<p>My sister refuses to look at schools that she deems "freak shows," like my school, Beloit. She wants to go to a school where people don't drink or smoke and she thinks that people at liberal arts schools don't shower, etc. I think she would like a liberal arts school, but she's conservative and interested in math/engineering/physics. Suggestions? She's not grungy but she isn't prim and proper either.</p>
<p>The school shouldn't be too selective. She has around a 3.7 GPA and she hasn't taken the ACT yet.</p>
<p>Unless she goes to a religious school, I don’t think she’ll be able to find a school where drinking is entirely absent from the social scene. </p>
<p>She might want to look into University of Tulsa. It’s a smaller school with very good engineering, and a more restrained party scene. Plus it’s in Oklahoma so it’s not exactly liberal lol. </p>
<p>Another school you might want to consider is Illinois Institute of Technology. You might want to pm xraymancs about the social and political scene there.</p>
<p>Other schools with engineering that she might like:
-University of Dayton (midsized Catholic university)
-Valpraiso University
-University of Evansville (more moderate politically)
-Kettering University
-Lawrence Tech
-Michigan Tech
-Missouri University of Science and Technology</p>
<p>Can’t you educate her? She seems a bit ignorant. While conservative colleges are rare. It isn’t hard to find people who don’t drink or smoke on any campus. Tell her to put her big girl pants on and learn how to pick and choose friends. As for the shower thing, is she really ready to go to college yet if she is so immature to stoop to such crass stereotyping of fellow students? Sounds like is either overprotected or young for her age.</p>
<p>Is this her main criteria? Does it trump academics? If she is interested in stellar academics, have her take a look at St. Olaf. No alcohol allowed on campus.</p>
<p>^^ True. If she insists on a smoke-free, alcohol-free campus, her choices are going to be pretty much limited to Christian colleges. There are a handful of them which have credible academics; Pepperdine comes to mind, although that’s in California. </p>
<p>But I agree with BrownParent; it would be better if she chose a school that’s not particularly boisterous, and then found like-minded friends.</p>
<p>I know St. Olaf is considered conservative but that’s probably only in relation to its very liberal neighbor, Carleton. It does have a great math program and it’s in the midwest. There’s still drinking and smoking as there is on almost every college campus but it might be tempered because of its Christian foundations. I think, if you can afford it, she would have a good chance there.</p>
<p>Gustavus. Hope. Albion. Midwest LACs with a more conservative bent. Although not powerhouses in physics, and probably no engineering.</p>
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<p>She might like Rose-Hulman, but she should visit before deciding. It is a pretty conservative schools and strong in STEM, but there is a contingent of young men there who are “hygiene challenged”. Not all, certainly, but some. But to be fair you can find the same at some liberal arts colleges – we visisted one midwestern LAC where I think they were having a contest to see what dorm could use the smallest amount of water (seriously, a water conservation contest). D2 noticed that quite a few people in the (crowded) cafeteria smelled funny. So I guess you can find people who don’t shower at more conservative AND more liberal schools.</p>
<p>Has she considered a women’s college? Mount Holyoke (not Smith or probably Bryn Mawr for her – strong in engineering, but I think the “freak factor” would get her there) – not midwest, and no engineering, but a strong liberal arts education. Then there is Sweet Briar… I think of them as “prim & proper” (my Ds were a little freaked by the pink, perfumed mailings). But no sense of them as a strong STEM school…</p>
<p>If she really wants to avoid drinking, she should go to BYU.</p>
<p>St. Olaf – my kids went to a school that feeds a lot of kids there. Some very hard partiers in the group (some of whom took it up when they got there). Their “religious foundations” don’t seem to be doing anything in that regard.</p>
<p>My sister is very ignorant and stubborn. All it took was her to hear that (my neighbor) in school Febreezed her clothes, students sat barefoot on the grass drinking wine, and that one of the sections of my dorm smells because people there don’t shower. She generalizes and I tell her not to but she doesn’t listen. In fact, she doesn’t listen to anything I say about people smoking/drinking at every college. She’s trying to shield herself from it but honestly in high school I was looking at schools like Wheaton and I’m glad I didn’t go to those places (and I don’t drink/smoke.) Nothing I say to her sticks.</p>
<p>Oh and she’s not quite going to college yet. She’s a rising junior.</p>
<p>I don’t believe there exists a conservative midwestern LAC, with engineering, where few students drink or smoke. Very few LACs anywhere have robust engineering programs; I don’t think any of them meet all your other criteria. Strictly speaking, engineering is not a “liberal art”. Swarthmore, Smith, and Trinity (Hartford) have integrated engineering into an otherwise standard LAC curriculum, but they are not in the Midwest and their students are not predominantly conservative/abstemious. </p>
<p>If you drop the engineering requirement, St. Olaf College might be the closest. It has a strong math program. You can look for small engineering/technical colleges like Rose Hulman, but there aren’t too many of them and they won’t necessarily be all that conservative. </p>
<p>As far as I know, there are no so-called Christian colleges in the midwest with solid engineering programs. Wheaton (Illinois) may be the most academically rigorous Christian college in the midwest. It does not have its own engineering program, but it does offer a 3-2 engineering program (which requires you to complete the engineering courses at some other school). I don’t know how good their math & physics programs are. </p>
<p>You may need to relax your criteria in order to get a balanced list of safety/match/reach schools. If she winds up at Sodom & Gomorrah College, she can request a substance-free dorm.</p>
<p>My aunt went to Carleton and she said the St Olaf kids were big drinkers compared to Carleton. But that was years ago so I am unsure what it is like now. I know where I live now, Baylor students are known to be huge on partying compared to a place like TAMU. So, being a religious school does not guarantee a lack of partying.</p>
<p>Honestly, she would probably like a larger universities where she can select dry houses for a dorm, or wellness houses, quiet houses, etc. At the smaller schools, it will be harder to find a separate group where drinking is not present. </p>
<p>I felt how your sister does. It makes me extremely uncomfortable when people are loud and drinking and such. In the beginning, I was really just looking at small schools, hoping to find a sedate environment. In the end, while it still gives me anxiety to be at a huge school and dealing with all that, I think my better bet is going to be a big school where I can seek out a housing community where the students there chose it to be away from the partying areas. I know at TAMU there are Living Learning Communities. U of MN has quiet houses and dry floors. I think most state universities likely have something like this.</p>
<p>^ But I also think that small schools are like that too. Beloit is predominately a wet campus but I found a core group of friends who do not partake in that. I live in a sub-free dorm there and I love it more than anything.</p>
<p>COMPLETELY disagree about St. Olaf. It’s full of liberal kids from my kids’ high school in a liberal city. The kids I know there are not huge partiers, but they are not uptight either and have been known to smoke/drink.</p>
<p>I think she should try Hillsdale or Calvin College, or Hope as previously suggested. But she would probably already know about those, right?</p>
<p>Can only imagine family dinners at your house…</p>