The most conservative college in the US is just a short drive from lefty LA — and has just 372 students
The 'Most Conservative College' in the country is just a short drive from liberal Los Angeles, according to the 2026 Best Colleges guide from the Princeton Review.
The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company.
4 The 'Most Conservative College' in the United States is just a short drive from liberal Los Angeles, according to the Princeton Review.
imagineRbc – stock.adobe.com
'The colleges we profile in our 'Best Colleges' book are a truly select group. They constitute only about 15% of America's nearly 2,400 four-year institutions,' said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief of The Princeton Review and the book's lead author.
To produce the report, researchers surveyed 170,000 students.
'We don't rank colleges based on our opinion of them nor would we crown a school 'best' overall,' Franek explained.
'Our goal since day one on this project,' he continued, 'has been to provide multiple resources to help college applicants answer what is for most the toughest question in their journey to college, 'Which college is best for me?''
To help answer that, the new guide features two-page profiles of all 391 schools, as well as 50 ranking list categories, such as 'Most Religious Students' and 'Happiest Students' — including Grove City College in Pennsylvania and Claremont McKenna College in California.
4 To produce the ranks, the Princeton Review surveyed 170,000 students attending the schools in the book.
panitan – stock.adobe.com
But the school with the most conservative students is Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, with an undergraduate population of just 372.
Thomas Aquinas is a private, conservative, Catholic liberal arts institution, located in Ventura County, near Los Angeles.
It was established in 1971 and is known for its use of the Socratic method, where all classes are discussion-based and led by professors — called tutors — who guide conversations through questions.
4 But the school with the most conservative students is Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, with an undergraduate population of 372.
Thomas Aquinas College
The small student-to-faculty ratio — 11:1 — fosters a close-knit environment where tutors are deeply engaged, approachable, and supportive, often interacting with students outside the classroom.
The population is nearly evenly split between men and women and students from in and out of state, but predominantly (63%) white.
The college community is described as friendly, faith-centered, and intellectually driven. Many students are motivated by their Catholic beliefs and are seen as studious, kind, and eager to help others.
Meanwhile, just up the coast, sits the school with the most liberal students — Reed College in progressive Portland, Ore.
Founded in 1908, Reed is a private liberal arts institution with an undergraduate enrollment of 1,346.
Reed College advertises a student-driven environment. With 38 majors, 17 minors, and two dual-degree programs, Reed emphasizes personal inquiry through a structured curriculum that includes a yearlong humanities course, broad distribution requirements, and a senior thesis.
Reedies are known for being academically passionate, inclusive, and deeply involved in learning — often pursuing niche interests outside their majors. The school is particularly welcoming to LGBTQIA+ and gender minority students.
4 Founded in 1908, Reed College is a private liberal arts college with an undergraduate enrollment of 1,346.
Reed College
The population is nearly evenly split between men and women, but mostly (85%) students from out of state and 58% white.
