Well, I'm about to begin Senior year in less than two weeks and that means I have to begin filling out applications and writing essays, etc. I'm really nervous about the whole ordeal so I could use some advice. I already have some schools in mind and I've done some research on each one. However, I don't know how good they are for GLBT people. Also, if anyone has any idea how good their financial aid, that would be great. Here are the ones I'm thinking about applying to: New York University Brown University Yale University University of Connecticut Johns Hopkins University University of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill University of Miami I've heard that NYU, Brown, and Yale are one of the most open-minded colleges, but I'm not sure. Also, if you know about any other good colleges, I would sure appreciate it. Thanks for any help.
Looks like you are looking on the east coast... but I know Stanford, UCLA, USC, and Berkley are all really good. On the east coast Ithaca is good, so is Dickinson, my brother is about to start at Tufts which I am pretty sure is good, I think Amherst is nice too. That's all I can think of for now... I'll come back if I think of any others (I just finished two years of hard core college tours with my older brother so I am getting good at this) As far as financial aid the brother got pretty much a free ride to NYU (which he didn't take) and UNC is good about that too. The others I'm not sure, but if your grades are good you can usually get a little bit even if your family makes a good salary, or you can be like my brother and get financial aid to every school except the one you want to go to... Good luck and try not to stress, it will all work out in the end and you will be very happy!
Wow, great schools! Anyways, I'm starting senior year as well, so the same kinds of things are kinda pressing me. I don't know about the others, but Brown is my third choice right now, and I haven't heard anything bad about it. I HAVE heard that it's accepting as well, and there are great graduate school placement percentages (I'm assuming that's what you want with that list of colleges). I also believe, don't quote me, that Brown will drop its tuition down to match that of public schools under certain circumstances. The best best would be to call the offices of undergraduate admissions or financial aid and schedule a meeting/campus tour if possible. Many of the colleges offer tours led by current students, so they would be a good source of first-hand experience. If you're open to other ideas, I'd also recommend Cornell. It also has the big name, high placement, warm environment and state-level tuition for certain colleges (such as the college of Agriculture and Life Sciences). If you're interested, I have a friend there who's going into his sophomore year, so I could either ask him questions or put you in contact. For more info, request me on Facebook as Chris Williams in the Ithaca, NY and Waverly H.S. networks. I'll give you my instant messenger screen names and e-mail from there (I can't PM yet, sorry). Hope I helped!!!
another really LGBT friendly campus is Oberlin College, in Oberlin, OH. The school is historically progressive. It was, I believe, a site on the underground railroad and when it opened in the 1800s, it immediately allowed both women and minorities to study there. When I visited, they were very proud of their progressive traditions. I saw many gay couples walking around there and all the students were fine with it. They also have an LGBT co-op, supposedly. Anyway, it's a small school, but has great academics. The only reason I didn't apply was the location--it's fairly isolated and the town seemed pretty dull. But the kids there seemed to like it. Anyway, good luck with everything!
It used to be that it took some digging and quiet questioning before being able to find a school who was "gay-friendly". From the info I've received recently, it would appear that most colleges would fall under that heading. Sure, there's probably varying degrees of "gay-friendly" - somewhere between "gay accepting" and "gay encouraging". You may do a bit of digging on the college websites for LGBTSUs and whatnot. Most will have that information. Lex
I don't know that this is directly dealing with the LGBT issue, but if you want to read reviews of the colleges you're interested in that were written by actual students, you should check studentreviews.com. Some of the reviews are obviously a bit biased or based on unsupported opinions, but there are also many great ones. The sie helped me to round my choices down to four through descriptions of the location, environment, student attitudes, teachers, and coursework.
There is a website called www.campusclimateindex.org that ranks universities based on their glbt climate. However, I can't get their website to come up right now. I'm not sure why.
Hey there! I live and work in the NY metro area, and I am not sure what reputation NY has to the population outside of the tri-state area, but I do not think that GLBT folks will have any problem today in the NY area. I went to Marist College which is in Poughkeepsie, NY. It was a fabulous school and I really enjoyed every minute there. Now I work in NY City. I think that the city has become very easy going, believe it or not. And also, where else could you find such a large and diverse audience to search for that special someone. Whenever I go for lunch or dinner out, you always see gay couples out and I have never really seen them have a hard time. I think NY is a wonderful city and I think you get the best of all worlds here - fantastic education, diversity accepting setting, and a very large "pool" of folks to search for that special someone. Not to mention a wonderful social life and night life... and this is coming from someone who is more of a home body. In any case, best of luck. I live in the NY metro area and have lots of time on weekends. If you choose a school in the NY area, or are thinking about it, let me know and I will be more than happy to meet you somewhere and show you around. I would be happy to do so. I have a Yahoo e-ail address, and it is thirstycollegekid so please feel free to let me know. Best of luck!
