Thanks, I really have to look into the honors colleges.
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In terms of state vs St Louis city (its own county) and St Louis County: theyâre two very, very different things. The analogy I make with friends elsewhere is that the city and the county (especially the portions that would have any appeal to a college student) are West Berlin pre-unification. The rest is similar to East Germany. Rural Missouri is not any different than rural areas in most of the Lower Midwest, but city/county vs the vast majority of the state are extremely different. There are anti discrimination statutes on both the city and county books providing protection based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. Weâve never had an issue related to either. My daughter also has two biologically female friends who identify as male and a teacher who is transitioning. Again, no issues.
The city and county (until you get to areas a college student wouldnât have reason go) are quite liberal/progressive. 80-95% of the voters are Dem/left of Dem. most student life will be centered on school, Clayton, U City, other Mid County suburbs, the cityâs central corridor and some city neighborhoods in the historic areas of South City. The âliberal bubbleâ extends much further than these areas, but that is basically the spine of that area.
In terms of campus culture, homosexuality was not an issue when I attended (90s) and I had roommates (and close friends) in a 6-person sophomore suite who were gay. Itâs more liberal than that now. Campusprideindex (not sure how reputable) rated them 4.5 stars. There are more T20 private peer institutions rated below them than above. That would be consistent with my experience and understanding of the campus culture today. They do include things like HRT in campus insurance. I am not sure about gender identity housing policies.
In terms of political orientation, I think the school is as liberal to more liberal than the typical T20 private university. It will not be as liberal as the most liberal LACs (like an Oberlin) because itâs larger and lacks the same specificity on âbrandingâ, so there will be a bit more diversity of opinion, but itâs still probably 85-90% liberal. There will be a small minority of that 10-15% who will be problematic as there will be anywhere. Just my opinion, but as a very liberal person, if anything, I would welcome more conservative voices to campus.
Culture: friendly vibes. There is a Greek scene, but it is not as central to the campus life as it is at Duke, Vandy, NU, etc. they have very good athletics for a D3 school, but no one really goes to games.
WashU has more of a pre-professional orientation than most peers, but thereâs ample academic diversity on campus. If I had to pick similar institutions, Iâd probably go with Rice and Brown. Tufts might be a bit nerdier/liberal. Penn and Emory are also a bit more pre-professional in orientation like WashU and NU is kinda similar too.
Regarding Covid and protections: my spouse is an ICU doc treating these patients, so i definitely pay attention to this more than at least 99% of the public. Campus has a vaccine mandate and a mask requirement in public indoor settings. The mandate is strict, so only maybe 1 in 200 have an exemption. Students are generally as good as college students are going to be. They had regular testing last year. Actually they had a patent on rapid test tech that was commercialized by someone else. So the school had its very own early roll out proprietary random rapid testing program in place for all students and faculty at regular intervals. Everyone became very familiar with the infamous âWash U spit funnelsâ. Donât know if theyâre still doing the surveillance testing.
Regarding the broader community and Covid: the city and county rates stayed surprisingly low considering the proximity of hotspots. Our infection rate right now is actually lower than NYC. I attribute that to two things:
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people donât trust the outlying areas, so as a community we tend to be more vigilant. People tend to take an attitude of, âWe canât let this mess get in here.â We had mask mandates in public indoor settings and compliance is decent considering the level of pandemic fatigue. To be fair, the rates currently arenât high elsewhere in MO. But I observed the city/county rates as MO hotspots flared. We increased but what was interesting is that we kept things under some level of control and as things continued to advance south and east, metros like Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, fared much worse then we did. We created more of a safe haven than they did out of an abundance of caution and seeing reports of what was going on in areas like Branson and Lake of the Ozarks.
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we have really good data transparency and leadership. The person in charge of our regional task force (10 or so counties in MO) is Dr Alex Garza. He was the chief medical officer for DHS appointed by Obama and his primary area of interest was infectious disease prevention and monitoring among undocumented residents. He is currently in assignment in the Middle East (Army), but they provide a wealth of data and information at regular intervals. You can find that data, recorded briefings and PSAs on the St Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force Facebook page and also in places like the cityâs own site here:
And an article on the rapid test saliva tech they developed:
I tried to cover everything fairly and objectively. Let me know if you have follow ups.
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Wow this is a lot of great info about WashU. And very reassuring- I think we will put on for a visit. We did visit with an older sib who didnât end up applying but that is a different kid and focused on different issues. Also it was a summer visit which is always a bit sparse.
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Happy to help. SummerâŠthe absolute worst time for college visits and the worst time to try to breathe in St Louis. If youâre in town and want to get a better sense of the areas students go, Iâd recommend the Loop, Central West End, and the Grove (current not totally gentrified LGBTQ primary neighborhood). Those tend to be the starting points for students. Maybe DeMun too. Itâs really only a small retail strip in a more residential area just south of the South 40. Another area is South Grand near Tower Grove park (near me). There is a coffee shop there called MoKaBeâs which is very much a regional LGBTQ and activist hub.
