The FRIENDLIEST Colleges

Sure, we all obsess over which college has the best food or academic decathalon team, but how about considering a more basic question-- are the students here nice to each other?

Friendliness is a great quality in a student population, and something that can really affect your college experience.

Check out our slide show of the friendliest colleges. Did we miss any? Tell us in the comments section.

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Carleton College

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Over the years, Carleton students have created a laundry list of bizarre traditions: Seniors in the "Bubble Brigade" blow bubbles on faculty members from the balcony above at every formal Chapel event. Every Friday, students buy and stuff flowers from the Campus Center into their friends mailboxes. At random, students kidnap and display a plaster bust of the German poet, Friedrich Von Schiller, all over campus and beyond; "Schiller [has flown] on Air Force One, dangled from a helicopter, [been] signed by President Bill Clinton, [and] even made an appearance on Comedy Central's Colbert Report." Every Wednesday of Spring term, the Senior Class travels to a nearby island to celebrate their final term together. During finals week, frazzled students gather in the library armed with iPods and an hour-long playlist of synched music and proceed to rave silently all over campus. There's nudity ("A word to the wise," Says one student, "If streaking embarrasses you, stay away"). There's Primal Scream. There's Freshman Frisbee Toss. There's ice croquet, tray sledding and Convocations. There's ice sculpting contests and balls galore. These rituals, exponentially quirkified as they're passed from "Carl" to "Carl," represent one thing: The average Carleton kid shares, "a respect for one another that seems unique to Carleton." According to a student interviewed in America's Best 357 Colleges, everyone is "so friendly, I feel like I'm in Mr. Rogers neighborhood." Above: "Friday Flowers"

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Over the years, Carleton students have created a laundry list of bizarre traditions: Seniors in the "Bubble Brigade" blow bubbles on faculty members from the balcony above at every formal Chapel event. Every Friday, students buy and stuff flowers from the Campus Center into their friends mailboxes. At random, students kidnap and display a plaster bust of the German poet, Friedrich Von Schiller, all over campus and beyond; "Schiller [has flown] on Air Force One, dangled from a helicopter, [been] signed by President Bill Clinton, [and] even made an appearance on Comedy Central's Colbert Report." Every Wednesday of Spring term, the Senior Class travels to a nearby island to celebrate their final term together. During finals week, frazzled students gather in the library armed with iPods and an hour-long playlist of synched music and proceed to rave silently all over campus. There's nudity ("A word to the wise," Says one student, "If streaking embarrasses you, stay away"). There's Primal Scream. There's Freshman Frisbee Toss. There's ice croquet, tray sledding and Convocations. There's ice sculpting contests and balls galore. These rituals, exponentially quirkified as they're passed from "Carl" to "Carl," represent one thing: The average Carleton kid shares, "a respect for one another that seems unique to Carleton." According to a student interviewed in America's Best 357 Colleges, everyone is "so friendly, I feel like I'm in Mr. Rogers neighborhood."
Above: "Friday Flowers"

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Comments

[jsalvo]

07:24 AM on 07/30/2011

I just would like to ask everybody to look at the Clemson picture in this report and tell me, how many black students do you see? Or other minorities? How can it be friendly a public institution that has almost none African American students in a state where African Americans are a percentage of the population way over the US median?
Don't get me wrong, I believe that Clemson is a great institution, but as a public institution it reflects the community in which it is inserted and it's not friendly towards minorities. It should not have made the list, and probably many of the others. Tolerance is the main ingredient of friendliness and it was not considered.

[Andy Gilliom]

01:11 PM on 08/01/2011

Did you look at the rest of the pictures @jsalvo? There was one black person in the entire article. Clemson is a state school and the most of the rest were private. By that very virtue, I'm willing to bet Clemson has a larger black population as well as more opportunites for individuals to cluster into peer groups along socio-economic lines. The fact that this picture is probably taken from the greek life block seating in the stadium (largely caucasian organizations) that you don't see minority groups in the forefront.

[Moogjt]

06:52 PM on 07/24/2011

I love Clemson, it's so amazing, the people are extremely friendly. If the state of South Carolina has anything good in it, it is Clemson.

[Joseph Schmoe]

09:20 PM on 07/21/2011

How soon before HuffPo runs out of superlatives to run these lame revenue clicks disguised as articles? ;-)

[rafaelrobyns]

12:39 PM on 07/21/2011

Did the writer mean "oxymoron" instead of "paradox" when referring to friendly southern Californians? You have to wonder where the writer went to school.

[TicTucTo]

02:05 PM on 07/18/2011

I rather like the fact that everyone is at each other's throats at my college. It makes it that much more satisfying when I school them all on exams.

[gekirby]

07:22 PM on 07/17/2011

As a Carleton alum, I can only say that I agree! Carleton was an incredible welcoming place with wonderful people. And I got a fantastic education. All hail the maize and blue :).

