<p>Also, how much do you need a peer group of people like you? Some students will be fine in the 5% minority but others will want more people "like me." For example, some conservatives would avoid a liberal school but others will relish the challenge of testing their ideas against different views.</p>
<p>One important thing: <strong>judge the culture for yourself.</strong> Do not accept others' assessments of the culture for you. My D was advised against some schools that actually wound up appealing to her very much and having schools recommended that were wrong for her. Her well-meaning counselor had my D pegged as a certain "type." In fact, though my D is pretty close to the type, her friends are quite diverse. </p>
<p>The school she ultimately chose felt very comfortable to her even though her "type" was not the majority type in the school, because the <em>spread</em> of types did mirror her current peer group pretty well. </p>
<p>The culture of a school is one level of analysis-- the <em>tolerance for other culture</em> is another. You can go to a drinking/party school with tolerance for non-drinkers and lots of other social options-- or you can go to a drinking school with nothing else to do and little tolerance. We are talking about 17 year old kids who will grow and evolve over time. Some thought should also be given to the possibilities for growth and change within the school's culture. In 4 years, you may just want to try other things.</p>