This is helpful to know. Thank you.
I’m not sure how realistic they are for my son either. Definitely reach/high reach. That’s why I’m looking for schools a notch or two down. I’ve been struggling, but the replies to this thread have been very helpful. I’ve added many to the list for discussion. Good luck with your daughter.
He’s set his sights high, so we need to work to temper those expectations.
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In Canada admissions is very stats based. Also, generally there are enough spots at top Canadian universities for all of the very top Canadian high school students plus some international students. With a SAT over 1450 plus something close to straight A’s in high school, or in the most recent two years of high school, admissions at Toronto, McGill, and other top Canadian universities is very likely. Even McGill and Toronto can be very close to safeties if the student is academically very strong.
Gay marriage has been legal in Canada for a long time and at least in my experience no one thinks that there is any controversy about this. Life just goes on and people marry whomever they want to marry. What’s the big deal? This should not be a problem in Canada. I will admit that I do not know people from the “midwest of Canada” (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta) but I would not expect any problem in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, or further east from there.
There are multiple very good universities in Canada in addition to Toronto, McGill, UBC, and Waterloo (for CS). There are even a few very good small universities (which are nearly completely unknown in the US). If you want more suggestions let us know.
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This is all wonderful to hear. He and I visited a friend of his in Toronto last fall and he fell in love with the city. Before he set his sights on the UK schools, he also expressed interest in Canadian schools, including U Toronto. That was early in his sophomore year, so quite premature at the time.
But I think some of those schools would be great fits. I don’t know them very well and would welcome any other suggestions. Toronto isn’t far for us, either, so that would be a convenient international experience for him.
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Thank you. I don’t know much about many of the UCs and so will look more into the ones I’m less familiar with.
I’m also looking at schools in progressive states. Here are some that might fit the bill.
Clark
Brandeis
Bard
Ithaca
Lewis & Clark
Skidmore
Willamette
Occidental
Union (NY)
Hofstra
UVM
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Thank you. So glad I posted today bc am gathering many good ideas I wouldn’t otherwise have thought of.
CU in Boulder - solid psych department, progressive city and school, LGBTQ+ friendly, easy access to Denver, and not hard to get into.
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Here are a few thoughts.
Toronto is big, academically excellent, academically very challenging, and has a strong international reputation. It is right in the middle of Toronto, and is relatively close to the lake. It is quite strong for a wide range of majors.
McGill is not quite as large, but is still a large university and is again strong for many majors. Its biggest difference is probably that it is in the middle of a bilingual city. It is quite common in Montreal to overhear conversations in French, English, a few other languages, as well as conversations that just go back and forth between French and English right in the middle of a sentence with no one seeming to notice or care.
Both Toronto and Montreal would be interesting places to live for four years. Speaking some French would be helpful in Montreal, although it is not really needed. Both are very well known in the US and have quite a few American students, which might for example help when the student graduates and looks for a job in the US.
UBC is also quite large and is on the west coast. It is on a very large campus surrounded on three sides by water (ocean and inlets from the ocean). There is a pretty good beach at low tide, which nearly disappears at high tide (but it will be back!). The forth side is Vancouver. One unusual thing about UBC is that the campus is large enough to include a farm, a forest (UBC has an excellent forestry program, there are also trails through the woods), a botanical garden, and a nuclear physics research facility.
Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario is also very good. It is a bit smaller than Toronto and is in a smaller city. I have heard good things about both the university and the city. The University of Alberta is also very good, but is in a very cold location with very real winters. McMasters in Hamilton Ontario is also very good.
There are a several very good small universities in eastern Canada. Mount Allison in New Brunswick and Acadia in Nova Scotia are two very good ones. Both are on the Bay of Fundy (you have a great view of the Bay from Acadia’s cafeteria). Generally smaller universities will have smaller classes taught by full professors, but will have a smaller range of available majors.
One oddity: In some parts of Canada you do not need to get a marriage license prior to getting married. Instead you can announce the intention to get married publicly several times, then get married, then apply for a marriage license to document a marriage that already happened. This allowed a gay couple to get married quite a long time ago. When they went to get a license the clerk did not know what to do. The case ended up at the Supreme Court of Canada and I am pretty sure that this became the first gay marriage in any western country that eventually ended up being approved by the government (the Netherlands legalized gay marriage before the Supreme Court had finished with the case in Canada). If I am remembering correctly the minister who performed the ceremony was a Mount Allison graduate. Again if I am remembering correctly, the Governor General of Canada sent best wishes to the couple relatively early in this process, I think before the marriage even occurred.
