<p>Purely for curiosities sake. Any thoughts for academically-rigorous LACs with a liberal, down-to-earth student body? "Down-to-earth" could probably use some defining: I mean interested in world events and interested in doing something with their life that they believe in, but not thinking they're going to single-handedly save the world or something like that. Engaged in their studies, but not overly pretentious. Think outside the box. Not too many hipsters, or on the other hand overtly preppies. Aware of their privilege, but not trying to act like it doesn't exist... Have actually worked a crappy job for a few summers of their lives. Maybe what I want is a liberal student body that gives off a middle-class yet political feel. Hmm... is this unrealistic for private colleges?</p>
<p>I think you just described Carleton College perfectly!!This school fits all your criteria.</p>
<p>It is academically rigorous, with students fitting your criteria for liberal and down to earth.</p>
<p>Also this school is about as unpretentious as you can get. I would highly reccomend applying to Carleton. (it is free if you apply online and requires no additional supplements for the common app)</p>
<p>I am currently a freshmen there... if you have any questions about the school feel free to im me. (im=shweppes777)</p>
<p>You also described Macalester perfectly, especially if you are looking for a more urban environment.</p>
<p>And Grinnel. Slightly quirky, but not pretentious.</p>
<p>Absolutely Carleton.</p>
<p>Of the New England LACs, maybe Bates.</p>
<p>Pomona on the west coast</p>
<p>All LACs have a liberal student body. I defy anyone to come up with a counterexample.</p>
<p>All LACs have a liberal student body. I defy anyone to come up with a counterexample.</p>
<p>Wheaton in Ill.</p>
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Protestant religious schools: There is little conflict over evolution within most Christian home schooling programs and Christian religious schools. Creation science is taught there as the only valid belief system concerning the history of the world, its life forms and the rest of the universe. Naturalistic and theistic Evolution is generally rejected. However, there seems to be an increasing trend among some Christian high schools and colleges to abandon creation science in favor of theistic evolution -- the concept that evolution of the species happened on earth over billions of years, and that God used evolution as a tool to create the species that we see today. "Experts say theistic evolution is showing up in a growing number of Christian colleges. For example, Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., recently invited a guest speaker from Kansas State University to lecture on the topic. And Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., also presents biology and geology from that point of view." John Mark Reynolds, of Biola University in La Mirada, CA, suggests that parents check out the purity of school teaching by inquiring whether the entire faculty believes in a literal Adam and Eve, by studying the course descriptions carefully, by examining the student newspaper for discussions on evolution, and by using an Internet search engine to find and study any papers that school professors have written about origins
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<p>Whitman comes close too.</p>
<p>Vassar & Wesleyan may be more 'priveleged' in feel than your description but very close as well.</p>
<p>Beloit for a less-highly-selective version of same.</p>
<p>Yeah, Wesleyan is sounding pretty cool to me these days:) I'm going to visit in a week, if you have any suggestions...</p>
<p>The kids we encountered there oozed what I now know to be "hipster". You just knew they thought they were cool. That's partly what turned my daughter off to the place. </p>
<p>But it was hardly a robust sample.</p>
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Maybe what I want is a liberal student body that gives off a middle-class yet political feel. Hmm... is this unrealistic for private colleges?
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No, that's a pretty good description of Wesleyan, as has been noted. They have their share of pretentious students, though.</p>
<p>"All LACs have a liberal student body. I defy anyone to come up with a counterexample"</p>
<p>U of the South, Rhodes, Hampden-Sydney, Gettysburg, etc.</p>
<p>the issue with wesleyan is that it is one of the most expensive schools in the country, and therefore is going to have a huge portion of very wealthy students. however i do agree that the student body is overall less snobby than many of its small, new england, elite, LAC peers.</p>
<p>Hm, I go to a so-called "elite, new england LAC." (Bowdoin, by the way)</p>
<p>I would say that despite the fact that it pulls pretty heavily from prep schools, it also pulls pretty heavily from public schools and the kids here are pretty liberal and most people aren't very snobby. I would imagine that this atmosphere is present at almost all top LACs, so you're really looking at a pretty broad range of schools...</p>
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I would imagine that this atmosphere is present at almost all top LACs, so you're really looking at a pretty broad range of schools...
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I think you're right.</p>
<p>I can't speak to the college as a whole, but my D and her friends were a pretty unpretentious bunch. Definitley down to earth. Every time some of them visited, my H and I would turn to each other and say, what a nice bunch of kids!!! In fact, I never said the word nice so sincerely so many times as when D was at Wes.</p>
<p>Iwould look into HSC if I were you.</p>
<p>What's HSC? (I'm pretty much limited to schools w/ decent transfer rates, so you know)</p>