Hi! I am a rising senior trying to make my college list. I have researched Clemson, and I really liked the size and the school spirit (especially surrounding football). However, I am a little worried that I will feel uncomfortable there because I have heard that it is a quite conservative campus. I don’t mean to be closed minded, but I come from an extremely liberal area and am worried that I will have a hard time fitting in or that I will feel judged or uncomfortable. Thoughts on this?
Also, what are some schools that are similar to Clemson but are not as conservative leaning?
Usually when people describe a college as conservative or conservative-leaning, it turns out the college is still liberal - just not as liberal as most other campuses. Very few campuses are outright conservative, and the ones that are tend to be religious and private.
Unless you’re a militant, in-your-face liberal, I wouldn’t worry about it.
It’s true that young South Carolinians tend to be more conservative on average than youngsters in other parts of the country. But there are still plenty who are fairly liberal plus plenty of out-of-state students. I don’t think you would have any real problems. You should at least be prepared though, to occasionally hear conservative opinions from fellow students, which you might never hear from young people where you’re from.
@Claire2021 My daughter who is from Pittsburgh is going to be a senior at Clemson next year. She is an BS Econ major and political science minor so she is in classes that have some focus on politics. She is very liberal and she has not any problems. She has friends that have similar views as well as those that don’t. One of her roommates the first two years is a girl from Irvine California who has very similar views. Another roommate is a girl from a small town in western NC is is conservative. My daughter is member of the Clemson Student Democrats Club, which she says is fairly active.
Clemson as a large public university is going to lots of kids with different views. If the academics and ot
There are plenty of liberal students and professors at Clemson. Just fewer than most northern or west coast schools. I would think the only people really underrepresented are members of some non-Christian religions.