<p>Can anyone take a shot at ranking these for liberal? Or would they all be close enough to call equal?</p>
<p>I’d say close enough to call it a wash.</p>
<p>What do you call “liberal”? Socially? Economically? In religious terms? Politically active? wrt to specific issues or actions?</p>
<p>The idea that a college, as an institution, would espouse a leftist or rightist doctrine is an illiberal idea. A few colleges do come close to being intentional communities of political crackpots. Pretty much all the others are collections of individuals who just happen, on average, to lean one way or another on various issues. These individuals come and go. Therefore, any order you assign to Carleton, Grinnell, and Macalester might not be valid by the time you get there.</p>
<p>But I’m pretty sure the OP wasn’t asking about the administration’s political views. OP was asking about the general vibe or political orientation on campus. And those schools, irrespective of the individual students, tend to be similar: Liberal socially and more diverse economically. If you have strongly negative views about gay marriage, for example, you will find that your position is an unpopular one on all three of these campuses* - and the fact that students come and go doesn’t mean that 3 years from now your position is going to be one that is shared by more students. </p>
<p>*If however you reject marriage generally as an outdated institution of little or no benefit to anyone, you will find many students who will enjoy debating this issue with you.</p>
<p>All are known to be pretty liberal, but Macalester probably has the reputation as the most liberal, followed by Grinnell and the Carleton, but you could argue either way for the last two.</p>
<p>My D, who hates in your face politics, even if she agrees with you, couldn’t bring herself to apply to Macalester after reading several descriptions of the campus atmosphere. Grinnell was simply too close to home and too rural to be considered, but she’ll fling an application at Carleton, the description of the politics there didn’t bother her. Maybe it’s unfair to go by descriptions, but sometimes it’s all you have to go on - she’d visit before going to any school.</p>