Take a look at Whitman in Wala Wala WA. 55% accept. Very welcoming! My D19 ultimately decided it wasn’t a right fit, but we thought it would be great for our S22 who, like your kid - so so grades, good test scores, but sadly he doesn’t want to go anywhere in the west. It’s not sporty, but it is a bit outdoorsy. Also, unlike western PNW, very sunny - which I get might seem silly, but with someone dealing with anxiety and depression, nice weather might be a help.
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My youngest DD qualifies for this thread if you just count core courses, and use unweighted GPA. She has a mix of As and Bs, with two C+ on the transcript. While she and I have discussed where she’ll apply, and she does have a list, I thought it might be worth asking for ideas. We can see how those ideas line up with her list, and find out if there are some new suggestions. At some point I will post in the Nursing forum, as she will be applying for direct admit BSN programs.
She has taken mostly Honors and AP courses, and weighted GPA is 3.7+ (they don’t weight a lot - an A in an Honors or AP course is 4.3). She took the SAT once, does not want to take again, and has a solid score (1480 - 740V, 740M). We are on the East Coast, Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, she prefers an urban school (for ease of getting to clinicals) and probably doesn’t want to go further west than Ohio.
Any ideas?
I don’t know much about nursing, but maybe check out VCU in Richmond. It ticks the urban box and with that good SAT score maybe she’d get merit??
Quinnipiac has a great nursing program and Yale New Haven Hospital right there.
Temple and Pitt are possibilities; GPA might be a bit low for Pitt, but Pitt likes high rigor and high SAT scores such as your daughter’s. For less competitive schools, I’d suggest Duquesne in Pittsburgh, Drexel in Philly. You really should post in the nursing forum. Lots of very knowledgeable folks there.
Thanks for the ideas. She definitely will apply to Temple, Pitt and Duquesne. We are in SE PA, so Temple is on the list. Not sure about Drexel - high cost. One of her sisters went to Pitt and liked it a lot, and there are lots of medical facilities right near campus. Sister went there on full tuition merit scholarship - we know that won’t happen with this kid due to GPA, though I do think they have/had a check box on the application if a sibling attended, so might help in admissions.
I will be certain to post on the Nursing forum as well.
Hey there. We are probably in similar neck of the woods in SE PA. My D22 is applying to similar schools but doesn’t have the city requirement but mostly direct entry programs. Pitt is beautiful. We loved it! Is Scranton too small?
Check out Seattle University. Jesuit with a significant LGBTQ community (and located in the LGBQT neighborhood of Capitol Hill). Nextdoor to major Seattle hospital. Has pre-health, nursing, kinesiology. No greek system. Not sure about its writing programs.
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So I have been trying to talk more in smaller bursts about college. I can still see D22 start to get overwhelmed and shut down when I bring it up. I did get a little bit of info out of her, though. We are on Hollins’ mailing list and they send a weekly email about Senior Summer Sunday or something catchy like that about things you can do to get ahead this summer. (Btw, D22 thinks because she hasn’t done those things yet she’s behind 
) I got her to give the email a quick look with me today and one of the things it said was to consider “size, location, benefits, and vibe.” We discussed this a little and she said she really does not care about size at all, but cares a lot about vibe.
So can I ask again for suggestions of schools with her vibe? She is a creative, quirky kid, LGBTQ, very liberal, but not super activist (not looking for a social justice warrior type place). She loves books, writing, and embroidery, Doc Martins and dyed hair. Likes theater, but probably not as a major, but might get involved if there was theater for non-theater majors. She’s not into high stress. Probably wants to major in English and Creative Writing. Loves to upcycle vintage clothes and embroider on t-shirts and Converse. Loves bubble tea and thrift stores. Doesn’t care about sports (kinda hates them), very much not interested in a Greek scene. Very into bookstores and cozy coffee shops. Non-competitive by nature (doesn’t like competitive sports, contests, games, etc), but wouldn’t mind sports being on campus or anything — she just wouldn’t go to the games. We toured SCAD with older kid and neither one of them liked the uber-ambitious vibe from the presentation, so not all artsy schools are going to be a fit for her. She needs somewhere funky, but also nurturing and chill, but not too isolated. Not into too much of a hippie vibe, more into 90s riot grrrl music and feminist stuff. Likes Joan Jett and Bikini Kill (as well as some smaller contemporary bands that I don’t know as well). Liked the Regrettes until they sold out, man.
We are in North Carolina. She says because of the heat she doesn’t want to go further south than NC 
. She has a 3.75 and a 28 ACT (bad score in math, fair in science, excellent in reading and english).
She is still interested in the UK universities 
, but we want to go visit there if we can, which we can’t very well right now. UEA and Aberystwyth are her faves there.
In the US she liked Richmond and VCU when we visited this summer. I think this might be her front runner, but it’s not a very strong front runner.
