<p>I am looking for a college where everyone is really smart, but they don't take themselves too seriously. I don't mean I want a college where people slack, but I just want the people to be relaxed and not snobby like some ivy league schools. I recently visited Tufts and I feel like that is the type of smart but laid back school I am looking for. Any other suggestions???</p>
<p>For LAC’s, look at Carleton, Pomona (or any of the Claremont Colleges). For public university look at UCSB, or UCLA.</p>
<p>Haverford, Carleton, Grinnell, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Pomona.</p>
<p>LACs:</p>
<p>Connecticut College (CT)
Wheaton College (MA)
Hobart & William Smith (NY)
St. Lawrence University (NY)
Hampshire College (MA)
Bennington College (VT)</p>
<p>WashU in St. Louis</p>
<p>Chicagooooo . . . ;P.</p>
<p>You can’t find a college where everyone is anything. At any college you consider, you’ll find people who don’t take themselves too seriously and people who are on ego trips, people who are relaxed and people who are intense, people who seem laid back but aren’t.</p>
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<p>My two daughters at Harvard tell me that they’ve encountered very few fellow students who come off as snobby. I sure did at the small college in the South that I attended!</p>
<p>Seriously, gadad. As I’ve said before, Harvard has the effect of taking most people down a peg or two. If you go around a place such as Harvard always thinking you’re the smartest person in the room, it’s a good bet you’re fooling yourself.</p>
<p>Brandeis
Brown
Carleton
Grinnell
Pomona
Rice
Tufts</p>
<p>Wash U
Rice</p>
<p>Brown. Seriously, Brown and Tufts are both so similar in this regard.</p>
<p>And gadad. There are some very nice people at Harvard. No doubt. I know plenty. But there are also some very arrogant people. And unjustifiably as well.</p>
<p>Carleton. That’s seriously their catchphrase. Everyone said that when I visited.</p>
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<p>As there are at:</p>
<p>Carleton, Pomona (or any of the Claremont Colleges), UCSB, or UCLA</p>
<p>Haverford, Carleton, Grinnell, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Pomona</p>
<p>Connecticut College (CT)
Wheaton College (MA)
Hobart & William Smith (NY)
St. Lawrence University (NY)
Hampshire College (MA)
Bennington College (VT)</p>
<p>WashU in St. Louis</p>
<p>Chicago</p>
<p>Brandeis
Brown
Carleton
Grinnell
Pomona
Rice
Tufts</p>
<p>Wash U
Rice</p>
<p>Brown and Tufts</p>
<p>Carleton</p>
<p>OP, posters have made a lot of good suggestions, you should do some research, see if any of them click for you.</p>
<p>Problem #1: Lots of colleges fit what you’re describing
Most top schools consist of a good mix of students, and a good many will provide exactly what you’re looking for. This is readily apparent from the fact that virtually every poster in this thread has named the school that (s)he attended or his/her child attended. </p>
<p>I would imagine that the list would grow ever longer (and probably much more accurately) with schools (and favorites) as more posters reply. I can personally think of at least two dozen schools off the top of my head that fit your vague description. In particular, top LACs that do NOT fit that description are perhaps the exception rather than the rule. </p>
<p>Problem #2: The criterion is too vague
There are enormous differences between the suggestions of, say, UCLA and Conn College. To get suggestions more suited to your needs, you need to be more specific in what you’re looking for. For example, what first drew you to Tufts?</p>
<p>Suggestion
Consider other factors like the following:
[ul][<em>]How big of a school do you want?
[</em>]Do you want it to be urban or rural?
[<em>]Which areas of the country are you considering?
[</em>]What can you afford?
[li]Do you want a big athletic, Greek, and/or party scene or something more laidback?[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Once you’ve decided what you’re looking for, you can narrow down a list of prospective colleges. Once you have that, you can:
[ul][<em>]Read reviews of the colleges
[</em>]Question current students or parents on CC
[<em>]Visit
[</em>]Attend information sessions[/ul]
These should help you figure out if students “don’t take themselves too seriously.”</p>
<p>Strange to see Chicago is on this list, Chicago students notoriously are very intense! Harvard is pretty bad in this regard as well. </p>
<p>I would say among the Ivies the most laid-back, friendly, and chill are Brown and Dartmouth. Stanford, UNC, Rice, UCLA, and Pomona also have very friendly and easygoing student bodies and environments.</p>
<p>Brown. Definitely. When my son attended their accepted-but-not-yet-committed students gathering, the school, as part of a presentation, played a series of movie and TV clips where the characters actually made fun of Brown.</p>
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<p>Not Chicago! I’ve had old friends who attended there for undergrad or their MBA programs, and they had THE ATTITUDE for a while afterward that they were now somehow extra special.</p>