<p>I think I have a solid chance of getting into one of the top liberal arts college. However, I need to narrow down my options to two. Therefore, I wanted to know what percentage of the people in each school have interest in arts or indie music. While doing my research at Student Reviews I noticed that schools such as Wesleyan and Oberlin where the one's with the most students who appeared to have interested in the arts.</p>
<p>But if there really a huge gap? For instance,how hard would it be to find students in schools such as Haverford or Amherst who have interests such as indie music,video games,comic books or manga. Will it really be difficult to find people who shared these same interests? Or do only a small minority at a school such as Davidson or Hamilton have these interests. </p>
<p>I ask since at my high school, about 3 people only a 1% had some knowledge about alternative rock or mainstream comics but almost no one would have known about Fantagraphics or Pavement. I ask since it was very frustrating for me to have no one to talk to and even worst I would really be awful to be around people with completely different interests.</p>
<p>I think that I would be most interest to know about students at Bowdoin and Middlebury. Will i find likeminded people at these schools? I ask since reading the comments it seems that most people are "preppies","jocks" or highly interested in sports, therefore I am worried that I might not fit it. Exactly what percentage of people would be this way?</p>
<p>How do you suppose anyone would know “exactly what percentage” of students at any school have particular extracurricular interests? It’s not like there’s some massive database out there of what students do in their spare time. When you research schools (and there are better sources than Student Reviews), you’ll find that they have varying reputations with respect to the type of students who tend to go there. Then when you visit schools, you can get a better sense of things just by being on the campus, observing the students, seeing the signage up for various activites, etc. Finally, when you have some candidates in mind, come back here and post on their forums to get more specific info.</p>
<p>It’s not “really awful” to be around people with different interests. It’s broadening, and one of the reasons to go to college in the first place.</p>
<p>The problem with websites like that is that they don’t necessarily represent a true picture of a college. It mostly the complainers and naysayers that bother to log in and write/complain about their schools. So I would always take what you find there with a (large) grain of salt.</p>
<p>A better representation might be to go to the websites of your schools and find the list of student organizations. Perhaps there is a facebook page where prospective students can ask questions…</p>
<p>Also, you need to get past the labels. Maybe some of the jocks also like Manga, and it is possible for a preppy person to also like indie music! I think most college students, perhaps especially at highly selective schools, are multidimensional people! That’s what the admissions office is looking for when they read through all those applications.</p>
<p>If the school doesn’t have an organization for your interest, then you can be the one to start one! You’re not going to be the only person who likes indie music in a student body of 2,000 highly intelligent college students!</p>
<p>I would look at their list of student clubs and see if there is something of interest. Also, look and see if there is a local comic book store as that might indicate sufficient interest locally for your areas of interest. Same for live music venues, what kind of music do they host?</p>
<p>My son won’t look at any schools without a MTG store within bike distance of campus.</p>
<p>I’ve been researching the exact same question for my son. You sound very similar, in fact, and I completely agree that finding a school with a good social fit is critical for kids like you. </p>
<p>You should check out Carleton and Oberlin. Carleton in particular seems filled with talented, brilliant, off-beat kids. It’s in Minnesota, unfortunately, but worth it. ***** ranked it, two years in a row, as one of the Top Ten School with the Happiest Kids.</p>
<p>Reed and Bard are also worth looking at. I don’t know about Bowdoin and Middlebury. We’ve used ***** to get a sense of the social atmosphere of the school - if possible try to find a kid like you.</p>
<p>I agree that looking at each college’s list of student clubs and organizations is a good place to start. In addition, you might ask in the college-specific forums on CC.</p>
<p>My daughter currently attends Haverford. My sense is there’s a lot of interest in indie music among the students there, and several student groups that bring both national and local musicians to campus and organize open mic nights where students perform. There’s also a gaming club and an anime club. I don’t know about comic books because my daughter’s not into them, but in general there’s a lot of interest in the arts. But current students can tell you a lot more about what’s going on, and you can find them at the Haverford forum on CC.</p>