Hello, I am a Junior in High school and my college search is becoming a little more intensive. So, I want to go to a fairly selective school/ top university but I heard they are almost all VERY liberal and I don’t want to completely be with people who don’t have the same political views as me. I want to learn from other but still have peers who think like me also (more republican). Can you tell me how conservative and liberal each of the schools listed are? Thank you, and as always opinions are welcome!
Stanford -top
University of Florida
University of North Carolina
Wake Forest
Vanderbilt
UVA
Vassar
Penn State
Boston College- also another top on my list
Stanford, Vanderbilt, Vassar, and Penn State are all liberal. Boston and UVA are a bit more conservative (still pretty liberal), but no school in the top ~20 is actually conservative - historically, liberals have gravitated towards higher education (esp. at ‘name value’ schools) in higher numbers than conservatives… Notre Dame is probably the closest.
Vandy is thought of as the most conservative out of the Top 20 (of course that’s all still relative). Wake is also fairly conservative and has the typical southern vibe.
Also, are you looking for socially conservative/liberal or economically conservative/liberal cause I think you have much less to worry about if you’re looking for the latter rather than the former.
As chancethrow said the elite institutions all tend to lean left at the very least.
Notre Dame feels more conservative. If you’re looking for a very conservative school, Hillsdale College or Texas A & M are more up there
Princeton Review has a list of schools with the top 20 most conservative students
http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=most-conservative-students
@TheAtlantic I’m looking for more of the economically conservative, I have some views socially that are a bit on the “left” does that change anything?
Penn State’s faculty are probably mostly liberal, but we ARE in central PA; I’ve heard the state described as “Pittsburgh and Philly with Kentucky in between.”
what about UF???
Economic conservatives tend to be more easily found than social conservatives at colleges and universities. Students at residential colleges and universities tend to lean left on social issues because (a) younger people tend to lean left on social issues, and (b) residential colleges and universities which draw students from many areas may not be the most comfortable places for social conservatives who are not comfortable with various kinds of diversity.
Social conservatism is most common found at heavily religious schools, though these would only be good fits for those of matching religion.
I’m liberal myself, but I honestly wouldn’t worry too much about a lack of economic conservatives at these institutions @mmmkkk2. There are a good portion of high income students at all these institutions that will likely lean to the right economically.
With the exception of Vassar, I agree that you will probably be able to find people like you at most of these schools, and maybe slightly more so at Wake Forest, UVA, and Boston College.
UF tends to be a bit more conservative than most (like any southeast public university), but as others have said, most students and faculty lean left. Liberal “activist” groups on campus tend to be loud, but small. Plenty of conservative (social and economic) students on campus.
Stanford- Very liberal (bay area and top school)
UF- Moderate but leaning conservative
UNC- Moderate but leaning conservative
Wake Forest- Moderate leaning conservative (again)
Vanderbilt- Very moderate (went to road show and they said a third of student body identifies as liberal, a third as moderate/independent and a third as conservative)
UVA- Pretty conservative very preppy
Vassar- Very liberal
Penn State- Liberal
Boston College- Pretty conservative very preppy and Catholic
I think the only places you would feel uncomfortable/way outnumbered is Vassar (for SURE; one of the most liberal schools in the country) and Stanford (to a lesser degree).
UNC is fairly liberal, especially for North Carolina.
Yes, UNC is rather liberal. Jesse Helms famously said that NC didn’t need a state zoo when they could just build a fence around Chapel Hill. Conservative students are a minority, and speakers like Tancredo and Horowitz have gotten a tremendous amount of backlash on campus.
Have you looked at Bucknell?
I think at any of these larger schools you will find your peeps. Even Stanford which does house one of the most conservative think tanks in the country, the Hoover Institution. It’s easy enough to google to see what conservative groups are active at campuses.
THanks! 
@qialah