The Conservative Alternative

College Confidential Community
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<p>Interesting banter. There are very few ‘conservative’ colleges. Some are less liberal than others, but when I see things like Jesuit schools are conservative or Dartmouth is conservative or ‘who ever heard of a liberal business school’ it makes me laugh aloud. Forget the student body makeup at most of the schools. There are extreme examples, but most are in the 60/40 range. Traditional students tend to be more liberal because they are rebelling against authority (in general) as they spread their wings. As they grow up and get jobs and have families, people tend to get more conservative.</p>

<p>The problem in universities is the professors and other faculty. In my experience, you would rarely know a conservative professor (if that mythological creature exists) because they tend to just teach and avoid overt forays into the world of opinion. I found that the most ideologically ardent faculty tended to be in non-political fields (My BS is in PoliSci). Politics profs tend to encourage political debate and opinions from all sides. Conservative students learn quickly that to actually finish their degrees, they need to just keep their head down and spew back the liberal pap that comes from their English and Philosophy professors. Odd to me that the so-called open-minded liberal professors in those fields are the most close-minded when faced with opinions that differ from their own. The sciences also have some liberal bent, but most of them are focused on hard topics that don’t get into politics. Of course, there is the environmental angle that can derail some science classes as well.</p>

<p>Most schools have their collection of ‘activists’. Oddly the majority of those are students who have been recruited by members of activist groups. Much of the on-campus protesting is not students at all, but semi-professional protesters who are seeking to influence young minds to their political thinking.</p>

<p>If you want conservative colleges, think Liberty or Hillsdale…maybe BYU. Notre Dame is NOT a conservative university. If you want a conservative Catholic school, look to Franciscan of Stuebenville (OH), or Ave Maria in Florida. </p>

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<p>You could substitute “conservative” for “liberal” and it would be the same thing. The difference is, there aren’t as many highly regarded schools that are conservative as there are liberal ones. Hillsdale is an exception. I would never encourage a student here to go to a place like Liberty.</p>

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<p>My HS daughter has a FANTASTIC math teacher who attended Liberty. Maybe the best one my daughter has had so far.</p>

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<p>Whatever the philosophy of the faculty, I don’t think the faculty has as much influence on 18-22 year olds as peers do. </p>

<p>College is it’s own bubble. In college, I thought it was odd that we were not exposed more to people of different ages, and different walks of life. We were all basically 18-22 year olds with no adults around besides professors. My college was strongly predominantly liberal, and, since I identified with my peers, I identified as that as well, but in retrospect my understanding of the larger political picture was limited at that age, as it is with many 18 year olds. This was a different era, so some issues were not the same, but in general, the tone was tolerance, (a good thing in general), except for one: the student who didn’t embrace liberal values- and that person was fair game to criticize and ridicule. </p>

<p>Before someone assumes I am attacking liberals and comes in with examples of intolerant conservatives, I need to clarify that I am not attacking liberals. I am describing how young people who are barely out of high school, behave in groups and their strong desire to be accepted by the group. This is an age where young people won’t even dress differently than their peers. They come to campus wanting to fit in and are separated from older adults and the range of society that might give them more perspective than they have at the time. Liberal and conservative philosophies are broader than college students’ perspectives, but students lack the life experience they need to refine their views.</p>

<p>I acknowledge that the same situation could occur in reverse. A young liberal could feel uncomfortable at a predominantly conservative college. I would not expect a liberal student to attend a college where he or she is uncomfortable and fortunately for that student, there are many choices.There are fewer choices for conservative leaning students. </p>

<p>I think it is good for young people to be exposed to new ideas, but this should not include being socially excluded and ridiculed if they don’t agree with those ideas. Ideally,people should be civil to each other even if they disagree, but we have plenty of evidence that this doesn’t always happen. A college student who is different from the group is in a vulnerable position because of the age of the students, the phenomenon of group behavior, and the environment they are in. College is a stepping stone to the real world, but it is still a select environment. Outside a college, one is likely to encounter a range of people with different ideas and also a range of maturity about how they express them. In the larger world, there are ways to not feel isolated, or at least, one has the privacy of one’s own home. A student in a dorm has no place to go if he/she is singled out. </p>

<p>If I believe that students should feel safe on a campus, then that has to include all students. </p>

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<p>@Pennylane2011‌ - I think what you say about peer groups is true, but I wouldn’t underestimate the influence of a professor, especially a charismatic one.</p>

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<p>I’m sure that is possible. I don’t have personal experience with a teacher who influenced me politically. I wasn’t all that interested in politics, but like many students my age, wanted to make friends and fit in. Some ideas I agreed with, but some I did not, but I was too afraid to speak up. </p>

<p>I’ve known kids who went to schools like Liberty- and they are a lot happier there than I was in college. I would not have fit in at Liberty, but perhaps a college somewhere in between that and mine would have been better for me. New ideas are fine, but a student shouldn’t have to feel lonely and isolated for four years to learn them. If a student felt that Liberty was the best fit, I would support their right to choose it.</p>

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<p>I disagree. Some people in college are going to follow their peers, but this isn’t high school. There is a lot more freedom of thought and less people following the crowd in college. </p>

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<p>Maybe, I’m only reporting on my own experience. I had some growing up to do, perhaps more than some other kids. We didn’t have a site like CC back then and made the best choice we could that was affordable, and the education was excellent. Fit is individual, and my only stance is on having choices, not deciding what choice people make.</p>

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<p>To add a name: University of Richmond
We live in the northeast and are extremely liberal. I was raised in the south (North Carolina just for reference). We had included URichmond on our initial college list but we were cautioned by our Catholic high school counselor that it may be too conservative for us. I wasn’t sure if that was a code for politically conservative or racially non-diverse. Maybe that is good news for those searching for conservatism. Conservative is a code word for many things. </p>

