<p>I am undecided and all over the place. I am interested in things like zoology (so pretty much entailing a major in biology, a minor in psychology) and language (I really love Spanish, would like to learn French, and I think linguistics would be interesting). Yes, I will need to find scholarships to pay for most of tuition. Fortunately, I’m almost positive I’ll be a National Merit semifinalist (which places like University of Alabama will give full tuition for - although I understand that the better the college, the less they give for that). I’m just trying to keep all of my options open.</p>
<p>I will second two suggestions. Furman (beautiful) and Hillsdale (although it is in the Midwest)</p>
<p>Wheaton College (IL)
Calvin College (MI)
Hope College (MI)
Gordon College (MA)</p>
<p>Liberty U. - You could get a huge scholarship from them. Maybe I am wrong, but I have a very positive view about the school after reading Kevin Roose.</p>
<p>I’ll third the suggestion given before of checking out the ISI book, Choosing the Right College. If you go to their web site (given before) and pick three schools you’d like to read reports on (by hitting “buy”), then go to checkout and enter the code, 3FREE you’ll get to have 3 reports for free. Read those and decide if it’s worth the $25 for a year subscription. I did that and my boys were really appreciative.</p>
<p>By the way, other than being a satisfied customer, I’m in no way affiliated nor profiting from my referral. I offer the code simply because they offered it to us in order to “preview” the site.</p>
<p>We opted to not consider any school getting a red light (meaning not as open to conservatives). There are plenty to choose from with green or yellow. Their insight into atmosphere at each school has been terrific. After narrowing down some suggestions, visit.</p>
<p>These reports also detail the religious atmosphere at each school, but the light system has nothing to do with the religious atmosphere. It’s solely politics - and even with politics - it doesn’t tell you that most will be conservative, but rather than conservatives won’t (likely) feel out of place.</p>
<p>Check out Baylor University in Waco, Texas. It gives out some fairly generous merit scholarships for high-performing students and it is a conservative Christian school.</p>
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<p>Argh, no!!! Please don’t classify schools this way!!! Some schools that offer generous National Merit money might be just perfect for you. Make sure to stop over at [National</a> Merit Scholarships - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/]National”>National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums) to find out more about what schools offer big NM money, and also to hear from people who’ve had students take that big Alabama offer. I can also suggest that you check out USC. Given your wide-ranging academic interests and your desire not to be a political/social minority on campus, large schools may end up being more your cup of tea.</p>
<p>Congrats on the impending NMSF status.</p>
<p>Oh, I know. “Better” was not really the right word. I am still considering places like U of Arizona and U of Alabama. Thank you.</p>
<p>You should definitely consider Baylor.</p>
<p>There is a huge overlap between the academically strong, conservative, Christian-friendly colleges in the South and schools with a big Greek/party scene. (Go figure.) That said, I don’t think you should necessarily write them off. Alabama, just for example, is a huge party school by any standard, but I think if you went to the honors college, you’d find a thriving community of students with exactly the same profile as you. They will probably be big football fans :), but there are hundreds and hundreds of smart, non-drinking, conservative Christians there as well as clubs that would make it easy to meet them. So don’t run away from Furman, Sewanee, Ole Miss, etc. due to the high Greek participation alone. Take a close look and make a judgment about the scene at each school.</p>
<p>“I guess I just prefer to not be an absolute minority”</p>
<p>I think that’s perfectly fair, and I believe you would be one at an Ivy. This isn’t the right experience for everyone.</p>
<p>People with strong faith backgrounds tend to be more accepting? Really?</p>
<p>Yes…the issue was accepting of others religious beliefs…respecting others religious beliefs. The issue wasn’t one of politics and issues like gay marriage (a political issue) or other social issues which can be opposed for non-religious reasons.</p>
<p>As a contrast, some non-believers actually have little or no respect for those who are devout to their faiths - whatever the faith.</p>
<p>That’s funny. I don’t remember learning about the atheist crusades or the agnostic jihads. I’ve never had someone knock on my door to spread the word of science. For the vast majority of us without religion, we don’t care what you choose to believe, just keep it away from us.</p>
<p>Thanks, mom2college kids, for injecting a much-needed dose of maturity into the discussion. I really don’t think having this thread devolve into faith-bashing is going to be much help to the OP.</p>
<p>I didn’t know that the “vast majority” of the non-religious opposed free speech, RyanMK.
Doesn’t sound very broad minded to me, but it’s been a long time since I was at college so maybe things have changed.</p>
<p>Wait, where was I faith-bashing, and where did I say we wanted to take away free speech? I was not the one to make the original accusation that atheists are less tolerant, I was merely responding to that false claim. And wanting people to keep their beliefs to themselves is by no means equivalent to “we should make it illegal to talk about religion.”</p>
<p>In my experience one can find zealots or tolerance in different individuals regardless of what religious belief (or non-belief) they have. I think it goes along more with personality than any specific belief or lack thereof.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, zealots are noisier and more annoying, so it is not surprising that many people end up seeing the zealots as representative of their religious or political viewpoint (even if it is not true, that is what the zealots want).</p>
<p>Getting back to the OP’s question, the OP would also want to check, for schools which are religion affiliated and have a religious environment, that it matches his/her beliefs. Differences in theology between different denominations of Christianity may be bothersome to a devout person in a religious environment of some other denomination.</p>
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<p>Please forgive me. Your posts on this thread reek of tolerance and you obviously have no problem with others publicly sharing their faith, even if you don’t agree with it. I stand corrected.</p>
<p>Seriously, you are not attempting to help the OP (who seems to be seeking a particular college environment, but doesn’t seem to have any problem with people who don’t agree with his/her faith) but you quickly chimed in to make sure that we all know how bigoted and narrow minded religious people are. The references to the crusades and jihad were a nice touch, too.</p>
<p>Doesn’t this qualify as “■■■■■■■■”?</p>
<p>You can be tolerant of something without wanting others to force their beliefs on you. Again, I’m not suggesting that we take away anyone’s right to believe what they want, or share those beliefs with others. I simply believe religion (in addition to sexuality, and in some cases politics) are beliefs that should be kept to oneself. And you’re right, bringing up the crusades/jihad wasn’t in the best taste, but I was using it to make the point that religious people aren’t “more accepting” of other faiths than non-religious people.</p>
<p>Heaven forbid (so to speak) one would attend a college where one’s dearly beloved preconceptions would be open to critical scrutiny! College is all about confirming what one already believes to be the truth, not challenging it!!!</p>
<p>SMU is a HUGE party school with an enormous Greek scene that dominates and pervades the social scene with plenty of rich kid drug use and lots of drinking.</p>
<p>I would never recommend it to someone who describes themselves like the OP.</p>
<p>Bob Jones University, Oral Roberts or Liberty if the OP is truly a hard core Christian conservative.</p>
<p>I would look at Wheaton College (IL). It’s a strong and academically rigorous LAC outside of Chicago (45 minute commuter rail service on campus). I would consider it a more sophisticated and enlightened Christian college than others. Politically, students are more conservative than say UMichigan, but faculty tend to be on the moderate/liberal side.</p>