Gay-Friendly LACs ?? and my current list/some stats

Applying to College
1

Hi everyone, so I have a list of colleges that I want to attend/will be applying too. I am keeping it relatively small because having a small list makes me feel more comfortable than having a big one.

So here’s my list, I put it in favorite to least favorite, but I like all the colleges

Bowdoin (will be playing ED II) \ can’t visit
Middlebury \ visited
Swarthmore \ visited
Siena \ can’t visit

My main concern is how gay-friendly are these colleges? I keep reading Williams/Tufts are much more gay-friendly but I simply don’t want to attend those colleges, I’m sure you guys can understand that.

Also some extra stuff


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GPA: 3.2 (strong upward trend)
SAT: 1100, I am retaking in Oct, my goal is a 1500
SAT IIs: USH and Lit
APs: bad, not going to send (depression is an a-hole)
ECs: Drama (I make costumes), Geek Club (Founder + President), Student Representative for the School Board, NHS (inducted junior year)

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*I’m not looking for chances, I know I am weak here and there, but I’m not too worried about it at all

Thanks to anyone who can give a bit of insight

2

I know that you’re not asking chances but you may want to use the supersmatch device on this website to help you find schools in your scores bracket.

With your scores and looking for gay-friendly schools with drama, Siena is a possibility, SUNY Purchase, Susquehanna, Muhlenberg, reach might be Bennington and Sarah Lawrence. You might try Brooklyn College, SUNY New Paltz too. Brooklyn college is a fine program and as a CUNY if you get residency tuition is rock bottom prices, plus you’d be in NYC where the audition action is. If you’re interested in costuming, you may want to try for SUNY FIT in the city. It’s one of the jewels IMO in that it’s an excellent program. If you gap year one year and work in the City, you can attend for incredibly low tuition. The school is located just south of the theater district and in the heart of the garment district. You’d find connections like crazy and internships while you’re in school. Also Marymount Manhattan College

3

I think you need to really focus on finding some matches and safeties you like. With the info you provided regarding test scores and gpa, schools like Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Middlbury, Williams, Tufts are going to be reaches to far reaches for you.

4

A few comments.

–Three of the four schools on your list are huge reaches. Williams and Tufts appear to be huge reaches as well. – unless you are a recruited athlete or something along those lines. Please be realistic in terms of schools you consider and create a list that has match and safety schools (including financial safetys) as well as reach schools. You can look up most school’s admission profiles online, use your HS Naviance system if one is available, talk to your guidance counselor, use the Supermatch function on the left, look at some college guide books (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review) for ideas. And don’t count on your SAT going up 400 points – that is really a lot. No essay, LOR, ECs (and yours seem pretty typical) will make up for academics that don’t meet the school standards.

–I would be very wary of applying ED to a school I haven’t visited. Plus if you need to compare financial offers (and I don’t know if you do) then ED may not be a great idea.

–Siena is a Catholic school so you need to be sure it is gay-friendly (I have no idea if it is or isn’t). That is the one school on your list that seems to fit your academic profile.

5

@doschicos and @Dustyfeathers

Thanks for your concerns on my stats, but allow me to give you more info
Freshman year gpa: 2.5
Sophomore year gpa: 3.4
Junior year gpa: 3.7
Senior Quarter 1: 4.0


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I am a 1st generation student
I am a minority (puerto rican)
I am also below poverty, my success is a big deal when you give the fact I live off of food stamps – aka a bad environment

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I have a very strong upward trend

As for my SATs, I am taking many online practices tests every weekend and reading a lot of SAT prep books, I am serious about these colleges and I plan on applying full heartedly and everything

1st: gpa isnt everything, these schools are hollistic, they understand that people ups and downs
2nd: I am taking a total of 10 ap classes by the end of my senior year with no less than a 90, the scores are bad because I have major anxiety, they don’t really matter anyways as seeing as they are self-report
3rd: I asked if the schools on my list where gay-friendly – Dusty gave some good insight however the colleges that you listed don’t have my target majors (Spanish/Classics) or a teacher cert option (I’d honestly prefer Bard over Siena, but all well)

Thanks guys for some the insight on my test scores, but my worries are gay-friendly

6

Given your low income status, definitely look into applying for Questbridge.
https://www.questbridge.org

That’s a nice upward trajectory on your grades. Congrats for that! You still will need a balanced list to apply to including matches and safeties, however.

