<p>A friend needs some help for her junior son.<br>
He's very liberal, atheist, very into music - listening but not playing.<br>
He's not sure what he wants to study, right now anthropology but that could change, although he will probably choose a social science, history, etc.<br>
Not into drugs or alcohol, although being around that probably wouldn't bother him.
Not really into sports.
His mother is thinking LAC's. Father (PhD professor at a large lower ranked state school) thinks a large state school is best. Father thinks there won't be top-level professors or good research opportunities at a school without a graduate program. I think that issue can be resolved with the right school and a lot of sound argument for an LAC.<br>
Money is not a problem.
Wants to be somewhere with an occasional rain (i.e., not in the desert), but doesn't have to be in the northwest.
Any suggestions? Thanks</p>
<p>well, what does the son think?
he could apply to a mix of LACs and state schools and pick out of the ones he gets into. really, his opinion is what matters here.
and there are other options.. he could try for medium sized universities! that way he's not isolated from research opportunities but he's also not lost within a huge mass of students. the claremont colleges come to mind; most of the ivy schools (columbia for instance only has something like 6000 undergrads); hofstra; brandeis... what are his stats? is he interested in an urban, suburban, or rural experience?
he'll be able to find liberal music lovers and social science majors at every top college in the country. rather than his parents bickering over what type of school they prefer, this spring break they should start taking him to look at a diverse range of schools. if he has no idea what he wants, his parents (with the help of a guidance counselor) could come up with a list of schools his mom likes, schools his dad likes, and school neither of them know much about but that sound promising. then he could look over that list; certain aspects that he likes will jump out at him and he can research schools with those features. maybe going on a weekend to look at a school near him, even if he's not remotely interested in it, can help him figure out what he wants and doesnt want in his college.</p>
<p>If the issue is
[quote]
College Help for Liberal
[/quote]
then I don't think that's enough information to narrow the search. My experience has been that, with the exception of some religious based schools, most colleges lean toward liberalism. The questions that Scarfmadness raises are important to understand. I think it helps to look at things like school size, strong departments, SAT ranges (for admissions purposes), and location. Also, I think many parents here initially felt the same preference for a research university over a LAC, yet now see many benefits to the LAC model.</p>
<p>Forgot the stats part. Very good student, probably in the top 10-15% of very good competitive school. I know he is very bright, but is not a grade grubber. A few indepth EC's. Wants to be in or at least very near a city with a music scene, museums, etc. </p>
<p>Mom is trying to schedule a spring break trip and is looking now at finding LAC's to visit so she can schedule the trip. Son doesn't know where to start, but is leaning toward LAC's. </p>
<p>There's no bickering, just differing opinions of what would be best for him. I'm looking for suggestions for schools they could go visit to get some ideas and get started on this process.</p>
<p>he might want to look here
should be enough rain :)
atheism-communism-freelove</p>
<p>Tufts.</p>
<p>No, I'm not biased. (Well, I am, but it's still a great school.)</p>
<p>Very liberal - very international, very diverse. (In some respects, I'm fairly liberal socially, which is what attracted me to the school.) </p>
<p>Professors are fantastic. It's a small enough school, but has some fantastic professors and the research opportunities are amazing.</p>
<p>Be aware that "research" in the sciences is very different from research in the humanities - one requires huge capital investments in labs, investments in top-notch professors who can bring in funding, and the issue of being able to access those labs and professors - very tough if the goodies all go to the grad students! Humanities may be a lot different. </p>
<p>Generally, he should ask questions about the opportunities for undergrads to do research - how many of them research with profs? Are they doing research or washing the grad student's glassware? Large state universities might have great opportunities, but life's rough if you can't access those opportunities.</p>
<p>Hope you're doing well. :)</p>
<p>Definitely need to visit. About 30 miles outside Cleveland.</p>
<p>Perhaps Carleton?</p>
<p>If he'd be interested in California, the Claremont Schools might be worth investgating, which one poster mentioned. (And they have a graduate college for the dad)
Best of both worlds - small individual schools with the variety that the consortium provides- Each college has a slightly different emphasis, with a range of political views. Also, proximity to Los Angeles makes day trips to museums, theater and musical events possible, yet the mountains and beach are close as well.Professors are top notch, and classes are small. LACs rarely use teaching assistants, which makes research a easier for undergrads.
It sounds like Pomona College might be a perfect fit.</p>
<p>Rice would give him good listening music, tons and tons of great research opportunities, reasonable tuition, LAC size (only 2800 undergrads) - it's classified as a Doctoral U, but focus is on undergrads and it is really more like a LAC in many ways.</p>
<p>I haven't seen it but perhaps "Schools That Rock : The Rolling Stone College Guide" by Jenny Eliscu would be worth a look.</p>
<p>ah, ok, it's good to know the son is just uncertain instead of being completely blocked out of this process that is going to affect mostly him (which is kind of what it sounded like in the op).
i still recommend the claremont colleges.. carleton might be too far away for a city with a music scene for him, but keep in mind that all colleges bring music events to campus, etc. columbia is known for being very liberal, and it's in the best city in the world.. also northwestern, tufts, brandeis, maybe amherst? it'd be pretty hard to get to pomona, northwestern, and tufts all in the same spring break trip, though.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. The son is very excited about college, just uncertain where to start looking. I'll pass on the suggestions here and they can go from there.</p>
<p>Over30 - Don't know if someone already mentioned it, but Beloit has one of the best undergraduate anthropology departments in the country. No need to worry about research opportunities - they have a fabulous archeology museum right on campus and lots of off-campus field study and research programs. They also have a fairly active music scene that brings bands to campus regularly, and students are very liberal. Fits his other requirements as well, although as you know, there's more snow than rain in Wisconsin. I think it would definitely be worth a look. Here are two links to their anthropology program:
<a href="http://www.beloit.edu/%7Eanthro/%5B/url%5D">http://www.beloit.edu/~anthro/</a>
<a href="http://www.beloit.edu/%7Eacademic/fields/majors/anthropology_overview.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.beloit.edu/~academic/fields/majors/anthropology_overview.php</a></p>
<p>Other possibilities for schools with strong anthropology programs where a "liberal atheist" could probably find a niche:
Grinnell, Yale, Stanford, Macalester, UMichigan, UPenn, Pomona, Brandeis, Boston U, Earlham, Washington U in St. Louis, Harvard, Pitzer, U of Oregon, Skidmore, New College of Florida, UC Berkeley, U of Wisconsin. If he wants something completely different, he might check out Antioch, Hampshire and Evergreen State as well.</p>
<p>if he is really very atheist, Brandeis might not be best.</p>
<p>Small Liberal Arts: Pomona (CA), Reed (OR), Oberlin (OH), Pitzer (CA)
Bigger Private Universities: NYU, Columbia, Tufts (MA), GWU (DC)
State Schools: University of Vermont, UT-Austin, Wisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>Grinnell, Kenyon, Beloit, Denison, Allegheny, Oberlin, Bard, Vassar, among others.</p>
<p>Bard and Evergreen meet the bill, but in different ways. I can pretty much guarantee some precipitation at the lattr (if he wants, he can tae some home with him. ;))</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I'll pass on the great list.</p>
<p>check out "Choosing the Right Colleges"....it is focused on the word 'right' but also comments (negatively) on liberal schools.</p>