Hi, I’m looking into case western and will probably visit in a few months but I was wondering what the overall vibe is? I live in NY and case western isn’t a popular college among my school. My school is full of upper middle class preppy Jewish white kids but I would rather have a more diverse student body that’s very liberal, into art/social justice, lgbt friendly, and has more of an alt vibe.
Would I like case western? What kinda vibe does it have?
Have you seen this thread? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/case-western-reserve-university/1729119-a-definitive-objective-description-of-case-western-by-a-current-student.html#latest
Have you checked out student reviews on Niche or the description on Fiske? My daughter was recently accepted to Case and from what I’ve gathered, I wouldn’t categorize the place as alternative, but I guess it all depends to what you are comparing it to. 
Good luck & aloha.
I agree…read the above thread.
My understanding from my son at CWRU is Cleveland as a city is very liberal. CWRU is an urban campus with rich arts and music such as Cleveland Orchestra venue, Severance Hall, right on campus, and Cleveland Institute of Music students taking general ed courses at CWRU. Case Western is LGBT friendly in the same way Oberlin College is, as they both very very strong theater and music programs, although Oberlin may fit your description of social justice oriented better than CWRU. Some but not all of . CWRU students are somewhat preprofessional, with nursing, business and engineering colleges along with strong music, art history, and strengths in comparative religion and theatre . Its not a standard nerdy/techy school, a bit more diverse than those. . The architecture is eclectic! and, at least one club has a social justice theme, GELS, Global Ethical Leaders Society at CWRU:
http://www.globalethicalleaderssociety.com/
See blog about travels of CWRU students in GELS:
http://www.globalethicalleaderssociety.com/#!services/c8f4
Jewish community is strong in Cleveland but its not overwhelmingly Jewish at CWRU, but well represented. Cool synagogue near campus was converted to a performing arts center.
Students tend to be from the northeast, midwest and Texas with CA students just discovering the value and diversity of this college. Foreign students are about ten percent and tend to be from Asian countries.
Case is very diverse, and people do there own thing; People take a live and let live approach. It is ranked among the most LGBT friendly schools, and it was one of the first universities to cover gender reassignment surgeries under the student health care policy.
As far as arts, CWRU has strong partnerships with both the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Art. For example, as a CWRU student, you can take one class and any of the other institutions per semester. There are many joint degree programs. Cleveland and CWRU have great theater programs.
In terms of Cleveland’s art scene, the Cleveland Orchestra is arguably the best orchestra in the US and the only one to stand along the great European ones (the Concertgebouw, Berlin, Vienna, etc). The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is great. They just finished a 300+ million dollar expansion. They just had an amazing, highly publicized, Monet Exhibition called “Painting the Modern Garden”. This exhibition made only two stops, Cleveland and London. It was assembled by the CMA and the Royal Academy of Arts London. The Cleveland Apollo, a Bronze statue by Praxiteles, is among, if not the most significant sculpture in our hemisphere.
Students get into all of the museums in University Circle for free, and it is nearly free to hear the Cleveland Orchestra. They are all in easy walking distance from anywhere on campus. (We saw the Monet exhibit in December when we were visiting. It really was fantastic.)