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As an opinion on selecting schools for astronomy, consider giving additional attention to colleges with relatively dark and natural night skies and accessible observatories, such as, to varying degrees, Williams, Vassar, Haverford, Hamilton, Wesleyan and Amherst.
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Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff is famous for its dark skies. Flagstaff has the Lowell Observatory and was the worldâs first International Dark Sky Place, receiving its designation in 2001.
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Then again, California is about as big as New England + some MidAtlantic states, so itâs as if you had kids from rural Maine, NYC, Philly, the Boston tech corridor, and a touristy Cape Cod resort thrown together and counted as âin-stateâ 
UCSC has a lovely, spread out campus in the woods about 5 miles to a beach. It even has an Honors Program (which few UCs really have) with 2 years of college housing and priority registration (a very big deal).
https://honors.ucsc.edu/honors-programs/college-scholars/index.html
The big downside is housing, super expensive and very difficult to find. And of course, even thought UCSC does offer some OOS merit scholarships, the cost remains extremely high for a public university.
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Thanks super helpful on the UCs, though they may all be dropping off due to distance from homeâŠ
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I have heard from numerous people that Arizona state system colleges are amazing in astronomy but arenât great for lgbtq students and generally are in conservative areas.
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Thanks much, Amherst, Wesleyan, Haverford and, thanks to this thread, Vassar, are on the list. Williams and Hamilton she thinks are too fratty and jocky.
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You canât blanket a state. Well you can. Tucson (U of AZ) is very liberal and the school pops on nicheâs liberal list as opposed to the conservative list.
I get people want to blanket a state. But so many schools are LGBTQ friendly that if you ban a state, you might miss a great opportunity.
Tucson itself leans very liberal.
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All of ASU (Tempe), UA (Tucson), and NAU (Flagstaff) are in left leaning areas. Arizona as a whole almost evenly divided, but with a conservative controlled state government, which may be a concern if it passes new laws that affect quality of life for LGBT or other minorities.
Here is a summary of LGBT rights in Arizona - Wikipedia
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However, if the state government is LGBTQ-unfriendly, then it may enact laws or policies that can worsen the quality of life for LGBTQ people, even if the local area or the college is LGBTQ-friendly.
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Yes this is a discussion we have all the time.
I donât have experience with lgbtq but I believe the schools would not change.
For example doctors in Ohio can now deny certain treatments if it violates their beliefs. But that wonât happen at the student health center. And if it did off campus you wouldnât go to that dr. Anyway.
Itâs an individual choice. I personally would not steer my kids away due to that. But thatâs me. Others may think differently.
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If you need emergency or urgent care, you may not have much of a choice about where to get medical care. There can also be stuff like âbathroom billsâ (most colleges do not have only single user or coed bathrooms).
This does not mean that one should blanket-reject an entire state. But it does mean that the possibility of such issues with the state government needs to be accounted for and checked with respect to each specific state in question.
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Agree and I have to respect those who are parents of lgbtq kids who tell me lots of kids at Arizona schools are closeted or at least not comfortable and there isnât significant out and proud lively queer community in the schools or surrounding communities
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Itâs not just medical care. Parents of students who are LGBTQ or URMs have to consider the entire environment on and off campus, not just the medical environment. How will the student be treated at Jimmy Johns down the street from the university? How will the student be treated by the cityâs law enforcement? How will the student be treated by the random Joe Schmo walking down the street when the kid ventures further away from campus?
Itâs one thing to say the campus is liberal, but how about 5 miles from campus, or 15 miles? What about if the student has to get a job and ends up working somewhere further off campus?
I fully get the OPâs concerns, and I think they are 100% legitimate. She owes it to her daughter to help the student end up in a place where she will be accepted and feel comfortable. Being merely tolerated off campus is not enough.
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Again I said each is different. Tucson is liberal. The school is liberal and why I donât have experience with lgbtq I believe the school would be ok. The ops parent has heard otherwise. I would probably do more research, find resources on campus and ask to speak with kids.
You can be in liberal Colorado and get denied at the bakery. It happened. And it will happen.
Many people choose to a lot outside the law.
If the OP eliminates a state itâs their right. I donât begrudge that.
I simply said I would not steer my child away. But thatâs me. Iâm not the OP or mom.
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Meant to attach this
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The OP said sheâs talked to LBGTQ people and parents of same and been told their experiences of life at AZ universities. I understand you have an opinion about how you think AZ is in regards to accepting LBGTQ, but thatâs an opinion based on nothing substantial. Meanwhile, the OP has statements from people she knows and trusts about firsthand experiences of being LBGTQ in AZ. The OP is not guessing about this - she has done her homework.
Because the OP said long ago there are no budget constraints, I think itâs okay if, based on information passed along to them from people with real world LBGTQ experiences, the OP and her daughter decide to eliminate AZ from consideration without any more attempts to persuade them otherwise.
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