I interviewed for a job with Berea last year and it seemed like a fantastic place, if a little bit of Jesus and some strange workstudy and very very small town doesn’t bug you. I don’t know how old you are-- if you’re an older student any of the small liberal arts schools might be a bit wierd. The older students I talked to at Berea had mixed feeling about their place in the student culture. A state school is much more diverse in terms of age and place in life. Don’t underestimate the value of a public school education, especially at the bachelors degree level.
I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback on the quality of life at Berea. College of the Ozarks has a similar work-study culture, but seems a bit more religious than a damned atheist like me would care for. Them folks seem to get their Christ on somethin’ fierce.
U of Utah is secular, and seems to appeal to a slightly different crowd than Brigham Young. That being said, I’m sure I’ll be neck-high in Mormons, but Mormons ain’t that bad. At first I thought, hey, they’re wholesome, I can do wholesome! but then I considered that the kind of wholesome I was raised with (rural Mississippi small Baptist church wholesome) might not be all that similar to Salt Lake City LDS wholesome. Still, U of Utah has a rep for friendliness and Utah is very affordable. Cost is high on my list of priorities, as I’ve paid my own way through college to date, and I highly doubt my family is going to chip in. That’s one of the reasons I’m really looking at Southern schools, affordability and warm weather.
Diversity is an issue I’m facing with all my picks. None have very ethnically diverse populations, and as a white Southerner I wouldn’t be adding much to it. A friend once suggested I try for a Historically Black College, which would certainly be an interesting experience, but I wouldn’t even know where to start.
sigh Adam didn’t log off again. Needless to say, that last message was mine.
To me, when I graduated from high school, going to another run of education which would still just be math, history, literature, PE, etc. I figured that going abroad would mean that at least I would pick up another language and be able to take College Level Country X’s History I instead of College Level American History I.
And so I got on the internet and came up with a list of schools in Japan that had both classes taught in English and in Japanese.
So my personal Alma Mater is ICU in Tokyo. I was perfectly happy with it, and with the choice to make the leap. There was one dormitory, Canada House, that was one-year study abroaders that got drunk every night. But that was about it as far as a party scene was concerned. Lots of clubs, though I never joined any.
The price of attending + living expenses is comparable to the US, though you’ll have an exponentially smaller apartment. Not sure if there are any sort of scholarships you can get.
Anyways, Japan or even leaving the US may not be something you are interested in, but as one potential idea that might make you feel a bit more enthused.
Berea is approximately an hour+ drive south from me. I have driven past it and know people who attended. It may be perfect for you as long as you like the small setting and rural surroundings. The town of Berea is nearly nothing without the small college that shares its name–certainly an intimate little school. There is nothing but farmland for miles around it. Though, Interstate 75 is nearby in case one is in need of a quick weekend get-a-way to a city.
You might want to look further south if ‘warm’ weather is a significant criterion for making your choice. For much of the academic year, it is NOT warm here IMO.
I went to Boulder back in the 80’s. Once I got my Colorado residence status, I think tuition was like $700-something a semester.
I made my college choice based largely on location. I picked where I wanted to live first, then found a good school there. I had been at Syracuse for a year and a summer. I wanted to get out of the NJ/NY area I’d been living in all my life and see the big mountains and wide open spaces out west, so it was Colorado.
I was a little older than my classmates because I took a year off to travel and work before Syracuse, then took another semester off between schools to work. Some of my buddies from HS went to Boulder so I hung out with them and the friends we all made.
Sure it’s a large state university, but within the School of Music there weren’t so many people that I felt ‘lost in the crowd’. Everybody knew who everybody else was because of the various ensembles we played in. I’m sure my experience would have been different if I had been in one of the bigger schools at CU.
Also, I had no problem finding roommates that were either my age or older. The all-student households I found myself in a few times generally sucked. It was nicer to have one or two people in the house who weren’t students and were willing to live with students. At times I was that person.
And when we wanted to get away, we’d walk up to Chataqua and go hiking in the foothills or pile into my car and go to the canyons around Moab, Rocky Mtn. NP & elsewhere along the Front Range, backcountry skiing wherever, it was fantastic if you’re into that sort of thing.
I really wouldn’t worry about the binge drinking thing if you’re not into it. Universities tend to be very diverse places. I’ve never been much of a drinker but I’m still having a good time here. Just stay out of situations where you know there will be heavy drinking and you’ll be fine. Most people aren’t jerks about that kind of thing, and you don’t want to be friends with those that are.
Just don’t live in the dorms.* Once you leave the “center” of undergrad housing (i.e. by having your own place), you will be surrounded by the people you choose. I am back in school as a grad student. I’m at URI, which, like all state C’s & U’s, is known for its partying. My housemates and I enjoy ourselves once in a while, but we certainly don’t feel like traditional undergrads again. We live all of 7 miles from (the main) campus.
I won’t say, however, that it doesn’t feel wierd walking around main campus and going, “man these people look young.”
*I imagine that wasn’t even a consideration. I was just pointing out that most of the social interaction takes place where the youngsters live. Thus, in your own place, you won’t be pestered to party-hardy.