Connecticut College Top Questions

Conn College has a bit of clique problem, but this is only an issue if you let it be. If you don't care and can just get over it, than you will be fine. Make friends with whoever you want and don't let other people sway your decisions about who is cool. Most Conn Coll students are wealthy and white and from 20 minutes outside of Boston. But that should not be held against them.

See above on stereotypes, and in addition: Conn is extremely open to alternative lifestyles and has a large and active gay community. Socio-economically the school tends to consist primarily of upper-middle class students. The school is very "WASPY" and has a large Jewish population as well. To class students where all sorts of things. The student body seems divided between preps who wear polo shirts to class, and artsy students who wear trendy cloths to class. All the different types frequently interact which is one of my favorite things about Conn--jocks, musicians, nerds, ect. all hang out. Racially, however, the school lacks in diversity and, while there are many exceptions, races tend not to interact with as much frequency they should which may have to do with the way the school recruits minorities: they target minorities from particular urban schools which creates a situation uncomfortable for minorities if not for race than because of the drastic contrast between wealthy New Englanders and working class New Yorkers. Politically students are overwhelmingly liberal. I can count the number of republicans I have met here on one hand. With a focus on the environment and internationalism, this seems logical. Students do not seem preoccupied with how much they will earn one day.

I am a full scholarship student and have NEVER felt out of place or looked down on by my classmates. True, i have specifically sought out friends who are not like this, but for the most part i feel that even the very wealthy people here (and there are a lot of them) are not snobby. Generally there a lot of rich white new englanders, as well as a surprising number of Californians. Most people here failed to get into ivy league schools.

I feel like Conn's campus is very well rounded. Because of the LGBTQ center alot more people are open about their sexuality and no student seems to be closeminded. It creates a comfortable atomosphere.

Most students do care about how they look, and in general are very attractive. I think overweight people would feel really uncomfortable, because there just arent very many heavy people here. It is definitely a very pretty school, especially the girls. Most kids are well-off new englanders who do want well paying jobs, but there are also a lot of people who plan to work for the peace corps or who spend a lot of time doing community service.

Most kids at Conn College are white and rich, but unlike the prestigious sterotype that goes along with that minority, Conn College is not like that. Most people are friendly and generally socially adept and outgoing. Conn College is also very casual, and people reflect that in there attire, personality and lifestyle. People are very accepting as well and generally everyone interacts with everyone. Most kids are from outside Boston but the student body is getting more diverse; when i first arrived at Conn College I knew every West Coaster at the school and now it is unbelievable how large that population has grown. Students are extremely politically aware and are both left, right and center, I dont believe there is more of one group.

The typical "uniform" at Conn (at least when it's chilly, which is the majority of the time), a pair of jeans, some clogs/sneakers/moccasins, and a Northface fleece. When it's warmer, and people are less worried about how much they're going to freeze wearing other clothes, the style (for girls) is pretty J. Crew meets Urban Outfitters. Preppy bohemian might be a good way to put it. For guys, it definitely leans more towards the preppy side of things (lots of docksiders going on). However, I'm just generalizing and that's certainly not the case for everyone. I would say that, because we're so small, people do generally interact with each other. Yet, there's definitely a separation between the minority students and the rest of the student body. If you walked into Harris dining hall, you'd see a lot of international and/or African American students sitting to your right, a fairly random mix of people in the middle struggling to find seats, and the sports teams dominating the right side. However, I don't personally feel that this separation occurs in all aspects of life at Conn. It's just especially visible in the dining hall. Most Conn students are from "right outside Boston." If you're not from outside Boston, you're probably from California or from any state above Massachusetts. I think there's probably about five or ten people that I personally know from Pennsylvania. I think that most people could find a niche at Conn. However, it's not incredibly politically active, so if you're looking for a school to really get involved in politics and issues, Conn might not be the place for you. Unless, however, those issues are environmental ones! If you're looking for the big city/lots of bars/lots of things to do off campus experience, Conn wouldn't be the best fit either. Conn is located kind of outside New London, which is a small and rather run down town along the coast. There's not really much going on there, but the Mohegan Sun casino is about ten minutes away where a lot of people go. New London gets kind of a bad reputation, but it really does have some good restaurants (Bangkok City for Thai food, Northern India for Indian food, Illiano's for great pizza...). Also, you can't forget that the beach is like ten minutes away!

most are from outside boston or jersey. Most are white upper middle class.

Conn students are very nice and approachable people. I do not feel like there is a pretentious attitude that is often stereotyped to East coast private schools. Many students are from the Northeast, but there is diversity; for instance among my friends I know people from Massachusetts (of course), Minnesota, California, Washington, Washington D.C., Florida, Connecticut, New York, Maine, Turkey and Ecuador. The student body is predominantly liberal, but not significantly politically active.

I'm not sure that I can think of a specific kind of student who would feel out of place. I think it might be hard socially to interact on campus if you do not drink, but there are people on campus who do not engage in activities with alcohol. Most students wear casual clothes to class- and in general, I would say that the girls put more effort in to their appearance than the boys for class. Different types of students interact, but often similar students end up forming their own social groups. Most Conn students come from New England, more specifically "just outside of Boston" or New York City.