<p>I'm a rising junior and am currently putting together lists of schools to which I'd like to apply. One of the most important aspects of my search has been finding colleges with the best English, creative writing and philosophy departments possible, and perhaps with something of a literary tradition, as well. I hope to study literature and poetry in-depth as an undergraduate. </p>
<p>The following is a compilation of my "definites" - </p>
<p>Brown
Amherst
Sarah Lawrence
Vassar </p>
<p>Obviously, this list is in need of extension!! I don't have many stats to share yet, as I'll be taking the SAT and ACT for the first time this fall, but my weighted GPA is 4.62 and unweighted (this is my own calculation based on the A/A+ = 4.0, A- = 3.7 scale, so it might be inaccurate) is 3.95ish. The vast majority of my "extracurriculars" lie in the writing and literature realm.</p>
<p>So really, though my personal information can't help much in gathering "match schools," I would love to hear your thoughts about which schools have the greatest literary focus. </p>
<p>I want to attend a school where students truly care about thoughts and ideas and books and reading and things of that glorious nature! High school is not exactly my best fit ;)</p>
<p>You’ll find many people think “open-minded and interested in literature and philosophy” = “ultra-liberal school.”</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen first-hand, as long as a school isn’t dominated by business, nursing, agriculture, and/or engineering students, it will have plenty of folks who are interested in the more abstract things in life. Places like Holy Cross, Williams, Boston College, Iowa, and Indiana U. are examples of non-ultra-liberal places where a person can major in English or philosophy and not be considered weird.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins, Columbia, and Northwestern jump right out at me b/c you can major in both of those or either one. Cornell also has a strong English department where you can concentrate in creative writing. Seriously though, go do some research on Johns Hopkins and their Writing Seminars major. All of those schools have a sense of literary tradition.</p>
<p>You will also find very good English departments at any of the top liberal arts colleges. Kenyon comes to mind. Bowdoin, Carleton, and Middlebury also have excellent English departments.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for the quick responses! </p>
<p>I’m quite excited about the Johns Hopkins writing seminars major, as well as the prospect of looking into the other schools everyone’s listed so far. Iowa is most definitely a school I’d like to look into for its MFA program (when that time comes!) but I think I plan to hold off until grad school. Anyway, I do truly appreciate it, and if any more thoughts pop up, feel free to share. :)</p>