<p>HiMom, I hope you're not assuming that "liberal arts" implies lit/humanities. Liberal arts implies ALL major areas of academic inquiry -- humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and natural sciences. Many of the strongest undergraduate science programs in the country are found at "liberal arts" colleges. </p>
<p>One school not yet mentioned, which your son might take a look at, is Harvey Mudd. It is a science/engineering oriented small school, linked to "Five Colleges" (along with Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps).</p>
<p>My "intellectual" son seems to be "adapting" fine at his University, despite the fact that it has a Greek presence, lots of school spirit, a strong athletic program, a wonderful arts program, numerous musical programs, a good theater program, lots of non varsity sports/ fitness opportunities, a beautiful campus, a diverse student population, a very strong humanities program, a very strong science program, friendly people, and a warm climate. Go figure...............</p>
<p>I understand that many people stereotype fraternities, but I am really puzzled as to why anyone would think schools with music and dance are llikely to be less intellectual. Swarthmore, for example, has an excellent dance department. Harvard, UChicago, Columbia, Princeton, and Williams all have wonderful dance. These are all schools with substantial populations of students who enjoy intellectual topics, particularly government, politics, and public policy.</p>
<p>Check out some Jesuit universities for your son (if you don't have an aversion to religious affliations). All of them will have a general education requirement or "core" of liberal arts courses that all students will complete regardless of their intended major.
The core will cover some combination of the following: literature, foreign lang., math, science, history, philosophy, theology and social sciences.
Since west coast schools are closer to you: check out Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara, U. of San Fransisco, Gonzaga U and Seattle U.</p>
<p>Thanks--have considered LMU & SClaraU. Will investigate SeattleU (a friend's 1st choice). Will continue to gather info. Appreciate your thoughts.</p>
<p>If you are considering Seattle U, then you also may want to look into the University or Portland (not to be confused with Portland State University).</p>
<p>I would define intellectual. That may sound silly, but it's one of those words that I think is thrown around a lot and tends to mean different things to different people. I think that people tend to use it to describe two somewhat different kinds of colleges. The first is a college where kids are interested in learning for its own sake rather than as pre-vocational training. This kind of college or university tends to attract a significant # of people who go on to get Ph.D.s. The second is one where kids are interested in the world around them--they follow current events passionately and may be very politically active. If you mentioned a prominent political commentator the majority of students would not only recognize the name, they could discuss his most recent writings.</p>
<p>While the two groups overlap a bit, the congruence is far from perfect. While I admit that the visit was about 6 years ago now, we happened to visit one of the colleges several people have cited as intellectual in this thread when a major political event was taking place. Very few kids we met had any interest in it at all. Students were discussing what they were learning in classes, the research they were doing in the lab, etc., but they were not reading a newspaper or even a weekly news magazine. Those who said they were interested in politics often viewed them from a philosophical point of view--identifying themselves as libertarians or socialists--but weren't really interested in current political events. </p>
<p>I get the impression that the OP is really asking about which schools fall in category 2 and I think most of the responses list colleges in category 1. Again, there may be schools which fall into BOTH categories; I'm certainly not suggesting otherwise. I just think that different posters are using the term intellectual in different ways.</p>
<p>Thanks, Jonn. You stated that so eloquently. Actually, my son is currently more of a "category 2" type of person & yes, the postings so far have been a lot of "category 1" types of schools. Son loves learning for the sake of learning, but so far has been lukewarm to cool toward Reed.</p>
<p>Will definitely be interested to read about schools where students passionately follow current events. My son discusses with his dad some of the factors that affect contingency plans (in wake of Katrina), knows what's happening on the world scene & nationally & sometimes is upset that so few others around him seem similarly aware & concerned. His homepage is a site about current news. He is irritated by the shallow treatment the national magazines (Time, Newsweek, US News & Word Reports) give to events & ideas, often reading more in-depth on the web.
Still, he also loves math & science. In ways, he reminds me of my grad school room mate from Sweden. The international students tended to be more aware of the world situation & national events than the other students.</p>
<p>I agree that there has been some confusion or disagreement over the definition everyone's been using for "intellectual," and some have mistakenly felt that if their school is not mentioned, that it means the students there are not "bright." I would be interested, too, in knowing of schools that fit both categories.</p>
<p>Type 2: Georgetown, Claremont-McKenna, Wesleyan (for those who like or do not mind a politically very liberal campus), Macalaster, Dartmouth (we were told that every single aspiring presidential candidate comes through there because of the NH primaries).</p>
<p>There is also a difference between "activism" and reasoned discussion and analysis. Some latch on to or commit to a cause, talk about it constantly, but it is doubtful that there is much reasoned debate. On a visit to a more activist college, my S thought that if one did not toe the very liberal line, one was somewhat ostracized and open to ridicule (and he is liberal). He felt this activist atmosphere stifled real debate. One reason he chose the school he did was because he found intense, yet respectful, debate and argument among many points of view to be welcomed. We will soon see if he was correct in his assessment.</p>
<p>Here's what I think about intellectualism:A person of little words has much to say when he does talk because he absorbs so much from observation and experience. But, a person of much words have little to say because a lot of time it's nonsense or pompous pseudo-intellectualism. I would rather go to a college that has students discussing profound ideas occasionally and engage in other interesting activities than students who engage in babble "for the sake of knowledge" all the time.</p>
<p>As a graduate of the fist type of college you mention, I'm not surprised that you encountered a lack of interest in current events when you visited; however, this lack of interest doesn't mean that students aren't engaged with the world around them in a way that extends beyond their intellecutal pursuits. In my experience, this engagement was fueled not by a broad interest in national politics but by what I'd call (for lack of a better term) social consciousness. To this day I'm amazed by--and proud of--the number of my classmates who are involved in local politics or who have devoted their careers to things like improving mass transit, increasing literacy, or fighting poverty.</p>