<p>try Hampshire</p>
<p>Actually most LAC's in the northeast will have a slight liberal slant. He should find his liberal niche at almost any campus.</p>
<p>I think this thread has gone way overboard on focusing on schools that are at the fringe end of the "liberal" spectrum. Not to say that there haven't been some fine suggestions, but it seems to me that in focusing so heavily on one small factor, the original poster is not getting a particularly good cross section of schools and we are encouraging the applicant to approach college selection with a far too narrow perspective.</p>
<p>
[quote]
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.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I was actually quite turned off by Tufts because of the way they presented the school. Obviously it has great rankings and great opportunities but when I visited I got the feeling that it may be a little too idealistic. "At Tufts we are not competitive with one another, we are a collective unit" blah blah blah. I guess that is great, but I just didnt feel like that was true. I dont know ive done a lot of college visits but that was one that I just wasnt quite sure if what they were telling me was a straight answer. </p>
<p>anyway no need to hijack the thread</p>
<p>"He's very liberal, atheist, very into music - listening but not playing.
....he will probably choose a social science, history, etc. Not into drugs or alcohol, although being around that probably wouldn't bother him. Not really into sports."</p>
<p>This kid sounds similar to my son, except my son is a performing musician also, and although very liberal, he was adamant about not being somewhere where he had to stick to a party line of any type. My son also wanted both history/public policy and physics/engineering. </p>
<p>He is going to Swarthmore. Now, I know there are those who think Swarthmore is left of the communist party, but my family definitely doesn't see the school that way. Anyway, other schools my son was interested in at some point along the way were UChicago, Yale, Columbia, Pomona, UMichigan, and UWisconsin. Others he might have been interested in except for the location were Carleton and Oberlin. Because of his specific mix of interests, he was also interested in Harvard and Lewis and Clark (at different points in admissions difficulty). He felt that at these schools that being his liberal self, not being into sports and not drinking or using drugs would not leave him out in the cold socially. You can see that some of these were large and had sports (Michigan), but the honors programs at each creates a small school environment within the larger school and each of these schools has the reputation for a varied student body, giving many opportunites to find your place. </p>
<p>Michigan could be a good bet for satisfying both his parents. I suggest they look into the honors program. I think the research question doesn't depend on the existence of graduate programs, but the opportunities for undergraduate work with professors. Each school is different and even academic departments vary. Swarthmore, for example, is a LAC, but has excellent research opportunities for the students.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>"He's very liberal, atheist, very into music - listening but not playing.
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.
Not into drugs or alcohol, although being around that probably wouldn't bother him.
Not really into sports."</p>
<p>What's really nice about Evergreen is that, on the whole, the students are much more mature than at the other LACS. The average student is around 23-25, with many older. The nature of the curriculum is such as to enable deep exploration into several different fields, without being locked into a major. The social science faculty is topnotch, with a quite few well-published folks (like Stephanie Coontz). My d's class, on ethnobotanical medicine, had naturopaths, anthropology students, pre-meds, botanists, and folks into Native American folklore, with ages spread all over the map.</p>
<p>Our town is very liberal, the school probably no more so than the town. As far as listening to music goes, Time Magazine calls us the most happening place in America. Home of Kurt Cobain, and Sleator-Kinney (which is named for a stree that passes by my office.)</p>
<p>Sports? The teams are called the "geoducks". Need I say more? ;)</p>
<p>
[quote]
I was actually quite turned off by Tufts because of the way they presented the school. Obviously it has great rankings and great opportunities but when I visited I got the feeling that it may be a little too idealistic. "At Tufts we are not competitive with one another, we are a collective unit" blah blah blah. I guess that is great, but I just didnt feel like that was true. I dont know ive done a lot of college visits but that was one that I just wasnt quite sure if what they were telling me was a straight answer.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>As a student, I can say that there are obviously both sides of the spectrum - however, it is nice to know that the ratios are not at all stacked towards negativity. I hang around the premed groups and we take similar classes but we all really do help each other. We want each other to succeed and that collective unity really does come out as idealistic as it sounds. We are all in the university together and represent Tufts once we leave. This is coming from a science major's perspective.</p>
<p>How about the Kelts-Carnegie Mellon? ~6500 UG, ~5000G. Interesting mixture of tech, public service, and performing arts.</p>
<p>atlantamom - My S also fits this profile . I was just looking at Swarthmore web site . Is your S studying music there as well ??? </p>
<p>Does anyone know about the computer science dept. at Oberlin ??</p>
<p>No, he doesn't plan to study music there because he won't have room "in his academic schedule" for a music minor. He does plan to continue with lessons and to join a performance group. He may take a course.</p>
<p>You'll need to check anthropology, but Rochester combines many features of LAC's and larger Univs. Very strong on undergraduate research, and of course lots of great music. Also check Lawrence, Hamilton.</p>
<p>lewis and clark would be good, pretty high acceptance rate if he applies early action, and if online no application fee. VERY VERY liberal. in the forest, pretty rainy, very close to portland, liberal student body, politically active campus, when i visited the only food they had for lunch was vegetarian (tofu and veggie patties). everyone there is obsessed with music as well.</p>
<p>I think the university in Eugene Oregon (is it U of O) is very liberal.</p>