@arwarw. I will pay attention to your tip and look for sub-20 colleges which I would like. However, I still believe that I would only feel in the right school within one of the top 20 schools.
Some supposedly politically conservative schools have a reputation of being very “wet” (alcohol consumption), so political conservatism may not be the best guide for how people behave on a personal level.
Means that no safety can be satisfying to you? Be prepared to be shut out.
Having said that, you have significantly reduced the schools you might attend. Further, and I say this as a father of 3 Ds, who have attended schools within the top 20, you are statistically speaking placing yourself in an incredibly low yield situation. The first 10 schools on that list have admission rates in the single digits, the next 20, in the lower teens. Lest I dissuade you, which I am not, make sure you have appropriate backups and safeties. For every great admission story on CC to an elite school, there are 20 others with tales replete with profound disappointment, distinct regret, and utter surprise–and not the good kind.
“Your comment makes me think that, within the Ivy League, I would probably feel more comfortable within a school that has an active, though small, conservative minority (Princeton) than in one with a weak one (Brown).”
Right. But I agree with posters above that this kind of Ivy vs. Ivy analysis isn’t very useful beyond picking an ED school. Your time is better spent finding matches and safeties that meet your needs. These will be outside the top 20.
@Hanna. @boolaHI. @ucbalumnus. Thank all of you for your advice. I’m now going to start searching for safeties that meet my needs and are closer to my political views. Would you happen to know of any which are either in California or the Northeast and close to an important city?
Almost every school and high school senior is liberal these days so no matter where you go it probably won’t make a difference. There will be a conservative minority, but again that’s everywhere. I wouldn’t choose a school over political alignment.
Catholic schools are common in CA, but many are not that conservative. However, be sure to consider the distinction between political views and personal behavior.
Pepperdine is probably the best known conservative religious school in CA, but it is not Catholic.
Agree Pepperdine is the most noteworthy from a conservative basis–if you prefer, Nor CAL, then St. Mary’s in Moraga, is a really nice school catholic school run by the Christian Brothers. I can’t speak to how conservative it is, but I assume it will run the spectrum of liberal to conservative.
@ucbalumnus. I’ve looked at Pepperdine and in seems pretty interesting and a place I could happily attend. However, I’m worried about tuition and financial aid, as my family can’t afford to help out at all with paying for college. Do you happen to know if Pepperdine gives good financial aid?
St. Mary’s in northern California is absolutely NOT conservative… it is Catholic, but VERY liberal Catholic… it is very supportive of the LGBTQ community. In fact almost all the Catholic colleges and universities in the SF Bay Area are pretty affirming.
I’ve glanced through your other threads, many of which are on a similar theme. Many people have given you great advice, especially @MYOS1634 and @tk21769 last month on another thread about which colleges to consider applying to.
I think you are going about this kind of backwards, by looking at issues such as whether Stanford is accepting of conservative students, or who has the best German history dept. Your chances of getting into Stanford are miniscule (as are most everyone else’s), even with a parent who went to law school there. You should do yourself a favor and stop fixating on the top 20. As others have said elsewhere on CC, there are 37,000 valedictorians every year in the US, and 100,000+ who graduated either 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their class.
Now add to that the circumstance that your parents are unable to help you at all financially. This indicates that your search should be entirely focused on your best opportunities of getting into a college with lots of aid, and not how conservative each of the top 20 schools may or may not be. You need to accept that your choices are very limited, given your circumstances, and that you will have to apply very strategically in order to be successful.
IMO, your first step should be to take both the SAT and the ACT so you know how you compare to your competition. Take both tests because students sometimes do significantly better at one than the other. Next, you have to realistically examine the rigor of your curriculum. You are currently in an online school, and this may impact how your applications are received. Your citizenship is US, but your residency seems vague on your other threads, as to whether you will be applying from within the US, or from outside the US.
Once you have a set of reliable stats, post them and ask people for college suggestions. Learn to read the Common Data Sets of the colleges, and apply to the ones where you will have the best chances of getting what you need in order to attend. Check the Catholic Campus Ministry Association website to see if the campuses have Newman Centers. Visit as many campuses as you can. There may very well be a place for you out there, but you need to get busy, and you need to reel in your expectations.
Can a conservative even get into any ivy league school?
