<p>I'm really interested in Davidson, but I am concerned at how conservative the environment might be seeing as it is in the South? My main concern is a strong presence of conservatism on social issues, I just don't think I would be comfortable in an environment like that. I know that these days, most young people are generally quite liberal on social issues. I'm not a radical liberal and actually have quite conservative views on some things, but just want to gauge the general feeling of the campus because I'm international and won't be able to visit</p>
<p>THANKS!</p>
<p>I think you have been feed some silly stuff.
first, if you can not get past your own stereotyping of the south, maybe you need to head to nyc. sure most people in nyc are not open minded hipsters but, you will find a lot of people who hate on the south and have never been there so it should all be good!</p>
<p>If you feel comfortable making such sweeping generalizations about the south you should definetly do all of us country bumpkins a favor and stay in the big city!</p>
<p>North Carolina isn’t even a particularly conservative state anymore; it’s a swing state. On top of that, Davidson is located in one of the most liberal counties in the state of North Carolina. As for the university itself, Davidson College has a reputation as being a little more conservative than most universities. But, since most colleges are liberal anyway, Davidson has probably just as many liberals as conservatives. </p>
<p>You say in your post that you are “quite conservative” on some issues. Based on that, you might actually be more conservative than the surrounding area. Go figure.</p>
<p>The major southern LACs:
[ul][<em>]Davidson leans left, with a hefty moderate contingent for balance. Rhodes is pretty similar. Conservative students are a minority at both.
[</em>]Sewanee and Washington & Lee lean right of center and have a lot more conservative students, but you’ll find a fair number of liberal students at both.
[li]Furman is very moderate, with a balanced mix of conservative, moderate, and liberal students.[/ul][/li]Among less selective schools, Hendrix is quite liberal (but a boring location), as is the New College of Florida. Warren Wilson is almost rabidly liberal and very hippie-ish. Most of the other southern LACs range from moderate to conservative (Millsaps, BSC, Samford, Presby, Wofford, etc.).</p>
<p>Many people find Davidson to be very similar to Bowdoin and Haverford, except Davidson has a D1 athletic component. If you’re worried about the atmosphere at Davidson, those may be colleges to consider.</p>
<p>@BigDaddy and Zobrowar: Guys, chill! This is an international student writing from abroad. You’d be so lucky as to be able to make “sweeping generalisations” about two or three regions in China, in Germany, or in Brazil… that is, to know enough salient facts about different regions and compare them in terms that make sense to people who live there.
Generally speaking, Davidson appears to Americans who plan to attend liberal arts colleges, as less liberal than most. And since, from abroad, the permanent locations for reporters are New York, DC, or LA, you’d see how foreign journalists may portray the South as overall more conservative than those areas.
@SummerAus, BlueUkiyo is right: North Carolina isn’t particularly conservative compared to the other southern States, and that area of North Carolina especially. However you will find plenty of people for whom religion/God is important, and derive values from that, if that’s what you mean. It’s not to be feared though, especially not as a college student. If you’re interested in Davidson, ask to chat with a few current foreign student from your global region so that you have an insider’s perspective. You should post in the “Davidson” thread, too. 
If you’ve been admitted, what are your choices beside Davidson? And finally, you wrote about what makes you potentially uncomfortable but why did you choose Davidson (how do you imagine it to be)?</p>
<p>I’m just trying to help the young man. Davidson may not be ultra conservative, but it sure isn’t anywhere close to liberal.</p>
<p>@ MYOS1634 thank you! I don’t have a problem with a ‘moderate’ environment, I prefer that to an extremely liberal environment actually because I want to study international relations/political science and believe I would greatly benefit from having a diverse mix of political views in the classroom. I am actually a Christian, but not a conservative christian at all, I would probably describe my views as moderate overall but mostly liberal socially. It is hard for me to deduce how my views would be classified in relation to most Americans or most students at Davidson because I have grown up in an overwhelmingly liberal environment. I am interested in Davidson because its supposed to be really strong in international relations, is one of the few LACS that has no loan financial aid (finances are an issue for me, and I do qualify for this because I am an american citizen), has better weather than most LACS of that calibre (I live in Australia and literally cannot bear the cold) and I would actually enjoy a more moderate atmosphere than I’m used to rather than somewhere radically liberal like Grinnell</p>
<p>@bigdaddy88 I’m a girl</p>
<p>SummerAus - Davidson is a great school that is located in a town that embraces the students and the college. Davidson was one of the first colleges to stop serving Chik-fil-a at their campus last year, so they definitely aren’t ultra conservative. I believe there is a healthy mix of ideology and a tolerant and accepting student body.</p>
<p>What sweeping generalizations did she make, besides the fact that the South is more conservative (isn’t it)?</p>
<p>You might find that your American peers, even at supposedly liberal schools, are much more conservative than many Australian peers in terms of economic and social issues. </p>
<p>I once drove to UC Davis with a guy who was studying abroad at UCLA from University of Amsterdam. He remarked that he was relatively surprised that even at UCLA, a moderately liberal school in a liberal state, students were much more conservative than those back home.</p>