I am looking for a PREPPY, academically rigorous college, with a strong Political Science program. I am quite conservative, and I know Bates has a reputation for being really Liberal, but I’m fine with that as long as they respect me. Would the student body at Bates be intolerant of conservatism?
Hey. I’m a senior who will probably be attending Bates this fall. I don’t know if you’re writing this as a junior looking at colleges to apply to or a senior deciding if you should attend, but in general, the NESCACs (because they’re liberal arts colleges) are pretty liberal. While some are more liberal than others (cough Wesleyan cough), I don’t know how tolerant students would be towards conservatism. I’m more libertarian than anything else, so maybe we could team up against any liberal barrages? Having said that, from what I’ve gathered Bates is the least preppy of any of the 3 Maine NESCACs and possibly the least preppy of the entire conference, although I don’t know enough about each school to make that statement. The stereotypes I’ve come across of Bates students are that they are hippies (liberal) or uber wealthy kids from New England (preppy but still liberal). If you want preppy, I think Colby would be better.
@tehspacetv
Thanks for the info. Do you think Trinity would fit me better? I’ve heard it is ultra-preppy, and the most conservative of the NESAC schools . I-'m -also taking a hard look at Gettysburg.
(I respect Libertarians a LOT more than Liberals)
I honestly know nothing about Trinity or Gettysburg in terms of which way the student body leans politically. Because I know I’m not as liberal as most students, I stayed away from colleges with specifically strong liberal reputations like Reed, Wesleyan, Swarthmore, etc. I don’t think being a conservative at Bates would be an issue. Although I can’t say for sure since I haven’t been in the environment, as long as you would be prepared to debate contentious issues with the majority of people in the class holding a different viewpoint, you should be fine. I don’t think anyone would hold it against you outside of the classroom (again, not sure, just hypothesizing), but if you don’t want to take the risk you should definitely choose more conservative schools. Although I would argue being able to defend your positions against the majority would be the best real world prep possible.
From my experience thus far, people here lean mostly liberal or libertarian. No one would look down on you for being conservative, but it might be harder to find others who share similar views. Being a NESCAC, there’s definitely a preppy element here but generally it’s the hipster/outdoorsy style that dominates. Based on your preferences, I think Trinity would be a great fit for you since it’s the most conservative and preppy out of all the whole NESCAC. Hamilton is another good option, as well as Gettysburg as you mentioned.