<p>I go to a very high-up-there high school, with many academically brilliant kids. Lots of very beautiful transcripts. But while these kids are taking high math classes and getting near perfect SAT scores, none of them seem to care about anything but becoming rich or getting laid. This worries me because this school is supposed to be the cream of the crop in terms of education, but no one here cares about the fact that over 90% of America’s forests are gone, or that thousands of kids die from starvation everyday, or 7 football fields’ worth of trees are being cut down every minute. Stuff like that. Anyways, I’ll get to the point.</p>
<p>I’m a pretty ambitious guy, and I really want to go to a great college where I’ll be around smart kids and all. But I’m just worried that the trend I’ve seen in high school will be there in college. I really liked Princeton, for example, but I’m worried that if I somehow get into a great college like that, I’ll be surrounded by very, very smart kids who get great grades but the majority of whom don’t care about things like that. Please don’t take any offense to what I’m saying. I’ve only visited the schools and I honestly don’t know if my worries are unwarranted or not. That’s why I’m asking.</p>
<p>I really don’t mean to sound arrogant or anything. I just don’t want high school all over again. I just want to be around kids who care more about their money and their own personal success, whether it’s in grades or in bed or whatever. I just want to be around the kids who want to really make a dent in this world.</p>
<p>And if there’s a particular school you guys think I should look into based on what I wrote, please let me know.</p>
<p>Swarthmore! Academically challenging but non-competative, the atmosphere is very much of students who are involved in and care about the world and each other.</p>
<p>Sounds like you are a good candidate for a LAC. </p>
<p>However, your idealism on environmental/social issues may not last past your graduation date because there is a single solution to all of your concerns, but unfortunately the culture of the world is such that it would be political suicide to try to implement anywhere outside China.</p>
<p>Macalester comes immediately to mind. Grinnell and Oberlin were also excellent recommendations. These are all exceptional LAC’s that attract the types of students you are describing. The great thing about these colleges is that you will become part of their culture of caring about the community but also graduate with a degree from an institution that is well respected by employers and grad schools.</p>
<p>So you’re looking for a good school with a politically liberal, activist bent. There are a bunch of them. In addition to the ones mentioned above, check out Wesleyan University (CT) and Reed. </p>
<p>I don’t know quite yet what I’m going to major in, and I’m hoping in college I can branch and really explore a lot of different options. Will this be a problem at a small LAC where there aren’t as many majors as, say, UCLA?</p>
<p>And to the people who said I should avoid Ivies and those kinds of schools, why? Is it because there are a lot of people like those I described?</p>
<p>“And to the people who said I should avoid Ivies and those kinds of schools, why? Is it because there are a lot of people like those I described?”</p>
<p>Because a significant percentage of the student population is pre-law or pre-banking. Basically, they are more concerned with money and prestige. Of course not all students are like that but your high school classmates are more likely to attend these type of schools.</p>
<p>tikiman - Do you need to be surrounded by like minded people to be happy? Yes, larger universities may have a lower percentage of students with your world view than at a small LAC, but with their larger overall student body you will have no problem finding a group. For instance, check out the website for the Phillip Brooks House [Phillips</a> Brooks House Association](<a href=“http://pbha.org/]Phillips”>http://pbha.org/) which is a very large student run organization at Harvard that is devoted to public service. Harvard even has four different pre-orientation programs for incoming freshman and one of them is for public service (the others are for the arts, outdoor recreation, and dorm crew). Another reason to not dismiss the ivies and similar schools is that they provide grants to students to work on public service/social/environmental projects around the world. They also provide a lot of graduates to Teach for America.</p>
<p>Pitzer - the tree-hugger school of the 5 Cs. Pitzer is growing in popularity, and if you need higher academics, you can take classes at Pomona and Mudd.</p>
<p>Go to a top school (HYP, Stanford, Dartmouth, Columbia, Penn, Brown, etc.). There, you will find plenty of ambitious people. Yes, a lot of them would be interested in getting rich in finance. However, when they find more efficient ways of identifying worthy projects (in medicine, IT, green techs, etc.), weighing risks, and allocating funds to those projects, the world becomes a better place. Not caring to innovate is more of an age thing. People are interested in making money primarily when they are pretty low down the ladder of finance. People high on the ladder (MD, partners, principles) are more interested in innovating, because only through innovating can they make more money than they can imagine.</p>
<p>I’m not buying the premise of this thread, that “caring” people are concentrated in certain schools (LACs, PC schools) and that students at certain elite schools (Ivys and Duke being mentioned) care only or more about money and sex.</p>
<p>Life isn’t that simple, and people who “care” deserve to know better.</p>
<p>I’m similarly annoyed by the “Colleges That Change Lives” crap. OK, Evergreen changes lives, but Princeton doesn’t?</p>
<p>The world is full of people, caring, uncaring, selfish, and altruistic. Pigeonholing students and colleges along these terms is, in my mind, counterproductive.</p>
<p>I would say in my opinion the Ivies are actually fine. People are mostly ambitious, in every way. So sure you’re going to have your fair share of would be bankers at Cornell or Yale, but you will also have lots of people not oriented this direction. With the exception of Penn, I would say most Ivies are probably pretty balanced in this regard. Brown is a notable example of an elite school with people who tend not to be as pre-professional.</p>
<p>I also agree with the LACs. Places like Pomona and Vassar are perfect examples. As for many majors, does it really matter? I mean the courses you take can be so broad at any school you’ll get a chance to have a really broad education at any top 25 LAC or University. And I wouldn’t ignore the advantage of undergrad focus at the smaller schools and smaller Ivies. For example I took a class with about 30 people at Dartmouth and one of the world’s most famous astronauts was a speaker. Afterwards our professor invited the class (at the super nice Hanover Inn) to lunch with him - all paid for by the school. Just one example of countless little things like this - I just dont see this happening at larger schools.</p>
<p>At any college you will have to seek out your people, you will not fing a college filled with environment driven teens who hope to save the world.</p>
<p>Most good colleges have a core of students with a commitment to public service. A subset, including places such as Brown, Wesleyan, Earlham, Carleton, have a stronger atmosphere than others. Here’s a link to one of the more inspiring stories I’ve read about students who are out to change the world: [Featured</a> Member: Jessica Posner - SIT Study Abroad](<a href=“http://www.worldlearning.org/19447.htm]Featured”>http://www.worldlearning.org/19447.htm)</p>