<p>Sell me the school please. Here’s some info about me:</p>
<li>I don’t drink, and I’m not going to drink.</li>
<li>I’m a devout Evangelical Christian.</li>
<li>I’m a politically active conservative, but I went to a very liberal boarding school so I get along with liberals as long as they get along with me.</li>
<li>I’m looking to do a lot of undergrad research in the social sciences (particularly sociology.)</li>
<li>I’m planning to major in Sociology and Economics, but I might change to English, History or something else in the humanities.</li>
<li>One of my best friends is going to Penn. Another is going to Dickinson.</li>
<li>I grew up in the south and get along better with southerners.</li>
<li>I like small classes.</li>
<li>I love opera, theater, museums etc.</li>
<li>I don’t really care about prestige. I just want the best education for my needs with the best friends.</li>
<li>I already know I have a job after college.</li>
<li>I can be really unobservant and uncareful sometimes. I didn’t apply to Columbia because I thought I’d get physically hurt by accidentally not paying attention.</li>
<li>I love the FOCUS program.</li>
<li>I’m worried about being treated as a second class citizen at Penn because I’m into the College, not Wharton.</li>
<li>Community is really important to me. I want to get to know a lot of people well. Penn was the biggest school I applied to.</li>
<li>I’m worried that there’s not enough to do in Durham.</li>
<li>My Penn tour guide was my favorite tour guide of all schools.</li>
<li>I really want the opportunity to sing in college.</li>
<li>I love debating and theorizing and generally being intellectual (very different from being smart; I’m definitely not saying I’m smart.)</li>
<li>I hate cold weather and I have seasonal depression.</li>
<li>I have a car that I can bring to campus if the school allows it.</li>
</ol>
<p>Please ask any other questions that you feel might impact my decision. I really really appreciate this. I can’t visit because my father thinks all colleges are the same and thus it is a waste of money to visit one or the other.</p>
<p>Hmmm. As I reading what you wanted I kept drawing upon all the schools. None of them (in my opinion, mainly comparing Rice and Duke) have all that you're looking for. I guess the best way is to go through your info and give you my perspective. I have never visited Penn, so I won't focus on them very much. I did visit and get accepted to Rice and my roommate's sister went there (and he was going to go there, but chose Duke) so this is what I will be basing my view on.</p>
<ol>
<li>I know people at Duke who don't drink. My roommate's sister didn't drink at Rice. My roommate was turned off about the amount of drinking at Rice. Both schools you can find your niche and things to do without drinking.</li>
<li>I've met a lot of religious people at Duke.</li>
<li>Shouldn't be a problem at Duke. I'd say the student body is pretty middle of the road. Faculty go both ways. There are some really liberal faculty in the humanities, but I believe you will find that at Rice and Penn.</li>
<li>Not sure.</li>
<li>Duke has a large econ department. I know Rice's is much smaller, but seems to be up and coming. Duke is larger than Rice, so it will most likely offer more selection (and probably the same with Penn > Duke).</li>
<li>Well that means Penn...</li>
<li>Duke, then Rice, then Penn. Duke doesn't feel as southern as I thought it would. Penn is certainly going to be more northeastern. </li>
<li>Rice has really small classes. For econ at Duke, the intro classes are the largest at the university 200-500 students. I'm not a huge fan of this, but the department is large and econ classes are always large. Other classes are much smaller. For instance I only had 7 in my spanish last semester.</li>
<li>Duke won't have as much of that as Rice and Penn will (Houston and Philly).</li>
<li></li>
<li>Doesn't really matter with these schools.</li>
<li>If you're going to be going to college, you're going to have to learn to be more careful. Houston and Philly are big cities. Durham is much smaller, but you have to be aware when you go off campus.</li>
<li>Ok, then Duke.</li>
<li>Not sure.</li>
<li>I'm not sure about the other schools.</li>
<li>There is plenty to do in Durham/ North Carolina. If you have a car, then you should be fine.</li>
<li>...</li>
<li>I know there are lots of singing groups at Duke. Some friends of mine got to go to Spain for part of winter break to tour and sing.</li>
<li></li>
<li>Definately Duke. Weather is great. I'd say Houston can be downright miserable with the heat and humidity. I love the weather here. We even had two days where we got a dusting of snow and a few days over 80 around winter break.</li>
<li>You can have a car at Duke.</li>
</ol>
<p>I really really think you should visit. At least two of the schools. From the info you gave, I feel like it's important you visit because each of the schools you have to chose from have something different to offer and feel is important. Part of me thinks you could love Duke, but part of me thinks maybe Rice or Penn would be better. In your case, fit is super important, something you can only really tell by visiting.</p>
<p>Yeah the problem is I can't visit because my father thinks I'm making too much of a big deal out of it. Thanks so much for your help.</p>
<p>If you can't visit, then I think Rice could be hit or miss. It is smaller, so there is less of a chance fitting in, but then again the small atmosphere could be perfect. I guess a lot of it depends on how much you weigh your interests. It would be helpful if you could establish what is really important to you. What do you have to have? What do you not want at all? For instance, if seasonal depression is a big problem, then I really don't recommend penn even if it has a lot to offer that you want.</p>