<p>Flagler is not Christian & the student body is very mixed in terms of beliefs. Although the policies & town may lean to the right the student body does not, just an FYI. </p>
<p>Why don’t you think you’d fit in at the schools you mentioned, OP?</p>
<p>DachshundLover, let me challenge you to reconsider your labels. At 17, you are not necessarily a “Christian / conservative.” You are a young person, who at 17 years of age knows and is comfortable within Christian and conservative company. What you are is a person in the process of becoming what you will eventually be. This is not a time to limit your possibilities. You might as well be saying “I’m an American who doesn’t want to be exposed to non-Americans,” or “I’m a master of arithmetic who doesn’t want to be confronted with algebra.” You don’t have to sequester yourself among only Christians or only conservatives. In fact, if you choose to do so, you’ll run the risk of becoming relatively irrelevant in a 21st-century world. </p>
<p>There are Christians and conservatives at Ivies and Ivy-equivalents who have no trouble finding like souls among their classmates. In the process, they also live and go to class with Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Unitarians and agnostics. They’re exposed to liberals, moderates, libertarians, and international students from socialist societies. They are enriched, enhanced, and made more fully-rounded world citizens by the experience. Sometimes they come out of that experience with different beliefs and affiliations than those with which they started; sometimes they come out with the same beliefs but with a greater facility for interacting and sharing with those from other backgrounds and cultures. For seven years, I was a Vice President of a Christian university that meticulously avoided exposing its students to differing viewpoints. I finally decided to leave and take the same position at a state university where I didn’t have to feel that I was collaborating in producing graduates who were intellectually shortchanged. I strongly encourage you to have the ambition and courage to stretch the limits of your comfort zone in considering colleges.</p>
<p>Absolutely yes to GAdad’s response. Every young student needs to hear something along those lines.</p>
<p>Here’s an intelligent essay on reconciling scientific knowledge and belief in God:
[Scientific</a> Knowledge and Belief in God|Pepperdine Magazine | Pepperdine University](<a href=“http://magazine.pepperdine.edu/index.php/2009/07/scientific-knowledge-and-belief-in-god/]Scientific”>http://magazine.pepperdine.edu/index.php/2009/07/scientific-knowledge-and-belief-in-god/)</p>
<p>My suggestions? Go ahead and avoid the ISI “train wreck” colleges, but also heed gadad’s advice. You should be able to get a good mix of reach-match-safety colleges where you can feel socially comfortable without compromising academic quality.</p>
<p>Wonderful advice from gadad.</p>
<p>To the OP, you should look into Davidson, Wake Forest, and William & Mary. The point of college is to learn new ideas/concepts/experiences; esp from your peers. If you already know everything, then why waste the money at college?</p>
<p>I respect and appreciate what you are saying. Nobody agrees more than I do that I will be a very different person in five, ten, however many years. But I have been raised, believe in, and am very involved with my ideals. I am a Christian above anything else, but I acknowledge my political views are likely to develop and change some - but at my core, as a part of who the way I’m wired and my personality, I am conservative. I absolutely recognize the need to be accepting of and be exposed to other belief systems. A lot of my very best friends are liberals, agnostics, Hindus, etc., and some of the adults I really look up to are very left-wing. I’ve grown up in the public school system, and there is great diversity there, and also some bias. In an experience as important as college, I want to be with people whom I can relate to and be able to have what is important to me in common with them. I do not need for this group to be an overwhelming majority, but I want to have that support system. This is the first time I will really have to step out and decide what I want to do with and for myself. With all due respect, I did not create this thread for religion/ideology debates… I was just looking for some suggestions on schools that have more of a focus on what is important to me. Thank you for everybody’s advice so far… it has been really helpful!</p>
<p>It’s almost absurd to say that a 17 year old can’t be a true (for lack of a better description) Christian/conservative. It is more than absurd to equate the said person with not much ambition. The OP asked for a list of possible colleges. He didn’t ask for anything else. In my view, he’s more matured than some of the responders (BTW, in the interest of full disclosure, I am not a Christian).</p>
<p>Daschundlover…You sound similar to my daughter who is now a college sophomore. She too was a high stat applicant intent on the pre-med route. The two big differences I’ve noted between the two of you is that she actually wanted to be part of a sorority (although it was not a must), and she did not qualify/need FA. The schools she found appealing that have a balance or conservative leaning?</p>
<p>Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
UVA (attending – Echols)
UNC
Boston College
Pepperdine
SMU (did not apply)
TX A&M (did not apply)</p>
<p>There have been other great suggestions on this thread as well:</p>
<p>Furman
Hillsdale
Davidson
TCU
Wheaton
Baylor
Washington and Lee</p>
<p>Well to be honest there will be few colleges where Christians will be a minority. Like others have said, avoid schools notorious for party scenes. You seem to already have a good idea of the political layout of schools…the South would probably be most geared to your ideals.</p>
