<p>Why is it that wanting to go to a liberal school is considered normal/understandable but wanting to go to a conservative school is considered offensive and close-minded? I’m personally very much left-wing but I’ve never understood that double standard.</p>
<p>@collegebound752 Glad you recognize it despite your political ideology. I don’t think people really think it’s offensive to want a conservative school, but a lot of people think conservative is synonymous with close-mindedness. That’s not true. I’m (very) right-wing and will listen to other ideas and consider them. I’m rarely swayed in the other direction, though I’m open to hearing the point of view of others. </p>
<p>I think a lot of people get this idea because they have it in their heads that conservatives are anti-progressive and want things to remain the same. That’s not true, just that progress is subjective and what one views as progress might be digression to another individual. A lot of what liberals describe as ‘progress’ I don’t consider as such. To some, that makes me close-minded. Just because I don’t support a select few new ideas doesn’t mean that I don’t consider them.</p>
<p>A close minded person is someone who won’t listen to new ideas and only wants validation for his own. I listen, I just don’t agree (mostly) with the direction liberals encourage. </p>
<p>I think people are influenced by where they live as well as the political opinions in the media. We are polarized politically and tend to stereotype, but people on both sides- to the right and left-are numerous and diverse. Assuming that a everyone on one side shares one quality or any personality trait- isn’t taking into account how different people can be on both sides of the political fence.</p>
<p>I think being able to listen to different ideas is an important quality to have. People don’t need to completely agree to get along. </p>
<p>I think we are fortunate to have so many choices of colleges here, and support the idea of students being able to choose the one that they feel fits them best. </p>
<p>@fallenchemist My perception about the liberal or conservative leanings of the services is only about the services themselves, not their respective academies. All of the academies are pretty conservative. The Air Force Academy might be less conservative than the others, because it is newer with fewer traditions, but it is still conservative. So, even there, you can see something of an apparent contradiction; the USAFA is the least conservative academy but the Navy the least conservative service.</p>
<p>There are very few liberals in the military, and the Navy is no exception. It might be less conservative than the others but it is still conservative. An overwhelming percentage of Naval officers studied engineering or science in college. This is likely to make them more apolitical.</p>
<p>Also, the Marine Corps has fewer academy graduates among its officers than any other branch. The most prominent source of USMC officers comes through a program called “Platoon Leaders Class” plus OCS as well as enlisted to officer programs. I suspect that people who choose to enter the Marine Corps are already quite conservative and that their college experience will not change their values much.</p>
<p>By the way, when I was in the Navy, it was considered out of bounds to discuss politics or religion; at least in a public social setting.</p>
<p>@NROTCgrad - Interesting stuff. Thanks.</p>
<p>Duke is not conservative. That’s just an outdated stereotype. More Duke professors donated to President Obama’s reelection campaign than professors from any other school.</p>
<p><a href=“Professors stock Obama's campaign war chest - Washington Times”>http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/sep/20/professors-stock-obamas-campaign-war-chest/</a></p>
<p>"The elite fundraising committee through which President Obama solicits his largest campaign donations relied overwhelmingly on professors from equally-elite universities last month.</p>
<p>The top donors, measured by number of donations, were Duke University with 54 contributions, followed by 46 from the University of Michigan, 43 from the University of California, 40 from the University of Washington and 37 from Stanford University. Mr. Obama’s alma maters of Columbia and Harvard gave 37 and 34 respectively."</p>
<p>I finally found the percentages for Marine Corps officer commissioning programs:</p>
<p>Naval Academy: 15%
Naval ROTC: 20%
PLC: 35%
OCS: 20%
enlisted: 10%</p>
<p>I wouldn’t consider Duke to be conservative either. I think it’s quite liberal, and the surrounding area known as the triangle is liberal. I would say NCSU is the most conservative of the larger colleges in that area.</p>
<p>I’m moreso concerned with liberal/conservative student bodies than professors. Does Duke have conservative students or liberal like the professors? </p>
<p>Of course Duke has a certain proportion of conservative students. Some of the most eloquent members of Duke’s Student Government are staunch Republicans. However, the student body is understandably liberal by and large. </p>
<p>That surprises me. But then again, I guess Duke gets a lot of east coast transplants and less students from North Carolina then a public University would</p>
<p>@BadgerState - absolutely as far as your last post. All the major privates are like that, including Vandy, Tulane, Miami (FL), Emory, etc. Not sure about Wake, they might draw more heavily from the Southeast than those others.</p>
<p>I can echo what @Misanthrope1 said with regard to Tulane in New Orleans. While drawing heavily from the northeast and having a mildly left of center bent among the students, there are strong conservative voices on campus and historically they have contributed heavily to the school newspaper and other public forums. It isn’t contentious by any means, generally speaking, but seems to be respectful on both sides. James Carville teaches there and to get into his class requires an application (!!). I know he tries to balance the class between self-professed liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Green Party types, etc. Not easy of course, but overall he seems to end up with a class that probably falls about 60-40 left-right, as much as one can gauge these things. Maybe slightly heavier to the left, but that would be fairly reflective of the campus and a lot of college campuses. After all, what is that old saying? If you are young and conservative, you have no heart; if you are older and liberal you have no money. Obviously that isn’t to be taken too seriously, but there is no question, I think, that young people on the whole are just more idealistic about how social problems can be solved. Eventually many see it just isn’t that easy, but bless them for wanting to make a difference.</p>
<p>I think more Duke students come from outside NC than NC. Other possibly conservative leaning private schools in this region are Sewanee, Rhodes, and Furman possibly Wake Forest and Elon. I would think University of South Carolina would have a good number of conservative students, as would University of Tennessee, and Mississippi. I’m not familiar with all of them, so if anyone can post about them, it would be helpful. </p>
<p>Thanks for replying to me and keeping this conversation going, this is great.
I’ve calculated the financial aid from Vanderbilt, and apparently they are being very, very generous, so I’m definitely interested in the university.
What are the most conservative aspects of it? Management, student body, professors?</p>
<p>The student body is pretty conservative. After all, it is still very much a Southern school, plus lots of legacies of Southern parents. Professors are not especially conservative (very few colleges have conservative professors).</p>
<p>Last thing I heard, when attending football games guys often wear coats and ties while women frequently wear dresses. Then again, they probably aren’t expecting a big victory party after the game.</p>
<p>Great.
Y’all really helped me a lot!</p>
<p>Surprised no one here has mentioned Hillsdale.</p>
<p>
I think that almost goes without saying. I doubt there is a private school in the USNWR top 100 (just as a convenient reference) that draws more from its state of residency than from the rest of the country. I would even be surprised if any of them draw more students from its own state plus all the states that border it than from the rest of the country.</p>
<p>You’d be surprised. I’d have to find it but two posters here have done an analysis of geographical preferences for colleges. Even the most nationally known ones (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.) draw a disproportionate number of students from their home regions. I’ll post it if I can dig it up.</p>
<p>This hasn’t been updated since 2010 as far as I can tell, but it is a distribution map showing where freshmen at many colleges come from <a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Where-Does-Your-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=166027”>http://chronicle.com/article/Where-Does-Your-Freshman-Class/129547/#id=166027</a> Interesting that, for example, 30% of NYU students come from NY.</p>