Notably, Reed ranks among the top schools nationally for the percentage of graduates who earn PhDs. Many alumni also go on to earn advanced degrees or become leaders in their fields.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
The most conservative college in the US is just a short drive from lefty LA — and has just 372 students
The kids are all right. The 'Most Conservative College' in the country is just a short drive from liberal Los Angeles, according to the 2026 Best Colleges guide from the Princeton Review. The Princeton Review is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admissions services company. 4 The 'Most Conservative College' in the United States is just a short drive from liberal Los Angeles, according to the Princeton Review. imagineRbc – 'The colleges we profile in our 'Best Colleges' book are a truly select group. They constitute only about 15% of America's nearly 2,400 four-year institutions,' said Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief of The Princeton Review and the book's lead author. To produce the report, researchers surveyed 170,000 students. 'We don't rank colleges based on our opinion of them nor would we crown a school 'best' overall,' Franek explained. 'Our goal since day one on this project,' he continued, 'has been to provide multiple resources to help college applicants answer what is for most the toughest question in their journey to college, 'Which college is best for me?'' To help answer that, the new guide features two-page profiles of all 391 schools, as well as 50 ranking list categories, such as 'Most Religious Students' and 'Happiest Students' — including Grove City College in Pennsylvania and Claremont McKenna College in California. 4 To produce the ranks, the Princeton Review surveyed 170,000 students attending the schools in the book. panitan – But the school with the most conservative students is Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, with an undergraduate population of just 372. Thomas Aquinas is a private, conservative, Catholic liberal arts institution, located in Ventura County, near Los Angeles. It was established in 1971 and is known for its use of the Socratic method, where all classes are discussion-based and led by professors — called tutors — who guide conversations through questions. 4 But the school with the most conservative students is Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, with an undergraduate population of 372. Thomas Aquinas College The small student-to-faculty ratio — 11:1 — fosters a close-knit environment where tutors are deeply engaged, approachable, and supportive, often interacting with students outside the classroom. The population is nearly evenly split between men and women and students from in and out of state, but predominantly (63%) white. The college community is described as friendly, faith-centered, and intellectually driven. Many students are motivated by their Catholic beliefs and are seen as studious, kind, and eager to help others. Meanwhile, just up the coast, sits the school with the most liberal students — Reed College in progressive Portland, Ore. Founded in 1908, Reed is a private liberal arts institution with an undergraduate enrollment of 1,346. Reed College advertises a student-driven environment. With 38 majors, 17 minors, and two dual-degree programs, Reed emphasizes personal inquiry through a structured curriculum that includes a yearlong humanities course, broad distribution requirements, and a senior thesis. Reedies are known for being academically passionate, inclusive, and deeply involved in learning — often pursuing niche interests outside their majors. The school is particularly welcoming to LGBTQIA+ and gender minority students. 4 Founded in 1908, Reed College is a private liberal arts college with an undergraduate enrollment of 1,346. Reed College The population is nearly evenly split between men and women, but mostly (85%) students from out of state and 58% white. Notably, Reed ranks among the top schools nationally for the percentage of graduates who earn PhDs. Many alumni also go on to earn advanced degrees or become leaders in their fields.
Chicago Tribune
13 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Two priests who serve the poor at Evanston church could be forced to leave US, parish fears
Walking out of Catholic mass at St. John XXIII parish in Evanston Thursday morning, Lois Farley Shuford expressed alarm that the parish's two priests, who both came to the United States with a mission to serve the poor, might be forced to leave the country. The possibility of losing the immigrant priests intensifies the worry for people in the parish, where about half the congregants are immigrants from Mexico. They're facing heightened fears as they see news reports about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seizing immigrants on the streets. The priests, Rev. Koudjo K. Jean-Philippe Lokpo, of the west African nation of Togo, and Rev. José Manuel Ortiz, of Mexico, are here on R1 religious worker visas that permit them to serve in the United States. But the federal government is so backed up in processing paperwork that Rev. Lokpo might be forced to leave in October, and only an attorney's intervention saved Rev. Ortiz from having to leave the country by the end of July. That has upset parishioners, who say the two men have devoted their lives to serving others, and have done tremendous good for the people in the parish. 