<p>My son is a junior in high school - cant remember what his GPA is etc - 3rd in the class right now. </p>
<p>He is interested in engineering (chemical for undergrad, nuclear for grad). His SAT score is something like 1860-1900, SAT 2 math 2c 720 - will be taking the SAT2 Chem and French this year. He does not take standardized tests very well.</p>
<p>Just looking for some idea for colleges for him. We live in NC - so he will apply to NC State and Georgia Tech. He does not want to go where it is cold anymore - he got accustomed to the warmer weather vrs Buffalo where we used to live. Size doesnt matter to him. Wants to be involved in swimming (not competively), Choirs, French, get involved in clubs etc.</p>
<p>What he also needs is a college that is gay friendly. NOt sure how we can research this for him. He doesnt have a "hook" so to speak - just an ordinary kid that loves to learn.</p>
<p>He is a very shy kid, that will prob have problems opening up and finding friends. Any advice on schools would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Top 3 in his class is excellent. Harvey Mudd and Rice come to mind, but he would have to improve his SAT for those schools. </p>
<p>The University of Delaware is known for having a great Chemical Enginerring program, its winters are mild and it is known for having a welcoming and friendly student body. Your son could probably get a good scholarship there. </p>
<p>Bucknell in Pennsylvania and Rowan in New Jersey are also rather good in Chemical Engineering.</p>
<p>Finally, among the big boys, the University of Texas-Austin, Penn State, Carnegie Mellon, Cal, UC-Santa Barbara and UVa are all good, but again, they all (with the exception of Penn State) require better SAT results.</p>
<p>I like the two colleges you mentioned, NC State and Georgia Tech.
NC State and Georgia Tech are ranked #19 and #11 in chemical engineering, respectively, by US News.</p>
<p>Alexandre mentioned all the other great chemical engineering programs in warmer climates. Another possibility is Texas A&M...but I don't know how gay friendly it is (it's very large and he'd likely find a nitch).</p>
<p>As far as researching gay-friendly aspects, I'd just start a college search as you normally would based on academics, size, location, etc, and then, once you have a nice list, look into it for each college and eliminate ones that don't look very LGBT-friendly. You can ask around on here and look into the university's resources.</p>
<p>A lot of people ask that question and then get a bunch of responses saying "Go to NYU, Middlebury, Pomona, etc." While those schools, and a few others, are stereotypically the most gay-friendly, the reality is that at the vast majority of elite schools, excluding the rather conservative ones, it's really not an issue.</p>
<p>Bobbers, Tulane and Maryland both have Chemical Engineering. Also UNC Asheville has a program with NC State. You can either switch to NC State after two years or continue the program at UNC Asheville with NC State personnel in residence there.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice. Im hoping that taking the ACT will give him a little edge - but like I said he doenst test well.</p>
<p>Im hoping that he can improve on his SAT as he still is only a Junior. His weak point is CR. But he does the best he can do and let the cards lie where they fall.</p>