My Version of "The Perfect College"

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm looking for a college/university that matches/comes close to this description:</p>

<ul>
<li>Small-medium size (1500-6000 students) liberal arts school</li>
<li>Somewhere around East coast (leaning towards Southeast)</li>
<li>Hopefully somewhat prestigious, but doesn't necessarily have to be an Ivy or Ivy-type </li>
<li>Neither 100% liberal, nor 100% conservative (is there a middle ground?)</li>
<li>Nice campus, not in the middle of a big city, but more suburban or even rural</li>
<li>Social life, but not dominated by Greek scene</li>
<li>Diverse student body</li>
<li>Flexible curriculum (ideally an open curriculum)</li>
<li>Strong political science/international studies/writing type programs</li>
</ul>

<p>So far, I'm looking at places like Williams, Yale, Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Davidson, Duke, Emory, Wake Forest, and Washington & Lee. Davidson seems to come closest to what I'm looking for.
Any comments on my list of colleges so far, or recommendations of colleges to check out? Is what I'm looking for unrealistic? Are there any safety schools you would recommend?
Thanks so much in advance; I really appreciate any responses.</p>

2

<p>Not a safety, but take a look at Dartmouth. Though the Greek scene is kind of big, there are lots of other options. Also, the Greek scene that does exist is very open and welcoming (parties open to the whole campus, lots of dance party events, no pressure to drink, etc)</p>

3

<p>This doesn't meet all your criteria, but you might want to look at University of Rochester:</p>

<ul>
<li>Poulation of 4000 undergrads, small graduate school. Some professional schools such as a medical school but they don't impact the undergrads too much. Total populaton around 6000.</li>
<li>Located in western NY</li>
<li>Ranked in the top 50 of national universities</li>
<li>Middle ground politically</li>
<li>Very nice campus on the edge of Rochester. The campus is bordered by a river, a cemetary and the medical school. One edge of campus is up against a low income housing project, but it doesn't really affect the campus at all.<br></li>
<li>Greek life is present but doesn't dominate.<br></li>
<li>I don't know how diverse the campus is. There are certainly minority and international students there.</li>
<li>Very open curriculum. You need to take clusters of classes in each of the 3 areas - humanities, social science and science and math, but you can pretty much pick whatever you want and tie things together that are of interest to you.</li>
<li> Very highly rated in political science.</li>
</ul>

4

<p>Your list looks reasonable to me with perhaps a couple of exceptions. No school on your list matches ALL of your criteria. I'll detail that in a minute.</p>

<p>Two general observations: </p>

<p>a) IMO, this whole "liberal" versus "conservative" issue is blown out of proportion by the popularity of those buzz-words in the media. Fact is that virtually all elite colleges lean Democratic in voting. It's just the nature of college professors. So what? By and large, politics don't play a prominent role in the day to day lives of college students.</p>

<p>b) Curriculum flexibility is also a bit of a red-herring. For the most part, elite colleges require 2-3 courses from the Science/Math departments, 2-3 courses from the Social Sciences departments, and 2-3 courses from the Humanities departments. Most students would take these (or cover them with AP credits) without any requirement. You would have to go out of your way to NOT satisfy the requirements. It's a non-issue for 99 out of 100 students.</p>

<p>Williams: Satisfies pretty much all of your requirements. However, it is VERY rural. And, while it does not have recognized Greek organizations, it's social scene tends towards drinking more so than some of the schools on your list.</p>

<p>Yale: Yale is in the middle of a city.</p>

<p>Wesleyan: Is in a small city and is considered to be "liberal".</p>

<p>Swarthmore: Matches all of your requirements, but would be considered "liberal". It has the most diversity of any school on your list and probably the least "Greek style" drinking -- although it has two small frats (about 5% of the students, all varsity athletes).</p>

<p>Davidson: Matches all of your requirements except that it has little diversity and the social scene is organized around fraternities.</p>

<p>Duke: Big time frat school.</p>

<p>Emory: Matches all of your requirements. Significant frat presence, but not dominating.</p>

<p>Wake Forest: Perhaps a bit too much Greek based on your criteria, but otherwise fits.</p>

<p>Washington & Lee: Zero diversity. The whitest and wealthiest student body and the highest Greek membership of any elite college I have seen. Very heavy drinking school.</p>

5

<p>If you are doing a tour of some of the SE schools you mentioned, you might want to also look at Elon--beautiful campus, around 5000 students, has January term that allows for shorter abroad studies, have become more and more selective over the past few years.</p>

