<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm considering attending Princeton because of their Woodrow Wilson International Relations program, but I am fiercely liberal and I worry that will conflict with a majority of the student body :(.</p>
<p>Would I be better off doing International Relations at Yale, Harvard, Georgetown, or UPenn?</p>
<p>You won’t have any problems.</p>
<p>Worry about getting into the school first.</p>
<p>in what sense fiercely liberal?</p>
<p>If your confident in your beliefs then why would it be a problem? You might be in a minority but that shouldn’t make or brake where you would like to go.</p>
<p>I know nothing special about WW school…just speculating</p>
<p>Much of the North East, specifically the tri-state area, at least from my experiences, is “fiercely liberal” and would contrast strongly with many other areas of the country. Having strong conservative views and living on Long Island, I find extraordinary instances of teacher-propagated bias in high school – of course, I am merely intrigued by the concept and will always do my best to represent my own “minority.” Universities located around here should be at least moderately-to-strongly liberal, but as presenteby a prevous poster, one with fierce beliefs should have no problem defending them – to that end, I greatly look forward to the opportunity to learn more about others and myself no mater what college I end up enrolled in.</p>
<p>[Majority</a> of University community states support for Obama, according to poll - The Daily Princetonian](<a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2008/11/04/21969/]Majority”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2008/11/04/21969/)</p>
<p>“Roughly 79 percent of University undergraduates preferred Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president, according to a poll recently conducted by Nassau Research”</p>
<p>“Moreover, 58.6 percent [of students] affiliated themselves with the Democratic Party, 14.9 percent affiliated themselves with the Republican Party, and 22.9 percent identified as independents.”</p>
<p>It seems that any way you slice it, you won’t be coming into conflict with at least three-fifths of the student body.</p>
<p>May I posit that your not wanting to go into a challenging situation and instead settle into a scenario where everyone shares your beliefs probably belies a less than stellar academic/scholarly hunger – which bodes poorly for your admission into very selective schools.</p>
<p>This, plus a predilection to believe general blanket descriptions for a community as organic and complex as Princeton and others, is a bad sign.</p>
<p>Given your extremely high academic metrics, you really really need to marry that with a willingness to have your ideas confronted – or else you’ll just remain where you are because you’re content that your world view is correct.</p>
<p>There is a thread about liberal college students on college life forum. You might want to read it.</p>
<p>For “liberal” in the serious, actively practicing sense (as opposed to cocktail conversation sense), Swarthmore probably leads the pack among elite Northeastern schools (and you can attend the Kennedy School or whatever for your subsequent MPP). Princeton is socially alot preppier than say Yale or Harvard, and probably a bit more conservative (although there are of course liberal stand-outs on the faculty, e.g. Paul Krugman).</p>
<p>Doesn’t anybody else see the irony in a future International Relations major, who will deal all the time with conflicting viewpoints small and large, who is afraid of a few people whose political ideology differences are only marginally different from her own?</p>
<p>No one has said this to the OP so I will. You should not select a university based on how liberal posters on CC claim that the university is. </p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, and probably Georgetown are more liberal than most universities. You should probably avoid Baylor, Liberty University, and Oral Roberts University if you want to be with liberal minded students. You can find like minded liberal students at any of the universities that you have listed.</p>
<p>I suggest that you do your own work and read the Princeton student newspaper <a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/[/url]”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/</a> and search for articles on topics that concern you. For example, you can read that Princeton students voted to support gay marriage in New Jersey. Most of the Princeton faculty supported President Obama. However, college is meant to be a time of growth and education-not a time to listen only to like minded students. </p>
<p>If you are admitted to Princeton I suggest that you attend lectures presented by Professor Robert P. George. The NYT described Professor George as America’s “most influential conservative Christian thinker.” <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/magazine/20george-t.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/magazine/20george-t.html</a> The Princeton way is to challenge your previous beliefs by listening to intelligent people who hold opinions different from your own. Professor George and liberal Professor Cornel West taught a freshman seminar together. Do not make the mistake grouping all conservatives with Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. I used to listen to Yalie William F. Buckley not because I agreed with him but because he was intelligent and and held views different from my own views.</p>
<p>Princeton has strength in multiple language departments and is affiliated with the Princeton in Asia Program. [Princeton</a> in Asia](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/~pia/]Princeton”>Princeton in Asia) For an undergraduate public affairs education the Woodrow Wilson School is generally among the highest rated in the country. While Harvard has many great related undergraduate majors the Kennedy School is for graduate studies. Admission to the WWS is competitive but most students that apply are accepted. Your language skills and international experience would be a plus for acceptance to the WWS. </p>
<p>Rather than to find a liberal university to study IR you should want to matriculate at a university that offers international exposure through international students and study abroad opportunities. The university should offer good language, economics, culture, sociology and public policy courses.</p>
<p>Good luck but it is time to challenge yourself and leave your comfort zone.</p>
<p>Oh come on, I’m a left libertarian and I would happily go to Brigham Young University for the education it’d give me.</p>
<p>^ I think you are overestimating the quality of education offered by BYU.</p>
<p>Ha, I was just trying to make a point; replace BYU with Bob Jones and the likes…(okay I stretched it too much, BYU was the first thing to come to my mind 
)</p>
<p>The big point is that OP is considering turning down Princeton for her political leanings overlooking the quality of education that a place like Princeton provides. I certainly don’t think that the fear of living among people having very different political affiliations should be reason enough to turn down a place of Princeton’s caliber.</p>
<p>I was not disparaging BYU or any other university. Many high school students want to feel that they can find and be friends with similar students. Athletes want to know that they will “fit” with the team. Last spring an admitted student who was a self described nerd worried if there were nerds he could be friends with at Princeton. My message has generally been that Princeton is a diverse university where most students can find like minded students but for them to mature they should take advantage of the diversity of the student body.</p>
<p>I hate fiercely liberal people - 9 times out of 10 they’re just fiercely moronic. Make sure you actually understand the economic implications of many of these liberal ideas before trying to shove them down our throats and villifying those who disagree with you.</p>
<p>Same goes for fiercely republican, but not quite as much. Republicans tend to look at the economics of a policy a lot more than liberals when making decisions.</p>
<p>Ummmm right. This dude is ready to enter our nation’s hallways of higher education! Watch out, world! Randombetch is on his way!</p>
<p>Ooookkaaayyyy? Yeah, better watch out, or else I’ma pimp slap yo momma and then make T26E4 get sarcastic on yo ass.</p>
<p>i would say princeton and harvard are more conservative but yale is more liberal…</p>
<p>
I don’t like glen beck, russ limbaugh, sarah palin, and most tea party protesters. in fact, i hate them. these morons put the people on the other side of politics and put them under cross hairs. what if russ limbaugh or sarah palin were under cross hairs and one left wing lunatic shot them ?? i just hate these people’s languages of hatred. it is like poison that spoils the weakling’s mind and push them over the threshold. i see more right wing lunatics than the opposite who are much more likely to commit random violent acts. sarah palin should be politically buried for the arizona incident.</p>