<p>I've attended and dropped out of two separate colleges, and visited my friends at their respective colleges. Every single time, I am repulsed and really disheartened because the people I see and meet are so far up their asses. (Excuse my French.) They put on airs, act incredibly fake, try to have serious philosophical discussions and seem as cool as possible. Personally, I've always abhorred people that act fake, so living with people like this is kind of difficult.</p>
<p>What I'm looking for are colleges with people that are humble, intelligent, friendly, but most importantly, expressive. Just down-to-earth and open. No putting on airs.</p>
<p>Honestly, at this point in my life, the quality of the college barely matters. I just need a degree.</p>
<p>Anyone have any ideas? Or cities/states/areas you think I should look into?</p>
<p>U of Phoenix just about anywhere, and most places in the vicinity of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana. Also, any place in Alaska.</p>
<p>I’d second the vote for state schools. Start with your local community college and then go on from there. Any school with a high percentage of commuters is going to have a better mix of ages . . . and working adults attending school part time probably don’t have the time to sit around acting pretentious.</p>
<p>“I’ve attended and dropped out of two separate colleges”</p>
<p>You started college in August of 2011, and have attended and dropped out of two colleges. I suggest that you may not be ready for college or at least making a decision on what college environment you will thrive in. Maybe take some time off to mature and figure out what it is you need to be successful.</p>
<p>There are different types of pretentiousness and some may bother you and some may not. Are you trying to avoid the country club sort of pretentiousness (eating clubs at Princeton), the hipster sort of pretentiousness (holier-than-thou hipsters at Brown or NYU), the athletic jock/good-looking/popular clique pretentiousness (frats at Vanderbilt or USC), the philosophy sort of pretentiousness (I go to Chicago and I read Foucault!), or the nerdy sort of pretentiousness (Look at me – I build robots at MIT, look how smart I am).</p>
<p>I agree with fishymom. Unless you’ve somehow managed to travel back in time to attend Harvard and Yale circa 1910, it’s nearly impossible that every student, or even the majority of them are “putting on airs”.</p>
<p>If you want “real people” go to a community college. It’s cheap, filled with people juggling 2 jobs and kids, and you’re guaranteed to be accepted.</p>
<p>M’s Mom: I attended U of Mary Washington, Piedmont Virginia CC, and have visited at William and Mary, UVA, VCU, and JMU. I actually liked UVA, you could find some students who really were down-to-earth and just smart. Same with William and Mary. (However, there were still plenty of people that annoyed me, ha.)</p>
<p>Fishymom: I know I’m not ready to try again just yet. I’m working through my emotional baggage with a therapist and figuring out how to manage my learning disorder at the moment, but I’m looking for options for when I’m ready to go back.</p>
<p>Timetodecide12: I think hipster pretentiousness is what I’m talking about, and maybe a little philosophy. But mostly hipster. (Thank you for managing to identify something I couldn’t! I didn’t realize until now that it really was just “hipster culture” that was bothering me.)</p>
<p>Whenhen: Not true. The second college I attended was a community college, and the people there were more snotty than any other school I’d been to, I think because it was mostly young people, I don’t think I once saw anyone over 25 in attendance.</p>
<p>UMW is pretentious? That seems odd to me at first but then I remember the kids who I know who are there and the ones I know who plan to go there. One is the sweetest girl you could meet and hates being mean to anyone (she is in love with the school). The rest are just kinda oblivious airhead prissy-pants…</p>
<p>To me, it’s the local college that’s too close to home. Also, the pictures they show of campus look so photoshopped because I’ve grown up here…</p>
<p>Why are people suggesting for-profit colleges? I don’t care if they’re one of the few accredited ones or the many unaccredited. They’re businesses in it to make money, not to provide education.</p>
<p>The for-profits are suggested so the OP does not need to deal with people. Unfortunately, colleges everywhere have kids who are full of themselves. A friend’s dad used to say, " Those of you who think you know everything are annoying those of us who do."</p>
<p>captainpiper, people aren’t giving you straight answer because in some ways this website is pretentious.</p>
<p>I would avoid schools that are ultra-liberal and focus in on schools that have D-1 sports. These schools have the more laid back vibe I think you are looking for. </p>
<p>Some suggestion would be Wake Forest, Lehigh, Vanderbilt, Colgate, University of Florida, Texas, Georgia, University of Miami, Tulane, Kansas, Arizona State, Syracuse, Boston College, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc.</p>