'We were scared,' Lois Farley Shuford said after leaving the church service. 'I mean, in this [President Donald Trump] administration, we're scared about everything.' 'We're scared for many of our parishioners,' added Bob Shuford. About half of the St. John XXIII's parishioners are Hispanic in the multilingual parish, which offers mass in English, Spanish and French Creole. 'We're aware of what's happening with our priests,' Bob Shuford said. 'It's a part of a larger concern that we have, and we've all been through training on how we can best support our fellow parishioners.' The Archdiocese of Chicago consolidated the parishes of St. Nicholas and St. Mary to form St. John XXIII parish in early 2022. By the end of that year, Lokpo led the parish as its pastor, assisted by Ortiz as the parish's associate pastor. 'The core of this place, particularly at St. Nick, but the core of the whole parish has been that all are welcome. That's a critical thing here in this parish home, and so I think that has been extended to Jose and Jean-Philippe as well,' Lois Farley Shuford said. Ortiz remains philosophical about the possibility of being forced to leave St. John XXIII and return to Mexico. 'It is what it is,' Ortiz said. What really matters to him is his connection to the members of his parish, he added. 'You try to do what's best for the parish and for the people.' In an April letter to the parish, Lokpo wrote his initial concerns that his and Ortiz's green card application for continued residency had yet to be processed by the federal government, despite submitting his required documents to the government in 2022. At the time, he anticipated that Ortiz's visa would expire in July, which would require him to return to Mexico; however, immigration lawyers were able to obtain a 240-day extension on Ortiz's visa due to the time lost because of the pandemic. Lokpo is now seeking the same extension, according to Ortiz. Lokpo's visa is set to expire at the end of October. 'I ask for your prayers and your understanding as we navigate this challenge. I am concerned about the disruption this will cause for our St. John XXIII Parish, yet I trust in God's hand in this and in His care for our faith community,' Lokpo wrote. St. John XXIII is administered by an international Catholic organization called Comboni Missionaries, according to Comboni's Senior Communications Specialist Lindsay Braud. Comboni ministers to the 'world's poorest and most abandoned people,' according to its website. Comboni has 3,500 missionaries worldwide and operates in 41 countries, according to its website. Comboni's priests in North American parishes are selected by the Provincial Superior Rev. Ruffino Ezama. 'We are an international religious order,' Ezama said. 'Wherever there is need, we don't look at if someone is an immigrant or not, because we go there to serve the church.' Despite the mission serving in 41 countries, Ezama said the United States has the most rigorous requirements for religious workers. Comboni priests take vows of poverty, which prevents them from being paid for their work, chastity and obedience, which beholds them to orders from their superiors at Comboni. Lokpo did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Shelley Benson and Tom Lenz, the chair and vice-chair of the Parish Pastoral Council, respectively, responded on Lokpo's behalf, asking Pioneer Press to speak to the Archdiocese of Chicago. The Archdiocese commented, 'While we hope the federal government recognizes the special status of religious workers, we do not discuss personnel matters.' The archdiocese, like many others in the United States, is facing a shortage of priests as fewer men choose that vocation. Some Chicagoland parishes rely on immigrant priests to fill the gap. Nearly 60% of younger diocesan priests — under the age of 50 — who serve in the Archdiocese of Chicago are immigrants, according to a 2023 report. The number is a considerable contrast with priests over the age of 50, of whom 81% were born in the U.S. The average age of a priest in 2023 was 64. Prior to 2023, it would typically take 12 months for the government to process for a green card. That's well within the five-year time frame that an R1 visa gives a religious worker, according to immigration lawyer Tahreem Kalam, with Minsky, McCormick and Hallagan. But that changed drastically after a 2023 decision from the Department of Homeland Security during the Biden administration. That created a significant backlog, according to Kalam, who said the five years might run out for some R1 visa holders. She said they're in an 'impossible' situation. A workaround that some attorneys try for their clients is to have them apply for an H-1B visa, Kalam said, but that won't work for most religious since they take vows of poverty. 'It's a huge problem in the community,' she said. 'Especially an institution like the Catholic Church — It's a global [institution] — They send people to different countries all the time.' She represents a large group of Catholic nuns, and 'they've all just kind of come to terms now that they have to leave [the country],' she remarked. At the national level, some dioceses are taking their demands to government. Last year, the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, and five of its priests sued the federal government over its backlog of green card approvals. Steps are being taken in the U.S. House and Senate to bring a resolution for religious workers' status, according to the Associated Press. 