Hey guys,
I’m a libertarian and an muslim, I’m also from indian descent so I’m wondering if I would fit into any of the following colleges:
texas a&m
smu
wake forest
washington and lee
While I have nothing against different beliefs (conservatism), and I’m at the lookout for many different cultures, I would hate to be judged by my appearance and beliefs. I’ve heard horror stories especially regarding a&m and their corps targeting minorities and non-christians. Also would I get exclused from the majority of social life?
Do you mean you are a liberal? Libertarians tend to be pretty conservative in fiscal/constitutional ways, though they can be liberal socially (not all, but some).
I don’t know anything about TAMU, but I would think UIUC and Tulane would be your best bets. Wake Forest is a possibility too, though I always perceive it (perhaps incorrectly) as wealthy and preppy (same for W&L and SMU).
Somewhere inbetween, I went to a prep school, so I know a lot of wealthy kids and I actually like them and I would even go so far to call myself “fiscal moderate to conservative” BUT I’m really liberal in terms of social issues (gay-rights etc.) and I’m really not into country or religion.
I guess I’m your typical wannabe yuppie who wants a school with other open-minded wannabe yuppies who like to party. LOL
If you are politically liberal, ethnically Indian, and Muslim, I would suggest that you look towards schools on the northeastern seaboard or liberal arts colleges and universities that seem welcoming to foreign students and prize diversity. So for LACs, something like Macalaster or Oberlin. If you are looking for something larger - say a mid sized university - perhaps Tufts, Northeastern, or Washington U in St. Louis.
Choice of major, academic achievement, and ability to pay are all key, of course. Are you an American citizen? In which state do you live?
I go to the University of Oklahoma which attracts students from a state even more conservative than Texas. Supporting gay rights will not make you exceptional at the vast majority of colleges, including TAMU, SMU, etc.
You may want to reach out to each school’s Muslim Student Association (Google it or find the group on Facebook) to gauge current student opinions on how Muslims are treated. I suspect that all will say they are accepted.
For A&M my hunch would be that being liberal would be a bigger problem than brown- and being libertarian would be just fine. About a third of the 45K A&M students are some shade of brown, so it’s not a tiny minority. W&L has a conservative, preppy reputation, is tiny (under 2K) and 86% white. I doubt people would be mean to you, but you would obviously be part of a small minority. That bothers some people more than others.
You have posted another thread about some schools that are typically seen as very liberal. The reality is that on just about every college campus you will find a range of students- what will shift is the proportion. A bigger school will usually give you a bigger range of views.
As for being judged by your appearance- the clothes we wear, the way we wear our hair, our body posture all say something about how we see ourselves and the world.
Thanks for the advice guys!
I’m basically just researching safety schools which would still offer me to persuade my dreams. Wustl for example has a 25th percentile of 31, so I wouldn’t consider it “safe”.
I’ve read some posts from Ted Cruz pushing a&m hence that’s the reason why I’m so suspicious about it.
Btw: May one be able to explain “being preppy”?
What specific beliefs do you have that make you “socially liberal”? A student who supports say, the legalization of marijuana will find many who agree with him even at some of the most conservative colleges in the country. By contrast, a student who supports the legalization of all drugs will find far fewer peers at said conservative institutions.
Preppy comes from ‘prep [preparatory] school’: secondary schools whose objective is to ‘prepare’ students for top (originally Ivy League) colleges. Although there are fashion elements (think JCrew, Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren), the bigger part is attidunal, as our friends at Wikipedia point out:
Actually I some of my closest friends would be considered preppy then (they would never wear anything below belstaff or burberry).
And I would actually prefer it to be around people with whom I could talk about international policies, the economy etc. But they shouldn’t be “socially awkward nerds” I still love to party! And I also rock them ralph lauren shirts
Regarding my beliefs I would say that I’m a social democrat.
Well, it depends on what you mean by “fit in.” If you just need to find some core of students who share your political beliefs to hang out with, you can certainly find that at any of these four schools. If you need most of the students on campus to be socially liberal, then you’d probably be less happy at these four places than you would be elsewhere.
Also, these are all varying degrees of conservative. Wake Forest is probably the most socially liberal of the four - I’ve honestly not heard a lot about this place being conservative; it just happens to be located in the Southeast (and there are lots of liberal outposts in the Southeast. Winston-Salem is pretty liberal). Washington and Lee is known as being more conservative than a lot of other schools in its class, but remember that relative conservatism for colleges is on a different scale than for the rest of the country. Most colleges and college students tend to be pretty liberal. W&L is believed to have enrolled the first African-American student in higher ed (in 1795); it is overwhelmingly white, though, as the student body is only 10.5% domestic students of color (and 16% total, including internationals).
SMU and TAMU are in a slightly different class - much more prominently conservative and, particularly for TAMU, known for their religious and socially conservative student body. I think SMU is less so than TAMU. TAMU also has the significant influence of the Corps of Cadets; military-affiliated folks do have a tendency to lean more socially conservative. They’re both still excellent schools and both are likely to have a lot of very socially liberal students - in fact, TAMU was involved in a landmark civil rights case which established the First Amendment rights of LGBT student organizations to gain recognition by universities. Both are pretty diverse, though; one-third of both SMU and TAMU students are from ethnic minority groups (at TAMU this is weighted more heavily towards Hispanic/Latino students; at SMU it’s mostly Hispanic/Latino students and a slightly larger international population. Both schools have similar percentages of blacks and Asians).
Thanks but when all of the places have their fair amount of liberals, how would they differ to more liberal colleges (vibe, atmosphere, dating scene etc.)
There is a site that rhymes with which (I can’t put the real name here or it will be blocked) that provides candid reviews by students about vibe, etc. Also have you read the campus visit reviews that are posted here? They can be quite illuminating.
