Politics...

Excuse me for bringing up the P-word, but my son is a conservative student. He does not necessarily want a conservative school (of course he wants liberal opinions to be expressed as well!) but would like a place where there is a bit more political inclusiveness. We are nervous about some schools on his list for this reason…any suggestions of names are welcome, as is any feedback! Thank you!

Your son should be fine at most schools, albeit probably in the minority as a conservative. I would avoid small far-left schools like Oberlin, Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire and the like. These schools tend to be liberal echo chambers where alternative views aren’t really welcome or discussed.

W&L, Notre Dame, and CMC are a couple colleges where being a conservative is not immediately shunned. Again, in many college atmospheres liberals can somewhat tolerate diversity of thought in terms of fiscal policy, but as soon as you mention a socially conservative policy, get ready to be lynched. (Okay, not really, but sorta…).

Post your son’s stats, and I’d love to recommend a few more specifically.

All in all though, being a conservative can be fun in a liberal atmosphere (I am a conservative at Amherst, and have learned to better express my beliefs because of it!). If your son isn’t willing to have his beliefs challenged, then he isn’t ready for college.

Threads of this type have been rehashed over the past 10 years, so it’d be easy to find more posts about this elsewhere on CC.

Best of luck.