<p>I'm an international student very very very very liberal, and I've heard that W&L is very conservative and I'm afraid it would not be the perfect vibe for me. Would I fit in? What's the social life like? Is there a lot to do in lexington?(clubs, etc)
Are the students accepting(LGBT, african americans, intl, etc)?
Thanx!!!</p>
<p>I am new to CC, so I only just discovered your post. </p>
<p>My beautiful, intelligent, hard-working niece went to Washington and Lee for 1 year. She went to high school at a private boarding school. She chose this small liberal arts college for its reputation for strong academics. I should also tell you that my niece comes from a affluent, conservative family and part of the appeal of this school is that she would be with other students much like herself. </p>
<p>Her year at W&L was awful. She excelled academically but found that the southern traditions and old-alum network at this school are very excluding of outsiders. She made friends but still found it hard to fit in. The campus social life is absolutely defined by the Greek system, and if you aren’t picked by a frat or sorority, you will be excluded from most social functions since they are closed to “independents.” My niece did not rush, then spent a lot of time alone until she transferred after her freshman year to a highly ranked university up north. Beware of this place: they are not “other” friendly. I am not surprised your question went unanswered.</p>
<p>I just discovered this post as well. I am sorry rckpgh that your niece had a bad time at W&L. My daughter attends W&L and sounds somewhat similar to rckpgh’s niece, with the exception that my daughter is fairly liberal.<br>
That being said, my daughter’s experience at W&L has been very different from rckpgh’s niece. She did fear at the beginning that it would be difficult for her there because of the Greek social structure and the sense that it was a conservative place. However, after a month or so she learned that W&L is truly exceptional in terms of the support that the school gives, the friendliness and individual focus of the faculty and administration and yes, the traditions. It is Greek-dominated, with a very high-percentage of students are in fraternities or sororities, but independents are not excluded from the majority of social functions. </p>
<p>It is not perfect. It is in a small town in the country. While there are decent restaurants in town, I am not aware of any club activity and Lexington is pretty far from DC. It doesn’t seem that there is a lot to do if one doesn’t like the fraternity party scene. I am not certain that there is an active LGTB scene. But the comment that W&L is not open to “others” is not warranted. The school has made an active effort to broaden the applicant pool. The Johnson scholarship program has helped it attract even more truly exceptional students with a wide variety of interests and, as shown by the experiences of my daughter and numerous others, the school is accepting of people from all over, with different backgrounds and politics.</p>
<p>That being said, your best bet is to spend time speaking to people who go there, not with parents or aunts and uncles, and to visit and take part in both academic and social events and see what you think.</p>
<p>Good luck with your search.</p>
<p>It is absolutely not true that “most social functions . . . are closed to independents.” That is simply incorrect. Most W&L parties are open to all students, regardless of Greek affiliation. (The exceptions would be formals and certain mixers bw frat and sorority, but note that the Big Three fraternities never hold this type of mixer.) </p>
<p>And, unlike many schools that have a similar open-door policy, students at W&L actually do attend parties given by students in other fraternities and sororities. This means that independents and Greeks from all houses can and do socialize together.</p>
<p>I have met several of my son’s independent friends, at social functions either officially or unofficially hosted by his fraternity, which is one of the bigger ones, as well as at social functions surrounding extracurricular groups of which he is a member. And I have also met many of his friends who are definitely not part of the “southern traditions and old-alum network” - these have included students whose parents did not attend college, who come from other countries, who are not Caucasian, and who are gay.</p>