Will look!
Great feedback thank you. Sadly we have had to rule out some other states which have moved hard right in recent months.
@OregonMom2024 maybe it would be helpful to you and your student if you started a thread about college choices which this has sort of morphed into.
On that new thread, you could list the criteria your kid wants, and anything else that might help posters here give you ideas. Geographic location, school size, possible majors, secular vs religious, urban/suburban/rural, cost constraints if any…etc.
Lots of very knowledgable posters here with great ideas!
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College students are usually of the age group that is more left leaning than the general adult population.
Those concerned about colleges in right leaning states are often concerned more about state laws and policies that may directly affect them. Students who are of ethnic minority groups, who are LGB or (especially) T, or who are concerned about access to abortion or abortion-adjacent medical care, are more likely to have this concern.
Yes, a driver for her is reproductive rights. Plus she wants to have lgbtq and POC on campus. Some of these states are scaring them away.
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Just a quick reply that D22 applied 8/1 and was accepted 9/3. A big reason she chose Pitt was the liberal climate. She wanted more exposure religiously, culturally, racially etc. I thought it would be too “urban” for her as she loved larger green campuses, but she loves it.
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Learning who the Congressional Rep was for the Ohio district that contains a really wonderful school that my D23 was admitted to was enough to cross it off the list. She’s staying in California. For sure the campus environment itself matters most, but for some kids, it’s a bridge too far to go live in a state that has open carry laws and yet wants to restrict their bodily autonomy.
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Plus she wants to have lgbtq and POC on campus. Some of these states are scaring them away.
I’m not sure this is the case. You can also look at the campus pride index for each school. Just google campus pride index + school name.
It’s a 5 point scale and not all schools have a rating. But you’ll find schools like Alabama with a very strong score - 4.5 (not for your kid as it’s too large and wrong geography) and others like a Santa Clara (2.5) not so high. Of course, you have to dig deeper to find out as to why they have the score they do. And some schools aren’t even given scores. But it’s a guide if nothing else.
If there are concerns with states, I get it - but I would not assume a school in a “bad” state is bad itself in the areas of diversity and inclusion…and the same goes for schools in good states (not all will meet your DEI needs).
This is very true — if you see my post just above, that school my daughter ruled out actually is one of the most liberal and LGBTQ+ friendly anywhere. But for her it was being in the state and feeling that overall sense of worry and like your leadership is actively trying to harm you—she couldn’t countenance it.
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Santa Clara is a Catholic school, so that may impact those numbers considerably.
Your point about the diversity and the demographics being better at certain schools in some otherwise objectionable states is sound, but the issue is that there are some pronounced legal differences that no amount of positive energy on campus can mitigate.
If one of my daughters is assaulted (not unusual at any school) and has an unwanted pregnancy, it’s a lot scarier for her if she is attending Rice vs attending Pepperdine. The community at Rice is likely more liberal and supportive than that at Peppperdine, but when states have laws that interfere with reproductive rights, access to medical care for those who are trans, etc., some of us will cross those states off of our lists. Yes, there are schools with great Pride scores in red states, but for those concerned with potential legal restrictions that’s not enough.
Reasonable people can disagree on this issue, but when families say that certain states are off limits, I think we should respect their parameters.
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I would wonder how up to date these scores are given so much of the current happenings are very new. In a year or two I’d trust them better, but not now when the current students opted to go there prior to recent events.
However, state laws can override college policies. For example, Berea College was founded in 1855 as a fully racially integrated college. But a Kentucky state law in 1904 forced it to become segregated until the segregation law was changed in 1950 to allow colleges to be integrated.
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Yes - I noted that as part of my response. To many, the state issues potentially trump a campus environment - totally understood.
Edit - the purpose of my note is that some assume schools in what they deem good states - are good themselves and they may or may not be in these areas.
Other assume if they’re in a red state they are bad or conservative (in their eyes) and this isn’t always true.
Some base a school on the state its in…but other than the leaning of the state, they are not dissuaded because of laws.
Others - yes, the political actions being threatend or taken are of a concern.
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And the kids applying this year and in the next few may be scared away given current craziness, so historical DEI data may be less relevant.
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I really hope so because my 24D really loves Rice and will probably ED there. Historically Rice is 50% OOS with the greatest numbers from NY and California.
They had a record low acceptance rate of 7% last year so if their number (especially ED) goes down by 10-15% that will really increase her odds.
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Lol glad there’s a silver lining for someone
Rice is looking to grow enrollment. So that might help you.
So far state actions don’t seem to be impacting app quantities. We are a small group on here. Not sure how it translates to others but it might bring more applicants from those who like the rules.
I wouldn’t count on declines….
The other thing is if you’re right and it helped your admission - but now you’re at a school with less diversity of thought. And that’s not good !!
The irony of all this is she’s progressive (like most kids her age). She’s a student leader at her school’s diversity and inclusion club.
Her favorite 2 schools she’s visited are UT Austin and Rice because they are big cities and have tons of diversity and very multicultural. Rice is also known to be super collaborative and she doesnt want a cut throat enovironment.
Rice is 35% Asian so she likes that (we live in a 90% white suburb). She’s also a really good Spanish student which could be put into play in Houston where over 40% the city is hispanic (almost 20% of students at Rice are latino). Plus she loves the warmer weather and they have great food in both Austin and Houston.
Her original preference was California but it’s too far and they are driving more in state kids to their top schools and phasing out OOS students.
Texas, NC, Florida has seen a huge growth in jobs as companies continue to move there. Overall, both those schools are great fits for her.
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Which is what everyone is looking for. Different kids = different paths, and from me, best wishes to all on their college selection/acceptance journey.
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