<p>If you're like me, the thought of attending a liberal four-year university wasn't something that intrigued you. I always found it difficult when I was looking at colleges to find out which public universities had a conservative-leaning student body. Although I've made my decision, I wanted to start a thread for individuals looking to attend more conservative institutions so they know the best options available (I didn't have this luxury). Lord knows we have enough people asking for "liberal" and "LGBT friendly" colleges on this board, I see no reason why the opposing side cannot receive recognition. </p>
<p>From my research, the following state universities seem to have a conservative student body...</p>
<p>In no particular order...</p>
<ol>
<li>Purdue University (Indiana) </li>
<li>Clemson University (South Carolina) </li>
<li>University States Naval Academy</li>
<li>Auburn University </li>
<li>University of Virginia </li>
<li>Penn State University </li>
<li>University of Florida </li>
<li>University of Alabama </li>
<li>Notre Dame (also, not public)</li>
<li>University of Arkansas </li>
</ol>
<p>thank you for sharing your research with us.</p>
<p>Just some things to keep in mind. Would love anyone with experience at other colleges to provide more insight. If you want a liberal school, fine. Good for you. But that isn’t all of us. Some people get offended by the promotion of college conservationism, I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s become an oxymoron of sorts to use the two terms collectively. </p>
<p>There are conservative options out there, if that’s what you want. 
</p>
<p>There is a whole thread about this in the Search& Selection forum. In general, schools in the South will be the most Conservative in addition to religious schools. The other site has a ranking of every school in the country from most conservative to most liberal.</p>
<p>If it is helpful, I am a right-wing Republican and decided to go to Vanderbilt. I also seriously considered Alabama, South Carolina, Richmond, Miami, and Kentucky, in addition to a couple others. </p>
<p>There is a difference between schools that are predominantly conservative and those where a conservative student will feel comfortable. For example, Vanderbilt is NOT a conservative school–it is a fairly apolitical, MOR school with students on both sides of the spectrum. It’s probably a good idea for conservative students to determine if they would prefer a school like Vanderbilt that’s politically diverse or a strongly conservative school, because those lists would be different! </p>
<p>Texas A&M is a very conservative university too.
Miami University in Ohio (my neck of the woods) has fairly conservative students.</p>
<p>West Point and the Air Force Academy are probably just as conservative as the Naval Academy. In fact, my understanding is that the Navy is the least conservative of the armed services (the Marine Corps is definitely the most conservative).</p>
<p>Wouldn’t you want to go to a politically diverse school so you can get all points of view?</p>
<p>@SoCalDad2 The problem is those are few and far between. Schools that preach ‘open-mindedness’ are often liberal. I think you should have an open mind to new ideas, but usually this approach is synonymous with liberalism. There aren’t many schools with a ‘good mix’ of ideologies. </p>
<p>
Which is kind of funny, because don’t the Marine officers come out of the Naval Academy?</p>
<p>@Fallenchemist One thing I’ve noticed is that schools with good engineering programs tend to be more conservative and schools more known for ‘liberal arts’ or ‘communications’ tend to lean liberal. The second makes sense, never understood why engineering schools are generally conservative but Texas A&M, Purdue, and Clemson are all good examples. Of course, Clemson was once a military school so that may play a role. </p>
<p>@BadgerState - I imagine that is right, although I don’t know if that has ever been studied. I think it might be fairer to say that students in engineering programs are conservative relative to their counterparts in the liberal arts. They just don’t tend to get involved in progressive issues the way students in liberal arts and similar programs do, partly because their program of study is very time consuming and doesn’t involve social issues in the coursework in general. Although of course these days there are more courses that try to tie the practice of engineering to solving social issues. At my alma mater, there are two semesters of service required to graduate, post-Katrina. Engineers and architects have been quite involved in putting their skills and learning to use in solving problems not just in New Orleans and the Gulf area, but in Africa and many other places. And often doing it in conjunction with people in the social majors (sorry, I refuse to call them social “sciences”, lol). Is this liberal? Conservative? I wouldn’t even try to label it.</p>
<p>I would also point out that the schools you mention are state schools that are in conservative areas. It would be interesting to know how it is with engineers at your home state flagship, or Berkeley, or MIT, or… I really don’t know. But of course except for MIT, those schools are not thought of as engineering schools per se, but have broader reputations. Still, within those departments it would be interesting to see what the difference is. I have to think someone has done a study on this.</p>
<p>@Fallenchemist The Wisconsin University system is probably one of the most liberal in the country. However, the best engineering school in Wisconsin by reputation is Milwaukee School of Engineering and I have a couple friends that attend and say it is very conservative. </p>
<p>Would be an interesting study though. I’ve also read a study by the University of Iowa that says students in fraternities tend to be way more conservative than their general population counterparts. This one makes more sense as conservatives are generally occupied by the wealthy. I realize this thread isn’t about fraternities or sororities, but I found this study very interesting during my research. Apparently as most students grow more liberal in college, those in greek life grow more conservative – according to the Iowa study. </p>
<p>@BadgerState - Sounds like an interesting study. I’ll have to see if I can find it. But anecdotally, given stories you hear about frats and sororities it would seem to be the case. Which makes it interesting that Greek participation has seen a significant uptick in the last 4-5 years, apparently pretty much across the country.</p>
<p>But as you say, that is for perhaps a new thread.</p>
<p>Pretty much any school in Texas that isn’t UT Austin or Rice.</p>
<p>Great idea, great thread.
However, what schools are conservative but yet not racist?
I don’t wanna be in a campus with a lot of people against social order but racism and elitism, for example, are not things I enjoy.
Extra bit of info: I’m Latin American.</p>
<p>Edit: I’m Christian but not catholic, nor Protestant, nor Anglican. So religious tolerance would be great, too.</p>
<p>I don’t think conservative means racist, and someone’s race or religion doesn’t determine his/her poltitics. Most large state campuses are large enough that the student body is also diverse, but the overall majority of the student body can be more or less conservative. State colleges admit students from all over and with different backgrounds. I have not personally heard that elitism is a problem at a state college, unless you are a student from their rival football team. But then, your college feels the same way. </p>
<p>Alright, nice input.
Aren’t there any private conservative-leaning (politically speaking) colleges?
Maybe with great financial aid?
I know I’m asking for a lot here, just wondering.</p>
<p>Yes, there are, and I appreciate taking the direction away from discussions on racism on campuses since there are threads about this already and this could be a very resourceful thread for students looking for colleges where they feel included. </p>
<p>There are lots of private conservative leaning colleges- in many places- and they range from very concervative to slight. Financial aid can differ as well. Some private colleges still have access to state specific need based aid, so looking in your own state can be helpful. Many most selective colleges will meet full need. Vanderbilt has been mentioned as one of them. Many will also award merit aid. The financial aid award depends on a students circumstances and how well that student fits the college scholarship programs. </p>
<p>I see from your other threads that you are from Brazil. I don’t know the details about financial aid to international students. This would be school specific- from non-government funded scholarships.</p>
<p>Duke is fairly conservative</p>