She says maybe UNC-Greensboro, too. She has said a couple of times that she likes Greensboro and thinks it has a bit of an undiscovered gem of funkiness vibe.
She’s doing the writing camp at Hollins next week, but she seems to have mentally crossed off Hollins from her list because she has a friend going there and she wants to go somewhere she can reinvent herself. (I think she shouldn’t cross it off because her friend is going, but not sure I can land that point.)
I am dragging her over to look at Roanoke College when we pick her up from camp, but I’m worried it’s not going to be funky enough and will be too preppy.
She doesn’t want to go to Appalachian State for a similar reason as not wanting to go to Hollins — too many kids from her small high school go there, some she is NOT friends with, and she doesn’t want to see them. Too bad because I think it is her top target school and I think it is a good solid school, but it’s not worth fighting about and I won’t win that fight anyway. I might try to drag her to a tour when we are in Boone in the fall, but I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed.
I would like her to look at UNC-Asheville again when students are in session. We looked last summer when no one was on campus. She’s not very excited by it, but maybe if she saw the students?
UNC-W and ECU and Elon are all definite NOs. Not her vibe. I may try to get her to look at UNC-C, but I’m afraid it will be too familiar (Grandma and aunts and uncles and cousins live in Charlotte) and I think she wants a new town to discover and make her own.
She seems somewhat interested in Virginia schools. My older class of 2019 kid has a friend at Mary Baldwin in Staunton VA and D22 loved the town of Staunton so we may look at that again. I’m not sure about what MBU can do for her and I have some mild concerns about the quality of the education, but it may be on the list. I don’t think with an English/Creative Writing degree she’s gonna get a ton of job offers right off the bat anyway.
We are a little bit in the doughnut hole and will be full pay, no need-based aid, which would definitely be fine in-state in NC, but the VA public schools like VCU may be a little spendy for us. The friends at Hollins and MBU got some pretty good scholarships that made it equal to in-state tuition. I know folks say don’t let them apply to schools you can’t afford, but my husband is more inclined to let her apply wherever she wants and then see if we can swing it. She seems okay with that approach since she’s not in love with anywhere and there are some scholarships out there (VCU gives a $10k (GPA 3.0) or $12k (GPA 3.3) scholarship to OOS students who apply by November.)
So, any overlooked funky, artsy gems, maybe in Virginia? I just read on another thread that UTenn Knoxville has a great theater program so wondering if it might be worth checking out. I know they are a big sports school (whoooo Vols), but she might be able to tune that out if there are enough of her artsy, funky tribe there.
From what I have read UT-Knoxville is not terribly LGBTQ friendly. Maybe UT-Chattanooga?
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Now here’s an extreme idea idea I’m just going to throw out of left field, and I admit I don’t know much about these schools, cost, strength of programs…but what about checking out CUNY or Hunter college?
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Shenandoah?
I was also going to add in UNC Asheville. 
I should just give her my son’s list. 
Is Vermont too far?
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Creative writing at University of Vermont:
Thanks for the ideas.
I’ll check out Vermont. I also saw that Bennington has a good Creative Writing program. I’m not sure how she feels about Vermont. She might like it since Bernie is from there.
Not sure on CUNY or Hunter but might be worth checking out and see how affordable they would be.
I was surprised to see UT Knoxville listed in the top 25 theater programs. Not to stereotype but there’s got to be some LGBTQ 
kids in that program. I mostly know Tenn as a sports school. It probably won’t make her cut.
I don’t know Shenandoah. I’ll take a look at it.
Someone messaged and mentioned JMU. Thoughts on that? I had it down as more preppy. It’s not like everybody has to be artsy or anything but a place where that can be celebrated would be good, so a school with a strong art program like VCUArts or UNCG could work as well as a place like Emerson or Oberlin (both probably more $$ than we want to spend).
Tanks for all your thoughts and good luck to everyone on this journey!
I’ve got no new ideas for you @Sweetgum I think you and I have traded thoughts on schools for our D’s more than once already 
It never fails to strike me how similar our girls are. I hope your D has a great time at her Hollins program! 
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@Sweetgum, I am a mom of a D23, just reading this thread and enjoying. Would Maryland be too far away? What about Goucher or Loyola-both in Baltimore area? Both seem to have funky, inclusive vibes. Probably too far away because it’s in Milwaukee - but reading your description of your daughter made me think she might like Beloit a lot.
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UVM is a nice school and Burlington is a great small city in a beautiful location. It attracts all types of students - from the skiers to the granolas and everything in between. I would consider it very LBGTQ friendly and Burlington is a very progressive city.
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Thanks coffee 2022, appreciate the suggestion. Are Jesuit schools okay with LGBTQ and not religious? Son would have an issue with a religious aspect.
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