[Drew2248]

11:04 PM on 07/16/2011

These "best of" or "most this or that" lists are really silly, and some of them are just completely off base and seem to be written by people with only the thinnest knowledge of their subject as kind of substitutes for thoughtful and well-research articles. Lists replace thinking and writing.

Still, for all I know, these colleges are very friendly places. but if you insist on making every list "top 10 this" and "top 9 that," you're going to leave out a lot of similar schools with just as much reason to be in the list. My nomination is Colgate University in New York, in the middle of rural upstate with tough winters and a rigorous curriculum and strong extracurriculars, all of which have the effect of bonding students together. A very friendly place and certainly worth including.

By the way, oddball traditions and goofy goings-on don't strike me as making a place "friendly." In fact, they might actually do just the opposite and make it a bit annoying. I find a few of these traditions the sort of things I'd want to avoid like the plague. Being friendly and being goofy and colorful seem a little at odds, don't you think? Are are most of your friends clowns?

[aakercakes]

05:20 PM on 07/15/2011

I disagree completely with the idea of Carleton College being the "friendliest" college. As a former student of their rival/shared the same town, St. Olaf College students are much friendlier. Workers at local establishments could tell who was an Ole or Carle based on how we treated the workers (and Oles were nicer). Moreover, Carles are quirky, but friendly is definitely not how I would describe the general demeanor of Carles. I've been to Carleton gatherings where social status and bragging was more important to the students than conversation.

Just because the school is quirky does not mean it's friendly! Plus, St. Olaf has friday flowers too.

[82elizabeth]

01:15 PM on 07/20/2011

I had the exact same thought! I'm an Ole alum and I had the same experience with townies that you describe--I was told many times that I looked like an Ole (not a Carle) because of my friendly demeanor...Maybe Carles could be considered friendly compared to the standard of some sort of national average, but they're definitely not the friendliest college students in Northfield!

[Joseph Schmoe]

09:22 PM on 07/21/2011

Doesn't b!tch-slapping another college with a broad brush approach defeat the purpose of claiming to be "friendliest"?!?!
I'm just askin'.
;-)

[Marjorie Shomaker Elkins]

06:43 AM on 07/14/2011

It doesn't surprise me about Kenyon being a friendly college. It has a beautiful atmospere of a small town.

[Cara DePalma]

09:16 PM on 07/13/2011

As a Scranton alum, I am proud of the school's mention on this list. When I went for my tour when applying to the "U", I can remember almost every person walking passed us said hi and it's a great school. The freshman pre-orientation was an amazing experience with every Orientation Aide sincerely doing their best to make our first experience on campus a memorable one. I loved the closeness of the school, and without frats and sororities it wasn't as cliquey as other campuses. I spent three years as an Orientation Aide and loved every second. I have been out for 17 years and am so happy to know the tradition continues!

[CaloriMondel147]

12:28 AM on 07/23/2011

I have to also agree. As a senior going there, Scranton is one of the most welcoming and friendliest places ever. It's one of the reasons why I go there. Couldn't think of a better place!

[Lindsay Means]

09:11 PM on 07/13/2011

Kenyon's "internet has a bandwidth management policy that blocks streaming video"? As a recent graduate, I can assure you that YouTube/Netflix/Hulu/Vimeo are all perfectly functional. Maybe streaming video was blocked in the early 2000s, but that's definitely not the case now. Your sources might need to be updated.

[Yvette Richardson Guy]

06:50 PM on 07/13/2011

I went to grad school at Clemson University as did my husband, and many members of my family have graduated from Clemson undergrad and/or grad. Our blood doesn't quite run orange, but it is approaching vermillion. Clemson has a beautiful campus and it really does foster a family feeling, especially among alumni. I think part of that comes form the university being organized into colleges to one of which you must commit in your freshman year (you can change). Of course, in grad school, you simple apply directly to your college through the university. Being so strongly identified with your college creates villages within the larger university city. Also Clemson is kind of off on its own in the foothills of Appalachia, so we really stuck together.

[matty228]

05:47 PM on 07/13/2011

The Wash U campus is seriously magical.

[Jennifer Berges Meyer]

03:12 PM on 07/14/2011

I'd have to agree with you. I loved (almost) every minute of being a student there. GREAT place.

[Ann Glover]

05:02 PM on 07/13/2011

I live in Omaha, NE, and I know for a fact that the fans can be jerks just like anywhere else. I have seen ridiculing of the fans of other teams and have seen booing of the other team. In excess, at times.

[CamilleMarie]

06:05 PM on 07/19/2011

As a student of UNL I've never seen anything like what you have experienced. In the student section I've seen other students call others out on rude behavior to other teams. Obnoxious behavior happens to some extent, but that is true for any school. I'm from Arizona and have gone to my share of ASU games and I've seen students spitting, throwing drinks, and throwing punches at opposing fans. I’m not saying UNL is perfect, but it’s a far cry from that kind of conduct.

[Jenny deLozier]

08:49 PM on 07/13/2011

Why did you read it then, if you feel it's ridiculous?