<p>I do not know a lot about the political temperature at St. Olaf, but I know that it is one of the LACs that takes its religious foundations seriously. At the same time, from all I’ve heard, it is a diverse community where people from different backgrounds and with different beliefs systems are able to communicate and grow together. You might also take a look at Rhodes College, which requires all students to take a sequence of courses investigating the foundations of Western belief systems, including Judeo-Christian underpinnings. I mention these schools on the assumption that what you are looking for is not so much a place where EVERYONE believes as you do but rather a place where you can comfortably grow and explore your faith.</p>
<p>Davidson, Notre Dame, Wake, Holy Cross</p>
<p>I remember a Winston Churchill quote that went something along the lines of, “Show me a young conservative, and I’ll show you a person with no heart. Show me an old liberal, and I’ll show you a person with no brains.”</p>
<p>Thank you, jvtDad…</p>
<p>While not nearly as liberal as neighboring Carleton, I would guess that St. Olaf doesn’t have the type of atmosphere you’re searching for.</p>
<p>Reach schools:
Princeton, Chicago
the Claremont colleges (Pomona/Harvey Mudd), Davidson</p>
<p>Match schools:
Wheaton, Pepperdine, St. Olaf
BYU, Baylor</p>
<p>Safeties:<br>
Your in-state flagship (or any school with ~guaranteed big merit aid for your stats)</p>
<p>Avoid: The ISI “train wreck” colleges; Liberty University (and other less selective, doctrinaire Christian Schools … not because they are “Christian” but because they don’t attract nearly as many high-scoring A students, or highly respected biology professors, as more selective secular/Catholic/LDS/Protestant colleges.)</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, the above reaches and matches all get a green light from the conservative ISI, and are also among the USNWR top 75. Princeton and Chicago are the ISI’s two top “exceptional schools”. Among LACs, Pomona and Harvey Mudd have among the highest percentage of science/STEM majors (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1270318-lacs-most-science-majors.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1270318-lacs-most-science-majors.html</a>). Davidson is the most selective LAC in the South. For match schools, I’ve picked 5 of the highest-ranked (USNWR) schools I could think of that have a Christian or socially conservative orientation; none of these have the kind of crap-shoot admission standards you’ll get with Princeton or Pomona.</p>
<p>DachshundLover - You seem like a very mature person with a good head on your shoulders. Whatever your final list of schools looks like, I would suggest that if it is at all possible, that you visit the schools and try to get a sense of if they would be places where you would feel comfortable as a person and challenged as a student. If it would help, I’m sure you can also make appointments in advance to speak with clergy, campus ministry coordinators or whoever they have on campus to get a further sense of the activities and people. I hope you find a place where you can learn, grow, and be happy.</p>
<p>Noted Liberals:</p>
<p>Jefferson
Jesus
M L King</p>
<p>
I think your question is a sensible one, and I think that you will find a critical mass of like-minded people at very many colleges. I suspect that you would be fine, for example, at just about any large state university, including places like Michigan, Virginia, and UNC. As I suggested above, at some private schools, especially, you may find youself too far outside the mainstream for total comfort–but even there, you’re not somebody coming from a restrictive private religious school or a home-school environment. You would be able to deal.</p>
<p>
It’s not your fault. It always happens whenever this question is asked.</p>
<p>Lee University in Cleveland, TN is a small Christian college that you might consider.</p>
<p>DachshundLover – You seem to be a thoughtful young person who wants a great education and social support as well. Here are the three general areas that you need to think about:</p>
<p>Biology/Evolution: I doubt that you will find any well-regarded institutions, even more conservative ones, that do not support the teaching of evolution. (Wheaton possibly? I don’t know.) Plenty of universities have Biology faculties filled with Christians, but they are people who do not think that their religious beliefs and their scientific knowledge are in conflict. </p>
<p>Political Issues: Here is one way that you will be able to differentiate colleges. However, you should be aware that even schools that are more conservative on other issues have more and more students who are comfortable with their gay friends’ sexual orientation. My daughter had a number of high school friends who were Republicans, fairly conservative, and were very accepting of gay people. I believe that this is a shift in the population that isn’t going to turn back.</p>
<p>Social activity: Drinking is obviously the big one here. Whether students drink in college doesn’t seem to be tied to their political philosophy. Some of the biggest drinkers I encountered in college, and even now as an adult, are the people who are the most politically conservative. Rather, what’s more important is the kind of religious commitment a person has made, and I know both liberal and conservative people who are strongly committed Christians.</p>
<p>What does all this mean for choosing colleges? Unless you want to go to a college like Liberty or Bob Jones (and you certainly don’t sound like that’s what you want), you will probably be in an environment where evolution is taught and widely accepted. A smaller Christian college might fit your beliefs and social life better. With your comfort around different types of people, though, a large public university would give you a broader experience, yet provide plenty of other like-minded students to be your support group. I would strongly suggest looking at universities where there are substance-free learning communities (i.e. a dorm or dorm hall). The ones with which I am familiar draw students with diverse religious and political beliefs. They are all, however, united in their desire to live in a healthier, more studious environment.</p>
<p>Best of luck in your search.</p>