<p>Hey everyone, all my life I've wanted to get out of the South for college and go to a school where not everyone is white, wearing a polo and saying, "Hey Yall!" Nothing against the south, but I've always wanted a more funky, diverse college experience a la New York City. But I'm in Florida, and the older I get, the more practical I become and I decided that I wanted to stay closer, but not too close, to home. Does anyone know of any smaller, unique schools in the South?</p>
<p>Neither Rice or Emory have a particularly southern vibe.</p>
<p>Duke is considered to be quite "northern" by some.</p>
<p>If you have the grades and test scores, Rice sounds like it's for you. Rice is small (less than 4,000 undergrads) and is one of the most liberal schools in the south. It is also known for it's diverse student body; I believe it is only about 50% white. Houston is a pretty world class city and I'm sure you could find lots of fun there.</p>
<p>New College in Fl?</p>
<p>Maybe Guilford College in North Carolina.</p>
<p>Duke aka "State University of New Jersey-Durham Campus"</p>
<p>It also depends on what you define as the "south." Johns Hopkins, for example, is in Baltimore and, hence, below the Mason-Dixon line (Maryland was a slave state but didn't secede during the Civil War because it was essentially occupied by federal troops). Hopkins looks like a southern school (graceful Georgian architecture) but otherwise is very much like a top northern university. Actually, it is a top university regardless of how you wish to characterize its location.</p>
<p>Hendrix College in Arkansas. It's a hidden gem and one most counter-cultural school in the South without being a total hippie school. It's a small LAC so I only recommend it if you don't mind a smaller environment. </p>
<p>Other schools that don't feel too Southern: Umiami, Rice, Warren Wilson (even more counter-cultural than Hendrix), Guilford, Tulane.</p>
<p>I agree. Rice and Emory. Tulane probably works too. Duke is in NC, and NC really can't be considered Southern. It's the most "northern" of the traditional southern states, and only entered the Confederate cause because to do otherwise would have put itself smack between the capital of the south, Richmond, and SC, among the most "southern" of states. Um...others not mentioned so far...UT Austin? UNC-Chapel Hill for sure.</p>
<p>To Roya1Flu5h: Chapel Hill is pretty liberal, but UNC is definitely a southern school.</p>
<p>Davidson college definetely feels like a northeastern school because most students are from the northeast ironically even though its in north carolina
i live in davidson and barely anyone around the charlotte area actually goes there
but it is very tough to get in to</p>
<p>definitely Rice.</p>
<p>Roya1Flu5h:</p>
<p>Similar to UNC, although UT is left-leaning, it is very much a school that is proud of it's Texas roots.</p>
<p>Emory- its like SUNY-Atlanta</p>
<p>UT-Austin has mainly Texans (gee...) so it probably isn't as diverse as some of the other schools mentioned.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>The OP said:</p>
<p>"Hey everyone, all my life I've wanted to get out of the South for college and go to a school where not everyone is white, wearing a polo and saying, "Hey Yall!""</p>
<p>Maybe I should have made myself more clear; it is a school that is both liberal and proud to be from the south, and wants to hold on to it's southern Texas image. So yes people are going to go around saying "Y'all", it's just a part of our culture here. No one thinks twice before saying it. </p>
<p>I was just trying to say, if the OP was looking for a school where she could escape the southern culture, there are better schools for this than UT.</p>
<p>Texas isn't really Southern in the traditional sense (or sensibility, but if you are considering it part of the South, UT-Austin is probably the most liberal leaning school in the entire region. And within Texas, UT is definitely considered more liberal than Rice. Schools like Duke and Emory are quite conservative by comparison. Also, regarding UT's diversity, yes it is 90+% Texan at the undergrad level, but consider that due to UT's sheer size, there are more international students at UT than most schools have total students. And since Texas is the 2nd most populous state, with major cosmopolitan centers in Dallas and Houston as well as tiny rural outposts and border towns, there is an inherently vast diversity of backgrounds attending UT. Houston (as verified by Census numbers) is one of the most racially diverse cities in the country, with a huge international population. So even though UT is majority in-state, it's extremely diverse in reality. The great thing about UT (as someone mentioned above) is that all these diverse backgrounds come together with a proud, unified "We're Texas" (literally!) persona that is synonymous with the state while also proudly maintaining the unique heritages from which they came.</p>
<p>Looking back at what I just wrote, in many ways all this diversity - not just in Texas, but other pockets throughout the South - is at once "un-Southern", yet also the epitome of the New South. The reality is cities like Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta, with all their international migration and global reach ARE the new face of the South. So its somewhat disingenuous to equate something as "un-Southern" in the sense the OP was intending.</p>
<p>Also not really sure how being liberal came into the discussion.</p>
<p>Adding to list of “un-Southern Schools in the South”… University of Richmond, Elon University, Wake Forest.</p>