Colleges for conservative student

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most colleges are fine and have students who are both republicans and democrats. I work just avoid LACs.

Maybe you should read the Fire Free Speech ranking. While public universities did best, there were far more LACs in the top 100 than private universities, despite there being far more of the latter in the country. Ranking starts on p45.

https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/2025-college-free-speech-rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People naming Jesuit schools are really off. Yes they’re catholic but politically very liberal. He should go to a southern state school like Texas, Georgia, Florida, etc.

Plenty of conservative leaning students at Jesuit schools. In fact all Catholic schools are more accepting of conservative views than some of the crazy liberal lacs and ivies. Of the stronger Catholic schools, Notre Dame and Villanova probably have the most students who would identify as republican or socially conservative. Notre Dame's location in the midwest helps and the large population of kids from Long Island at Villanova has that conservative influence.

Good luck OP. My daughter is also conservative (socially--pro-life etc.) and she is going for these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are a religious conservative most likely they should go to a religious school.
If they are a normal conservative like Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, or George W. Bush then they should go to any school with everyone else.
If they are a MAGA than they should not go to college at all because either their worldview is inconsistent with a higher education.

So being religious conservative isn't "normal"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go into college with such a closed mind, you’re not really there for the education. Does want to be challenged to think, or does he want validation?

Do you ask the same question whenever a poster seeks colleges for their very liberal kid?

I don’t see that question much because most colleges are, by nature of their mission, open-minded places.

One of my liberal kids went to college in Alabama. We don’t hide from diversity and we don’t need our beliefs to be coddled or validated.

Actually I had the same question as the PP. Sure, your liberal kid is getting exposure to the real world and you should be proud. Most conservative people don't want to be in a situation where they are cancelled the moment they open their mouth. Places like the ivies and extremely liberal lacs are echo chambers for progressives. In fact most universities are. I think OP wants to find a place where their DC can find friends who have similar interests. Nothing at all wrong with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just know that if he does pick Liberty, many of the top companies in the DMV area do not respect their degrees or consider their programs competitive.

I did high-level recruiting for Deloitte, EY, PwC, and the like and they all had blocks on Liberty, Patrick Henry College, Grand Canyon University, Appalachian Bible College, and Bob Jones University grads.

This is effing nonsense. LinkedIn would show you in about 3 seconds that the Big4 recruit and hire multiple hires from Patrick Henry and Liberty. Also multiple references to these employers on the schools’ career page

You then throw in two non accredited Bible colleges (ABC and Bob Jones) which are completely different scenarios.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny how someone asks for conservative colleges everyone jumps to Liberty or Hillandale.

For a fantastic school experience without having liberal indoctrination shoved down your throat, try Baylor.

Hillsdale is a better school than Baylor.

Hillsdale offers one of the most rigorous liberal arts educations in the country. People who conflate it with schools like Liberty just show how 'tarted they are.

Baylor is also a fine school, but you won't be challenged there to the extent you will be at Hillsdale.

Agree that Hillsdale is better and more rigorous academically than Baylor. But I would hesitate to have my own child go there. As noted in this thread, they will get discriminated against for hiring in many companies. Baylor would be more neutral.

[Anonymous]

This is a different option, but there are a ton of “government should be small & taxes low” types at Wharton. They are also personally conservative in their behavior (e.g, dress sharp, no tattoos) but tend to be more politically libertarian regarding what other people do. Mostly they just don’t care if it doesn’t impact them. Many of them are highly $$$ focused because they want families and want to raise them in a certain style.

It’s not MAGA but a low key conservative that likes business and recognizes that arguing about politics is a distraction from the goal (which is, yes, $$$), will fit in fine.

There will be some general wokery associated with the university as a whole but most of the Wharton kids will just roll their eyes and continue on with their mission.

[Anonymous]

UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a HS school junior looking for high academic colleges in the eastern part of the country, where conservative views are valued and respected. One school that we hear fits that mold is Washington & Lee. Please share other suggestions. Thank you!

