<p>I've just been accepted to Wooster with a generous merit scholarship but get the feeling (from all that I've read) that it might be more preppy/conservative/athletic than I'd like. I'm very liberal and want to attend a college with an exciting intellectual environment. Does Wooster have it?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Hey, I also got accepted EA. I have never gotten the sense that COW was preppy or conservative; although, I’ve been told that it has its share of prep school kids from the northeast. I would have thought Denison was much more conservative/preppy. What other schools are you considering? I just got a great financial aid package from Knox. Wooster is in my top three choices. To me, Wooster always seemed much more mainstream then anything. I would prefer a more artsy and liberal environment myself coming from Georgia.</p>
<p>Edit- I just saw some of your other options. I’m also considering Earlham and it’s very hippy and liberal. It’s also quaker and very open minded. Although, I wonder for my personal taste it may be too hippy. I really like Beloit too (although I didn’t apply) and it’s a great choice as well. It really depends on each schools fa package for me. I really liked Allegheny which is similar to COW, but they gave me the worse package yet.</p>
<p>Thanks for replying! Hmm…mainstream…I tend to veer off the beaten path.</p>
<p>I had a friend goes to Earlham, and it IS very hippie! I heard they call profs with first names!</p>
<p>In visiting Wooster, I actually found that Wooster kids were fairly individual as opposed to “preppy and conservative.” Although certainly Wooster was not as “hippie” as the likes of say, Earlham or Hampshire, as someone who is looking for a more “artsy” atmosphere in my undergrad experience, I thought Wooster would suit me just fine, as far as my tastes were concerned.</p>
<p>Also, I noticed that one of you mentioned Allegheny; by no means do I intend to slander it, but in relation to the topic of this thread, if you’re looking for a school outside the athletic/preppy niche, Allegheny is not it. I visited Allegheny and found that the majority of people visiting and leading us around on one of their Junior Visit Days were decked head to toe in sports gear and team sweatshirts. Quite unlike my experience with Wooster, my tour guide highlighted the gymnasium and newly renovated fitness center as opposed to the hugely neglected arts center we stumbled across later. Also, we were told that over 25% of the student body was invested in Greek life and that it was the center of the school’s social scene, something I’m personally not looking for in a college.</p>
<p>Again, I certainly concede that Allegheny’s a great school if you’re looking for a more typical college experience socially, and its academics were more than noteworthy, but I don’t think its student body can be equated to Wooster’s, which I thought was more quirky and intellectual!</p>
<p>Sorry if it seems like I’m bashing Allegheny, but since I saw both Wooster and Allegheny in the same weekend, I thought that maybe it’d help if I shared the contrasts I found!</p>
<p>My child considered Beloit, Earlham, Hiram, Oberlin and Wooster. He chose Wooster, feeling it had the best combination of “collegey” experiences (e.g., sports, “traditions”), academic challenges, and individual guidance. And as a liberal lefty, he did <em>not</em> want to go somewhere where he would not have his political views challenged. </p>
<p>Wooster is certainly more liberal than Hiram (which he didn’t like at all), and less liberal than Earlham or Oberlin (which he did like but chose not attend). It’s probably similar in political outlook to Beloit. His experience is that there are a fairly wide variety of students at Wooster, and that though conservative students can be hard to find there, they are still present and they do offer engaging political points of view. </p>
<p>For what it’s worth, he refers to some of his profs by their first names, others in the more traditional “professor x” manner. It seems to depend on his relationship with his profs themselves.</p>
<p>I know this is going back a few years (in some of the previous posts) but our child has been looking at colleges - Wooster being one of them. Our concern is that so many of the colleges have a very pro left wing slant. We’re really interested in our daughter getting an education so that she will have the tools and skills to get a head in the world. We expect a rowdy frat house here & there but saving spotted owls, kum bay ya parties, pro-homosexual rallies, global warming, and how to blame are not on the list of what it takes to get a head in the world. </p>
<p>Any thoughts or experiences on which colleges are conservative vs liberal? Maybe some with professors that have real world business experience?</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>As for conservative, frat, sorority and traditional colleges, stay away from Hiram, Earlham and Wooster. Where in the country does she want to go?</p>
<p>I would suggest looking at Hillsdale, in Michigan. Very conservative and well respected.</p>