Ideas for my social justice warrior

Parent Cafe
1

Hi - my 11th grader has this year become very interested in social justice type issues. She has joined various clubs - Earth Club, GSA (Gay/Straight Alliance), social action club, ADL (anti-defamation league club)… you get the idea. In recent weeks she has been to two protests - the womens’ march and an anti-immigration policy protest. She is a strong artist in drawing and photography and wants a school with a strong arts program. Would love a program that mixes art and social justice. Hates math and science and wishes she never had to take another STEM class :frowning:

She was born and raised in the south and her main criteria for college are so far: 1) not in the south 2) in a beautiful area nature wise 3) mid size city or bigger 4) largely liberal student body

We visited California and she loved UCLA (reach) and Loyola Marymount. Liked UCSB. Ran out of time to look anywhere else.

We have a trip planned in April to look at UC Boulder and Denver.

I am looking for other suggested schools that fit her criteria. Fortunately for her - $$ not an issue as we saved for her to go out of state. Her SAT is a 1280 (she is trying the ACT next month). GPA 3.9.

Ideas? Thanks

2

Suggest “Choosing the Right College.” Your daughter will be able to pick out the schools that appeal to her, although it sounds like Reed, Oberlin, Grinnell and Whitier would be good matches for her.

https://www.amazon.com/Choosing-Right-College-2014-15-Lesser-Known/dp/1610170776

3

UW-Madison.

4

If she scores better on the ACT she might look at Tufts. Brandeis (now test optional) is a little easier to get into with a lot of overlap in the kinds of students they attract. She might also look at U of Vermont. Burlington is a small city and Vermont and Lake Champlain are gorgeous. You do have to like winter, but if she’s looking at Boulder and Denver, it doesn’t sound like that is a problem.

5

Have you calculated her UC GPA? It will weigh relatively more heavily than test scores compared to other universities but she’ll still need to get her scores up to have a good shot at admissions.

Among the UCs, UCSB would not be my first choice for social justice warriors. Santa Cruz might be more aligned with her interests. It’s also hard to beat UCSC for beauty but the redwood forest in the mountains are not everyone’s idea of a college campus.

6

Smith (no required distribution courses beyond one writing course), Macalester, Pitzer, Augsburg (Minneapolis)

7

I was going to suggest Pitzer also, though it does not fit the mid-size city criteria. Certainly the students would be her type. My D has a friend at Pomona who got a nice recent write-up:

http://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcuser/winter-2017/she-sees-a-better-world

8

Hampshire college seems perfect for her
Sarah Lawrence and if she likes SL she may want to look at Bennington.
Wooster
Oberlin (but takes high scores)
Mills–again pretty perfect for her
NYU–Gallatin program is like Hampshire college. NYU liberal studies starts students out with a soft landing.
New School
Ithaca–arty, gorgeous liberal town

9

Bard. Not in a city but an easy train ride to NY. Liberal and engaged student body, classes that are small and value personal opinion (you do need to take a science class but there are many options), renowned photography program.

10

Clark

11

Northern Arizona University, UC Santa Cruz

12

Oberlin, Clark, Goucher, Skidmore, Brandeis, and all kinds of larger universities. If her test score doesn’t move, Clark and Goucher are really good choices.

13

What about The Evergreen State College in Olympia? Very strong social justice focus, strong arts offerings, and it couldn’t be in a more beautiful setting close to the mountains, lakes Puget Sound, etc. Students largely create their own programs of study and for the right kid, it would be ideal. I’ve seen some snark about it on CC, but those I know who have attended can’t speak of it more highly.

14

Ditto Wisconsin.

15

If she is an activist on environmental causes, then some understanding of science will be helpful to her. On social issues, she should be aware that statistics knowledge will be helpful in understanding social studies topics that relate to such issues.

It is also not necessarily a good thing to be stay in an ideological bubble (this also goes for right-leaning students). If your only interaction with people with other political viewpoints is that of seeing the most extreme other viewpoints on social media (since the extremists are often the most vocal), then it is more likely that you will see all others as evil people who must be defeated at all costs, rather than as people with political differences whom you may be able to work with. It also increases the risk of being led astray by someone of nominally similar political viewpoint who actually would not do good even by the standards of that political viewpoint, because of the risk of seeing all other political viewpoints as inherently evil.

16

Lewis & Clark and Willamette in the Pacific Northwest might be worth a look. Could give Oberlin and Macalester a try, although maybe low reaches with her current test score. If the GPA is unweighted, that puts her in range. I agree with @lindagaf - Clark and Goucher are a notch less competitive and she might be considered for merit money there.

Take a look at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. Beautiful campus in a small city of about 100,000 people. Gorgeous natural area between the mountains and the sea, at midpoint between Seattle and Vancouver. Strong in Environmental Sciences and politically liberal. They do offers some scholarships that bring tuition down to in-state which makes it potentially very affordable. It also has an Honors Program.

17

I would suggest, specifically on the art side, Lewis and Clark (Portland) and Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA). While WWU is a regional U, it is highly regarded for its art department, (well regarded in general) and a very strong social justice program. She would possibly be a candidate for the WWU honors program. Hits all the notes on cities, outdoors beauty and liberal.

Lots of the PNW schools will hit the social justice and beauty button, I am less informed on the arts side for most of the others though.

I have a young activist who had similar criteria except wanted music and theater, social justice, sustainability, environmental studies/science/policy focused on the energy side of things. His final application list (going for merit monies, not ranking but all are solid schools) included Western Washington University, University of Puget Sound (very strong for music and theater I am just less sure of the art side), Ithaca College, Ursinus College, Goucher College, Allegheny College and University of Vermont.

At full price there are some lovely additional more selective options. I’d look for arts programs first and then narrow by location, other fit categories.

I do agree though, to an extent finding a school that has a mix and isn’t “too” one sided is a good thing and can provide balance. Some of his schools are more balanced than others.

Boulder and UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara would also have been good fits for him, you might also want to look at Colorado State.

If you are already hitting Boulder, Fort Collins (Colorado State) is only 90 min or less away, I’d encourage you to visit both.

18

not UCLA.

I’ve noticed an interesting correlation in life. Colleges that are most vocal about social justice are typically less diverse, themselves, than colleges that do not wear social justice of their sleeves. In other words, if she wants to experience diversity - welcome to UCLA. If she wants to talk about diversity/ social justice - she better find a small, uber-privileged, white LAC. UCLA may be brutal and competitive. It is a great school, with great students.

19

Brandeis University fits the bill. Skidmore is also good for art and has a rustic campus, not so sure about social issues. My older d graduated from Brandeis with a double major in studio art/art history.

You might also want to look at University of Vermont. Not so sure about the strength of their art program however although younger d did have a friend study art and graduate from UVM.

Oberlin is almost good for art and social justice,but not everyone’s cup of tea. Swarthmore has a gorgeous campus, great art program as does Cornell University.

20

Brandeis / Oberlin / etc.