<p>What are the most liberal, hippie, drug filled liberal arts colleges I should avoid. I know some like Oberlin would not be a good fit for me b/c of its Drag Night and notorious drug scene. Any others that match all or most of the above descriptions that I should avoid? Any that sound like a good match to me (don't care if its liberal or conservative, but don't like the huge drug scene and hippie image of some LACs)</p>
<p>You probably want to avoid Pitzer.</p>
<p>I second Pitzer. Reed college is another one that tends to have that reputation, as well as whitman</p>
<p>hampshire.</p>
<p>Are you under the impression that alcohol isn't just a legalized drug? impaired judgement, addictive, brain damage, death?</p>
<p>Avoid Weselyan. Oh yeah.</p>
<p>Brown maybe to a lesser extent.</p>
<p>The Evergreen State College for sure.</p>
<p>Bard, obviously.</p>
<p>Second on Hampshire.</p>
<p>Lewis and Clark College.</p>
<p>BYU, Oral Roberts and Bob Jones are probably among the lesser hippy, druggy and liberal schools. Most others will likely have a significant alcohol and other drug scene.</p>
<p>I think there are some schools such as Bard, SLC, Vassar, Oberlin, etc that are "NOTORIOUS" for a hippie/druggie image, but I think you need a small reality check in the sense that such scenes exist at any college. It's not really a surprise that drugs and alcohol are especially prevalent at these campuses; they offer very intense academic environments. Many students find drugs and alcohol
to be a nice way to let go.</p>
<p>But these students at these schools are not going to parade that image. The social scene is not centered on these activities. You NEED to understand that. As for the hippie thing, I think you'll find that the majority of young, 18-22 year old college students are going to have socially liberal or liberal tendencies. It really depends on how you define hippie, though. Oberlin may have that "hippie" reputation just because it has students that smoke weed and are liberal. That doesn't really define a hippie though.</p>
<p>Gah, this is more of a rant/me thinking aloud. But I don't think you should be dismissing some of the country's top liberal arts colleges just because students are so academically involved that they resort to some weed smoking here and there. You'll find the students at these top LACs are going to be very laid back, academically minded people. Drugs, parties, and alcoholism are frequent at ANY college campus, and are ultimately unavoidable.</p>
<p>I don't think it's exactly fair to characterize Oberlin as 'notorious' in that way. Yes, plenty of people use drugs here, and yes people are generally very liberal. But it's not as if that's the single paradigm of everyone's social lives.</p>
<p>Reed seems the scariest to me, I know people who have had friends die from an overdose of heroin. I don't hear about that at other schools. The schools that are known to have a lot of wealthy students (read: some of the highly ranked southern schools) are also known to have issues with coke. You are not going to avoid drugs at college.</p>
<p>I second revolversun.</p>
<p>You can avoid using drugs; you will not avoid seeing them unless you have no social life.</p>
<p>As to the OP, Reed.</p>
<p>Bennington, Carleton, Marlboro, Hendrix, Whitman, Sarah Lawrence, New College, UC-B, UC-Santa Cruz, UWisconsin, UOregon, Brown U, Grinnell, etc...</p>
<p>Got2B - you might want to rephrase the question in more positive terms. What is it you're actually looking FOR? If a school has what you want, the fact that there is also the presence of activity you aren't interested in will make it like anyplace else on the planet-- you'll find your own place with your own friends who share you're interests and values. Essentially, you take what you want and leave the rest. If you go to a college thinking that you have found utopia-- where everyone is just like you-- your freshman year is going to be something of a thrash. Visiting a school overnight will help you figure out if you feel comfortable on any given campus.</p>