Most Socially Conscious/Activist-y Colleges?

College Search & Selection
1

I am searching for liberal arts colleges with a reputation for being socially aware. What are some of the best socially aware colleges that you know of?

Thanks! :slight_smile:

2

These jump out at me: Oberlin, Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Pitzer, Skidmore, any of the former 7 sisters.

But to be honest, you are going to have a tough time finding very many LACs that AREN’T socially aware, other than a few in the South. Students going to LACs tend to self select for that as one of their priorities in their education.

3

Put Hampshire College on your list.

4

Check out this thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1832412-what-colleges-are-super-liberal-artistic-social-justice-focused-and-not-preppy-p1.html

5

Do you mean in a left leaning sense, as opposed to a right leaning or religious sense?

6

Bard, Macalester.

7

Reed

8

Reed is kind of libertarian in a way, though.

9

Good recs above. Add Grinnell.

10

@ucbalumnus I just want a school where the students will be aware of problems in the world and are working to change them. (Which, as @ThankYouforHelp said, can really apply to most LACs. I was just wondering if there are some specific ones that stood out.)

11

Macalester?

12

http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=most-liberal-students

There is already such a list FYI.

13

Some schools like Liberty may be filled with students who are aware of problems in the world and may prefer to work to change them through religion.

14

@eyrar99 Do you wish to become active in the surrounding community or beyond? Get your hands actually involved with the poor, tutoring, building housing, visiting the elderly or things along those lines?

Or, schools where complaining about Columbus Day, debating proper Halloween costume etiquette, evaluating whether the General Tso’s Chicken is cultural appropriation or not or invading the library during exam week are considered making a difference?

Middlebury and St. Michael’s come to mind as LACs sending high numbers of students to the Peace Corp. Every Catholic school I know of has campus ministry that coordinates community outreach programs.

15

@ScaredNJDad1 definitely the first description!

Thanks for the suggestions. Looking at Peace Corp. statistics is a good idea!

16

My son is awaiting an admissions decision from U. of Puget Sound, and they’ve been touting their #1 ranking on the Peace Corps list among small colleges and universities. The full list is here: http://files.peacecorps.gov/images/news/releases/schools2016.pdf

Note that some schools on that list have a much more liberal feel than others. For instance, I wouldn’t characterize either Bucknell or Gettysburg as super liberal – my understanding is that they’ve got more of a sporty/preppy/Greek vibe.

But then you asked for socially aware, not crunchy and lefty, and they’re somewhat different things I suppose.

17

I was going to suggest Clark University, but they’re more in the second group of @ScaredNJDad1’s post #13.

18

@arar99 - if you are looking for action oriented cultures then Peace Corps and Community Service are good proxys. You need to be a little careful with the Peace Corps lists because they are biased towards the bigger schools in the defined ranges. The Washington Monthly Rankings sorted by the service category provides a good reference as it calculates Peace Corp as a percentage then ranks the schools. It also has other measures of service that may or may not be important.

For small universities in the northeast Tufts and Clark score highly on both counts

For LACs in the northeast, Bates and Wesleyan score high on community service, but not on Peace Corps

Middlebury is large for a LAC so it appears on the Peace Corp lists, but does not do as well when compared to other LACs on a percentage basis.

Here are the rankings sorted by the service category:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings-2015/national-universities-service.php
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings-2015/liberal-arts-colleges-service.php

19

I was looking at the wrong Wesleyan, so it is not a leader in the northeast using this particular criteria

20

Macalester ranks high using the Peace Corps metric. I also like it because it is in a city, and so you would have opportunities to volunteer while in college.