7

Except for Siena, you will have a very difficult time getting into any of the others, even with all the attributes you mention. If you are looking for gay-friendly LACs you will probably find that these days, the majority probably are. Oberlin in Ohio comes to mind, as does Emerson in Boston, New College of Florida, and Bard, which I think you mentioned. These are colleges you might have a realistic chance of getting into with your stats. If you are in NY state, think about SUNY Geneseo.

The comments by other posters are necessary. They can’t just tell you yes or no, the four colleges you list are or aren’t gay-friendly, without mentioning that your stats mean you will have a difficult time getting into three of them. Holistic admissions is a wonderful way of seeing beyond basic stats, but extraneous factors will not compensate for grades and test scores. The basic stats still need to be pretty darn great to even think of Bowdoin or Swarthmore, and also Middlebury. Not talking about Williams or Tufts, as you said you are not interested in them.

To try and answer your question, and I am not an expert, but from what I know of those four colleges, Swarthmore is probably most gay friendly, followed by Middlebury, then Siena, then Bowdoin. Anyone, please correct me if I am wrong. Because I can’t answer your question in a vacuum, you need more match and safety schools. Having a short list is great, but not when 3/4 of the list are high reaches.

8

Given your low income background, you need to check affordability issues. For need-based financial aid, try the net price calculator at each school’s web site. Remember that a safety must be one that you will be able to afford as well as will be admitted to.

9

Give a look at Oberlin, Bard, Grinnell, Hampshire, Sarah Lawrence, Bennington.

10

Congratulations on overcoming difficult circumstances and improving your grades each year. However, I still stand by my comments that all of the schools on your list with the exception of Siena are huge reaches and that you need to compile a list that includes match and safety schools. There are TONS of AMAZING colleges and universities out there so you need to expand your horizons to include a number of schools that are matches for your academic profile. In addition to Siena, maybe look at Muhlenberg, Goucher, SUNY New Paltz, UScranton to name a few. And because you also need to consider what type of aid you might get at each school I would hesitate to apply anywhere ED.

11

My (lgbt) son has found there is a difference between gay friendly and a large number of lgbt students actually attending these schools. They are very different stats. If you are looking for gay friendly -most LAC and other universities (except those with religious affiliations) these days are very gay friendly. Catholic universities tend to be more gay friendly than Evangelical Christian schools and Jesuit universities tend to be the friendliest of all Catholic universities …

That said, The number of out lgbt students varies greatly at LACs and other schools …and of course the bigger the school usually the larger the LGBT population… (The largest LGBT population my son has seen is American University in DC) Huge population of LGBT identifying students.

Of the 4 schools you mentioned son has heard (through his connection of LGBT activists nationwide) that Middlebury and Swarthmore have larger populations than Bowdoin and Siena. Williams is gay friendly but a very small population per # of student body. He hasn’t heard much about Tufts #s but since it is a larger school Im guessing its a larger number.

He suggests when you visit to go on Tinder and talk to real gay students (not to date- but to find out the real info) when you visit any schools -this is very insightful into the real vibe.

You can go on college websites and get an idea of number of Black, Hispanics and religious minorities enrolled but not any idea of LGBT numbers… this needs to change- kudos to the schools (U Penn) that are starting to ask on a volunteer basis if students identify as lgbt on the Common Ap … you can ask in admissions for any approx of LGBT students at most schools- those schools with a LGBT center might have a vague idea… good luck!

12

Here is a great way to gauge your chances: most of those four colleges probably have fly in programs for prospective students in certain fianancial circumstances and/or with certain grades, or ethnicities. You can find out which schools will offer these programs by contacting the admissions office. If the school is prepared to pay for your visit based on some of those factors, that is likely a good indicator of how desirable a candidate you are. I am guessing that certainly the top three of your choices will offer these fly-in opportunities. You can probably also find this info on each colleges’ website.

13

The swarthmore fly-in program deadline’s already passed unfortunately @Lindagaf , not sure about the other schools though.

I would agree with the general consensus that barring evangelical institutions, most LACs are accepting of LGBT individuals. Being gay myself, I’ve found with some cursory research that usually the higher ranked schools tend to lean left, with some exceptions here and there. Not at all saying that less selective schools are less LGBT friendly though(Rutgers comes to mind). Generally, schools in the Northeast and California will be liberal-minded and accepting of queer students.