All jokes aside, I’d say Dartmouth and Princeton are the closest thing to the right wing. Ayy that rhymes
Btw I heard Georgetown was conservative…
@MidwestDad3. Thanks for the advice. I have took the PSAT in October and scored 217, and received a nomination to the NHRP. I took the SAT without any prep in January 2014 and scored 1980 (740 CR, 620 MATH, 620 Writing). I am currently living in a South American country, and the ACT isn’t available in the area where I live. I am currently trying to visit colleges in the Summer, but as my family can afford airfare and transportation, we’re trying to get an aunt to give us miles and some friends to drive me. I’ve applied to QuestBridge, a program that helps low-income students ensure they receive full financial aid at any of 35 great colleges. I believe you’re absolutely right and I will begin looking at lower-ranked colleges where I could fit in and receive substantial financial aid, whether merit or need-based.
Well, if you’re problem is sex, you’re going to have some difficulties finding a college roommate at just about any school, barring Christian colleges where it is banned. A single room would be your best bet, and I really do think you should look around at more colleges in the South. Finding your niche at any of the Ivy League schools would probably be pretty difficult.
@MidwestDad3. I recently learned that two students from my school were accepted to top colleges: one to Northwestern and one to UPenn. Below are their stats.
The student who was accepted to UPENN has a 3.83 GPA and SAT scores 670 reading, 620
math
- This student trained intensively in ballet from a very young age at very
prestigious academies both in the US and abroad
-no AP courses
The student who was accepted into Northwestern has a 4.0 GPA and SAT scores 720
Reading, 730 Math
- This student has volunteered extensively- hospitals, schools, feeding programs-
also lived outside the US for a period of time
-1 AP course, higher level maths and sciences (calculus, physics)
In comparison to these students, I will end up having taken around 10 AP Courses, with a GPA around 3.9, and total SAT score above 2100. However, I have been unable to participate in any extracurriculars except some volunteering.
Northwestern accepted 31% of applicants in 2005. This year they accepted only 13%.
Getting into the top schools is very, very difficult. While it is fine to include reach schools, remember that 87% of NU applicants did not get in this year. Make sure you include an adequate number of financial and academic safeties.
@MidwestDad3. Thanks for your advice. I do understand it, and I will try to follow it.
[quote]
I don’t want to go to a sub-20 college, let alone a sub-50 one
[/quote ]
If we ask you whether you want to attend a top 5% college (better than 95% colleges out there), would that meet with your approval?
Applying only to colleges with 30% admission rates is a recipe for disaster. Kids who focus on reaches only and throw in one safety as an afterthought have one thing in common - they end up either at their safety or in community college. Just read the many threads on this very topic, only this year. You WILL attend a good college, but you need to make a good list. This is especially important since you need financial aid.
Another issue is that most “conservative” schools are actually fiscally conservative, not socially conservative, except for religious colleges; of those, only Notre Dame is socially conservative but it’s not a Questbridge partner college. You may be better off at moderate colleges that have FCA, a strong Newman club, and “healthy living” dorms, rather than limiting yourself in choosing colleges based on the political beliefs of most students.
Finding dream schools is easy. Anyone can. It takes no special work. The real work is finding matches that are strong academically and will give you sufficient financial aid, as well as real safeties that are financial safeties without being unchallenging academically ( public universities honors colleges will be best, as well as a few LACs.)
Questbridge matches work better if out of your 8 matches you don’t pick 8 “brand names” that will impress everyone at school, but rather choose carefully the best “fits” for yourself, including at least 3 LACs.
@MYOS1634. Thanks for the advice, it’s really useful. I would like to attend the best college possible, as I’d like to seriously be academically challenged. By the way, ND IS a QuestBridge partner school. I will listen to your advice, and will thoroughly research all QB schools in order to see which ones would be best for me, and also research other safeties out of QB in case I fail to get accepted.
Thanks for the correction - I missed it on the list of 35 institutions that work with Questbridge (I thought I remembered it was, but I didn’t trust my memory, checked, didn’t see it… and made a mistake)! That’s great news then, and you have a number 1 for your Match list. 
7 more to go.
I applaud you for wanting to attend the best college possible, and I hope that’s what you’ll be able to do!
And by crafting a reasonable list, then adding all the reaches you want, with the 8 Questbridge matches, your odds of getting a happy outcomes are pretty good.