<p>Any schools come to mind that seem free-spirited? Not in a drunken, high, crazy way but in a relaxed, easy-going way? I'm thinking Brown, most LACs....any particular LACs in the Midwest?</p>
<p>I'm looking for this mostly because I always felt that hs was so tense all of the time.....competition, drama, reputations.....hs is kinda dumpy haha. I just wanna go somewhere where the people are nice, friendly, "chill," and funny!! It's always great when people can make me laugh.</p>
<p>My impression of the midwestern LACs (Carleton, Oberlin, Grinnell, Macalester) is that although they are emphatically not preppy or sharp-elbowed, they have an unusually strong work ethic. “Relaxed” and “easy-going” are not adjectives that come to mind when thinking of the level of academic intensity. On the other hand, I think there’s less social posturing than elsewhere and the east coast’s tradition of ‘social complaining’ (where you are expected to periodically moan a bit about how hard you are working to be sociable) is not part of the culture.</p>
<p>If you want ‘laid back’ socially, you might do better checking out the west coast. People work hard at the top LACs there as well - but there is a premium placed on not showing the sweat stains.</p>
<p>^ academic intensity is good - I want serious, mature students. But, ones who can have good, CLEAN fun haha.</p>
<p>The students who seemed to have the most fun but were serious were from Swarthmore.</p>
<p>How about Beloit?</p>
<p>Maybe Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Middlebury and the Maine schools - Bates, Bowdin, Colby in the Northeast. And I agree about Oberlin, Carleton, Macalester being places worth researching as well. And out west Reed might be a great option.</p>
<p>^ Not drunken/high? ;)</p>
<p>Of the mentioned schools, I applied to Bates, Bowdoin, Macalester, Oberlin, and Beloit. I was accepted at Beloit…so I’m assuming it’d be a good fit?</p>
<p>My daughter went to a summer program where a few of the kids at the program were students at Beloit. My daughter’s impression was that students were a decent group. She also applied to Beloit, but ended up deciding on a bigger school.</p>
<p>I’d recommend Pomona! It’s similar to Swarthmore with strongly academic and focused students who are laid back and friendly.</p>
<p>Wash U and Rice felt the most this way to me of the top universities and have been extremely popular with my former TIPsters looking for colleges with the intellectual but fun “summer camp” type feel. Many of the LACs I’ve seen did as well (Goucher, Lewis & Clark, COA, UNCA, Rhodes, Agnes Scott, Hendrix, probably a few others I’m forgetting). </p>
<p>I must have missed something at Swat and Reed…friendly students, yes. Relaxed and stress-free, not so much, it seemed. The duck metaphor (serene on top and paddling furiously underneath) is extremely accurate for many top colleges.</p>
<p>Some places I have heard of that are liberal arts colleges with laid-back reputations:</p>
<p>New College of Florida - Florida’s public honors college. There are no grades; instead, teachers write narrative evaluations of each student. It’s a very small school - only 845 undergraduates. It’s kind of got a reputation as a free-spirited type school. It’s in Sarasota, which is nearby the beach. 56% of applicants are admitted, and yet the school has a good reputation and average SAT scores in the mid-600s for all sections.</p>
<p>The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA also has a reputation as a free-spirited school - instead of taking multiple classes, each semester you select a “program” during which you explore some theme or topic that’s important to you. It’s also well-known for environmental and sustainability education. It’s about 4500 students.</p>
<p>Better known colleges where students have a reputation of being free-spirited are Oberlin and Reed.</p>
<p>Definitely Evergreen and possibly University of Puget Sound.</p>
<p>Agree with Brown. Also agree with the midwest LACs, especially Carleton and Macalester. Also agree with west coast Pomona and Reed. Have a little trouble with Swarthmore fulfilling the “chill” requirement. Elsewhere on east coast have some trouble with your no “drama, reputations” requirement. Probably add Wesleyan and Williams to the mix.</p>
<p>I’m from Portland so I know a lot about Reed and know students there. They might be free-spirited in a way as most of the campus is very liberal. However, they are by no means laid back. When you are talking about relaxed, Reed wouldn’t be the place. I’ve heard it has a lowish retention rate for a school of it’s caliber, especially after sophomore year because students can’t keep up. They are also infamously bad for not graduating students in 4 years. Not to mention their severe drug problems. I’m talking meth and heroin, not just weed.</p>
<p>As for Evergreen, I would completely agree when people say they are laid back. You pretty much get out of Evergreen what you give in to it. It’s easy to get in to, so it attracts a lot of people. However, it is still rigorous if you want. Students their go on to medical school if they want! A lot of students smoke but it isn’t a necessity. They’re definitely hippies! My parents went there.</p>