Universities with a nice, liberal, chill feel to the campus?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>So, I think while my academics&extra-curricular activities are pretty extensive (though not as good as some of you geniuses out there!), I'm the type of person more suited to a liberal arts college. I like close, tight-knit communities with quirky interests and eccentric traditions. However, my parents are absolutely against me going to a liberal arts school... they want me to go to a nice, prestigious university. So, I have exactly two weeks to finish all my applications and I was wondering if there were schools out there I may have overlooked in my search for the perfect college? Obviously, I know about Brown and I've heard that UChicago is pretty quirky (although some people tell me the kids there have no social life?). Any other suggestions?</p>

2

<p>looking at the USnews top 30 national universities, these schools stand out to me as being the most small liberal arts college-esque:</p>

<ol>
<li>Princeton (not “chill” academically, but small/community based)</li>
<li>Caltech (only if you are 100% interested in science)</li>
<li>Dartmouth (VERY tradition/community based, although maybe not “chill” exactly)</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Rice</li>
<li>Tufts</li>
</ol>

<p>These ones stand out as being undergrad focused, fostering intimate LAC like campus communities etc.</p>

<p>Even with all of these though, you should maybe ask your parents to reconsider their ban of LACs. Schools like Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan (UNIVERSITY), Swarthmore etc have stellar national reputations these days, and are particularly renowned for their quality of undergrad education.</p>

3

<p>uchicago does have a social life (:</p>

<p>i met one of THE most interesting people ever and she graduated from uchicago. not like “omg she’s weird” kind of interesting but she’s had the most amazing life filled with lots of social experiences (haha that sounds awkward, but you have to meet her to understand) and a LOT of them were at uchicago.</p>

<p>of course, she did mention that a few people just live in the library. i guess it depends who you want to be.</p>

<p>(oh and to add on to jackpot

  1. i have no clue about princeton, but their campus can give you an uptight new england feel or a very chill feel. if you’ve just been to west coast unis all your life the princeton campus may feel uptight at first because it did for me, but it gets to feel very chill and beautiful at the same time later :smiley:
  2. caltech is the only school i’ve heard of that can really keep up with its honor system, because they let all their students do takehome exams. of course maybe they’re just really good cheaters, but regardless i’d like to believe caltech has some of the most honest students in the nation(:
  3. our school is starting to have a pretty nice relationship with dartmouth and they seem to select the really all around good people at our school. like not the really snobby ones, not the transparent overachievers, but the people who really have passions, follow through with it, and are just really good people in general. plus the campus is pretty secluded so you get to know your friends well.
  4. i looooove. brown. like i could talk to you endlessly about brown. but i won’t. i think you know the gist.
    i don’t have much else to say for rice and tufts ): but don’t be fooled thinking that rice may not be as good because it’s less well known because its an amazing school. and tufts has one of the best international relations majors in the world)</p>

<p>:D long post</p>