<p>How conservative are Dickinson, Beloit, and Rhodes? How active are the LGBT groups? How welcome and prevalent are alternative lifestyles?</p>
<p>Dickinson and Rhodes are both more conservative and preppy than Beloit. The sense I get from both schools are that students are very career-focused and rather more homogeneous in terms of dress, thought etc. If I was gay, I would not choose either school as I feel there's an emphasis on uniformity at both schools and perhaps a lack of tolerance if you are outside the established norm. (no flames, please, I know there are some people at both schools who don't fit this description, I'm just talking in generalities about my sense of both schools). </p>
<p>Beloit students tend to be more individualistic and mixed. You see a variety of dress styles there and can find everyone from midwestern Christian conservatives to goths on campus. Most people are just pretty relaxed and easy going. Overall, however, the student body probably leans left, although it is not a particularly politically focused school. Gays are definitely accepted at Beloit, although being a small school in a small city I'm not sure how huge a gay scene there is. Beloit has a very active live journal community so you might want to do an interest search for Beloit College at livejournal.com and post your questions there. The people who post there are pretty honest about life at Beloit, both the pluses and minuses. If you like Beloit, you might also check out Earlham College (very similar to Beloit in terms of admissions but even more welcoming to LGBT students), Oberlin, Grinnell, Carleton, Goucher, Skidmore.</p>
<p>In sum, I think a conservative who wants to be surrounded by others pretty much like him/her would probably prefer Dickinson or Rhodes. Someone looking for an open-minded school where differences are not just tolerated but accepted would probably prefer Beloit.</p>
<p>I don't know much at all about Rhodes, but I have the same opinions about Beloit and Dickinson. I looked at Dickinson, but found it too conservative for my tastes, and I've had a few friends who seriously considered Beloit, and loved it's liberal accepting feel (but eventually turned it down because of it's middle of nowhere Wisconsin feel).</p>
<p>As GLBT (I'm assuming) I'd definitely say that Beloit would feel the most comfortable.</p>
<p>Yes, Beloit's location is its biggest drawback. Of course, Carlisle PA where Dickinson is located is no great shakes either. :)</p>