Our eldest will be picking a college next school year. He’s expressed a willingness to attend a school in the Deep South if that’s where the money is. He’s a probable National Merit Semifinalist without top grades. Has anyone experienced going to college in a conservative city when you’re on the opposite end of the political spectrum? I went to University Tennessee, but I grew up in the area and Tennessee wasn’t as red a state back when I lived there. I’m thinking specifically of UA-Huntsville and University Mississippi, because they offer big money to semifinalists. He actually brought up the possibility of going to one of these schools, but I’m wondering how much of a shock it would be for a kid who grew up in the DC suburbs.
Shouldn’t be hard. Universities as a whole tend to be liberal, even in red states or cities, and red states/cities are typically more hospitable to blue folks than blue states/cities are to red folks. And even in the reddest of states, a liberal student at a large public university will probably find himself in the company of many fellow liberals.
Now, if he ventures out into the rural South, then he’ll be in solidly red conservative territory, but that would be true of any other region too. Rural America is typically conservative America - whether Midwest, West, South, North, etc.
OK, I grew up in the DC suburbs and currently teach at one of the other state universities in Mississippi, and I’d say, first of all, it’s not going to be that hard for a liberal student to find like-minded people at any public university, both students and professors.
That said, Ole Miss is kind of a weird, tradition-heavy place, and it strikes me as having a very conservative campus culture even by Mississippi standards (as in, there’s been a recent history of ugly fraternity “pranks” involving the James Meredith statue, and there were students being massive, disruptive, homophobic jerks at a recent campus production of The Laramie Project. This is the sort of thing I’d have a hard time imagining at my own campus – which has very quietly started marketing itself as a safe space for LGBT students.) I’m by no means saying that he shouldn’t be looking at it – for a student of a certain personality type, I think it might be a more interesting and enlightening experience than going somewhere most of your classmates agree with you – but I also suspect he’d be swimming against the predominant culture in ways that can be exhausting, particularly if he identifies as a minority in other ways (gay, atheist, etc.)
I don’t know too much about UA - Huntsville, so I’ll let someone else take that one on.
It’s not like you’re sending him to school in Riyadh, dude. He’s gonna [del]hit the bong and get laid[/del] study hard. It’s college.
Can he stay stoned for 4 years?
I found it a useful coping methodology…
One of the best parts about college is being exposed to people who are different from you. Unless you want your son to live his entire life in a liberal echo chamber, I’d say your concern is bordering on the nonsensical.
I can tell you that UT-Austin should be fine for him. I don’t have first-hand knowledge of other southern states, but I would think that any large college campus would by default be at least 50% liberal, unless it’s avowedly religious.
Do push the best school for him. The most Financial Aid, the best record at placing students, the best record at providing internships, etc. It may not be the school you think.
Our eldest was accepted into an Extremely Prestigious “name” school… that offered him Virtually Nothing beyond fancy font on a diploma and a HUGE bill.
Schools with smaller names, equal programs, better internship shots, and better placement rates offered EASILY a FULL STANDARD of DEVIATION more aid towards the cost of his bill. (It still won’t be cheap)
So, he won’t be going to the "I went to two-syllable-brag-fest " school. He’ll get a great education, be appreciated, and have a job afterward.
It’s too dangerous for him. The entire south is pretty much Deliverance
I agree. This whole country places way too much importance on “conservative” vs “liberal.” The difference between us on certain beliefs may be great, but we can all get along. I work with many conservative folks, who I sincerely enjoy working with. I disagree with their politics vehemently, but I wouldn’t be afraid to let my children spend time with them (if I had any).
This fear that liberals have of conservatives, and the hatred conservatives have towards liberals is tearing our country apart. It makes me very sad.
I’m not concerned with him being surrounded by people he agrees with; I just want him to enjoy himself. I grew up in East Tennessee; my wife grew up in Maryland but went to FSU. Being surrounded by folks who think differently is part of being educated, but it’s nice to have a few like minded people around as well. I feel like there’s a tendency among liberals to believe conservatives are idiots, and I think that attitude may have won the election for Bush II. At the same time, I see attitude among many conservatives that liberals are immoral and/or unpatriotic. Attitudes seem to be hardening on both sides, which made me wonder if 4 years in the Deep South might be more difficult for a lefty than it was when I was college age. Honestly, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to get more rural conservatives into schools that are liberal hotbeds.
I think it’s actually better to attend a school that is the opposite of where you stand politically.
I went into Ann Arbor thinking I had become a liberal and came out a renewed conservative.
For undergraduate I went to a small Evangelical college and came out more liberal than I was before. Honestly, I think if people of differing beliefs got to know each other more often it would become harder to demonize each other. Of course that may be soft headed liberal thinking. 
Neither he nor his parents have any interest in “name” schools.
I saw that MSU and Southern Miss give lots of dough to students who have the smarts/luck to do well on the PSAT. He’s half Jewish and has grown up Unitarian Universalist, but gets along fine with my moderate evangelical Christian parents. In the end it’s his decision, of course. He’s pretty much a nonconformist like his dad. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him play Devil’s advocate with his like minded friends.
UT Austin does not pay for low gpa/high test scores. UT Dallas does, if they are high enough. UTD would be worth looking at. Its not particularly political at all, and Dallas as a whole has plenty of diversity. OU also pays for test scores and is big enough to be diverse.
I grew up in Huntsville, went to UAH. Huntsville is pretty conservative, but the younger generations seem more open minded. He would need to visit.
He’d thought about UT Austin, but I told him it would be hard to get any money there. Actually, he’ll have more options if he’s a NM Finalist. His grades might make him one of the 1000 of 16000 who doesn’t make the cut. If they look at his magnet class grades he may be ok; his essay should make it clear that some poor grades in English classes don’t mean he can’t write. I assume being a semifinalist is a given, since the cutoff in MD has never been as high as his PSAT score. His overall GPA isn’t bad, but not what you’d expect from his test scores. If he’s a finalist, he’d probably pick NJIT. I think he’d love living in the NY area. However, his slacking may take that option away. If he’s happy, I don’t care if he goes to Bucksnort State. He’s lucky to have done well enough on the PSAT to have opened some doors.
no shit. OP is not special, his son is not special, people have been dealing with things like this for a long goddamn time.
PROTIP: centuries of history occurred before you were born.