DS17 has accepted his offer to St. John's Annapolis for September, 2017. We are also hoping that the students will be tolerant to all sorts of views because my son is not as liberal as most of his friends here at his Toronto highschool. He is interested in meeting a variety of people with differing viewpoints, but he leans conservative, and he craves discussion and the respectful debate of ideas. DS attended the Summer Academy at St. John's and loved it and met some great kids and teachers. Like you, he is into learning, not partying at all, so you won't be alone there! Feel free to private message me if you want to talk to my son.
My husband and children are reform Jewish, and I am a practising Catholic--an unusual family structure in our neck of the woods. The boys both learned Hebrew for their bar mitzvahs and also come with me to church on a semi-regular basis where I volunteer as a lector. As a family, we're very respectful of Judeo-Christian thought, so you have an ally there, too.
The college is very expensive, but offered good merit aid, which was essential for us because the Canadian dollar is extremely weak these days. DS wanted a very small college but Canada mostly has very large, even giant, universities. We started looking into American liberal arts colleges that advertise an appreciation of freedom of thought, colleges which might have a few other Jewish students, and were also located near where my extended family lives in Delaware. There weren't very many! :laugh: St. John's seemed perfect for my son since he also has many interests, including history and politics, and couldn't decide on a major. He also wanted to live in an urban environment and Annapolis is a beautiful and small capital city. (DS is also interested in recreational tennis and there's a court on campus; also, he's a serious choral singer and there's a choral program at St. John's.)
Best of luck on your college search. Feel free to talk to me or DS.