<p>S1 is interested in attending a socially and politically conservative college that is not affiliated with any particular religion. Conservatism doesn't need to be extreme, some liberal thoughts, ideas, and challenges should be part of a college experience. Anything right of center would be fine - just so he is not constantly distracted by the liberalism that permeates most college campuses and faculty.</p>
<p>Needs:</p>
<p>Engineering - At least Top 75 overall engineering programs (could be a smaller school w/ great engineering rep), but not engineering exclusive school.</p>
<p>Warmer weather preferred.</p>
<p>Big time sports preferred.</p>
<p>At least 5k students preferred.</p>
<p>Any suggestions? I really have all the data I need other than the conservative environment piece. Any thoughts on that would be welcome as would "best fits" among this specific group of criteria.</p>
<p>S has 31 ACT and a 3.8/4.3 GPA w/uw with a moderate level of ECs. Not a real strong writer so essays, where required, may be underwhelming.</p>
<p>Right now, I think Southern Cal, Virginia Tech, NC State, Cal Poly SLO, and Vanderbilt may be good fits for these set of criteria but I don't know much about their social/political climates.</p>
<p>Notre Dame and Villanova may also be good fits if religious affiliation is OK (assuming ND is still Catholic after the Pres. Obama fiasco).</p>
<p>Most primarily engineering schools will be right-of-center (e.g. Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech). The larger state schools with many disciplines (Michigan, UT-Austin, Berkeley, etc.) tend to be left-of-center.</p>
<p>His ACT and GPA make him a good fit for Georgia Tech.</p>
<p>Just saw your other comment about GT’s location and male/female ratio - though I think you’re wrong concerning that ratio, if your son doesn’t want a big city, UIUC is another option but more left leaning. TAMU is probably a good fit for location and political leanings. Anyone from Purdue want to comment?</p>
<p>SLO sounds like a good match but it doesn’t have a huge sports scene I don’t think.</p>
<p>You should look into USC. </p>
<p>Engineering -check</p>
<p>Warmer weather preferred. -<em>check</em></p>
<p>Big time sports preferred. -<em>check</em></p>
<p>At least 5k students preferred. -check</p>
<p>Conservative -sort of check</p>
<p>It might only be considered conservative speaking in relative terms, since most colleges are extremely liberal. But I’m sure it’s much better than, say, UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>Most engineering schools and there professors are conservative by nature. Its just the way it is. You will be very hard to find a liberal working as a engineer in industry, im yet to find one. The reason most engineers tend to have the entrepreneurial spirt and tend to be capitalists.</p>
<p>Hi. Now you’ve found one. Most of the engineers that I know in industry are liberal, actually.</p>
<p>Anyway, to the OP, yes, Vanderbilt is a good choice for you. Texas A&M is a <em>very</em> good choice for you; fits all your criteria swimmingly. Also look into Rice if you are flexible on the school size and sports criteria - my boyfriend went there for grad school, and was put off by how conservative the people around him seemed to be (which suits your purposes just fine :)).</p>
<p>Georgia Tech is a great school, and fits most of your criteria, but I’m less convinced than some of the people here that it’s actually a conservative school.</p>
<p>Conservative in both senses, really. But again, doesn’t need to be uber-conservative, just prefer not liberal leaning. Most of the info so far indicates that as long as the school has a good engineering program and is in the south, chances are that it will fit the bill. Just need to avoid maybe smaller LACs with good engineering programs like Bucknell (maybe?.)</p>
<p>TAMU does seem to be the right fit with the criteria I listed. I shy away from that one though because it just seems a little too “Texas” for an out of stater. Great school, great traditions - I just don’t think an introverted out-of -stater would ever be able to enjoy and take advantage of all that school has to offer.</p>
<p>Texas A&M is like a cult (and most Aggies I know readily admit this). The atmosphere is specifically designed to suck in introverted teenagers and exhale indoctrinated young adults that base every decision in life on an Aggie tradition.</p>
<p>You have some great options here. Depending upon how you define ‘warm weather’ and how you define ‘big sports’, you might consider U of MD and Hopkins.</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO was the first school that came to my mind, mostly cause I live pretty close to it. But its pretty well known for its engineering especially in CA. It’s around 17,000 enrollment, and also pretty conservative. Plus it’s right by the beach and has some pretty awsome weather. Not real big in sports though</p>
<p>Oregon State might be worth checking out. Big in sports, top 75 I think, it snows a couple times a year I think.</p>
<p>Hopkins conservative? Nah. Plenty of liberal leaning students here. We do have an ROTC on campus, though. One thing I have to say…everyone’s opinion is respected. No ideas are rammed down your throat. By the way, Nancy Pelosi is our speaker at graduation.</p>
<p>What is your deal and why do you hate Texas A&M so much? Any mention in any thread of Texas A&M results in you going off on some rant about how much you despise Texas A&M. We’ve heard your undoubtedly biased opinion before, get on with your life and push all of your jealousy aside.</p>
<p>For engineering I’d say don’t be so concerned about whether the school in general is left or right leaning. Most of his courses will be engineering, math, physics, science, and they tend to be pretty objective courses without a lot of political posturing by professors. The posturing tends to be more in the social sciences and other types of courses. I’m generalizing but it’s what I think he’ll find. Of course, many of the students will be liberals but I’m sure your S could handle that and if anything it might reinforce his outlook.</p>
<p>Are you in-state for California? If not, the privates can sometimes be a better deal than the state schools if your S gets merit aid.</p>
<p>The political leaning of the school affects more than just classes. At some schools, there’s an outright attack on religious students and a limitation of free speech with regards to social issues. </p>
<p>I understand where the OP is coming from - if you’re very conservative and don’t want to hide your opinions, you need to choose a campus carefully so that you’re not ostracized out of a social life. A student car with a “W” sticker would probably be egged (or worse) daily at Berkeley.</p>
<p>For whoever mentioned U of MD, that’s a very liberal school right outside of DC. In fact, they just voted to remove invocation from the graduation ceremonies and to show porn on campus, all in one week.</p>