'I think the only way for changes in their visas is if some of these bigger religious organizations were to lobby and show Congress how much they are being affected by losing their religious leaders,' Kalam said. On a warm summer evening on the grounds of St. Nicholas Church, one of the two churches that make up St. John XXIII parish, attorney William Quiceno volunteers his time to give immigrants free legal consultations every other month. He has been doing so for the past 10 to 12 years. On this particular July evening, he had eight new clients. Of those, he really only had a path forward for three, he said. 'People have more fear, for sure,' Quiceno said. 'They're worried more about their future, their kids, the lives they've established here. They're looking for any kind of way they can fix their status.' 'A lot of them have known they haven't had any options, but they're hoping that one day, there would be an option. Now that kind of hope disappears.' 'Their hope kind of disappears,' he repeated to himself. Inside the makeshift waiting room, Teresa Infante and Mireya Terrazaz take names on a sign-up sheet and usher clients into the lawyer's temporary office. In the wake of promises from the Trump administration to crack down on immigration enforcement in Chicago, Infante and Terrazaz confirmed the renewed tensions felt in the immigrant community. In the months since Trump's return to the Oval Office, as many as 22 people signed up for free consultations one evening, creating the need for the lawyer to stay one hour later than he usually volunteers. What the two didn't count on, after decades of volunteer work for the parish, is that their own priests would be in danger of not being allowed to stay in the country. 'It was very sad,' Infante said of Ortiz's situation. A group of parishioners had met over the weeks to pray for Ortiz to stay in the country. 'Please, don't take our priests away,' Terrazas said. Now they wait to see whether Lokpo's visa will be extended past October. 'We have to pray,' said Infante. 'A lot.'
San Francisco Chronicle
15 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Pope Leo XIV prays for peace as US-Russia summit over Ukraine war gets underway
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV prayed Friday for a peaceful end to the 'increasingly deafening violence' of wars around the world as he celebrated a Catholic feast day on the same day as a high-stakes U.S.-Russia summit over the war in Ukraine. History's first American pope didn't mention the meeting Friday in Alaska between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But he has constantly called for dialogue and an end to the conflict, including in conversations with Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On Friday Leo recalled that the Aug. 15 feast day dedicated to the Virgin Mary was declared a dogma by Pope Pius XII at the height of World War II. 'He (Pius) hoped that human lives would never again be destroyed by wars,' Leo said. 'How relevant are these words today? Unfortunately, even today, we feel powerless in the face of the spread of increasingly deafening violence, insensitive to any movement of humanity.' The pope prayed for hope for a peaceful future. 'We must not resign ourselves to the prevalence of the logic of armed conflict,' he said. Leo wasn't the only religious leader offering prayers for peace. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, prayed for a successful outcome of the U.S.-Russia summit during a visit to the Turkish island of Gokceada, home to an ethnic Greek community and his birthplace. 'Enlighten the leaders who will meet tomorrow in Alaska, that they may bring peace to the world, end these murderous wars, stop the shedding of blood, let reason prevail, and let justice and mutual respect reign throughout the world,' Bartholomew said Thursday. 'There is room here for everyone. We need not kill one another to make space.' The 85-year-old Bartholomew was visiting the island for the Aug. 15 celebration of the Virgin Mary, which is also an important date on the Orthodox Christian calendar. Leo spoke from the main piazza of Castel Gandolfo, the hilltown south of Rome that is home to a papal estate and gardens. He has spent a chunk of the summer at the estate, extending now for the second time his vacation to take advantage of the quiet and relatively cooler calm of the property overlooking Lake Alban. It was here that Leo met with Zelenskyy for the second time on July 9. Leo had spoken by telephone with Putin on June 4 and, according to the Vatican, 'urged Russia to make a gesture that would promote peace, emphasizing the importance of dialogue for establishing positive contacts between the parties and seeking solutions to the conflict.' Upon arrival in Castel Gandolfo earlier this week, Leo told reporters that he hoped the Trump-Putin summit would produce at least a cease-fire, saying the war had gone on for too long with too many dead, and no end in sight. Leo, who marks his 100th day as pope Saturday, will spend the long weekend here, breaking Sunday to have lunch with the poor people of the Albano diocese. He is scheduled to return to the Vatican on Tuesday, closing out a six-week vacation period punctuated by spells back at the Vatican, most significantly to preside over the 1-million strong Holy Year celebration for young people earlier this month. ___
