American Universities - help!

Is weather important to you? I would cross out the universities with climate you don't like and then move on from there if it is.

 

You might not want to go to University of Hawaii - Manoa if you do not have boatloads of money. Since Hawaii is in the middle of the pacific, almost everything there is imported from very far away (at least half-way across the largest ocean on earth).

My queer friend who is very smart and driven wants to go to Middlebury College.

My mom (who I am out to) put Goucher College on my college list, so apparently it is a good school, though I haven't looked into it myself.

 

I do know San Francisco is extremely accepting, ranked 3rd in the country Queer Index: The Top 35 Most LGBT-friendly U.S. Cities

If LGBT acceptance is really important to you I know it's a good place and they probably have an lgbt center or club

 

I agree with the previous posters and would add Reed as well. I don't know a whole lot about it but considering it's a liberal arts school and located in Portland, I'd say it's definitely worth looking into.

 

This site might be helpful in determining gay friendly areas.

A look at state laws addressing LGBT nondiscrimination

I've never been to Portland but I hear it's a great city. So I agree with Ibex that Reed is worth considering. San Francisco State could be good too. It's a good city with a lot going on but it is very expensive. Many people who go there commute from surrounding areas, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just something to consider.

Good luck! This will be a great experience for you.

 

hi! shouldn't you take into consideration the career programs each university offers? what if you choose ________ University but their program isn't really similar to yours? i would be more interested in those universities that are known for being good at whatever you are pursuing a career in, but of course your other concers would be relevant too

 

There is a HUGE amount of LGBT history in San Francisco so if you can get anywhere near there I'm sure you would enjoy it! But in general the advice to stick to the coasts is pretty sound haha.

 

I would avoid anything in Mississippi like the plague. Same for Oklahoma and Kansas.

I went to the University of Arizona - Both it and Tucson (the city it's in) were pretty gay friendly when I lived there, at least for the time (80s and 90s). Not sure if that's still the case however - Arizona has gotten rather right wing these days.

Campuses in New York City and its immediate environs should be pretty gay friendly and the University of California is a huge system of campuses around the state. Most are probably going to be pretty friendly.

San Francisco itself is very friendly, but the cities in the Bay Area not necessarily so much. My aunt lives in the Bay area and is super conservative (fire and brimstone, the gays are all going to hell and deserve it, etc.).

If you like lots of history, the East Coast might be more your taste. The West Coast is more in proximity to natural beauty (mountains, the Grand Canyon, etc.).

Something to keep in mind: This country is very very big - I've heard of Europeans not quite realizing how big and thinking they will just take a day to go somewhere that is several days drive away. If you want to get around here, driving or flying is almost always the only option. Our train system is pretty tiny compared to Europe unless you're talking commuter rail in the East Coast cities.

As far as being gay here - same-sex public hand holding or displays of affection won't fly here in most places (unless you are prepared to defend yourself, anyway). In some specific locales, yes. Generally, not so much. Also, based on posts I've seen here, English bars seem to be rather less...segregated in terms of gays and straights drinking together and possibly hitting on each other. The sense I got was that a gay bar was seen as much less of a thing, because really you could potentially meet someone in just about any bar. In most places in America that is not at all the case - you really really don't want to hit on a guy in a bar unless it is a gay bar or you already know for an absolute fact that he's not straight. In my experience anyway. Been a while since I've had much in the way of dealings with bars and such here, so maybe things have changed, but I'd be surprised if they'd changed that much.

Hope this helps,

Todd

 

I would highly suggest San Francisco, in spite of the money issue. It is probably the best combination of what you are looking for in terms of acceptance, history, a big city, etc., in addition to having many famous natural and historical landmarks nearby. But does your program provide housing for you, or are you responsible for finding your own? That is the biggest issue in essentially any big city, especially in San Francisco. Other than that, food and entertainment costs shouldn't be too different unless you look at very, very small colleges and towns. If you happen to go to a university in London, having visiting London myself, I can promise you it is FAR more expensive than most US cities.

 

Although I rarely go into San Francisco itself, I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area my entire life (except for going to college on the East coast). Others are mostly right about the area.

It might get a little chilly in San Francisco itself because of a breeze from the ocean/bay, but it generally won't get much of a winter. There has never been a white Christmas in San Francisco, so if you enjoy snowy weather, you're going to miss that altogether in San Francisco. In fact, snow is so foreign to San Francisco that if it lightly snows in the nearby hills (which usually doesn't happen at all), it makes the news. Many of the people I considered friends when growing up had never been in snow in their lives.

Chip is right about living expenses being insanely high in San Francisco. My parents live about a half hour away, yet there was a one bedroom house a couple blocks away from them that sold for over a half million dollars just because the land is so expensive, and most single bedroom apartments near them cost north of $2,000/month. Although there area is more expensive than most places in the Bay Area, costs in San Francisco itself are generally more expensive.

The cities in the Bay Area are generally more LGBT in comparison to the rest of America. However, most of America isn't as LGBT friendly as most of the UK probably is.

There are plenty of anti-LGBT people in the Bay Area. I grew up surrounded by them. In fact, my parents home-schooled my brothers and I and inserted us into a home-school social group with a bunch of super-conservative people. So yeah, you can find a lot of homophobia in the Bay Area, but it probably won't be worse than other places.

In regard to religious universities/colleges, I suggest you seriously look into how conservative/liberal any religious institution you're considering attending. They can vary greatly in how LGBT friendly or unfriendly they are. Both of the Universities that I've attended were Catholic universities run by Catholic religious orders yet there was a night and day difference between how LGBT friendly they were because one was super-conservative (Franciscan University of Steubenville) and the other one wasn't as conservative (Santa Clara University). Compare this to this to get an idea of how big the difference can be. Although, as a general rule, the more academically rigorous the school is, the less likely it is to be anti-LGBT.

 

I think I should point out something since you have UBC and Western in the list as well. Do you mean Carleton as in the one Chip indicated or the one in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada?

Also if you do end up in a Canadian University I would highly recommend not calling it or the surrounding area "American" if you plan on making friends.

I can only say that I know all three(if Carleton in Ottawa) will be LGBT positive as they are all public universities and they all reside in areas that are generally okay for LGBT people. Also the two in Ontario will have cheaper living costs most likely to UBC.

Also keep in mind that while the general structure of Canadian and American universities are the same I notice they typically build "school" of a particular kind. Eg University of Chicago is very IR realist. In Canada profs. Are highly encouraged to shuffle around and hence you see more variety in theories displayed. Both have their strengths and disadvantages depending on what you want out of it.

---------- Post added 31st Oct 2015 at 01:44 PM ----------

Though I've mostly heard that through other sources. I've only noticed it in the work published from a handful of US Universities. So perhaps its less common than i think.