatious displays of wealth (unless they’re the RIGHT ostentatious displays).</p>
<p>(2) If you’re worried about Haverford being too Republican, or the kids dressing up too much, don’t. Visiting is fine, but don’t bother visiting to confirm that. There can’t be more than a handful of Republicans, and the kids don’t dress up. It is an elitist Quaker school – that means few Republicans, lots of social service, lots of competitiveness but none of it overt, modulated voices, and clean but scruffy clothes. It is a GREAT place if you are looking for heartfelt philosophical discussions late at night on your way back from the homeless shelter.</p>
<p>(3) Temple does have a good music school, but it is a separate school. The OP’s post mentioned schools that were mainly smaller and all a lot less urban. Temple is exciting and diverse, and probably a legitimate safety with the OP’s son’s numbers, but it is not “crunchy” in the least. </p>
<p>Take, as an index of crunchiness, the ease of getting up a good pickup game of ultimate frisbee on Saturday afternoon, or finding someone to go to the Dar Williams concert with you, or the likelihood that your roommate has studied Buddhism, or the inverse of the likelihood that your roommate is studying accounting. On a scale of 1-10, Haverford would be about 8. You might decide to join the cricket club rather than playing ultimate, but the Dar Williams concert is on campus, and both you and your roommate care a lot more about the Book of the Dead than the double-book entries. Temple would be 1 or 2. There’s no place to play ultimate, the on-campus concert is Beanie Sigel, and your roommate works part time for a tax preparation service.</p>
<p>I think that was an interesting analysis, JHS. A good friend of my son (“crunchy” I guess–a Green Party person–but definitely left liberal and anti-prep) toured Haverford and got the impression of wealthy prepster Stepford kids. He hightailed it out of there as fast as he could. He ended up at Skidmore, which he felt made room for true quirkiness and indivdualism, while still being liberal, of course. </p>
<p>Is it preppies or a certain kind of preppy people are trying to avoid? It seems to me if one really just wanted to find out how many frats and sports teams a school has, as well as how many members of the student body attended prep school, one could just look up that info.</p>
<p>Shaking my head at the crunchy label for being vegetarian; most Indian foods are cooked, no crunchy vegetables or chewy meats… Wonder if schools with a high percentage of Asians, especially Indians, would cater to non standard-American tastes? Do any of the public schools on the east coast accomodate different ethnic tastes? UW Madison lists its menu choices with notations for various foods- check various school websites housing pages; they usually give menus somewhere.</p>
<p>Wait, can we back up for a minute and talk about Lafayette? What are students there like? On the crunchiness continuum, how does it place against Lehigh and Drexel? And how about Carnegie-Mellon, they have a big theater program, where do they stand? </p>
<p>I’m looking for a crunchy place for an engineering-and-computer-science-type girl.</p>
<p>My daughter is from Northern California, capital of alternative lifestyles, and loves Lafayette. My friend raised his son in an alternative parenting situation and the son is now a Lehigh student and doing very well. </p>
<p>I believe in almost any school you are bound to find groups of like minded individuals. A visit especially with an overnight is the best way to cut through stereotypes and determine a students comfort level.</p>
It seems to me if one really just wanted to find out how many frats and sports teams a school has, as well as how many members of the student body attended prep school, one could just look up that info.</p>