I have a kid at Bates and it's not remotely super woke or artsy crunchy. Very outdoorsy, down to earth, not especially political student body. At the height of the Gaza drama at big universities, I asked my DC (who happens to have a pretty diverse group of friends) about protests on campus and the response was "protesting what? My kid may be particularly clueless but the point is that none of the political upheaval elsewhere even registered at Bates. I think they have some dance and performance stuff on campus but there's also a lot of sports and hiking/skiing. One of the big annual events is a mid-winter jump in the campus lake.

I think the vibe is probably similar for a lot of the schools mentioned here. I visited several of them, including Wesleyan, recently with my younger kid and the only SLAC that seemed like it had a lefty/artsy vibe was Haverford.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colby appears in this survey-based ranking of colleges with the friendliest students, an attribute that would seem to align with your son's disposition:

Friendliest Students | The Princeton Review https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=friendliest-students

Do we know how Princeton Review conducts these surveys? Like do the schools themselves send out a note to students asking them to complete the survey? Or does PR just spam email all the college kids in its database? How many kids from each school respond to the survey? If 40 respond from school A and 400 from school B, how are responses weighted? So many questions.

The Princeton Review describes its survey methods here:

Surveying Students: How It Works | The Princeton Review https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/how-it-works

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not Vassar or Wesleyan extremely not middle of the road. For combo of sports, active dating vibe middle of road Midd, Colgate, Richmond, and Holy Cross. Would also rule out Bates.

Vassar and Wesleyan are head and shoulders above Colgate, Richmond, and HC. Middlebury I’m neutral on.

Ha! That’s funny.

I love Wes and my niece went to Vassar but neither are above Colgate or Middlebury.

Except for in the rankings... Wes, Vassar and Mid all ranked the same, share #13 spot. Colgate #22

Do you really think that just because there is an 8-way tie in magazine’s ranking, that the next school on the list is so inferior that it should not be considered a peer? The PP said “neither are above” Colgate. Seems accurate really, even by your hair splitting standards.

Maybe take a step back and think for a second.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not Vassar or Wesleyan extremely not middle of the road. For combo of sports, active dating vibe middle of road Midd, Colgate, Richmond, and Holy Cross. Would also rule out Bates.

Vassar and Wesleyan are head and shoulders above Colgate, Richmond, and HC. Middlebury I’m neutral on.

Ha! That’s funny.

I love Wes and my niece went to Vassar but neither are above Colgate or Middlebury.

Except for in the rankings... Wes, Vassar and Mid all ranked the same, share #13 spot. Colgate #22

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not Vassar or Wesleyan extremely not middle of the road. For combo of sports, active dating vibe middle of road Midd, Colgate, Richmond, and Holy Cross. Would also rule out Bates.

Vassar and Wesleyan are head and shoulders above Colgate, Richmond, and HC. Middlebury I’m neutral on.

Ha! That’s funny.

DP. What's funny is thinking anyone would choose Richmond and HC over Wes and Vassar ranked #13 for SLACs who have historical prestige. Google Holy Cross on DCUM. It is often dragged (even though I find it a perfectly fine school). And Richmond is too conservative. Middlebury and Colgate sound like good choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not Vassar or Wesleyan extremely not middle of the road. For combo of sports, active dating vibe middle of road Midd, Colgate, Richmond, and Holy Cross. Would also rule out Bates.

Vassar and Wesleyan are head and shoulders above Colgate, Richmond, and HC. Middlebury I’m neutral on.

Ha! That’s funny.

I love Wes and my niece went to Vassar but neither are above Colgate or Middlebury.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colby appears in this survey-based ranking of colleges with the friendliest students, an attribute that would seem to align with your son's disposition:

Friendliest Students | The Princeton Review https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=friendliest-students

Do we know how Princeton Review conducts these surveys? Like do the schools themselves send out a note to students asking them to complete the survey? Or does PR just spam email all the college kids in its database? How many kids from each school respond to the survey? If 40 respond from school A and 400 from school B, how are responses weighted? So many questions.

I've never visited a friendlier campus than Franklin&Marshall. It was noticeable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not Vassar or Wesleyan extremely not middle of the road. For combo of sports, active dating vibe middle of road Midd, Colgate, Richmond, and Holy Cross. Would also rule out Bates.