I would worry less about finding a conservative school, and more about finding out if conservative groups can flourish at the place.

I know of one school where anyone who joins a conservative group becomes a target, which means the school is crap because ideas can’t be discussed. It is more like a 1984 novel than a place of learning. I’ve seen religious schools that I think are the same way, no learning. No talking about other points of view.

What impresses me is when you see schools where religious groups and conservative groups flourish because it’s a real place of learning and discussing. Those colleges are top tier!
Our country wouldn’t work as well if we all thought the same thing. But we have to listen and think and discuss to get to those best ideas. Real colleges is supposed to do that, find those schools, not the indoctrination schools where they train you to be a non-thinker!

Have you checked out FIRE's College Free Speech Rankings? That would get a good index of what you're talking about

https://www.thefire.org/college-free-speech-rankings

Nah, they only focus on letting one side speak.

That's why they rate Wheaton College (IL) so poorly right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA

FIRE gives it a very high free speech ranking.

[Anonymous]

OP hasn’t come back to get more specific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are a religious conservative most likely they should go to a religious school.
If they are a normal conservative like Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, or George W. Bush then they should go to any school with everyone else.
If they are a MAGA than they should not go to college at all because either their worldview is inconsistent with a higher education.

So being religious conservative isn't "normal"?

Yes, a religious “conservative” wants religion intimately involved in their government while traditional conservatives do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny how someone asks for conservative colleges everyone jumps to Liberty or Hillandale.

For a fantastic school experience without having liberal indoctrination shoved down your throat, try Baylor.

Hillsdale is a better school than Baylor.

Hillsdale offers one of the most rigorous liberal arts educations in the country. People who conflate it with schools like Liberty just show how 'tarted they are.

Baylor is also a fine school, but you won't be challenged there to the extent you will be at Hillsdale.

Agree that Hillsdale is better and more rigorous academically than Baylor.

That’s probably true, but I would hesitate to call Hillsdale rigorous generally. It’s rigorous prep for law school and decent prep for med school. Outside of Bio (16%) it doesn’t have a lot majoring in STEM (no CS major, around 1% majoring in physical sciences, and around 5% in math.) They have extensive distribution requirements, but the STEM courses appear to be at the pre AP high school level. I find it surprising there’s no statistical analysis component to their “Politics” curriculum…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are a religious conservative most likely they should go to a religious school.
If they are a normal conservative like Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, or George W. Bush then they should go to any school with everyone else.
If they are a MAGA than they should not go to college at all because either their worldview is inconsistent with a higher education.

So being religious conservative isn't "normal"?

Yes, a religious “conservative” wants religion intimately involved in their government while traditional conservatives do not.

Wait..."normal" conservative George W. Bush had Wheaton grad (and by all reports all-around excellent human) Michael Gerson as his speechwriter. Gerson, RIP, was basically the opposite of MAGA. He's a major reason W started PEPFAR and tried to help with the HIV/AIDS epidemic around the world (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/13/george-bush-pepfar-michael-gerson-words/). David French is a religious conservative and it's on the basis of that religion that he takes the various stands he takes in the NYT.

Don't go confusing all of us who are religious and also conservative with Christian nationalists. Many Christians have theological issues with trying to combine the church and the state (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_kingdoms_doctrine). And that's not even to mention those who aren't Christian whose religion has it's own thing to say about the relationship between their faith and the government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are a religious conservative most likely they should go to a religious school.
If they are a normal conservative like Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, or George W. Bush then they should go to any school with everyone else.
If they are a MAGA than they should not go to college at all because either their worldview is inconsistent with a higher education.

So being religious conservative isn't "normal"?

If you’re not familiar with the “prosperity Christians” who want America to be a Theocracy, you’re not paying attention. They think Trump was sent by God, despite all the evidence that he’s more like the Anti Christ. No, this is not normal and it’s very much cult thinking.