<p>I live in Columbus, Ohio and of all the colleges that accepted me, I’ve narrowed it down to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, and Berkeley. </p>
<p>I’m mainly interested in three main things::</p>
<li>the English program-I want to be a creative writer</li>
<li>gay life-I’m a white gay male and looking for the same</li>
<li>the surrounding area-I like bookstores and playhouses, starbucks is an absolute necessity</li>
</ol>
<p>Oh yeah, my mom graduated from Berkeley and my dad from Princeton so that could be a factor because I don’t want them to fight it out anymore…that’s all they’ve been doing lately.</p>
<p>I'll offer what little I know; I'm most familiar with Stanford and Berkeley because I live near them. Take everything I say with a grain of salt though, because I'm only a confused senior like you. </p>
<p>For great books, plays, coffee and gay life I can't see how Berkeley can be topped! If you ever get sick of Berkeley, if such a thing is possible, you can always hop across the bay to SF too. Boston obviously has all of the things you want too, but minus the NorCal atmosphere and weather. Also, I've seen the phrase "gay Ivy" mentioned several times on the Yale forum. <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>Keep in mind that this was on a tour, but I was told Cal has one of the nation's best English grad departments in the country. Trickle-down effect? However, you might have more trouble with getting the classes you want than at other schools if it's an impacted major.</p>
<p>From what it seems, I think stanford has an atmosphere very supportive of the gay lifestyle- in fact, one admit weekend event is specifically for glb students.</p>
<p>or Stanford...followed by Yale, Harvard, then Berkeley. Berkely is just so big! I would want to be in classes that are more focused. Harvard, in my oppinion, does nothave as much individual attention. I like Yale, just not the location. Princeton and Stanford re rated numbers 1 and 2 for best one on one time with professors and best overall education. They are smaller, and in my opinion, in beautiful places.</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard and Yale have amazing English programs, and very good humanities programs in general.</li>
<li>I'm really not sure which school supports gay life the best. My guess would be Berkeley.</li>
<li>If you want a nice upper-middle class environment with bookstores and Starbucks, I'd suggest either Harvard or Princeton.</li>
</ol>
<p>just looking at ForeverZero's list....Harvard is the only school that appeared in both items 1 and 3...so I'd narrow it to harvard, princeton, and stanford</p>
<p>but you can't go wrong in any of the five...</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who replied to my posts at the different school forums! :)</p>
<p>After a big family talk, my mom couldn't come to terms with me turning down Berkeley and neither could my dad with Princeton. The solution:: eliminate both. Then my mom vilified the Stanford experience since it's Berkeley's nemesis. So between Harvard and Yale, I'm picking Harvard cuz it's Harvard!</p>
<p>Thanks again, hope to see everyone there! ;)</p>
<p>For sure, they are known for their theater! Sound like Northwestern would be good for ou too. Evanston is a wonderful college town, tons of Starbucks, and I believe that their is gay life there.</p>