There are multiple other very good universities in Canada (most relatively large, and a few more good small ones). Hopefully this is however a helpful start.
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Thank you so much for your thorough reply. I’ll definitely look into these schools. I also appreciate the history of gay marriage in Canada.
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Seconding Vassar!
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NYU, CU Boulder, Boston University would seem to fit the specifications
I realize that your son says he wants to leave the midwest, but I’d probably still have at least one or two midwestern options in case he decides he doesn’t want to be an 18-hour drive from home. There have been multiple stories of senior changing their mind about distance from home halfway through their senior year.
These are colleges that all scored 4* or above on the Campus Pride Index that might be target or safeties for your son.
Midwestern possibilities include:
- U. of Wisconsin – Madison
- U. of Minnesota – Twin Cities
- Macalester (MN)
- Kansas State
- Indiana University
East Coast
- U. of Vermont (11k students…don’t think huge public like Berkeley)
- Union (NY)
- Trinity (CT)
- Wheaton (MA)
- Lafayette (PA )
- Connecticut College
- U. of Rhode Island
- Hofstra (NY)
- Pace (NY)
- Lehigh (PA )
- Adelphi (NY)
- Ithaca (NY)
- U. of Maryland
West Coast
- U. of Oregon
- Willamette (OR)
- U. of Puget Sound (WA)
- Pitzer (CA)
- Occidental (CA)
- San Diego State (CA)
- UC – San Diego
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You can only apply to Oxford or Cambridge, not both, and I generally recommend Americans to choose Oxford if the course is suitable, because they are more willing to take American undergraduates.
It is a tough admit, but based solely on academic talent, rather than other things you’ve done in high school. The rigor of an academic interview is something that most Americans don’t encounter until applying for a PhD, and is something that UK students practice for extensively (watch “The History Boys” for an amusing take on this).
I generally wouldn’t recommend applying for safeties in the UK, unless you have a really strong reason to go there (like family there). But some colleges can be much easier admits for Americans than local students, because they want the overseas fees. This can add to the adjustment problems because Americans are already less prepared than UK students who have specialized in three subjects for A level (having said that A level psychology is viewed as an “easy” choice for less academically talented students by many). If the Americans are both less prepared and less talented then it can be very challenging to keep up. St Andrews is a classic example that is an extreme reach for Scottish students but fairly easy for Americans to be admitted. So you have to know what you are getting into.
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If he is interested in UK schools, maybe take a look at St. Andrews or Edinburgh. Although in the UK, the Scottish universities are a bit different, in that they have four-year programs and there is a little more flexibility in terms of focus. St. Andrews actively welcomes US students, so it might be a bit more user-friendly. St. Andrews is in a small town about an hour north of Edinburgh, and Edinburgh is right in the heart of the city. Both schools are beautiful and definitely not in the Midwest! Students can apply using the Common App, and the university websites provide pretty clear guidance on what the entrance standards are for each specific program.
In the US, I though of Colorado College, although not all students like the school’s block program, in which students take only one class at a time. My son thought it sounded awful (what if I get sick for a few days, it would be like missing a whole semester?), and my daughter thought it sounded like academic paradise.
Are you considering schools in the Netherlands? Some schools there are now teaching entirely in English and attracting a lot of international students. There is a blog called “Beyond the States” where I learned more. The author of the blog also published a book which I checked out of the library, and has a private consulting business (but we didn’t sign up for that.) We eventually decided against European schools but they are still an interesting option to know about. I think 3-4 kids from my S22’s large suburban Midwest school will be going to the Netherlands. My own kid’s stats, criteria, and other factors were similar to your kid’s at the same age. He ended up narrowing his search even further, deciding he wanted to be in NYC if at all possible. Our situation is different in that we were price sensitive. NYU was his initial favorite, but they ended up offering no aid, so he will be attending Fordham, Lincoln Center campus.
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I’ll check out that blog. Thank you!
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Colorado College checks the boxes (except it’s not a safety), but Colorado Springs does not. It’s a very conservative community.
If you’re looking into the Portland, Oregon schools like Lewis and Clark definitely add Reed. It’s very academic and progressive. A high percentage of their students go for PhDs. I know you’re not looking for more reaches but this school wouldn’t be a high reach for your son. Good luck, your son sounds great!
My son was comfortable with the Jesuit schools. Liberal Catholics. Loyola in Chicago and Fordham in NYC would probably be safety/matches. He ended up in Atlanta which is very LGBTQ friendly. Emory and GT are in Atlanta.
For college experience it’s hard to beat Boston. Montreal is one of our favorites so McGill could be an option.
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