<p>Davidson is a great school, though very small. Emory is essentially in Atlanta. Wake has a gated campus, very attractive and though is a U. requires course diversity more like a LAC.</p>

6

<p>I think Davidson and W&L come the closest to the aspects you're describing. Further north, Tufts, Middlebury and Colgate (except for frat scene, which is diminishing) may be others in the same ilk. Possibly similar schools that could be good backups would include Connecticut College, Lafayette, Union, F&M, Gettysburg, Dickinson, URichmond.</p>

7

<p>i can't speak to all your choices except to say they are great schools. I am familiar with Davidson though. It does fit many of your criteria and the social scene includes many types of activity other than fraternities. It is not supremely diverse but it isn't monolithic either and appears to be very serious about diversification. It is a wonderful school. However, you will not find an open curriculum there; it has a fairly rigorous set of distribution requirements. I think more schools than one mght think have that kinf of core requirement, whatever name they give it. I suppose Wesleyan and Brown the obvious choices at teh other end of teh curriculum spectrum for flexible course choice, but they may not meet soemof yoru other criteria.</p>

8

<p>I'll second Middlebury. Great international studies and English/writing programs.</p>

9

<p>Redhead:</p>

<p>BTW, your list looks familiar. My daughter visited every school on your list except Yale and Wesleyan. We have family who attended both of these excellent schools -- the admissions odds at Yale were too remote to even bother. She viewed the New England schools somewhat negatively just because they are too close to home and the admissions pools put greater Boston area kids at a real disadvantage (the reason she didn't consider Amherst). Of the New England schools, her odds were best at Williams (legacy).</p>

<p>She never seriously considered W&L (zero diversity, 100% frat, "the last bastion of the southern gentleman who can hold his liquor and is damn proud of it" as one guidebook described it) and dropped Duke from her list after visiting. She had finished her applications for Williams, Emory, and Davidson when she was accepted early decision to Swarthmore. She was planning to apply to Wake Forest (pretty much as a safety) and had added Dickinson in PA as an early action merit aid stone-cold, drop-dead safety.</p>

10

<p>My perfect college would have small class sizes, accessible professors, and a beautiful campus (Wesleyan, Bates, Bowdoin)</p>

11

<p>Tufts fits every single one of your criteria except that it doesn't have an open curriculum. That being said, no one complains about it and gets everything done and everyone still finds the time to either double-major or dabble in just about every subject they're interested in. The International Relations program is also considered to be top in the country.</p>

12

<p>"Duke: Big time frat school."</p>

<p>Fact: Over 70% of the men on campus are NOT in fraternities!</p>

13

<p>OP, have you considered Amherst? It's more southerly and suburban than Williams, arguably more diverse, has an open curriculum, and very strong writing. I was a bit curious as to why it wouldn't be on your list, any particular reason?</p>

<p>I love Williams. I almost went to Williams and it was a heartbreaking decision to choose against it. But it is VERY rural.</p>

14

<p>The current percentages at Duke are 27% frat membership and 42% sorority membership. Those are pretty high numbers when viewed against similarly elite universities.</p>

<p>For example, UNC-CH down the road from Duke has 11% frat, 12% sorority.</p>

<p>I don't think anyone would dispute that the greek organizations play a significant role in campus culture of Duke University, just as they do at most of the southern universities including Emory, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, etc.</p>

15

<p>Keep Yale and Wesleyan on your list and add Brown.</p>

16

<p>"The current percentages at Duke are 27% frat membership .."</p>

<p>Ok, then 73% of the men are NOT in fraternities. 73% is a very high number.
Again, it's all a matter of perspective........</p>

17

<p>Brown and Dartmouth sound like this. Dartmouth has frats, but they are nothing like the stereotype.</p>

18

<p>connecticut college fits all of your criteria.
if youre female, check out the womens schools.</p>

19

<p>
[quote]
Dartmouth has frats, but they are nothing like the stereotype.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>What stereotype? The Animal House stereotype? </p>

<p>Animal House was based on Chris Miller's experience at his own fraternity (Alpha Delta Phi) at Dartmouth College. Yes, things have changed since the early 60s, but Dartmouth's frats continue to play a large role in campus social life, and drinking remains the primary frat activity on weekend nights.</p>

20

<p>If you don't want a Greek-based social life, Duke and Dartmouth should be cut out. Regardless of how many kids are actually IN frats or sororities, people NOT in them still depend on the Greek social life. Schools like Tufts, Brown, Wesleyan do not. Tufts has the strongest IR program of those three. Wesleyan is more rural than suburban.</p>