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<p><a href=“http://admissions.richmond.edu/studentprofile/overview.html”>http://admissions.richmond.edu/studentprofile/overview.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>US Students of color: 24% All students of color (US+international):31% First Generation: %14 Students whose native language is not English: 18%</p>

<p>U Richmond is also one of the colleges that claims to meet full need as well so maybe some economic diversity?</p>

<p>I am not personally familiar with the college- this is just the statistics posted.</p>

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<p>Yeah. I wasn’t sure what she meant either. Richmond is a nice town too. In general, the South remains all kinds of conservative. Probably too much so for my family. In the end, we decided Richmond was too far to travel without a compelling reason. I will follow up on the counsellor’s remark with the next child. </p>

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<p>I don’t know what she meant either, or maybe she did mean that relatively to your area, it would be conservative in general.</p>

<p>I think the political middle ground is wide, and there is some relativity to whatever end of the spectrum one identifies with. Since you described yourself as extremely liberal, U Richmond might be too conservative for your family, but it may be middle ground to someone in the middle. </p>

<p>Still, I think it is good to choose a college that fits your family best. Distance is another factor to consider, and as you said, maybe not a deal breaker, but part of the choice. </p>

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<p>A bit late on this, but if you’re looking for economic/political conservatism, Hillsdale (MI) is a rather obvious choice. I would recommend it more for freshmen than for transfers, though, as they have a very extensive Core.</p>

<p>Grove City is one of the only schools to specifically teach Austrian Econ and has the complete library of I think Von Mises. It’s a religious school so it has an extensive REL requirement as well as some rather strict rules, which might or might not be your thing.</p>

<p>A note for some people tempted to pick a religious college…be careful. I went to an evangelical LAC last fall and the student body couldn’t be more liberal. I was in NE.</p>

<p>Also one other piece of advice, from a conservative student who has been there - done that: use these threads and the Princeton Review list. You’re most likely not going to get a conservative student body/faculty unless you specifically pick a school with those attributes, so if it matters to you, make sure it’s a factor.</p>

<p>I leave for Clemson one month from today :)</p>

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<p>“I think your daughter would benefit greatly from a tolerant place like that–especially after being home schooled and indoctrinated into a narrow set of beliefs that might put her at a disadvantage in the real world.”</p>

<p>@sally305 I can’t be the only homeschooler that read this that is offended. I haven’t read the entire thread–did she say she indoctriinated her student into a narrow set of beliefs are you assuming this? An unfair assumption if so…</p>

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<p>@isaelijohjac, please read what I said. In fact, please read the whole thread–it’s pretty easy to see that my comments were part of a predominantly respectful dialogue.</p>

<p>I was responding to this comment by the OP, which I and others found highly offensive:</p>

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<p>It is not the OP’s daughter’s homeschooling per se that is the issue. It’s the second part of what I said–the indoctrination into outrageous, intolerant beliefs such as she stated above. If you are not a homeschooler who is likewise indoctrinating your kids that way, you should have no reason to be offended. I have nothing but respect for homeschoolers who simply seek to educate their kids personally and help make them good citizens of the world who can think critically and get along with a wide variety of people.</p>

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<p>@sally305 That’s why I asked. I wasn’t sure if you made the assumption based on nothing but homeschooling. Next time I will read the entire thread. </p>

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<p>Alabama, Brigham Young, Mississippi, Texas A&M, Washington & Lee, Baylor, SMU, Auburn, TCU, Clemson, Wheaton, Texas Tech, Miami (OH), Kansas State, Univ. of Dallas, King’s College, Louisiana State, South Carolina, Weber State, High Point, Richmond, Belmont, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Creighton, Oklahoma State, Tarleton State, Dayton, Wake Forest, Georgia, St. Louis, Georgia Tech, Tennesee, and Arkansas.</p>

<p>All of the above have very strong conservative presences on campus and active conservative student organizations. Obviously it’s going to be more prevalent on some campuses than others, but when compared to all US schools holistically, these all would land somewhere on the right wing. </p>

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<p>Auburn (one of the Most Conservative campuses) also has it’s a share of liberal and independent minded individuals - thank heavens for colleges where you are encouraged to read things you don’t agree with.</p>

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<p>I’m not a fan of this thread. Then again, I’m not a fan of people choosing colleges based on political ideologies or trying to segregate themselves from people they disagree with. I mean, I get not wanting to go to some school where you’re going to be one of only ten people with similar views, but for heck’s sake, most colleges will allow you to find a bunch of people you can agree with. Also, it frustrates me that people want to put themselves in a box at the time in their life where they will be learning so much. My political ideologies change so often it’s not funny because I constantly learn new things. There’s a lovely thing in studying economics where you just just all confused and you don’t know what to do.</p>

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<p>Many of the colleges mentioned here are large and diverse, and have students with different political views. It’s more about the balance of students and applicants having a choice. Colleges have different learning environments and students have different interests. </p>

<p>One could make the case that going to any college is putting oneself in a box at that time of their lives. I can think of few incidences in life where people of the same age are housed together in one small area, mostly supported by their families and/or financial aid, and given the opportunity to basically learn. In contrast to living with their families in neighborhoods, college students have less contact with people of different ages, different education levels, and different jobs and this can influence their ideas and political views.</p>

<p>There are many reasons to choose a college, and I don’t know how many people consider politics when they choose one, but, in general, most colleges seem to be predominantly liberal. If choice is to exist, then there has to be other choices. </p>

<p>You don’t have to be a fan of this thread or any of the colleges mentioned, but you could consider yourself fortunate that you have choices. Other students may make different ones.</p>