<p>Okay, well, maybe I'm not really a <em>nerd</em>, but I'm definitely looking for a school that focuses on learning. Not necessarily grades, or research - just learning, and discussion. I went to see Duke recently, and though the academic program is obviously very strong, I didn't really like the huge obsession with basketball and the fact that 40% of the female students are in sororities. I prize academics above everything - facilities, extracurriculars, prestige, etc. Are there any great schools out there with fabulous academics and academic opportunities where the kids are like me and care primarily about learning?</p>
<p>Reed, Swarthmore, University of Chicago.</p>
<p>Yeah, the schools listed above sound right for you. Maybe Caltech and MIT, if you're a big science person?</p>
<p>I'll second UofC..that's for damn sure.
Maybe MIT, Caltech?
Edit: Wow..nice one ^^. The past minute I was munching on my Hostess Cupcake and forget to send it.</p>
<p>You should also look at Rice.</p>
<p>Yale. Go to Yale. It's a school for nerds who don't like b-ball.</p>
<p>Don't be a prestige freak.</p>
<p>Why the HELL do you want to be a prestige freak?</p>
<p>What about Carleton? That's a great school with academically focused students.</p>
<p>Both my schools have a learning focus, which was a must for a geek like me: Florida Institute of Technology and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.</p>
<p>RPI, William and Mary, Northwestern</p>
<p>The schools that have been suggested are good ones. But perhaps you should not judge how much a student body cares about learning by whether it has a top basketball team or what percentage of its students are in Greek houses.</p>
<p>I mean, did you know that 35% of male MIT undergrads live in fraternities (which doesn't even include all the fraternity-affiliated freshmen)? And yet, people would (correctly) laugh in the face of anyone who claimed that this made MIT not a geek school.</p>
<p>lafayette college perhaps</p>
<p>If you are female, and your stats are in the range, Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>oberlin might be a good fit</p>
<p>I'll again go for Swarthmore, Reed, UChicago, and St. John's, which all place a distinct focus on academics.</p>
<p>There are a number of other "learn for the sake of learning" schools of varying degrees of competitive admission...</p>
<p>-- Carleton (already mentioned)
-- Oberlin
-- Whitman
-- Lewis and Clark (don't know much about it, but a verrry intellectual friend at Chicago almost went there)
-- Bryn Mawr
-- Smith
-- Mt. Holyoke
-- Colorado College
-- Beloit
-- Hampshire
-- Grinnell
-- Bard
-- Bennington</p>
<p>My impression is that LAC's tend to offer more "learning for the sake of learning" because students are usually drawn to an LAC not because of its name, but rather because of the promised quality of education.</p>
<p>Look at St. John's College.</p>
<p>I agree with the LACs- I definitely loved the Tri-Co (Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford- even though I never applied to Hav :D) because of the famous passion for learning. And, like it was said- they do have less name recognition, so students are more likely to be motivated to attend for other reasons.</p>
<p>Yeah, definitely hit up the LACs.</p>
<p>I'd say Williams College, Haverford College, Swarthmore, William & Mary, Kenyon College are some of the best for what you'd want. U of Chicago could be a little pretentious academically, however academically-oriented it may be.</p>
<p>What does "U of Chicago could be a little pretentious academically" mean? That's a fairly vague sentiment. Pretentious in the sense that it prides itself upon its academic rigor?</p>