Now before you jump down my throat about going to college in the Midwest, I've lived on a farm in rural Illinois for my entire life and actually enjoy it. Kids in my high school are pretty nonjudgmental, and the ones who are keep them to themselves. I'm starting to look at colleges, and I can't really decide where I want to go. My dream school is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where i'll get my bachelors in Social Work with a PhD in Social Change and Advocacy- maybe a minor in queer studies. Can anyone give me some more information about how LGBT students fit in at UIUC? I was also considering University of Chicago, New York University, or a liberal arts institution but Illinois can give me a tuition wavier.
Honestly, if they have a queer studies program, I'm sure it can't be all that bad. Also, I'm sure there's a chance someone here goes/knows someone who goes to that school, but I think your best bet would be to actually just call up the school and ask. Maybe get a tour? I'm sure they have a website too... maybe one for clubs and organizations.
I believe there is someone here who goes there. Really though, universities in the US can generally be thought of as liberal/non-judgmental unless otherwise noted.
I go there. And yes, it is. We have a LGBT resource center and multiple LGBT focused student organizations. We even have a gay bar on campus.
I go there. They had a big banner wrapped across the union, which is in the center of the quad, advertising the LGBT center. I would say its pretty gay friendly. There's a lot of people, which is a plus and its pretty selective so there aren't very many ignorant people. Sadly I haven't joined any of the lgbt orgs yet, I need to do that next year. They have a Pride club, an lgbt center which holds some events and lunches and such, and a queer newsletter (email) which advertises events. I did go to the gay bar a few times in Champaign and it was a blast. It has a reputation for Greek life which it lives up to but 2/3's of the undergrad students aren't Greek so its not hard at all to find other niches.