Please consider adding a few more schools to your list though, as other posters have stated, especially considering your financial situation. You have way too many high reaches (that are difficult to get into for even high stat applicants) and not enough matches and safeties that you’d be able to afford and comfortably get into. You generally want to apply to 6-8 schools to compare financial aid packages so you don’t get screwed over by one school giving a bad package.

I also wouldn’t recommend doing Early Decision because you will potentially get locked into a school and won’t be able to negotiate your financial aid in the case you get better aid at other schools you get accepted to.

14

OP can google college fly in programs, many colleges offer them. The other option, which might be possible after acceptance, is to fly-in then. However, you won’t be able to do this if you ED, which I don’t think you should do. What if you hate it? Not a good idea to ED sight unseen, IMO.

15

OK, so let me get this straight, OP. Based on your other thread you are taking 7 AP courses this year having only taken 2 AP courses in the past, and you are projecting a 4.0 GPA for yourself? Nice to have goals but don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Ditto for assuming a 1100 SAT will be transformed into a 1500 SAT.

16

I’m not saying 1100 will be a 1500, but I have 3 tests before ED II/RD and lots of time to study (which I have been) and after reading some of the info I think I have a better suited list

Bowdoin (14% acceptance rate)
Midd (16% ar)
Swarthmore (12% ar)
Saint Michael’s (75% ar)

I know the only difference is the last one but that’s because I’m still keeping it at 4 colleges and Saint Mike’s has less people applying, therefore, easier to get into (comparing to Siena)

I also talked to my guardians and they said we might be able to visit Bowdoin, seeing as it is as far from us as Middlebury was (which I have visited) – on that note I’ve already visited Saint Mike’s too, my friend’s also attending this upcoming year so if I don’t get into Bow/Midd/Swat, and I do get into Saint Mike’s, at least I’ll have a friend there to help ease me in


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I only visited Swathmore because I was in PA at the time, getting to and from places is one of my biggest challenges

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As for the whole 7 AP courss and 4.0 GPA, Im not projecting anything, at my school classes start in June (and end in June), if and only if you’re in AP classes, we get graded assignments throughout summer and so far I have a 93+ in all of them, the other classes Im taking Senior year are a required seminar which focuses on writing college essays and some language classes (because I love language!)

Thanks everyone who your insights, bigger population, more students, LACs from what I’ve gathered aren’t bothered my sexuality, which was my main concern.

One last thanks to everyone

also @Lindagaf I’ll make sure to look at Bowdoin’s (seeing as it’s the only college I havent visited) fly-in program if I can’t make a simple college visit, didnt even know those existed so thanks for mentioning them

17

Why must you stick to four colleges? You have an extremely low chance of getting into three of the four. Lower than the stated acceptance rates, because your stats are below their stated averages. Why not apply to 6 or 7 colleges, so you have some choices? You will want to compare financial aid packages. Not trying to burst your bubble, but you seem to not want to hear what people are advising you. You need a couple of schools that you can be sure of getting into. Being gay is not any kind of hook, even if your other attributes might be. You are probably eligible for app fee waivers. Ask your school counselor, or call the college. Kenyon and Carleton have no app fees, both are accepting of gay students and not quite as selective as your other choices. Have you looked into any of the other colleges mentioned here? Bowdoin is a bit preppy. Swarthmore isn’t. Not sure what your list is based on. I urge you to check out Oberlin which has a better acceptance rate. Is there a reason you are limiting yourself?

18

So much this^^^^. There is absolutely no reason that you aren’t applying to more match and safety schools, especially since your list has 3 extremely selective schools out of 4. What happens if you get rejected from all 3 of those schools (which absolutely can happen to even the best students) and the last gives you a crazy low FA package? What would you do then, take on insane debt, not go to college? You’ve gotta be smart about this and prevent yourself from getting into a compromising situation.

19

What is your home state? Public Us are frequently gay friendly. Depending on the University you may have a better chance of admission and being able to afford it.

20

How about Vassar? Your stats are way low for Vassar, but it is conscientious of need; makes it part of their ethic to change underprivileged students’ lives by admitting them and makes it possible to attend. The theater department is also excellent including tech.

OTOH, taking a gap year and attending SUNY Purchase or Brooklyn College or SUNy FIT, you would be in the thick of things in NYC, have great access to auditioning and networks for stage and film. Google the “notable alumni” at these schools. The list of talented and prominent people who passed through their gates might surprise you. For NYC residents with talented kids, probably the first school on their list is SUNY Purchase because it’s cheap and good.