It’s well-known that the vast majority of college campuses lean liberal, both in their student body and faculty. Many of these are open about their liberal stances, with administration even making statements that are clearly partisan and clearly left. And most colleges that are considered more conservative than liberal are Christian colleges.
So where would a young non-religious conservative scholar fit in? Are there any top schools that are genuinely welcoming to conservative ideology?
Hillsdale.
Hillsdale is Libertarian. I think large public universities are the best bet for a politically diverse student body.
@Center : One might argue that Libertarians are the real conservatives 
@Muad_dib I know…
I would put Texas A&M out there, as a large, conservative public university.
Hillsdale is Christian, though nonsectarian. They recently revised their mission statement to make this clear:
TAMU is one of six officially-designated “senior military colleges” in the US. These schools are noted for their close relationships with the military, and are generally conservative. The other five are:
University of North Georgia; Dahlonega, Georgia
Norwich University; Northfield, Vermont
The Citadel; Charleston, South Carolina
Virginia Military Institute; Lexington, Virginia
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech); Blacksburg, Virginia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senior_Military_College
Damn…
I mean, I’ll take middle of the road too. I’m thinking about graduate school right now, and would like to go to a university where I could at least find a decent number of conservatives and where liberal ideology doesn’t reign over every class and every organization.
I currently go to USC for undergrad. It’s a great school, and I’ve loved my classes there. But the student body is overwhelmingly liberal, and I’ve only been able to find conservative professors in the business department. Professors, students, and even the administration regularly make blatantly partisan statements that don’t sit well with me.
I have no problem talking to liberals and having my beliefs challenged and debated. That is all well and good. But when I’m literally the only conservative I know…that’s not really enjoyable either.
You could try flagship state universities in religiously conservative states. It doesn’t sound like Brigham Young U, Oral Roberts U, or Liberty U appeal to you, but maybe secular alternatives like U of Utah, U of Oklahoma, or U of Virginia would fit.
Your options would obviously improve if you considered religious schools. Some may require students to profess a specific faith, but others may not. You don’t have to be Mormon, for example, to attend BYU.
@Center The large public universities would have to be in conservative states. They’re not diverse in the blue states I know.
Not NE @Flambeau.
You might have to opt with Christian and conservative.
Hillsdale would not be aggressively Christian though.
I know Stanford attracts some conservative students because of the Hoover Institution. I also had a very religious and conservative colleague who was thrilled that his daughter decided to go to the University of Dayton. It’s affiliated with the Catholic Church, though I don’t think it’s particularly religious.
BTW - what’s your current major at USC? I got an engineering degree at USC years ago, and while I can imagine a political discussion being initiated by a professor in certain courses, it’s hard (though not impossible) to see an engineering professor starting a political discussion. And don’t forget, Professor Schwarzenegger runs a policy institute there, as does Dan Schnur, who was a well-known Republican operative in California before ran for California Secretary of State.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll look into them, but I’m more interested in top, top schools. I don’t want to go backward, you know? I want to get my graduate education at a college that is either as highly ranked and recognizable as USC or better.
But I guess there really aren’t any top colleges that fit?
The only ones that I think may fit are: Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Duke, and Georgetown. I think those may be a bit less overwhelmingly liberal than the rest of the top schools, but I’m really not sure. Because when I chose USC over Berkeley for undergrad, part of my reason was that I thought USC would be more politically moderate, and boy, was I wrong…
ETA: I know that Notre Dame and Georgetown are technically religious schools, but their student bodies are pretty secular, compared to most Christian colleges.
ETA again because new replies were posted:
I’m an English major and a Political Science minor. But both of the professors I’ve had for science classes spouted liberal views pretty frequently in classes that had absolutely nothing to do with politics. But these weren’t engineering classes, so maybe Viterbi is different. 
we are pretty conservative at smu my buddy at vandy says their population is starting to skew left with more and more northeasterners attending the school.
Check Stonehill, catholic but, if you not are religious don’t have any problem.
Amazing staff.
@jamesk2014 That’s true. I know several kids from our NE town at Vandy.
Interesting thread. Why not just apply for grad school at your preferred college? Are you getting an education for political reasons? I doubt it. Your goal is the degree, and you are already attending a highly regarded college. Aim as high as you can and don’t focus on your perception of political leanings. There are plenty of conservatives at HYP.
Very surprised you thought USC would be moderate. It’s the embodiment of California. It’s famous for graduating pretty successful and well-known liberals. I don’t think Cal is the hippy hotbed it was in the 60s and 70s. Keep us posted on where you eventually end up, and good luck.
You might want to consider some of the Jesuit colleges. The Jesuits are educators first and foremost – no need to be religious to go to those schools. I do think many of the Jesuit colleges do lean a bit more conservative compared to some other schools. However, IMO you would have to be respectful of religion and OK seeing some religious symbols etc. on campus .http://www.ajcunet.edu/institutions/
I think you’re right about Georgetown, but I think Notre Dame has a large population of kids who are VERY religious.
Honestly if you’re a libertarian you’ll be fine at pretty much every top university. Students at the Ivies, Stanford, Georgetown, Chicago-- are happy to have spirited, civil, passionate debates about all of the issues near and dear to the hearts of libertarians. Conservative scholars are everywhere from Penn and Harvard to Chicago and Princeton. Chicago is actually pretty famous for the conservative professors they’ve employed (think Antonin Scalia) and their more conservative than average student body.
And think about some of the elite universities that conservative/republican leaders have graduated from: Ted Cruz is Princeton and Harvard, John Huntsman Jr. (former governor of the most genuinely conservative state, Utah) is Penn, Samuel Alito is Princeton and Yale, Clarence Thomas is Yale, Gorsuch is Columbia and Harvard, Frank Luntz is Penn, Scalia was Georgetown and Harvard, William F. Buckley was a Yale man, Ann Coulter is Cornell and Michigan Law (which is a top law school that genuinely rivals the elite privates), The Bush family is a Yale family, Mitt Romney went to Harvard for grad school, Bobby Jindal even went to Brown!, Rob Portman went to Dartmouth and Michigan Law, Justin Amash also went to Michigan Law, the President went to Penn, and the list goes on and on.
My point is not that these institutions are amazing at producing conservatives/republicans but rather that conservatives/republicans can thrive at all of these institutions, get amazing educations, and then use those outstanding educations to create the changes they want to see in the world.
Don’t be afraid of top colleges because of your political leanings. These universities need and welcome diverse opinions in order for their students and professors to truly thrive. And don’t be fooled into thinking that state schools in conservative states are going to be super conservative-- institutions of higher education outside of the religious universities you mentioned are going to be left leaning. But if you think it’s important to have the future leaders of tomorrow exposed to conservative ideologies during their educations, then you shouldn’t let the majority of liberals scare you off!