<p>I'm currently looking to apply to top conservative schools such as Vanderbilt, Davidson and Wake Forest. </p>
<p>One school that I have always been fond of is Wheaton College in Illinois ("Harvard of Christian-Protestant schools" as the guidebooks books say). However, due to Wheaton's Christian affiliation, I am not sure how one would be looked upon by top graduate schools. </p>
<p>What is the reputation Wheaton College and how would secular top graduate programs view a degree from Wheaton? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of Wheaton College, but I doubt a grad school would look down on someone’s degree just because they came from a conservative school. Although, if you’re so concerned about how a school’s religious affiliation would look to a secular grad program, why not go to a secular undergrad school? Or go for Vanderbilt, whose reputation as an all-around amazing school precedes its ties to conservative conventions.</p>
<p>You wont have any bias held against you when applying to law schools with a Wheaton Degree. University Of Virginia Law School Class of 2011 has 4 students from Wheaton out of its class of 132 (That’s more than what Amherst, Rice, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins and Columbia sent. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospectives/class11.htm[/url]”>http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/prospectives/class11.htm</a></p>
<p>The president of my school (Nathan O. Hatch at Wake Forest) is probably the most brilliant man I have ever met (or heard speak) and he went to Wheaton College for undergrad. He went on to get his Ph.D. in History from Washington University in St. Louis (which ironically has the reputation for being one of the most liberal colleges. In short, graduate schools will know that Wheaton is a great school.</p>
<p>However, I went to Wake Forest and that is also a great school. Wheaton is more conservative and probably more “intellectual” than Wake Forest. If you had any specific questions about Wake you could PM me.</p>
<p>On a more personal note, I know someone who graduated from Wheaton in Illinois last year who is now in UPenn’s School of Medicine.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is not conservative. It’s southern, but it is not in the same league as Wheaton.</p>
<p>As with most things in life, it can go in several directions –</p>
<p>– some graduate schools, especially Law and Business, like to balance their classrooms with every type of perspective. Having a socially conservative, and possibly religiously conservative student in a law or business discussion class is an asset.</p>
<p>– some Professors will pick a Ph.D. track student to mentor based on “fit”; that is a (socially, fiscally, or religiously) liberal professor of English might prefer to admit a student of like mind. The same would hold for a conservative professor.</p>
<p>As to the quality of academic preparation of a Wheaton student vs. one from any other school – each grad school will have a dossier on how students from every feeding undergrad school in the US and world has done in their programs. the “national reputation” or “social reputation” of an undergraduate institution is not nearly as important as how live students from those institutions have actually fared in the real graduate programs they populate.</p>