<p>I'm going through the application process right now, and, like many of us, am still trying to find the school that best fits me. I'm a non-drinker and I'm at the top of my class, and I was just wondering, what do you guys think are the best schools where there are a lot of "good" kids? I'm not going to do a laundry list of my statistics like some people do - just assume you're typical top-student with a lot of extracurrics, leadership, etc. :) . I plan on studying engineering and or physics, and I'd love a school that is intellectually stimulating, has lots of research opportunities, and preferably a student body that is made up of people with similar values as me. Prestigious also works, just for insurance. Its not like Im an introvert or anything, looking to spend my college life in my dorm. I just prefer to not get involved with alcohol, and like minded people. Any help would be greatly appreciated - I just can't wait until this is all over!!</p>
<p>At any school you go to, you will find students that party. And you will find a large group that may have a drink or two , but are very serious students</p>
<p>When you talk about "values" that can be a very open topic</p>
<p>To me, "priorities" is more of what you are looking for in looking at a student body</p>
<p>You can have a dry student body who all wear skirts below the knees, don't believe in kissing in public, or hand holding, dislike gays, frown upon interracial dating, so look at the WHOLE feeling of a school, not just dry and appearing to by focused, or it can be a dry school that is open, friendly, serious and what you are interested in</p>
<p>Bob Jones University is dry, serious, claims their students are very focused, but I am gonna bet it is not what you mean</p>
<p>That could be, and that may be just fine with you, but it could be a very stagnant and intolerent environment</p>
<p>My daughter does not want to go to a school that is too greek centered, but she can handled the other regular college stuff</p>
<p>I agree with citygirlsmom, there will always be a few that will party and drink, even if they are serious students. The key is to find an environment where you won't be pressured to take part in that if you don't want to. Based on your factors of "intellectually stimulating, has lots of research opportunities..[and about] Prestigious also works, just for insurance." Here are a few that come to mind.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon
Harvey Mudd
University of Chicago
Pepperdine
Wesleyan
Brigham Young</p>
<p>First, thanks a lot for your replies. Though I don't mind the approach taken by BYU, I think I'm more looking for the schools that thesiren listed (a few of them are on my list already). I understand that alcohol will be an issue at any college. I just don't want to have to see it everyday when I'm trying to study, and Id love for there to be other focused students around that want to learn also. A school with a small/no greek life population would also be nice.</p>
<p>I do have to say, nobody mentioned any of the Ivies, Stanford, Hopkins, MIT/Caltech, etc. Do you think I should be looking there? My school guidance councilor has leaned me towards those schools, but I think thats more out of my secondary schools tradition than anything. Ah well, thanks again!</p>
<p>No one has really directed you to schools like HYPS, because although they have an intellectually stimulating environment, the students there know how to party hard.</p>
<p>It is more than a little late to be trying to find schools that fit your needs. At this point you may as well wait for the acceptances and then followup with any concerns needed to made a decision.</p>
<p>Kids at the Ivies party every weekend. Of all the top schools I know, Swarthmore, Chicago, and Haverford party the least and probably have the highest non-drinker/ drinker ratios. Chicago students tend to be very intense, so make sure that fits too. Haverford sounds like the best fit to me.</p>
<p>Doing a quick spot check from the link above, here's the few I found that categorized Volunteering as "Most Important" (there were very few of these):
Dartmouth
Davidson
Dickinson</p>
<p>Note that the majority of colleges categorize Volunteering as "Considered" or "Not Considered".........doesn't mean that those colleges don't somehow value volunteering types of people, just not as a call-out in the admissions process. I'd say though, that the colleges that do claim volunteering as very important or important are a good starting place to target more investigation. Some conundrums do exist....Dartmouth w/ rep as a winter party school w/ greek life? Perhaps, might be the diamond in the rough that suits your desires.</p>
<p>Certain schools are known to be very laid-back and accepting. Though partying goes on everywhere, to be sure, at these schools there is a marked lack of pressure & low to zero frat presence. Those schools include, among others:</p>
<p>Brown
Vassar
Wesleyan
Carleton
Grinnell
Skidmore
Macalester
Lawrence
Earlham
Beloit</p>
<p>PS I agree with Haverford & Swat. I'd also add the womens' colleges if you are female. Maybe Rice, too.</p>
<p>Although many of these colleges (Vassar, Brown, Wesleyan, Skidmore for starters) have plenty of "alternative" ways to get really messed up. Many of these schools replace frat binging with bong binging, I know, I have hung out at almost half those schools at one time or another. Vassar had to cancel its annual homo-hop (the biggest party of the year) because so many kids were ending up in the hospital for substance abuse. In actuality, these schools might be even be more intimidating than the frat schools.</p>
<p>I think Haverford, Swarthmore, and Chicago are the best bets by a long shot. One of my best friends from high school went to Haverford, and he complained about the lack of partying and the number of "good kids." That is rare.</p>
<p>You need to really think about what that means to you.</p>
<p>You also want to have fun at school, where kids dance, play Ulitmate, do things on weekends, go out and see concerts</p>
<p>And you will, in your life, deal with people who want to party- at work...the trick is to learn to deal with it, I am not saying you have to drink, but to politely decline, not judge those that have a cocktail, and not make it a huge issue</p>
<p>And, why are you still applying, aren't most places done accepting applications?</p>
<p>As a student at Carleton, I can vouch for SbMom's claim of the respect for other student's values at least at Carleton. Many of my friends choose not to use any sort of substances and we still manage to have a lot of fun on the weekends. There is alcohol and drugs here, just like at every other campus. But no one is judged for using/not using them. Carleton heavily publicizes all of its sub-free activities every weekend, so there are always options of things to do. If none of those are appealing, you can always climb the water tower or go into the Cities. I'm told Carleton has a decent physics department, but I wouldn't really know. We have a 3-2 engineering program with Washington U in STL. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Rice is a wet-campus and has its own bars. The students are academically intense, but there is no denying the fact that alcohol is present and very atainable there.</p>
<p>This is obviously a generalization because your question is very general as well, but you should probably stay away from the LACs as they usually attract more alternative types and not so much "good" type students. Definitely the case for the schools that I am familiar with...Bowdoin, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Reed, Grinnell.</p>
<p>It seems pretty clear to the rest of us which one the message means. Ohio Wesleyan (which is not in CT). Everyone is entitled to an opinion after all.</p>