<p>Most of the schools I want to apply to are known as being "liberal". While I'm personally not extremely liberal (I'm closer to moderate), I definitely don't mind people being liberal. However, I can't stand it when people can't really defend their beliefs and don't really know the issues (such as all of the Obama fans who think he is the greatest thing to ever happen to America and walk around with Obama t-shirts and purses and whatnot...but don't really know anything about politics). I was wondering if that's how it is at schools who are known as "liberal", if people are just "liberal" because it's the cool thing right now, or if they can actually make intelligent arguments about politics. If it helps, some of the schools I'm looking at are Swarthmore, Dartmouth, Boston College, Middlebury, Claremont McKenna, George Washington, and American. I know these kinds of people will show up at any school - but I'd like to know if they make up the majority of the population at schools known as liberal. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I’d think that if you’re looking at schools of that quality, most of the students will be intelligent enought to defend their personal beliefs. Like you said, those people are everywhere. But because of the average intelligence of students at those schools, I think they’re probably more informed on current events… at least I would hope.</p>
<p>The majority of students at most top tier schools will probably be liberal.</p>
<p>I go to UC Berkeley, which is quite the liberal school.
I am also like you, but rather apathetic and not liberal (although I could care less about politics), although I will tolerate liberal views to a certain extent.</p>
<p>I feel that the term ‘liberal’ is known for both, especially in political science/international relations for the ones who make intelligent arguments. There are views of all kinds.</p>
<p>I don’t feel that liberals are that big of a majority. It may also depend on who you hang out with too.</p>
<p>There really are no “conservative” top schools. My school, Wake Forest, is probably more moderate/apathetic. Notre Dame is another that comes to mind. </p>
<p>But any school you go to, you can find people more in line with your political thoughts. However, if this is a concern I would visit smaller LAC’s that are liberal like Swarthmore first to see if it is for you.</p>
<p>I go to Swarthmore, and it is a very liberal school politically. I think most people who are vocal in their support of people like Barack Obama do know enough to support what they’re saying. For example, they do read the New York Times and other articles. Of course, I think there are some people who call themselves liberal but can’t back their view. They might support everything Obama says and say no to everything McCain says, but not really know what Obama and McCain are saying! But I think that, though annoying, they’re in the minority.</p>
<p>Yeah, OP, I’m kind of interested to see that as well. As far as <em>conservative</em> schools, the only one that really comes to mind is Hillsdale. Every other school seems to border on super-liberal to moderate, with either a split population or apathetic students.
As far as top-tier schools, I’ve had trouble finding anything very appealing politically. I’m looking at Bowdoin, and as far as a LAC goes, it’s pretty laid back. Students are apparently mostly apathetic with liberal ideals, but open to other’s opinions. Most don’t get super-involved in politics.</p>