Lots of opinions from people about Wes who obviously have no connection to the school. Wes has many popular arts programs, so yes, there are many artsy students. But there are also lots of stem kids, and lax bros, and dudes who play fantasy football. Lots of different kinds of kids. Great school worth looking at.

These different types of kids might exist on campus but woke predominates.

Woke doesn't predominate. You've obviously never been there so you should probably just shut your pie hole.

Anonymous wrote:I have an athletic, straight son who is politically progressive and socially very tolerant (volunteers with kids who have disabilities, befriended the trans kid in his class who couldn't find a partner for a project, etc). He's considering some SLACs at which he could play his sport. We have visited F&M and Dickinson, both of which seem like decent fits vibe-wise.

What are the student bodies like at Middlebury, Wesleyan, Trinity (CT), Haverford, Occidental, and Vassar? Maybe the Maine ones as well (Colby, Bates, Bowdoin)?

I don't think a super artsy crunchy place will be the best fit for him....he is going to want to find friends who want to watch professional sports, join a fantasy football league, etc, and girls who are interested in dating men. I feel like at a smaller school you really have to make sure it's the right fit.

I’d add Davidson and Hamilton to this list.

Wesleyan would be a great fit. I know several students there, a couple of whom are like your son. All are happy. Contrary to what sometimes gets assumed, Wesleyan is not all crunchy-artsy-granola, though you can find that element there. Wesleyan is eclectic, with all types, and the nice thing is that it's not cliquey and everyone gets along. Plenty of sporty, straight boys at Wes, and plenty of straight girls, too. He would quickly find his people. It's an excellent school and, I think, the most balanced of the SLACs. (My own dc is not applying because they don't have the specific major he wants, but otherwise, it would probably be his top choice. And he is also a straight guy hoping to have a dating life in college.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not Vassar or Wesleyan extremely not middle of the road. For combo of sports, active dating vibe middle of road Midd, Colgate, Richmond, and Holy Cross. Would also rule out Bates.

Vassar and Wesleyan are head and shoulders above Colgate, Richmond, and HC. Middlebury I’m neutral on.

Ha! That’s funny.

Anonymous wrote:Colby appears in this survey-based ranking of colleges with the friendliest students, an attribute that would seem to align with your son's disposition:

Friendliest Students | The Princeton Review https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=friendliest-students

Do we know how Princeton Review conducts these surveys? Like do the schools themselves send out a note to students asking them to complete the survey? Or does PR just spam email all the college kids in its database? How many kids from each school respond to the survey? If 40 respond from school A and 400 from school B, how are responses weighted? So many questions.

Colby appears in this survey-based ranking of colleges with the friendliest students, an attribute that would seem to align with your son's disposition:

Friendliest Students | The Princeton Review https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=friendliest-students

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an athletic, straight son who is politically progressive and socially very tolerant (volunteers with kids who have disabilities, befriended the trans kid in his class who couldn't find a partner for a project, etc). He's considering some SLACs at which he could play his sport. We have visited F&M and Dickinson, both of which seem like decent fits vibe-wise.

What are the student bodies like at Middlebury, Wesleyan, Trinity (CT), Haverford, Occidental, and Vassar? Maybe the Maine ones as well (Colby, Bates, Bowdoin)?

I don't think a super artsy crunchy place will be the best fit for him....he is going to want to find friends who want to watch professional sports, join a fantasy football league, etc, and girls who are interested in dating men. I feel like at a smaller school you really have to make sure it's the right fit.

Oxy sounds like a great fit for what you're DS is looking for. What is his sport?

Not unless the student isan active social justice warrior.

Nope I know two moderate liberal boys there who are not politically active at all and having a great time! vocal few tend to grab headlines, but Oxy is a pretty mainstream place if you're there.

Agreed. We visited and DS has spent time with a friend who goes there. It’s definitely liberal but the idea that it’s full of social justice warriors is pretty funny. My impression when we visited was that there wasn’t a big divide between athletes and non-athletes and the vibe was friendly.

I agree with this description of Occidental.

OP, I have visited lots of these schools and know many who attend and have attended. I think Colby, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Bates, and Holy Cross would be great fits. I have been told by a lot of people that there is a big divide at Wesleyan between the athletes as a group and everyone else. My sporty boy didn't mind that because, if anything, he probably aligned more politically with the "woke" non-athletes. He didn't end up choosing Wesleyan but we liked it.